Archive-name: space/new_probes Last-modified: $Date: 93/04/01 14:39:17 $  UPCOMING PLANETARY PROBES - MISSIONS AND SCHEDULES      Information on upcoming or currently active missions not mentioned below     would be welcome. Sources: NASA fact sheets, Cassini Mission Design     team, ISAS/NASDA launch schedules, press kits.       ASUKA (ASTRO-D) - ISAS (Japan) X-ray astronomy satellite, launched into     Earth orbit on 2/20/93. Equipped with large-area wide-wavelength (1-20     Angstrom) X-ray telescope, X-ray CCD cameras, and imaging gas     scintillation proportional counters.       CASSINI - Saturn orbiter and Titan atmosphere probe. Cassini is a joint     NASA/ESA project designed to accomplish an exploration of the Saturnian     system with its Cassini Saturn Orbiter and Huygens Titan Probe. Cassini     is scheduled for launch aboard a Titan IV/Centaur in October of 1997.     After gravity assists of Venus, Earth and Jupiter in a VVEJGA     trajectory, the spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in June of 2004. Upon     arrival, the Cassini spacecraft performs several maneuvers to achieve an     orbit around Saturn. Near the end of this initial orbit, the Huygens     Probe separates from the Orbiter and descends through the atmosphere of     Titan. The Orbiter relays the Probe data to Earth for about 3 hours     while the Probe enters and traverses the cloudy atmosphere to the     surface. After the completion of the Probe mission, the Orbiter     continues touring the Saturnian system for three and a half years. Titan     synchronous orbit trajectories will allow about 35 flybys of Titan and     targeted flybys of Iapetus, Dione and Enceladus. The objectives of the     mission are threefold: conduct detailed studies of Saturn's atmosphere,     rings and magnetosphere; conduct close-up studies of Saturn's     satellites, and characterize Titan's atmosphere and surface.      One of the most intriguing aspects of Titan is the possibility that its     surface may be covered in part with lakes of liquid hydrocarbons that     result from photochemical processes in its upper atmosphere. These     hydrocarbons condense to form a global smog layer and eventually rain     down onto the surface. The Cassini orbiter will use onboard radar to     peer through Titan's clouds and determine if there is liquid on the     surface. Experiments aboard both the orbiter and the entry probe will     investigate the chemical processes that produce this unique atmosphere.      The Cassini mission is named for Jean Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), the     first director of the Paris Observatory, who discovered several of     Saturn's satellites and the major division in its rings. The Titan     atmospheric entry probe is named for the Dutch physicist Christiaan     Huygens (1629-1695), who discovered Titan and first described the true     nature of Saturn's rings.  	 Key Scheduled Dates for the Cassini Mission (VVEJGA Trajectory) 	 ------------------------------------------------------------- 	   10/06/97 - Titan IV/Centaur Launch 	   04/21/98 - Venus 1 Gravity Assist 	   06/20/99 - Venus 2 Gravity Assist 	   08/16/99 - Earth Gravity Assist 	   12/30/00 - Jupiter Gravity Assist 	   06/25/04 - Saturn Arrival 	   01/09/05 - Titan Probe Release 	   01/30/05 - Titan Probe Entry 	   06/25/08 - End of Primary Mission 	    (Schedule last updated 7/22/92)       GALILEO - Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe, in transit. Has returned     the first resolved images of an asteroid, Gaspra, while in transit to     Jupiter. Efforts to unfurl the stuck High-Gain Antenna (HGA) have     essentially been abandoned. JPL has developed a backup plan using data     compression (JPEG-like for images, lossless compression for data from     the other instruments) which should allow the mission to achieve     approximately 70% of its original objectives.  	   Galileo Schedule 	   ---------------- 	   10/18/89 - Launch from Space Shuttle 	   02/09/90 - Venus Flyby 	   10/**/90 - Venus Data Playback 	   12/08/90 - 1st Earth Flyby 	   05/01/91 - High Gain Antenna Unfurled 	   07/91 - 06/92 - 1st Asteroid Belt Passage 	   10/29/91 - Asteroid Gaspra Flyby 	   12/08/92 - 2nd Earth Flyby 	   05/93 - 11/93 - 2nd Asteroid Belt Passage 	   08/28/93 - Asteroid Ida Flyby 	   07/02/95 - Probe Separation 	   07/09/95 - Orbiter Deflection Maneuver 	   12/95 - 10/97 - Orbital Tour of Jovian Moons 	   12/07/95 - Jupiter/Io Encounter 	   07/18/96 - Ganymede 	   09/28/96 - Ganymede 	   12/12/96 - Callisto 	   01/23/97 - Europa 	   02/28/97 - Ganymede 	   04/22/97 - Europa 	   05/31/97 - Europa 	   10/05/97 - Jupiter Magnetotail Exploration       HITEN - Japanese (ISAS) lunar probe launched 1/24/90. Has made     multiple lunar flybys. Released Hagoromo, a smaller satellite,     into lunar orbit. This mission made Japan the third nation to     orbit a satellite around the Moon.       MAGELLAN - Venus radar mapping mission. Has mapped almost the entire     surface at high resolution. Currently (4/93) collecting a global gravity     map.       MARS OBSERVER - Mars orbiter including 1.5 m/pixel resolution camera.     Launched 9/25/92 on a Titan III/TOS booster. MO is currently (4/93) in     transit to Mars, arriving on 8/24/93. Operations will start 11/93 for     one martian year (687 days).       TOPEX/Poseidon - Joint US/French Earth observing satellite, launched     8/10/92 on an Ariane 4 booster. The primary objective of the     TOPEX/POSEIDON project is to make precise and accurate global     observations of the sea level for several years, substantially     increasing understanding of global ocean dynamics. The satellite also     will increase understanding of how heat is transported in the ocean.       ULYSSES- European Space Agency probe to study the Sun from an orbit over     its poles. Launched in late 1990, it carries particles-and-fields     experiments (such as magnetometer, ion and electron collectors for     various energy ranges, plasma wave radio receivers, etc.) but no camera.      Since no human-built rocket is hefty enough to send Ulysses far out of     the ecliptic plane, it went to Jupiter instead, and stole energy from     that planet by sliding over Jupiter's north pole in a gravity-assist     manuver in February 1992. This bent its path into a solar orbit tilted     about 85 degrees to the ecliptic. It will pass over the Sun's south pole     in the summer of 1993. Its aphelion is 5.2 AU, and, surprisingly, its     perihelion is about 1.5 AU-- that's right, a solar-studies spacecraft     that's always further from the Sun than the Earth is!      While in Jupiter's neigborhood, Ulysses studied the magnetic and     radiation environment. For a short summary of these results, see     *Science*, V. 257, p. 1487-1489 (11 September 1992). For gory technical     detail, see the many articles in the same issue.       OTHER SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS (note: this is based on a posting by Ron     Baalke in 11/89, with ISAS/NASDA information contributed by Yoshiro     Yamada (yamada@yscvax.ysc.go.jp). I'm attempting to track changes based     on updated shuttle manifests; corrections and updates are welcome.      1993 Missions 	o ALEXIS [spring, Pegasus] 	    ALEXIS (Array of Low-Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors) is to perform 	    a wide-field sky survey in the "soft" (low-energy) X-ray 	    spectrum. It will scan the entire sky every six months to search 	    for variations in soft-X-ray emission from sources such as white 	    dwarfs, cataclysmic variable stars and flare stars. It will also 	    search nearby space for such exotic objects as isolated neutron 	    stars and gamma-ray bursters. ALEXIS is a project of Los Alamos 	    National Laboratory and is primarily a technology development 	    mission that uses astrophysical sources to demonstrate the 	    technology. Contact project investigator Jeffrey J Bloch 	    (jjb@beta.lanl.gov) for more information.  	o Wind [Aug, Delta II rocket] 	    Satellite to measure solar wind input to magnetosphere.  	o Space Radar Lab [Sep, STS-60 SRL-01] 	    Gather radar images of Earth's surface.  	o Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer [Dec, Pegasus rocket] 	    Study of Stratospheric ozone.  	o SFU (Space Flyer Unit) [ISAS] 	    Conducting space experiments and observations and this can be 	    recovered after it conducts the various scientific and 	    engineering experiments. SFU is to be launched by ISAS and 	    retrieved by the U.S. Space Shuttle on STS-68 in 1994.      1994 	o Polar Auroral Plasma Physics [May, Delta II rocket] 	    June, measure solar wind and ions and gases surrounding the 	    Earth.  	o IML-2 (STS) [NASDA, Jul 1994 IML-02] 	    International Microgravity Laboratory.  	o ADEOS [NASDA] 	    Advanced Earth Observing Satellite.  	o MUSES-B (Mu Space Engineering Satellite-B) [ISAS] 	    Conducting research on the precise mechanism of space structure 	    and in-space astronomical observations of electromagnetic waves.      1995 	LUNAR-A [ISAS] 	    Elucidating the crust structure and thermal construction of the 	    moon's interior.       Proposed Missions: 	o Advanced X-ray Astronomy Facility (AXAF) 	    Possible launch from shuttle in 1995, AXAF is a space 	    observatory with a high resolution telescope. It would orbit for 	    15 years and study the mysteries and fate of the universe.  	o Earth Observing System (EOS) 	    Possible launch in 1997, 1 of 6 US orbiting space platforms to 	    provide long-term data (15 years) of Earth systems science 	    including planetary evolution.  	o Mercury Observer 	    Possible 1997 launch.  	o Lunar Observer 	    Possible 1997 launch, would be sent into a long-term lunar 	    orbit. The Observer, from 60 miles above the moon's poles, would 	    survey characteristics to provide a global context for the 	    results from the Apollo program.  	o Space Infrared Telescope Facility 	    Possible launch by shuttle in 1999, this is the 4th element of 	    the Great Observatories program. A free-flying observatory with 	    a lifetime of 5 to 10 years, it would observe new comets and 	    other primitive bodies in the outer solar system, study cosmic 	    birth formation of galaxies, stars and planets and distant 	    infrared-emitting galaxies  	o Mars Rover Sample Return (MRSR) 	    Robotics rover would return samples of Mars' atmosphere and 	    surface to Earch for analysis. Possible launch dates: 1996 for 	    imaging orbiter, 2001 for rover.  	o Fire and Ice 	    Possible launch in 2001, will use a gravity assist flyby of 	    Earth in 2003, and use a final gravity assist from Jupiter in 	    2005, where the probe will split into its Fire and Ice 	    components: The Fire probe will journey into the Sun, taking 	    measurements of our star's upper atmosphere until it is 	    vaporized by the intense heat. The Ice probe will head out 	    towards Pluto, reaching the tiny world for study by 2016.