Why are planetary scientists so obsessed with Mars?
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
There are currently 26 active spacecraft dotted around our solar system.
Only half of them are visiting Mars.
And it also includes some less famous, but no less weird and wonderful, spacecraft.
Take theJuno spacecraftin orbit around Jupiter, for example.
Launched in 2011, it arrived in orbit around Jupiter almost five years later.
Juno has already surpassed its planned seven-year mission duration and has been extended to at least 2025.
Departing in 2019, Hayabusa2 used its ion engines to change orbit and return to Earth.
There are special locations in orbits called Lagrangian points, which are gravitationally balanced spots between two bodies.
These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
Another hostile location is our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus.
So how much does all this cost?
Governments tend to allocate relatively small amounts of their budgets to science and space exploration.
Deciding what space missions will receive that money is very often driven by public interest.
But trying to decide definitively which probe or spacecraft offers the most bang for buck is almost impossible.
You cant put a price on that.
Also tagged with
