THE STORY OF SPACE PROBES TO THE PLANETS Steve Parker
Space probe Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 making hundreds of flybys of the giant planet and its dozens of moons
INTRODUCTION The Solar System is vast 4 6 trillion miles from the Sun to the outer reaches Its eight planets with their moons are tiny specks spread far apart in the great emptiness Our exploration of space which began over 50 years ago has mainly focused on these planets and moons We have overcome such gigantic distances by using unmanned probes They are programmed to fly close to planets and even land on them gather data record images and transmit the information back to Earth Knowledge of other planets is vital It helps us to understand how our own planet came to be how it is changing now and what might be waiting in the future Mobile probes like NASA’s Mars explorer Curiosity are called rovers Partly remote controlled and partly robotic they can explore a distant and hostile environment without the risk and expense of human spaceflight
