Planetary Missions
With the first launch of Explorer 1 in January 1958, NASA has been collecting a variety of data on the Earth, Moon, planets, Sun, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets. The data accumulated from these missions are hosted at a variety of institutions, including NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS), USGS astrogeology branch, and the official sites of individual missions. Locating data that is desired for research can often be daunting. The information and links provided in this section is an attempt to organize the access of planetary data into a simplified format.
For each planetary body, the planetary missions that made observations of that body are listed. In the case where an mission visited more than a single planetary body, the mission will be listed for each site.
Missions by planet:
- Mercury – Mariner 10, MESSENGER
- Venus – Mariner 2 & 5, Venera missions, Pioneer Venus, Vega missions, Magellan, Venus Express, Akatsuki
- Moon – Luna missions, Ranger missions, Zond missions, Surveyor missions, Lunar Orbiter, Apollo, Clementine, Lunar Prospector, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, GRAIL, Chandrayaan-1
- Mars – Mariner 4, 6, 7, 9; Viking 1 & 2 Orbiter & Landers; Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, MER Spirit & Opportunity (Mars Exploration Rovers), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix, MSL Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory), Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan)
- Asteroid Belt – DAWN
- Jupiter System – Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyager 1 & 2, Galileo, Juno
- Saturn System – Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyager 1 & 2, Cassini
- Uranus System – Voyager 1 & 2
- Neptune System – Voyager 1 & 2
- Pluto/Charon – New Horizons
- Comets – ICE, Vega, Sakigake, Giotto, Suisei, Deep Space 1, Stardust, Rosetta, Deep Impact/EPOXI
- Asteroids – Galileo, NEAR, Deep Space 1, Hayabusa, Rosetta
