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Exploring The Planets
A single large spacecraft hangs in the center of this gallery: a full-scale replica of a Voyager, two of which blazed a trail of discovery through the outer solar system. Like other robotic spacefarers, the Voyagers served as extensions of our senses. The data and dazzling images of planets and moons they sent back to Earth revealed each of them to be a world as real and unique as our own.
Exploring the Planets takes you on a tour of this remarkable realm, as seen and sensed by the Voyagers and other robotic explorers. Initial sections present some historical highlights and show the various means we use to study other worlds. Sections devoted to each planet form the core of the gallery. "What's New?" displays a full-scale model of a Mars rover, along with continually updated images from current missions of exploration.
This exhibition is on view in Gallery 207
Smithsonian Institution Photo 2005-22901, Eric Long/NASM
Voyager Spacecraft
he full-scale engineering test model of the Voyager
spacecraft displayed in the Exploring the Planets gallery approximates two
sent to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune.
Launched on different trajectories, they passed Jupiter during March and July
of 1979, and cruised on toward Saturn, Voyager 2 several months behind Voyager
1. The images of Jupiter they sent back revealed to scientists that Jupiter has rings and that Io,
one of Jupiter's moons, has active volcanoes.
Smithsonian Institution Photo 2006-1139, Eric Long/NASM
Surveyor 3 Television Camera
The Surveyor 3 television camera landed on the Moon as part of Surveyor 3 on April 20, 1967. On November 24, 1969, the crew of Apollo 12 carried the camera back to Earth.
Smithsonian Institution Photo SI2005-2062-4, Eric Long/NASM
Mars Exploration Rover
In mid-2003, NASA launched twin "robot geologists" to search for clues about the history of water on Mars. These surface rovers landed in January 2004, and have continued to operate long past their original 90-day mission plan. Each rover carries several science instruments designed to study a wide range of rocks and soils.
Lent by Cornell University
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