danghungithp/text_dataset · Datasets at Hugging Face

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RANGER 5, launched October 18, 1962 and similar to RANGER 3 and 4, lost
all solar panel and battery power enroute and eventually missed the Moon
and drifted off into solar orbit.
RANGER 6 through 9 had more modified lunar missions: They were to send
back live images of the lunar surface as they headed towards an impact
with the Moon. RANGER 6 failed this objective in 1964 when its cameras
did not operate. RANGER 7 through 9 performed well, becoming the first
U.S. lunar probes to return thousands of lunar images through 1965.
LUNAR ORBITER 1 through 5 were designed to orbit the Moon and image
various sites being studied as landing areas for the manned APOLLO
missions of 1969-1972. The probes also contributed greatly to our
understanding of lunar surface features, particularly the lunar farside.
All five probes of the series, launched from 1966 to 1967, were
essentially successful in their missions. They were the first U.S.
probes to orbit the Moon. All LOs were eventually crashed into the lunar
surface to avoid interference with the manned APOLLO missions.
The SURVEYOR series were designed primarily to see if an APOLLO lunar
module could land on the surface of the Moon without sinking into the
soil (before this time, it was feared by some that the Moon was covered
in great layers of dust, which would not support a heavy landing
vehicle). SURVEYOR was successful in proving that the lunar surface was
strong enough to hold up a spacecraft from 1966 to 1968.
Only SURVEYOR 2 and 4 were unsuccessful missions. The rest became the
first U.S. probes to soft land on the Moon, taking thousands of images
and scooping the soil for analysis. APOLLO 12 landed 600 feet from
SURVEYOR 3 in 1969 and returned parts of the craft to Earth. SURVEYOR 7,
the last of the series, was a purely scientific mission which explored
the Tycho crater region in 1968.
VIKING 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 20, 1975 on
a TITAN 3E-CENTAUR D1 rocket. The probe went into Martian orbit on June
19, 1976, and the lander set down on the western slopes of Chryse
Planitia on July 20, 1976. It soon began its programmed search for
Martian micro-organisms (there is still debate as to whether the probes
found life there or not), and sent back incredible color panoramas of
its surroundings. One thing scientists learned was that Mars' sky was
pinkish in color, not dark blue as they originally thought (the sky is
pink due to sunlight reflecting off the reddish dust particles in the
thin atmosphere). The lander set down among a field of red sand and
boulders stretching out as far as its cameras could image.
The VIKING 1 orbiter kept functioning until August 7, 1980, when it ran
out of attitude-control propellant. The lander was switched into a
weather-reporting mode, where it had been hoped it would keep
functioning through 1994; but after November 13, 1982, an errant command
had been sent to the lander accidentally telling it to shut down until
further orders. Communication was never regained again, despite the
engineers' efforts through May of 1983.
An interesting side note: VIKING 1's lander has been designated the
Thomas A. Mutch Memorial Station in honor of the late leader of the
lander imaging team. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington,
D.C. is entrusted with the safekeeping of the Mutch Station Plaque until
it can be attached to the lander by a manned expedition.
VIKING 2 was launched on September 9, 1975, and arrived in Martian orbit
on August 7, 1976. The lander touched down on September 3, 1976 in
Utopia Planitia. It accomplished essentially the same tasks as its
sister lander, with the exception that its seisometer worked, recording
one marsquake. The orbiter had a series of attitude-control gas leaks in
1978, which prompted it being shut down that July. The lander was shut
down on April 12, 1980.
The orbits of both VIKING orbiters should decay around 2025.
VOYAGER 1 was launched September 5, 1977, and flew past Jupiter on March
5, 1979 and by Saturn on November 13, 1980. VOYAGER 2 was launched
August 20, 1977 (before VOYAGER 1), and flew by Jupiter on August 7,
1979, by Saturn on August 26, 1981, by Uranus on January 24, 1986, and
by Neptune on August 8, 1989. VOYAGER 2 took advantage of a rare
once-every-189-years alignment to slingshot its way from outer planet to
outer planet. VOYAGER 1 could, in principle, have headed towards Pluto,
but JPL opted for the sure thing of a Titan close up.
Between the two probes, our knowledge of the 4 giant planets, their
satellites, and their rings has become immense. VOYAGER 1&2 discovered
that Jupiter has complicated atmospheric dynamics, lightning and
aurorae. Three new satellites were discovered. Two of the major
surprises were that Jupiter has rings and that Io has active sulfurous
volcanoes, with major effects on the Jovian magnetosphere.
When the two probes reached Saturn, they discovered over 1000 ringlets
and 7 satellites, including the predicted shepherd satellites that keep
the rings stable. The weather was tame compared with Jupiter: massive
jet streams with minimal variance (a 33-year great white spot/band cycle
is known). Titan's atmosphere was smoggy. Mimas' appearance was
startling: one massive impact crater gave it the Death Star appearance.
The big surprise here was the stranger aspects of the rings. Braids,
kinks, and spokes were both unexpected and difficult to explain.
VOYAGER 2, thanks to heroic engineering and programming efforts,
continued the mission to Uranus and Neptune. Uranus itself was highly
monochromatic in appearance. One oddity was that its magnetic axis was
found to be highly skewed from the already completely skewed rotational
axis, giving Uranus a peculiar magnetosphere. Icy channels were found on
Ariel, and Miranda was a bizarre patchwork of different terrains. 10
satellites and one more ring were discovered.
In contrast to Uranus, Neptune was found to have rather active weather,
including numerous cloud features. The ring arcs turned out to be bright
patches on one ring. Two other rings, and 6 other satellites, were
discovered. Neptune's magnetic axis was also skewed. Triton had a
canteloupe appearance and geysers. (What's liquid at 38K?)
The two VOYAGERs are expected to last for about two more decades. Their
on-target journeying gives negative evidence about possible planets
beyond Pluto. Their next major scientific discovery should be the
location of the heliopause.
Since there have been so many Soviet probes to the Moon, Venus, and
Mars, I will highlight only the primary missions:
LUNA 1 - Lunar impact attempt in 1959, missed Moon and became first

RANGER 5, launched October 18, 1962 and similar to RANGER 3 and 4, lost

all solar panel and battery power enroute and eventually missed the Moon

and drifted off into solar orbit.

RANGER 6 through 9 had more modified lunar missions: They were to send

back live images of the lunar surface as they headed towards an impact

with the Moon. RANGER 6 failed this objective in 1964 when its cameras

did not operate. RANGER 7 through 9 performed well, becoming the first

U.S. lunar probes to return thousands of lunar images through 1965.

LUNAR ORBITER 1 through 5 were designed to orbit the Moon and image

various sites being studied as landing areas for the manned APOLLO

missions of 1969-1972. The probes also contributed greatly to our

understanding of lunar surface features, particularly the lunar farside.

All five probes of the series, launched from 1966 to 1967, were

essentially successful in their missions. They were the first U.S.

probes to orbit the Moon. All LOs were eventually crashed into the lunar

surface to avoid interference with the manned APOLLO missions.

The SURVEYOR series were designed primarily to see if an APOLLO lunar

module could land on the surface of the Moon without sinking into the

soil (before this time, it was feared by some that the Moon was covered

in great layers of dust, which would not support a heavy landing

vehicle). SURVEYOR was successful in proving that the lunar surface was

strong enough to hold up a spacecraft from 1966 to 1968.

Only SURVEYOR 2 and 4 were unsuccessful missions. The rest became the

first U.S. probes to soft land on the Moon, taking thousands of images

and scooping the soil for analysis. APOLLO 12 landed 600 feet from

SURVEYOR 3 in 1969 and returned parts of the craft to Earth. SURVEYOR 7,

the last of the series, was a purely scientific mission which explored

the Tycho crater region in 1968.

VIKING 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 20, 1975 on

a TITAN 3E-CENTAUR D1 rocket. The probe went into Martian orbit on June

19, 1976, and the lander set down on the western slopes of Chryse

Planitia on July 20, 1976. It soon began its programmed search for

Martian micro-organisms (there is still debate as to whether the probes

found life there or not), and sent back incredible color panoramas of

its surroundings. One thing scientists learned was that Mars' sky was

pinkish in color, not dark blue as they originally thought (the sky is

pink due to sunlight reflecting off the reddish dust particles in the

thin atmosphere). The lander set down among a field of red sand and

boulders stretching out as far as its cameras could image.

The VIKING 1 orbiter kept functioning until August 7, 1980, when it ran

out of attitude-control propellant. The lander was switched into a

weather-reporting mode, where it had been hoped it would keep

functioning through 1994; but after November 13, 1982, an errant command

had been sent to the lander accidentally telling it to shut down until

further orders. Communication was never regained again, despite the

engineers' efforts through May of 1983.

An interesting side note: VIKING 1's lander has been designated the

Thomas A. Mutch Memorial Station in honor of the late leader of the

lander imaging team. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington,

D.C. is entrusted with the safekeeping of the Mutch Station Plaque until

it can be attached to the lander by a manned expedition.

VIKING 2 was launched on September 9, 1975, and arrived in Martian orbit

on August 7, 1976. The lander touched down on September 3, 1976 in

Utopia Planitia. It accomplished essentially the same tasks as its

sister lander, with the exception that its seisometer worked, recording

one marsquake. The orbiter had a series of attitude-control gas leaks in

1978, which prompted it being shut down that July. The lander was shut

down on April 12, 1980.

The orbits of both VIKING orbiters should decay around 2025.

VOYAGER 1 was launched September 5, 1977, and flew past Jupiter on March

5, 1979 and by Saturn on November 13, 1980. VOYAGER 2 was launched

August 20, 1977 (before VOYAGER 1), and flew by Jupiter on August 7,

1979, by Saturn on August 26, 1981, by Uranus on January 24, 1986, and

by Neptune on August 8, 1989. VOYAGER 2 took advantage of a rare

once-every-189-years alignment to slingshot its way from outer planet to

outer planet. VOYAGER 1 could, in principle, have headed towards Pluto,

but JPL opted for the sure thing of a Titan close up.

Between the two probes, our knowledge of the 4 giant planets, their

satellites, and their rings has become immense. VOYAGER 1&2 discovered

that Jupiter has complicated atmospheric dynamics, lightning and

aurorae. Three new satellites were discovered. Two of the major

surprises were that Jupiter has rings and that Io has active sulfurous

volcanoes, with major effects on the Jovian magnetosphere.

When the two probes reached Saturn, they discovered over 1000 ringlets

and 7 satellites, including the predicted shepherd satellites that keep

the rings stable. The weather was tame compared with Jupiter: massive

jet streams with minimal variance (a 33-year great white spot/band cycle

is known). Titan's atmosphere was smoggy. Mimas' appearance was

startling: one massive impact crater gave it the Death Star appearance.

The big surprise here was the stranger aspects of the rings. Braids,

kinks, and spokes were both unexpected and difficult to explain.

VOYAGER 2, thanks to heroic engineering and programming efforts,

continued the mission to Uranus and Neptune. Uranus itself was highly

monochromatic in appearance. One oddity was that its magnetic axis was

found to be highly skewed from the already completely skewed rotational

axis, giving Uranus a peculiar magnetosphere. Icy channels were found on

Ariel, and Miranda was a bizarre patchwork of different terrains. 10

satellites and one more ring were discovered.

In contrast to Uranus, Neptune was found to have rather active weather,

including numerous cloud features. The ring arcs turned out to be bright

patches on one ring. Two other rings, and 6 other satellites, were

discovered. Neptune's magnetic axis was also skewed. Triton had a

canteloupe appearance and geysers. (What's liquid at 38K?)

The two VOYAGERs are expected to last for about two more decades. Their

on-target journeying gives negative evidence about possible planets

beyond Pluto. Their next major scientific discovery should be the

location of the heliopause.

Since there have been so many Soviet probes to the Moon, Venus, and

Mars, I will highlight only the primary missions:

LUNA 1 - Lunar impact attempt in 1959, missed Moon and became first