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 MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) Mission to Mercury
Launched August 3, 2004 to study the planet Mercury MESSENGER is one of the most complex missions ever designed and built at APL. MESSENGER will survey one of the most complex terrestrial planets in our solar system.
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 Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED)
TIMED launched in 2001 to carry out he first spaceborne investigations of the physical and chemical processes acting in the outermost layers of the Earth's atmosphere (collectively referred to as the mesosphere, lower thermosphere, and ionosphere) located between approximately 60 and 180 kilometers above the Earth's surface. |
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 Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
The NEAR mission set the stage for asteroidal
exploration and formed a base of knowledge that will be the framework
for future missions. The NEAR team had a spectacular finish to the
year-long orbit at EROS - the first-ever spacecraft landing on an
asteroid on February 12, 2001.
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 COmet Nucleus TOUR (CONTOUR
)
Launched in July 2002, CONTOUR has as its primary objective close
fly-bys of three comet nuclei with the possibility of a fly-by of
a fourth, as-yet-discovered comet. The three comets to be visited
are Encke, Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 and d'Arrest.
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 Solar-Terrestrial Relations
Observatory (STEREO)
Two spacecraft will be launched, one in October 2002 and one in February
2003 to study the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections -- powerful eruptions
in which as much as ten billion tons of the Sun's atmosphere can be
blown into interplanetary space.
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 Cassini - Mission to Saturn
Cassini was launched in October 1997 and is designed to do a detailed
study of Saturn, its rings, its magnetosphere, its icy satellites,
and Titan, its largest moon.
"Cassini Kids" site
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Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
ACE will study the origin and evolution of the solar system by comparing
distinct samples of local and intergalactic matter. ACE was launched
in August 1997.
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 Galileo: Mission
to Jupiter
Launched in 1989, the Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on December
7, 1995, when it fired its main engine for a successful orbit capture
around Jupiter. On that day, Galileo's atmospheric probe plunged into
Jupiter's atmosphere and relayed information on the structure and
composition of our solar system's largest planet.
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Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global
Exploration (IMAGE)
Scheduled to launch in January 2000, this mission will study the global
response of the Earth's magnetosphere
to changes in the solar wind. Their award-winning education and public
outreach site has a wealth of educational products and activities.
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CRISM: The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging
Spectrometer for MARS
CRISM is a visible-infrared hyperspectral instrument for NASA's 2005
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). CRISM will search for evidence
water deposits and map the geology and composition of the Martian
surface. The instrument will also characterize seasonal variations
of dust and ice aerosols and will track any seasonal changes in the
water content of surface materials.
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New Horizons
New Horizons will provide the first reconnaissance of Pluto and
Charon - a "double planet" system and the last in our solar system
to be visited by spacecraft. The mission will then visit one or more
Kuiper Belt Objects in the region beyond Neptune. After launch from
Earth in January 2006, the spacecraft will head to Jupiter, arriving
just over a year later. The spacecraft will then pass through the
Jupiter system at 50,000 mph, ending up on a path that will intersect
with Pluto and Charon 8-11 years later.
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