Recent Space Missions     The U.S. and other nations have had many missions around the solar system in recent years. For example, the  U.S. has sent several rovers—essentially spacecraft on wheels—to roam over the surface of Mars in order to collect data. The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 1997, carried the rover named Sojourner. Sojourner moved over the Martian surface collecting data on rocks, soils, and weather factors such as wind. This was the first of a series of missions to Mars that included rovers. Sojourner was followed by two rovers, named Spirit and  ... Show more

Recent Space Missions    
The U.S. and other nations have had many missions around the solar system in recent years. For example, the  U.S. has sent several rovers—essentially spacecraft on wheels—to roam over the surface of Mars in order to collect data. The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 1997, carried the rover named Sojourner. Sojourner moved over the Martian surface collecting data on rocks, soils, and weather factors such as wind. This was the first of a series of missions to Mars that included rovers. Sojourner was followed by two rovers, named Spirit and    
Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2003. They explored the Martian surface and the planet’s geology. The goal of their mission was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. Another Mars rover, named Curiosity, is a car-sized robotic rover that was launched in 2011 and landed on Mars in 2012. Curiosity’s goals include investigating Martian climate and geology and whether life ever could have existed on Mars.    
Other planets and bodies of our solar system are also being explored. For example, the Cassini mission has been studying Saturn, including its rings and moons, since 2004. The Huygens probe, built by the European Space Agency, is studying Saturn’s moon Titan. They are interested in Titan because it has some of the conditions that are needed to support life. Other missions are studying the smaller objects in our solar system. For example, the Deep Impact probe was sent to collide with a comet and collect particles from it. The Stardust mission collected particles  from another comet. Missions are currently underway to study some of the larger asteroids and the dwarf planet Pluto. Studies of these smaller objects in the solar system may help us to understand how the solar system formed.  

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