Adler Planetarium CyberSpace | Current Missions

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Current Missions

Space science is in an exciting place when it comes to missions. Not only do we continue to find out more about worlds beyond, we also are learning a lot more about our own planet.

Current space missions as we know them have come a long way. Even the faces of science have changed. Men and women currently involved in the International Space Station are from countries such as United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Italy, and Europe.

Image at right: International Space Station (courtesy of NASA).

Earth Missions
Human Spaceflight Missions
Solar System Missions
Universe And Beyond Missions

DID YOU KNOW?

The Mars rovers were only expected to last 92 Earth days.

Artist's concept of the THEMIS spacecraft

Earth Missions

CALIPSO
CALIPSO will provide the next generation of climate observations, drastically improving our ability to predict climate change and to study the air we breathe.

Learn more about Calipso on NASA's website.

Gravity Probe-B
This mission is the relativity gyroscope experiment developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Learn more about Gravity Probe-B on NASA's website.

OSTM/Jason-2
Jason-2 was launched in June of 2008 to continue the important investigations of Earth's oceans, began earlier by the Jason-1 mission and the TOPEX/Posiedon mission. The information gathered by the Jason-2 mission will help scientists understand the complicated process of climate change.

Learn more about the OSTM/Jason-2 on NASA's website!

RHESSI
JRHESSI's (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) primary mission is to explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and explosive energy release in solar flares.

Learn more about RHESSI on NASA's website.

THEMIS
The 2-year mission of THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms) is to track these violent, colorful eruptions near the North Pole.

Learn more about THEMIS on NASA's website.

Space Shuttle Atlantis (Courtesy of NASA)

Human Spaceflight Missions

ISS
Aboard the ISS (International Space Station), astronauts work to improve life on Earth and extend life beyond our home planet.

Learn more about ISS on NASA's website.

Space Shuttle
The space shuttle is the most complex machine ever built and its capacity is instrumental in building the International Space Station.

Learn more about Space Shuttle on NASA's website

Learn more about the Hubble Servicing Mission on NASA's website.

Update from Astronaut Mike Massimino of SM4

Artist's concept of Messenger approaching Mars (Courtesy of NASA/Hopkins University Applied Physic Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

Solar System Missions

Cassini-Huygens
Unlocking the secrets of Saturn.

Learn more about Cassini-Huygens on NASA's website.

Dawn
Dawn launched in September of 2007, becoming the first spacecraft ever planned to orbit two different bodies after leaving Earth. The spacecraft will orbit Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest asteroids in the solar system.

Learn more about Dawn on NASA's website

Hinode (Solar-B)
A collaboration between the space agencies of Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, Hinode's mission is to investigate the interaction between the sun's magnetic field and its corona.

Learn more about Hinode (Solar-B) on NASA's website.

Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble has expanded our knowledge of the cosmos.

LCROSS
The LCROSS mission is a search for water on the moon.

Learn more about LCROSS on NASA's website.

LRO
LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) will find safe landing sites, locate potential resources and demonstrate new technology.

Learn more about LRO on NASA's website.

Mars Exploration Rover
Rovers Spirit and Opportunity explore the Martian landscape.

Learn more about the rovers on NASA's website.

MRO
MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) will determine whether long-standing bodies of water ever existed on Mars.

Learn more about the MRO on NASA's website.

MESSENGER
MESSENGER (Mercury, Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) will study Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.

Learn more about the MESSENGER on NASA's website.

New Horizons
New Horizons began its journey across the solar system to conduct flyby studies of Pluto and its moon.

Learn more about the New Horizons on NASA's website.

Polar
The Polar Mission is to obtain data from both high- and low-altitude perspectives of the polar region of geospace.

Learn more about the Polar on NASA's website.

SOHO
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory ), designed to study the sun, from its deep core to its outer corona, is a cooperative program between ESA and NASA.

Learn more about SOHO on NASA's website.

STEREO
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), continues its mission to capture 3D images of the sun.

Learn more about STEREO on NASA's website.

THEMIS
The 2-year mission of THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms) is to track these violent, colorful eruptions near the North Pole.

Learn more about THEMIS on NASA's website.

TRACE
TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer) enables solar physicists to study the connections between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated plasma structures on the Sun.

Learn more about TRACE on NASA's website.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, lifted off from Edwards Air Force Base (Courtesy of NASA/Tony Landis)

Universe And Beyond Missions

Chandra X-ray Observatory
NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory probes the mysteries of space with unprecedented x-ray images that help to unravel the structure and evolution of the universe.

Learn more about Chandra on NASA's website.

EPOXI
A University of Maryland-led unmanned space mission that uses the existing Deep Impact vehicle to begin a new series of observations.

Learn more about EPOXI on NASA's website.

Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble has expanded our knowledge of the cosmos.

Learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, on NASA's website.

Learn more about Hubble on NASA's website.

Kepler
Kepler Mission is searching to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of stars.

Learn more about Kepler on NASA's website.

The Interstellar Boundary EXplorer (IBEX)
The Interstellar Boundary EXplorer (IBEX) is a small explorer NASA mission to map the boundary of the Solar System.

Learn more about IBEX on NASA's website.

SOFIA
SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) is an airborne observatory that will complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and James Webb space telescopes, as well as major Earth-based telescopes.

Learn more about Sofia on NASA's website.

SAMPEX
SAMPEX studies the energy, composition and charge states of particles from supernova explosions in the distant reaches of the galaxy, from the heart of solar flares and from the depths of nearby interstellar space.

Learn more about SAMPEX on NASA's website.

Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, studying the universe in infrared.

Learn more about Spitzer on NASA's website.

Fermi Space Telescope (formerly known as GLAST)
Fermi is a powerful space observatory that will open a wide window on the universe

Learn more about Fermi Space Telescope on NASA's website.

WMAP
WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ) is a mission designed to take the first full sky picture of the early Universe.

Learn more about WMAP on NASA's website.