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.
Image at right: International Space Station (courtesy of NASA).
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.
Earth Missions
Aquarius
The Aquarius mission will provide the first-ever global maps of salt concentrations in the ocean surface needed to understand heat transport and storage in the ocean.
Learn more about Aquarius on NASA's website.
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.
- A radar altimeter is mounted on a low-Earth orbiting satellite called Jason-2 to measure sea surface height. (Courtesy of NASA)
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!
Human Spaceflight Missions
- Beautiful Earth and NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-71), July 2, 1995 at 11:40:12 GMT
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.
Solar System Missions
- Artist's concept of Messenger approaching Mars (Courtesy of NASA/Hopkins University Applied Physic Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
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
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission's primary science objectives will be to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.
Learn more about GRAIL 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.
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.
Juno
Juno is to orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the giant planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Learn more about Juno 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.
Mars Science Laboratory: "Curiosity"
The Mars Science Laboratory will collect Martian soil and rock samples and analyze them for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life now or in the past.
Learn more about Mars Science Laboratory 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.
RHESSI
RHESSI'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.
SDO
SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) is helping us understand the sun's influence on Earth by studying the solar atmosphere at multiple wavelengths.
Learn more about SDO 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.
Voyager
Voyager 1 and 2 are now exploring the "heliosheath" - the outermost layer of our heliosphere.
Learn more about the Voyager mission on NASA's website.
Beyond the Solar System Missions
- An F/A-18 mission support aircraft shadows NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, 747SP during a functional check flight Dec. 9, 2009.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spitzer Space Telescope
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, studying the universe in infrared.
Learn more about Spitzer on NASA's website.
Additional Links
- Around the Adler
-
Our Doane Observatory is open every Third Thursday for Adler After Dark.
- Did you know?
-
Over its flight career, space shuttle Endeavour flew 122853151 miles and spent 299 days in space.
- Get involved
-
Observe the skies with your very own telescope.
