NASA and Their Unmanned Spacecrafts

            NASA has made missions for the space shuttles to launch unmanned spacecrafts to explore the solar system. Some of these spacecrafts include the exploratory probes Magellan, Galileo, and Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The Magellan probe aboard the
space shuttle above Earth

            The exploratory probe Magellan was launched on May 4, 1989, set for Venus. It was on a mission to obtain near-global radar images of Venus’s surface. The second part of its mission was to obtain a near-global topographic map of Venus, which is a type of map where physical features are arranged. Magellan’s final missions were to obtain near-global gravity field data and to understand the geological structure of Venus. On October 11, 1994, Magellan was commanded to complete its final mission; make a crash landing onto Venus to collect data of Venus’s atmosphere and the performance of Magellan as it descends. The data from Magellan provided NASA with a geological understanding of the planet that is the most similar to Earth. 

Galileo collected data on
the giant of all gas giants, Jupiter

            The exploratory probe Galileo was sent on a mission to collect data and take images of the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. Galileo was launched on October 18, 1989, and it became the first man-made object to fly by an asteroid, to discover a moon of an asteroid, and it provided NASA with the only observation of a comet colliding with a planet. Galileo was the first of two probes to collect data on Jupiter, Cassini was later sent to Jupiter to collect more data. Galileo gave NASA measurements of Jupiter’s atmosphere. Galileo observed some of Jupiter’s many moons, or satellites. It discovered subsurface saltwater on Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. It also discovered intense volcanic activity on the moon Io. Galileo not only conducted observations on Jupiter, but also on the Jovian system, which is another name for the four gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Galileo came to same fate as Magellan. On September 21, 2003, Galileo was deliberately sent down into Jupiter’s incredibly dense atmosphere. According to NASA, Galileo was destroyed to protect one of its many discoveries; a possible ocean beneath Europa’s icy surface.

The Chandra observatory sends back
photos of energy that the Hubble
couldn't see

            The final unmanned spacecraft was the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Chandra was flown into space on July 23, 1999, riding inside of the Space Shuttle, Columbia. Chandra was the third of NASA’s four great observatories; the most famous however was the Hubble telescope. Chandra is operated by the Chandra X-Ray center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it has been sending back data that has advanced the field of X-Ray astronomy. The expected lifetime of Chandra was 5 years, but in September 2001, NASA extended its life to 10 years.  Later, research at the Chandra X-Ray Center showed that Chandra could last for at least 15 years. Chandra is still sending back incredible X-Ray photos while orbiting Earth. Chandra has sent back X-Ray photos of black holes, which you wouldn’t be able to see in a picture from the Hubble because the black hole is black. However, the images from Chandra show energy, so you can see black hole activities, even if you can’t see the black hole.