Timeline of Venus Exploration
Development unofficial names are listed in italics.
Mission (1960–1969) | Launch | Arrival | Termination | Objective | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tyazhely Sputnik | 4 February 1961 | 26 February 1961 | Flyby | Launch failure | |
Venera 1 | 12 February 1961 | 26 February 1961 | Flyby | Failure (contact lost before the 19 May 1962 100,000 km flyby) | |
Mariner 1 | 22 July 1962 | 22 July 1962 | Flyby | Launch failure | |
Venera 2MV-1 No.1 | 25 August 1962 | 28 August 1962 | Lander | Launch failure | |
Mariner 2 | 27 August 1962 | 14 December 1962 | 3 January 1963 | Flyby | Success (measurements suggested cool clouds and extremely hot surface) |
Venera 2MV-1 No.2 | 1 September 1962 | 6 September 1962 | Lander | Launch failure | |
Venera 2MV-2 No.1 | 12 September 1962 | 14 September 1962 | Flyby | Launch failure | |
Kosmos 21 | 11 November 1962 | 14 November 1962 | Flyby? | Launch failure (unknown mission: technology test or fly-by) | |
Venera 3MV-1 No.2 | 19 February 1964 | Flyby | Launch failure | ||
Kosmos 27 | 27 March 1964 | Landing | Launch failure | ||
Zond 1 | 2 April 1964 | 14 July 1964 | 14 May 1964 | Lander | Failure (contact lost before a 100,000 km flyby) |
Venera 2 | 12 November 1965 | 27 February 1966 | Lander | Failure (contact lost before a 24,000 km flyby) | |
Venera 3 | 16 November 1965 | 1 March 1966 | Lander | Failure (contact lost before the landing) | |
Kosmos 96 | 23 November 1965 | Flyby | Failure (did not leave Earth orbit) | ||
Venera 4 | 12 June 1967 | 18 October 1967 | 18 October 1967 | Lander | Success (first chemical analysis of the Venusian atmosphere, measurements proved that Venus was extremely hot and that the atmosphere was far denser than expected) |
Mariner 5 | 14 June 1967 | 19 October 1967 | November 1967 | Flyby | Success (radio occultation atmospheric study, 3,990 km flyby) |
Kosmos 167 | 17 June 1967 | Lander | Failure (failed in Earth orbit) | ||
Venera 5 | 5 January 1969 | 16 May 1969 | 16 May 1969 | Atmospheric probe | Success (with knowledge about atmosphere gathered by Venera 4 its descent was optimised to analyze the atmosphere further deeper) |
Venera 6 | 10 January 1969 | 17 May 1969 | 17 May 1969 | Atmospheric probe | Success |
Mission (1970–1979) | Launch | Arrival | Termination | Objective | Result |
Venera 7 | 17 August 1970 | 15 December 1970 | 15 December 1970 | Lander | Success (first man-made spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and to transmit data from there back to Earth) |
Kosmos 359 | 22 August 1970 | Lander | Failure | ||
Venera 8 | 27 March 1972 | 22 July 1972 | 22 July 1972 | Lander | Success |
Kosmos 482 | 31 March 1972 | Lander | Failure | ||
Mariner 10 | 3 November 1973 | 5 February 1974 | 24 March 1975 | Flyby | Success (near-ultraviolet images of atmosphere shown unprecedented detail, 5,768 km flyby then continued towards Mercury) |
Venera 9 | 8 June 1975 | 20 October 1975 | ~December 25, 1975? | Orbiter | Success (explored cloud layers and atmospheric parameters) |
22 October 1975 | 22 October 1975 | Lander | Success (first images from the surface of another planet) | ||
Venera 10 | 14 June 1975 | 23 October 1975 | Orbiter | Success | |
25 October 1975 | 25 October 1975 | Lander | Success | ||
Pioneer Venus Orbiter | 20 March 1978 | 4 December 1978 | August 1992 | Orbiter | Success (over thirteen years studying the atmosphere and mapping the surface with S-band radar, conducted joint mapping with the 1990 Magellan probe) |
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe | 8 August 1978 | 9 December 1978 | 9 December 1978 | Bus | Success |
Large probe | Success | ||||
North probe | Success | ||||
Night probe | Success | ||||
Day probe | Success (continued to send radio signals back after impact, for over an hour) | ||||
Venera 11 | 9 September 1978 | 25 December 1978 | February 1980 | Flyby | Success (as did Venera 12 found evidence of lightnings) |
25 December 1978 | 25 December 1978 | Lander | Partial success (failed to deploy some instruments) | ||
Venera 12 | 14 September 1978 | 19 December 1978 | April 1980 | Flyby | Success |
21 December 1978 | 21 December 1978 | Lander | Partial success (failed to deploy some instruments) | ||
Mission (1980–1989) | Launch | Arrival | Termination | Objective | Result |
Venera 13 | 30 October 1981 | 1 March 1982 | Flyby | Success | |
1 March 1982 | 1 March 1982 | Lander | Success (first colour images from surface and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry soil characterisation) | ||
Venera 14 | 4 November 1981 | Flyby | Success | ||
5 March 1982 | 5 March 1982 | Lander | Success | ||
Venera 15 | 2 June 1983 | 10 October 1983 | ~July 1984 | Orbiter | Success (synthetic aperture radar on 15 and 16 probes allowed to map 25% of surface) |
Venera 16 | 7 June 1983 | 11 October 1983 | ~July 1984 | Orbiter | Success |
Vega 1 | 15 December 1984 | 11 June 1985 | 30 January 1987 | Flyby | Success (intercepted the Halley comet next year) |
11 June 1985 | Lander | Failed (surface experiments were inadvertently activated at 20 km from the surface) | |||
13 June 1985 | Balloon | Success (first balloon in another planet, flew al least 11,600 km) | |||
Vega 2 | 20 December 1984 | 15 June 1985 | 24 March 1987 | Flyby | Success (intercepted the Halley comet next year) |
15 June 1985 | Lander | Success | |||
17 June 1985 | Balloon | Success (flew al least 11,100 km) | |||
Magellan | 4 May 1989 | 10 August 1990 | 12 October 1994 | Orbiter | Success (provided high-resolution gravimetric data for 94% of the planet, Synthetic Aperture Radar generated a high resolution map of 98% of the surface) |
Galileo | 18 October 1989 | 10 February 1990 | 21 September 2003 | Flyby | Success (took some data on its route to Jupiter, 16,106 km maximum approach) |
Mission (2000–2009) | Launch | Arrival | Termination | Objective | Result |
Cassini | 1 June 2004 | 26 April 1998 and 24 June 1999 | ongoing | 2 Flybys | Success (radio frequency observations on its route to Saturn shown no signs of lightnings in Venus) |
MESSENGER | 31 August 2004 | 24 October 2006 and 5 June 2007 | ongoing | 2 Flybys | Success (very close second flyby at 338 km in which visible, near-infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray spectrometry of the upper atmosphere was made simultaneously with the Venus Express probe, no observations in first flyby) |
Venus Express | 9 November 2005 | 11 April 2006 | ongoing | Orbiter | Success (detailed long term observation of the Venusian atmosphere) |
Mission (2010–present) | Launch | Arrival | Termination | Objective | Result |
Akatsuki | 20 May 2010 | ongoing | Orbiter | Failure (orbital insertion maneuver failed in 2010, will be tried again in 2016) |
Read more about this topic: Observations And Explorations Of Venus
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