Space Missions & Instrumentation

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Climate & Space faculty, students, and engineers have been actively involved in building, operating and using space-based measurements since 1946. Below we list the missions we are involved in, ordered by launch year.

2022: Europa Clipper mission to the Jovian moon

In building phase. Launch details forthcoming (planned for 2020s).

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter, will make about 45 close passes over Europa, shifting its flight path for each flyby to soar over a different location so that it eventually scans nearly the entire moon. After each flyby, the spacecraft will send its haul of data back to Earth.

Europa Clipper’s altitude will vary from 1,675 miles to 16 miles (2,700 kilometers to 25 kilometers) above the moon’s surface at closest approach. Most of the flybys will be below 60 miles (100 kilometers). The spacecraft also will swing by two other large Jovian moons — Ganymede and Callisto — to help shape and redirect its orbit.

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2022: Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission to the Jovian system

In building phase. Launch planned for 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2029.

JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is the first large-class mission in European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will make detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Jupiter’s diverse Galilean satellites – three of which are believed to harbor internal oceans – are central to understanding the habitability of icy worlds. In addition, new light will be shed on the potential for the emergence of life in Jupiter-like exoplanetary systems.

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2020: Solar Orbiter (SOLO) mission to orbit the Sun

Solar Orbiter successfully launched on February 9, 2020 at 11:03 p.m. from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft is due to arrive in final Solar orbit off the ecliptic plane in 2023.

The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission is designed to perform a close-up study of the Sun and inner heliosphere in order to address central questions of heliophysics related to the origin of the solar wind and coronal magnetic field, the physics of the solar dynamo, and the details of the transients originating from the Sun. Solar Orbiter will be the first satellite to provide close-up views of the Sun’s polar regions, which are very difficult to see from Earth, providing images from latitudes higher than 25 degrees. It will be able to almost match the Sun’s rotation around its axis for several days, and so it will be able for the first time to see solar storms building up over an extended period from the same viewpoint. It will also deliver data of the side of the Sun not visible from Earth.

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2018: Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission to the Sun’s vicinity

Operational since launch in 2018.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission targets to study the Sun’s near environment at close distance. Already the fastest manmade object in the solar system, Parker Solar Probe has during its first year of operations made observations from closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before (from inside Mercury’s orbit), while every orbit takes its perihelion even closer to the Sun. Faced with extreme heat and radiation conditions, the mission is already bringing unexpected discoveries of the properties of the solar plasma and magnetic field in the innermost part of the Heliosphere.

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2018: BepiColombo mission to Mercury

En route to Mercury, where it will arrive in 2025.

As one of the European Space Agency’s cornerstone missions, BepiColombo will study the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury, the least explored planet in the inner Solar System. The mission comprises two individual orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) to map the planet, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) to investigate its magnetosphere.

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2016: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission to low-Earth orbit

Operational since launch in 2016.

The U-M-designed NASA CYGNSS mission is comprised of eight low Earth orbiting spacecraft that receive both direct and reflected signals from GPS satellites. The direct signals pinpoint the satellite  position, while the reflected signals respond to ocean surface roughness, from which wind speed is retrieved. These data are used to deduce ocean surface wind speeds in all precipitating conditions, including those during tropical cyclones as well as to support the operational hurricane forecast community by producing and providing ocean surface wind speed data products.

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2015: Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to the Earth’s magnetosphere

Operational since launch in 2015.

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) is a Solar-Terrestrial Probe mission comprising four identically instrumented spacecraft that use the Earth’s magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of fundamental plasma processes. MMS investigates how the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one region to another. The Earth’s space environment is the only one where we can have multiple spacecraft with high-resolution instrumentation to study the process of magnetic reconnection, which is important at the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the universe. Moreover, MMS focuses on electron-scale processes related to energetic particle acceleration and turbulence.

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2015: The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission to upstream solar wind

Operational since arrival at L1 in 2015.

NOAA’s operational Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) maintains the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of NOAA’s space weather alerts and forecasts. Situated at a vantage point between the Sun and the Earth, the spacecraft monitors the solar wind plasma and magnetic field, focusing especially on coronal mass ejections, which cause severe geomagnetic storms with high probability of adverse space weather effects in the space environment as well as on the ground.

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2013: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission to the Martian system

Operational since arrival at Mars in 2014.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is part of NASA’s Mars Scout program and explores the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind. MAVEN data are used to determine the role that loss of volatiles from the Martian atmosphere to space has played through time, giving insight into the history of the planet’s atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability.  While bringing unique scientific results as the first mission dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars, it has also assumed a service role to relay data from NASA’s rovers on the Martian surface.

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2011: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to the Martian system

Operational since arrival at Mars in 2012.

Mars Science Laboratory Mission (MSL) is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort targeting robotic exploration of Mars. MSL carried the Curiosity Rover, which landed in the Gale Crater in 2012. The mission’s objectives include studying the Martian climate and geology as well as collecting data needed for a manned mission to Mars.

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2011: Jupiter Polar Orbiter (JUNO) mission to the Jovian system

Operational since arrival at Jupiter in 2016.

The Jupiter Polar Orbiter (JUNO) is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, targeted to measure Jupiter’s composition, gravity field, and magnetic field. Specifically, JUNO aims to determine how much water is in the Jovian atmosphere to pinpoint the planet’s formation theory, and to map the gravity and magnetic fields revealing the planet’s interior structure. Furthermore, the mission will explore the Jovian magnetosphere in the polar region, including Jupiter’s northern and southern auroral regions to provide insights about how the magnetosphere impacts its atmosphere.

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2009: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Operational since arrival at Lunar orbit in 2009.

As part of the initial Exploration Mission focused on supporting the extension of human presence in the solar system, the LUnar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) identified sites close to potential resources with high scientific value, favorable terrain and environment for future robotic and human lunar missions. In 2010, LRO was transferred to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to study the polar regions, especially focusing on subsurface water ice, lunar craters and small landforms, and interactions of the galactic cosmic ray interactions with the Moon.

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2007: Phoenix Mission to Mars

Operational from landing on the Martian surface in 2008 through 2010.

The Phoenix lander is part of NASA’s Mars Scout Program. As the first Mars Scout mission designed to study the planet’s ice cap, Phoenix’s robotic arm mined three feet into the Mars ice cap, collecting ice and soil samples as it followed the water. In addition to a unique camera system, the Phoenix instrumentation examined materials at resolutions thousand times less than the width of a human hair.

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2006: Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission to study the Sun

Operational since launch in 2006. Communication to STEREO-B terminated in 2018.

The two STEREO spacecraft as part of NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program are positioned one leading the Earth and one trailing the Earth in order to provide first-ever stereoscopic images of the Sun’s surface and the interplanetary coronal mass ejections traveling from the Sun to the outer fringes of the solar system. STEREO seeks to understand the mechanisms of coronal mass ejections and their propagation through the heliosphere, meanwhile characterizing the structure of the ambient solar wind.

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2005: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission to the Martian system

Operational since arrival at Mars in 2006.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA mission to search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for long periods of time. MRO has surveyed the planet by the largest camera ever flown on a planetary mission, bringing even closer the mysteries of the Red Planet. Furthermore, the MRO instruments analyze minerals, look for subsurface water, trace how much dust and water are distributed in the atmosphere, and monitor daily global weather. These studies are identifying deposits of minerals that may have formed in water over long periods of time, looking for evidence of shorelines of ancient seas and lakes, and analyzing deposits placed in layers over time by flowing water. The orbiter’s telecommunication systems provide a service for future spacecraft, serving as the link in a communications bridge back to Earth.

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2005: Venus Express (VEX) mission to Venus

Operational from arrival at Venus in 2006 through 2014.

The European Space Agency’s Venus Express studied our nearest planetary neighbor. In particular, Venus Express examined the Venusian atmosphere and clouds in unprecedented detail and accuracy and provided global maps of the Venusian surface temperatures. VEX has also shed light on the role the greenhouse effect plays in the evolution of the Venusian climate and on processes that govern the atmospheric escape. VEX also studied the Venusian small magnetosphere and its interactions with the atmosphere and ionosphere of the planet.

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2004: Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury

Operations from arrival at Mercury 2011 through 2015.

MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) was a NASA mission to study the Hermean chemical composition, geology and magnetic field. MESSENGER was the first spacecraft to enter an orbit around Mercury, following a series of flybys of Mercury, Venus and Earth to decelerate the spacecraft speed. The mission determined Mercury’s surface composition, revealed its geological history, discovered details about its internal magnetic field, and verified its polar deposits are dominantly water-ice. The mission ended when MESSENGER slammed into Mercury’s surface.

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2004: Rosetta Mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Operations since arrival at comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 through 2016.

European Space Agency’s Rosetta cometary probe made it’s 10-year journey to the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study the comet’s nucleus and coma. The mission comprised of two parts, the Rosetta orbiter making remote sensing measurements and the Philae Lander, which landed on the comet’s nucleus. Major results include detection of the isotopic signature of water vapor from the comet having substantially different deuterium to hydrogen ratio than that found on Earth.

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2003: Mars Express (MEX) mission to the Martian system

Operative since arrival at Mars in 2004.

Mars Express is European Space Agency’s first mission to Mars, to study its surface, atmosphere, space environment, and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. MEX has traced the history of water across the planet, demonstrating that Mars once harbored environmental conditions that may have been suitable for life. Key discoveries include the presence of minerals that form only in the presence of water, the detection of water-ice deposits underground, and evidence to suggest volcanism on Mars may have persisted until recent times.

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2003: Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity mission to Martian surface

Operations began upon landing on Mars in 2004, Spirit ceased operations in 2010, Opportunity operations were completed in 2019.  

NASA’s twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers sought answers to the history of water on Mars by characterizing a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. Both rovers exceeded their planned 90-day mission lifetimes by many years. The rovers positioned on opposite sides of Mars took panoramic images which were used to select promising geological targets, drove to those locations, and performed close-up scientific investigations of the geology.

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1997: Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its moon Titan

Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004; operations terminated in 2017. Huygens probe landed on the moon Titan in 2004, making observations through the descent.

Cassini-Huygens was a joint NASA-ESA mission to study the Saturnian system. The Cassini spacecraft built by NASA was the first to orbit Saturn, and brought a wealth of information on its atmosphere and space environment, rings and moons. The ESA-designed Huygens Probe was released in 2004 to descend through Titan’s dense atmosphere to land on its surface, bringing unique observations of its clouds, atmosphere and surface.

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1997: Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission to the upstream solar wind

Operational since arrival at the L1 vantage point in 1997.

The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is a NASA Explorer-class mission to measure and compare the composition of several samples of matter, including the solar corona, the solar wind, and other interplanetary particle populations, the local interstellar medium (ISM), and galactic matter.

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1994: WIND mission to the solar wind

Operational since launch in 1994.

As part of NASA’s Global Geospace Science program, WIND was deployed to study radio waves and plasma in the solar wind and in the magnetosphere. WIND, together with Geotail, Polar, SoHO and Cluster, constitute a cooperative scientific satellite project (designated the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program), which aims at gaining improved understanding of the physics of the solar influence on geospace. Wind focuses in particular on monitoring the solar wind, and has played a key role in developing understanding that now is the basis of operative space weather services.

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1977: Voyager 1 and 2 mission to the Heliosphere and beyond

Operational since launch in 1977. 

The Voyager probes were launched on orbits toward the outer solar system. During the over 40 years of operation, they have encountered all major planets and are now headed outside the Heliosphere bringing unprecedented observations from the interstellar space outside the sphere of influence of our Sun. The energetic particle and magnetic field measurements on the Voyagers have been critically important in developing understanding of the interaction of the Heliosphere with the Local Interstellar Medium.

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