I would say them and the two Voyagers, judging by longevity, quantity of data, important discoveries, and re-tasking.Originally Posted by geonuc
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I would say them and the two Voyagers, judging by longevity, quantity of data, important discoveries, and re-tasking.
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I agree with the Voyagers. Today hardly anyone seems to remember them, Yet I can still remember following them closely and the excitement of each planetary encounter! An amazing feat of exploration.
Vulcan Administrator
And they're still doing science.
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Order of Kilopi
I wouldn't say that. I can't think of any space probes that have been mentioned more frequently in popular culture (probably because of the golden records.)
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Which were accused by some of sending smut into space, because the male and female figures were unclothed.
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This is the new thread to discuss all things related to the Voyager probes
Enjoy
Order of Kilopi
Closer to home, though, what about some of the space telescopes, like Hubble for example?
As above, so below
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Given that the discussion was on more than just the Voyagers, but on the "most successful space missions", I've modified the title.
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Yeah, Hubble would certainly have to get some consideration, and qualifies again for longevity, amount of data, repairs/retasking, etc. It actually probably is the most famous of those discussed so far (Mars rovers, Voyagers) and probably to this day has the most public name recognition.
Vulcan Administrator
Tough call. I might give the nod to the Voyagers since it was pretty much inevitable that there would be a ground-breaking optical space telescope at some point. The Voyagers took advantage of a major cosmic coincidence, might well not have happened at all, and in fact were scaled back significantly from the original plans.
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I think you might be thinking of the Pioneer 10 & 11 plaques here.
Order of Kilopi
Same here.
Hubble was amazing and successful, but a lot of the awe of the abilities of hubble were designed in. In Hubble, it's the whole design and scale that are to be commended.
The Voyagers, Spirit and Opportunity have the captivation of unexpected longevity.
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I think this question will stay open because the question itself depends on the somewhat ambiguous meaning of successful and how something might most closely fulfill that meaning.
If you look at money per (hard to measure) refinement in our understanding of the universe, I'd have to go with Hubble, WMAP, SOHO, or the Voyagers, but it is hard to disrespect the big IR eyes, Chandra, and Swift for that measure. ... and yet I really like the MER Rovers and Cassini.
For things coming up, I have big hopes for Gaia and (the already observing) Planck.
Going one step further, it's hard to find a bad one.
Forming opinions as we speak
Order of Kilopi
Hubble's design was more or less a KH-11 spysat pointing the other direction (with added instruments), right? Still, it is an amazing tool that has lasted very long and did/does excellent science and PR.
The Mars Rovers are really tough guys, they just kept/keep on going. Idem dito for the Voyagers, and they too are still doing science.
But I can't make a list of most successful space missions without adding the Apollo program/Apollo 11. It's first of all the historical importance of men walking not on earth. But it's also huge from a technical point of view, "impressive" is a massive understatement for the Apollo program.
Order of Kilopi
I don't think we can say with any confidence. But; I found these two relevent statements about the KH-11.
Astronautix: (my bold)
WikiBelieved to be similar to Hubble Space Telescope (they used same shipping container and specially-modified aircraft).
So; Aside from the chassis and primary optics, my guess is the rest is completely different to provide for it's vast flexibility.Furthermore, a NASA history of the Hubble,[5] in discussing the reasons for switching from a 3-meter main mirror to a 2.4-meter design, states: "In addition, changing to a 2.4-meter mirror would lessen fabrication costs by using manufacturing technologies developed for military spy satellites."
Order of Kilopi
Saying one mission is the 'best' is like trying to say one food is 'the best'. There's no such thing.
There are favorites, there are things people like more others - but there are a dozen missions that one could cite that anyone could rightfully call 'best'
Order of Kilopi
This is my philosophy.
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True. But given there is currently a discussion in OTB about the best PBJ sandwich, I think people like the discussion, even if it is only a matter of taste.
Established Member
Kepler is definitely adding its name to this list as well. Hubble might be the most recognized name to the general public.
While it is a long and growing list, if anyone brings up the subject of successful and well known probes, Voyager is always my first thought, because I grew up watching those pictures come in. Still have the National Geographic issues with the beautiful galleries of the Jupiter and Saturn systems. And later on I ran across a book called Flyby covering the inside story of the Voyager 2 team, and some of the difficulties they ran across and solved
Member
I don't want to be responsible for derailing a thread, but I'm curious about this. Happen to have a link with more information?
Vulcan Administrator
Quick overview from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Grand_Tour
More detail from a NASA publication: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html
Interesting from the latter link: there was some friction at the time between scientists who favored this sort of planetary mission and those who were pushing for what became the Hubble Space Telescope.At the heart of the contention was the JPL Grand Tour spacecraft called TOPS. Grand Tour consisted of four launches, two to Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto in 1976 and 1977, and two to Jupiter-UranusNeptune in 1979. NASA estimated the cost of the four missions to range from $750 to 900 million plus $106 million for launch vehicles. One substantial portion of the cost of Grand Tour was development of a self-test and repair computer (STAR) that would operate for over ten years at a great distance from Earth. Another significant portion of the price tag represented development of the so-called Thermoelectric Outer Planets Spacecraft (TOPS) by JPL. The long lifetime of the TOPS spacecraft was to be achieved at the expense of increased vehicle weight and higher cost.
Should add that officially the Voyager missions were only designed (and sold to Congress) as Jupiter-Saturn missions. Uranus and Neptune were bonuses.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Fig newtons rule, you blasphemer!
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Honored Member
Sputnik. Never has such a small ball of metal engendered so much else.
Order of Kilopi
Dang, I wasn't aware you commented on my 'successful space mission' post in the other thread and it was spun off.
Yes, I agree. The Voyagers were probably what initially captured my imagination about space with all those fabulous images. Apollo was a huge success, obviously, but in my mind it was different.
Order of Kilopi
I've said before that the Voyager missions almost make me believe in magic. Honestly, I'm surprised we never got anybody in CT making a Voyager hoax argument. I mean, interstellar robot missions with 1970's technology that visited multiple planets and moons? Shouldn't that get a little love from the hoax promoters?
Anyway, yes, I'd put them way up there. During my life I've watched the solar system change, planet by planet, most dramatically when I was young, as we would learn dramatic new revelations (like the Venusian atmosphere details). The Voyagers continued that as I was getting a little older. The solar system as we understood it changed with each visit, and so many things I had learned when I was a kid was wrong. The Pioneer 10 and 11 missions were also quite successful, and important to the Voyager mission success. For one thing, builders apparently had to fairly quickly upgrade the shielding for the more sophisticated Voyager computers based on the Pioneer information. Without that information, the Voyagers probably would have failed at Jupiter.
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?
The Leif Ericson Cruiser
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Voyager has to take the cake for me, too, at least for planetary missions; there are few missions that so completely rendered earlier information obsolete, and IMO none covered as much territory, literally and figuratively. I feel tremendous envy for the Voyager team, who got to see pretty much the whole Solar System for the first time in human history, as well as deep respect for the engineers who kept them running and the lobbying that kept Voyager 2 from getting axed after Saturn (it was a very near thing). It doesn't hurt that the Voyagers gave us the only close-up views of Uranus and Neptune that we're likely to enjoy before even the youngest regulars on this board are well into middle age, if that.
Though I'm more of a deep space guy these days, wed closely to HST and Kepler (and soon, GAIA), and while Cassini (my current favorite outer planets mission) consistently blows me away with images that are too awesome for words, the following link remains my all-time favorite single planetary image, courtesy of those doughty machines and the men and women who built and operated them:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/hires/vg1_p46599.jpg
Vulcan Administrator
Someday I'd like to put together a "then and now" poster showing our view of the solar system when I first starting getting interested in astronomy in the 60's and now. Back then, Mars was a mottled orange blob, Jupiter was a stripey blob, and all the moons and other planets were bright specks. Today we have detailed maps and even ground truth.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Kilopi
I think it really says a lot how weird it is for me to imagine a state of affairs like that. On the one hand, it would have been exciting, but on the other hand, that itchy "I. Don't. Know. Nobody. Knows. UGGGH!" feeling would have been so enormous as to be almost maddening to me.
Order of Kilopi
Other excellent missions could be the Lunokhod rovers, which were very successful and, like Spirit and Opportunity, lasted significantly longer than their expected lifespan.
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