Every object humanity has sent beyond Earth’s orbit, 1,137 objects across 65 years, visualised
https://sheets.works/data-viz/beyond-earth
Every object humanity has sent beyond Earth’s orbit, 1,137 objects across 65 years, visualised
https://sheets.works/data-viz/beyond-earth
3 Comments
I like this sort of content, but a couple of notes.
1. There have been 3 probes to Mercury, I think, but only 1 (Messenger) entered orbit. Of the other 2, Mariner 10 was in solar orbits that periodically brought it close to Mercury, and Beppi-Columbo is still enroute, so these are listed under “Helio.”
2. There have been no dedicated probes to Neptune, or the other ice giant, whose name is the source of so many bad puns.
3. The Soviet Union existed for 34 years of the space age. The Russian Federation has existed for 35 years of the space age. The scorecard lists 277 for the USSR and 14 for Russia, and at least one of the 14 were built in the Soviet era. Such is the fate of collapsed empires.
The number of objects leaving the solar system should be 11. The probes Voyagers 1 & 2, Pioneers 10 & 11, and New Horizons. The upper stages from Pioneer 10, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons (only Pioneer 11’s upper stage is suspected to not have achieved escape velocity from the Sun because it would have required gravity assists at both Jupiter and Saturn). Plus the two yo-yo de-spin masses from New Horizons which were released after stage separation.
The moon, L1, and L2, are not “beyond earth’s orbit.”