List of extraterrestrial orbiters
List of extraterrestrial orbiters is a listing of spacecraft that achieved an extraterrestrial orbit.
Sun[]
First artificial object on heliocentric orbit was Luna 1 (1959).
Mercury[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MESSENGER |  USA
|
18 March 2011 | Deliberately crashed into surface 30 April 2015. Impact probably around 54.4° N, 149.9° W, near the crater Janáček. | First Mercury orbiter |
Venus[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venera 9 |  USSR
|
22 October 1975 | First Venus orbiter | |
| Venera 10 | USSR
|
23 October 1975 | ||
| Pioneer Venus Orbiter | US
|
4 December 1978 | Contact lost 8 October 1992; atmospheric entry disintegration on 22 October 1992. | |
| Venera 15 | USSR
|
10 October 1983 | Contact lost July 1984 | |
| Venera 16 | USSR
|
11 October 1983 | Contact lost July 1984 | |
| Magellan | US
|
7 August 1990 | Deliberately deorbited into Venus' atmosphere. Contact lost 13 October 1994. | |
| Venus Express |  ESA
|
11 April 2006 | Mission ended December 2014 | |
| Akatsuki |  Japan
|
7 December 2015 | Active |
Moon[]
The Apollo 17 CSM seen in lunar orbit from the ascent stage of the Lunar Module
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luna 10[1] | USSR
|
3 April 1966 | Contact lost 30 May 1966 | First moon orbiter |
| Lunar Orbiter 1 | US
|
14 August 1966 | Impacted lunar surface 29 October 1966 | First U.S. extraterrestrial orbiter |
| Luna 11[2] | USSR
|
27 August 1966 | 1 October 1966 | |
| Luna 12 | USSR
|
25 October 1966 | 19 January 1967 | |
| Lunar Orbiter 2 | US
|
Launched 6 November 1966 | Impacted lunar surface 11 October 1967 | |
| Lunar Orbiter 3 | US
|
8 February 1967 | Impacted lunar surface 9 October 1967 | |
| Lunar Orbiter 4 | US
|
Launched 4 May 1967 | Contact lost 17 July 1967, impacted lunar surface 6 October 1967 | |
| Explorer 35 | US
|
Launched 19 July 1967 | Deactivated 24 June 1973; impacted lunar surface in the middle to late 1970s | |
| Lunar Orbiter 5 | US
|
5 August 1967 | Deorbited; impacted lunar surface 31 January 1968 | |
| Luna 14 | USSR
|
10 April 1968 | ||
| Luna 19 | USSR
|
2 October 1971 | Mission terminated 20 October 1972 | |
| Explorer 49 | US
|
Launched 10 June 1973 | Contact lost August 1977 | |
| Luna 22 | USSR
|
2 June 1974 | Mission terminated November 1975 | |
| Apollo 8 | US
|
Launched 21 December 1968; entered orbit after 69 hrs | Left orbit after 10 orbits; splashdown on Earth | First crewed lunar orbit |
| Apollo 10 | US
|
Launched 18 May 1969 | Left orbit 26 May 1969 | |
| Apollo 11 | US |
July 19, 1969 | July 21, 1969; Lunar module ascent stage abandoned in orbit, impact site unknown | Human Moon landing |
| Apollo 12 | US |
November 18, 1969 | November 21, 1969 | Human Moon landing |
| Apollo 14 | US |
February 4, 1971 | February 7, 1971 | Human Moon landing |
| Apollo 15 | US |
July 29, 1971 | August 4, 1971 | Human Moon landing |
| Apollo 15 subsatellite (PFS-1) | US |
August 4, 1971 | January 1973 | |
| Apollo 16 | US |
April 19, 1972 | April 25, 1972; Lunar module ascent stage abandoned in orbit, impact site unknown | Human Moon landing |
| Apollo 16 subsatellite (PFS-2) | US |
April 24, 1972 | May 29, 1972 | |
| Apollo 17 | US |
December 11, 1972 | December 14, 1972 | Human Moon landing |
| Hiten and Hagoromo | Japan
|
Hiten: 15 February 1993 | Hiten was deliberately deorbited and impacted the lunar surface 10 April 1993 | First Japanese lunar orbiter |
| Clementine | US
|
Launched 25 January 1994 | Left lunar orbit and entered heliocentric orbit; contact lost June 1994 | |
| Lunar Prospector | US
|
Launched 7 January 1998 | Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 31 July 1999 | |
| SMART-1 | ESA
|
11 November 2004 | Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 3 September 2006 | |
| SELENE (Kaguya, Okina and Ouna) | Japan
|
3 October 2007 | Deliberately deorbited; impacted lunar surface 10 June 2009 | |
| Chang'e 1 |  China
|
5 November 2007 | Deliberately deorbited 1 March 2009; impacted the Moon's surface. | First Chinese lunar orbiter |
| Chang'e 2 | China
|
6 October 2010 | Left lunar orbit 8 June 2011; currently in deep-space orbit | |
| Chandrayaan-1 |  India
|
8 November 2008 | Deliberately crashed into lunar surface. Impact probe remained operational for a few days. Contact lost 29 August 2009. | First Indian lunar orbiter |
| Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter[3] | US
|
23 June 2009 | Active | |
| ARTEMIS P1 | US
|
2 July 2011 | Active | |
| ARTEMIS P2[4] | US
|
17 July 2011 | Active | |
| Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) | US
|
31 December 2011 / 1 January 2012 | Both spacecraft were deliberately deorbited and impacted on the lunar surface 17 December 2012 | |
| LADEE | US
|
6 October 2013 | Deliberately deorbited 18 April 2014 | |
| Chang'e 3 | China
|
6 December 2013 | Landed on lunar surface 14 December 2013 | First Chinese lunar landing |
| Chang'e 5-T1 | China
|
13 January 2015 | ||
| Chang'e 4 | China
|
12 December 2018 | Landed on lunar surface 3 January 2019. The Queqiao relay satellite was placed in an Earth-Moon L2 halo orbit. | First lunar far-side landing |
| Beresheet |  Israel
|
4 April 2019 | Crashed onto lunar surface 11 April 2019 | First private lunar lander. Successfully orbited for 7 days. Soft landing failed. |
| Chandrayaan-2 | India
|
20 August 2019 | Orbiter is active. The Vikram lander lost contact at 2.1 km from the lunar surface, and was subsequently destroyed.[5] | It was originally thought that Vikram had survived the impact, and ISRO continued trying to contact the lander until the lunar night.[6] |
| Chang'e 5 | China
|
1 December 2020 | 16 December 2020 | First lunar sample return mission by China. Ascent stage deorbited on 7 December 2020. Capsule successfully returned sample via service module on 16 December 2020. The orbiter will make lunar flyby in extended mission on 9 September 2021.[7] |
Mars[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mariner 9 | US
|
14 November 1971 | Deactivated 27 October 1972. In derelict orbit around Mars, expected to decay no sooner than 2022.[8] | First spacecraft to orbit another planet |
| Mars 2 orbiter | USSR
|
27 November 1971 [9] | Mission terminated 22 August 1972; spacecraft in derelict orbit | First Soviet spacecraft to orbit Mars |
| Mars 3 orbiter | USSR
|
2 December 1971[9] | ||
| Mars 5 orbiter[10] | USSR
|
12 February 1974 | ||
| Viking 1 orbiter | US
|
19 June 1976 | Mission terminated 17 August 1980, spacecraft in derelict high altitude orbit. | |
| Viking 2 orbiter | US
|
7 August 1976 | Mission terminated 25 July 1978, spacecraft in derelict high altitude orbit. | |
| Phobos 2[11] | USSR
|
29 January 1989 | Contact lost 27 March 1989 | |
| Mars Global Surveyor | US
|
11 September 1997 | Contact lost 2 November 2006; mission officially ended January 2007 | |
| 2001 Mars Odyssey | US
|
24 October 2001 | Active | Longest-surviving, continuously active spacecraft in orbit around another planet |
| Mars Express | ESA
|
20 December 2003 | Active | |
| Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | US
|
10 March 2006 | Active | |
| MAVEN | US
|
22 September 2014 | Active | |
| Mars Orbiter Mission | ISRO
|
24 September 2014 | Active | India's first interplanetary mission |
| ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter | ESA
|
19 October 2016 | Active | Carried Schiaparelli EDM lander |
| Emirates Mars Mission (Hope) |
 UAE
|
9 February 2021 | Active | |
| Tianwen 1 orbiter |
China
|
10 February 2021 | Active | Carried Tianwen-1 landing element containing Tianwen-1 lander, Zhurong rover and Tianwen-1 Remote Camera |
Minor planets and comets[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Object | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEAR Shoemaker | US
|
433 Eros | 14 February 2000 | Landed 12 February 2001 on the surface of Eros. | First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid |
| Dawn | US
|
4 Vesta | 16 July 2011 | Left Vesta orbit 5 September 2012 | |
| Dawn | US
|
Ceres | 9 March 2015 | Mission concluded 1 November 2018 | First spacecraft to achieve orbit around two separate objects and to orbit a dwarf planet. |
| Rosetta | ESA
|
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko | 6 August 2014 | On 30 September 2016, ended its mission by landing on the comet in its Ma'at region. | First spacecraft to orbit a comet. Philae lander module successfully landed on 12 November 2014 |
| OSIRIS-REx | US
|
101955 Bennu | 31 December 2018 | Collected surface sample and departed from Bennu on 20 October 2020[12] | Smallest body to be orbited by spacecraft and closest ever orbit[13][14] |
Jupiter[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galileo | US
|
8 December 1995 | Intentionally deorbited and incinerated in Jupiter's atmosphere 21 September 2003 | First Jupiter orbiter |
| Juno | US
|
4 July 2016 | Active |
Saturn[]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Orbital insertion | Current Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cassini-Huygens | US ESA  ASI
|
1 July 2004 | Intentionally deorbited and incinerated in Saturn's atmosphere 15 September 2017 | First Saturn orbiter |
References[]
- ^ NSSDC - Luna 10
- ^ NSSDC - Luna 11
- ^ Where is LRO?
- ^ Hendrix, Susan. "Second ARTEMIS Spacecraft Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit". The Sun-Earth Connection: Heliophysics. NASA.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (2019-12-06). "A Billion Pixels and the Search for India's Crashed Moon Lander". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
- ^ Sep 9, PTI | Updated; 2019; Ist, 16:23. "Chandrayaan-2: Isro, not losing hope, continues to make all-out efforts to restore link with lander 'Vikram' | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2019-09-09.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- ^ "China's Chang'e-5 orbiter is heading back to the moon". SpaceNews. 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
- ^ NASA - This Month in NASA History: Mariner 9 Archived 2013-05-14 at the Wayback Machine, November 29, 2011 — Vol. 4, Issue 9
- ^ a b "NASA Mars log". Archived from the original on 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
- ^ Historic Spacecraft - Mars Probes
- ^ Encyclopedia Astronautica Fobos 1F Archived 2011-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (20 October 2020). "Seeking Solar System's Secrets, NASA's OSIRIS-REX Mission Touches Bennu Asteroid - The spacecraft attempted to suck up rocks and dirt from the asteroid, which could aid humanity's ability to divert one that might slam into Earth". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ^ "NASA'S OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu". NASA. 2018-12-03. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
- ^ "NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission Breaks Another Orbit Record". NASA. 2019-06-13. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
See also[]
- Lunar orbit
- Circumlunar trajectory
- List of asteroids visited by spacecraft
- List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies
- List of interplanetary voyages
Categories:
- Lists of space missions
- Lists of satellites
- Orbiters (space probe)
- Non Earth orbiting satellites
- Space probes