Space Exploration 2 by Emily Tully

For years, we have been sending spacecrafts out into the solar system to where humans themselves can’t go in order to expand our knowledge of the universe we live in. These have allowed us to do what is not possible from Earth. The following paragraphs will explain just a few of the missions to Neptune, Pluto, the Kuiper Belt, the dwarf planet Ceres, and the Sun.

In 1989, the Voyager 2 flew by Neptune. It was the first and only man-made object to have flown by this faraway planet. This spacecraft was less than 5,000 km above the planet’s cloud tops at its closest approach. During its mission, the Voyager 2 discovered five moons and four rings. Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, was found to be the coldest known planetary body in our solar system. The moon is so cold that a nitrogen ice “volcano” can be found on its surface. Another discovery was a “Great Dark Spot.” However, this spot vanished by the time the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the planet five years later. Also, Neptune has the strongest winds in the solar system. Even with all these discoveries, this ever-changing distant planet is still a mystery to us. 

              

This is an image taken by the Voyager 2 of Neptune.     This is an image of the Voyager 2

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Neptune     http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/13jul_solarblast/

Currently, the spacecraft New Horizons is expected to fly over Pluto in July, 2015. It will be the first spacecraft to reach the dwarf planet. It will study the icy planet itself as well as its moon Charon. During the 150 day flyby, New Horizons will be moving at a speed of 14 km/s. It will be within 9,650 km of the center of Pluto’s mass at its closest approach. Launched in 2006, this spacecraft has seven scientific instruments that can record the atmosphere, surface, interior, and intriguing environment of Pluto.

This is an animation of the spacecraft New Horizons

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Target=Dwarf&MCode=PKB

The New Horizons spacecraft is traversing many parts of our solar system. It has already passed by Jupiter, it will pass by pluto as mentioned above, and will explore the Kuiper Belt. New Horizons is prepared to make the first the first close-up study of the Kuiper Belt. For its final phase of the spacecraft’s journey, it will travel through the Kuiper Belt in search of icy comets, and objects that may be the original source of water in our solar system. This is the first time the Kuiper belt will have been explored by humans. The faraway world is a great mystery to us, and this mission will give us insight on the vast space.

This is the New Horizons spacecraft

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2006-001A

Aside from Pluto, other dwarf planets are being investigated as well. One example of this is the dwarf planet Ceres. This dwarf planet is being studied by the spacecraft Dawn. Dawn launched in 2007 and plans to reach Ceres in 2015. During its mission, Dawn will investigate Ceres’ internal structure, density, and homogeneity by measuring its mass, shape, volume, and spin state using radiometric tracking and imagery, and determine elemental and mineral composition. Ceres is the closest dwarf planet in the solar system to us. It is located in the asteroid belt where Dawn is now headed.

This is the spacecraft Dawn

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/spacecraft.asp

Many spacecrafts are in space studying the sun, including SOHO. SOHO was launched in 1995. While its primary mission ended in 1997, scientists are still using the satellite, and other tools. SOHO uses 12 important tools to study the internal area of the sun, its outer atmosphere, and the origin of the solar wind. This spacecraft has been used by scientists to find valuable information about the sun.  Discoveries like tornadoes on the Sun’s surface can be credited to SOHO.

SOHO has a unique orbit. It is positioned ahead of the Earth so that it always has an uninterrupted view of the sun. The combined gravity of the Sun and the Earth keep SOHO locked between them. It is the first sun observatory to always see the sun with no objects in the way. This makes it very useful. It was able to see the far side of the sun where the spacecraft could detect solar activity days before it reached the Earth.

Unfortunately, in 1998, scientists lost contact with SOHO for six weeks. Scientists worked very hard and were able to recover SOHO and its 12 scientific instruments, and the spacecraft was able to resume in its work.

This is the SOHO spacecraft

http://www.suntrek.org/gallery/gallery-solar-spacecraft.shtml