__NOTOC__ This is a list of missions supporting heliophysics, including solar observatory missions, solar orbiters, and spacecraft studying the solar wind.Heliophysics Research - NASA
Past and current missions
SpacecraftLaunch dateOperatorOrbitOutcomeRemarksCarrier rocket Explorer 10 NASA highly elliptical geocentric Deorbited 1 June 1968 Thor DM-19 Delta OSO 1 (OSO A) NASA low Earth Deorbited 7 October 1981 Thor-Delta Ariel 1 SERC/NASA low Earth Deorbited 24 May 1976 Thor DM-19 Delta Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO) NASA various geocentric (mostly) 6 satellites, last deorbited 29 August 2020 Atlas Agena, Thor Agena OSO 2 (OSO B2) NASA low Earth Deorbited 8 August 1989 Thor-Delta OSO 3 (OSO E1) NASA low Earth Observed solar flares from the Sun, as well as a flare from Scorpius X-1; Deorbited 4 April 1982 Thor-Delta OSO 4 (OSO D) NASA low Earth Deorbited 14 June 1982 Thor-Delta OSO 5 (OSO F) NASA low Earth Measured diffuse background X-ray radiation from 14-200 keV; Deorbited 2 April 1984 Thor-Delta OSO 6 (OSO G) NASA low Earth Observed three instances of hard X-ray coincidences with gamma ray bursts; Deorbited 7 March 1981 Thor-Delta OSO 7 (OSO H) NASA low Earth Observed solar flares in the gamma ray spectrum; Collected data allowed for identification of Vela X-1 as a High-mass X-ray binary; Deorbited 8 July 1974 Thor-Delta Prognoz 1 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar activity Soyuz Prognoz 2 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar activity Soyuz Skylab and the Apollo Telescope Mount NASA low Earth Deorbited 11 July 1979 Saturn INT-21 Prognoz 3 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar activity Soyuz Explorer 50 (IMP-8) NASA high Earth Contact lost 7 October 2006 Delta (1913) Helios NASA / DFVLR heliocentric 2 spacecraft, last contact 10 Feb 1986 Titan IIIE/Star-37 Taiyo (Solar Radiation and Thermospheric Satellite/Shinsei-3) ISAS elliptical geocentric Solar X-ray, UV radiation, and ionosphere studies; Deorbited 29 June 1980 M-3C OSO 8 (OSO I) NASA low Earth Found an iron emission line in the X-ray spectrum of a galaxy cluster; Deorbited 8 July 1986 Thor-Delta Prognoz 4 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar radiation and Plasma, and Earth's magnetosphere Soyuz Prognoz 6 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar radiation and Plasma, and Earth's magnetosphere Soyuz ISEE-1 NASA high Earth Deorbited 26 September 1987 Thor-Delta 2914 ISEE-2 NASA high Earth Deorbited 26 September 1987 Thor-Delta 2914 Prognoz 7 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar radiation and Plasma, Earth's magnetosphere, UV, X-ray and Gamma ray astronomy; Carried Czechoslovak, French, Hungarian and Swedish experiments Soyuz Voyager 2 NASA heliocentric to galactocentric Part of Voyager program, the spacecraft left heliosphere Titan IIIE/ Centaur Voyager 1 NASA heliocentric to galactocentric Part of Voyager program, the spacecraft left heliosphere Titan IIIE Centaur International Cometary Explorer (ICE/ISEE-3) NASA Earth-Sun L1 halo to heliocentric Contact lost 16 September 2014 Thor-Delta 2914 Prognoz 8 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar radiation and Plasma, and Earth's magnetosphere; Carried Czechoslovak, Polish and Swedish experiments Soyuz International Cometary Explorer (ICE) NASA Earth-Sun L1 halo to heliocentric Contact lost 16 September 2014 Delta 2914 Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) NASA low Earth Deorbited 2 December 1989 Delta 3910 Prognoz 9 USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar and cosmic radiation, Solar Plasma, Earth's magnetosphere and Gamma rays; Carried Czechoslovak and French experiments Soyuz Prognoz 10 (Intershock) USSR highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere; Intercosmos 23; Carried Czechoslovak experiments Soyuz Ulysses NASA/ESA high-inclination heliocentric Decommissioned 30 June 2009 Space Shuttle Discovery Yohkoh (Solar-A) ISAS / NASA / PPARC low Earth Deorbited 12 September 2005 Mu-3S-II Geotail ISAS/NASA high Earth Deactivated 28 November 2022. Delta II 6925 Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) NASA/MPE low Earth Deorbited 13 November 2012 Scout G-1 WIND NASA Earth-Sun L1 halo Delta II (7925–10) CORONAS-I Russia low Earth 12 instruments Tsyklone-3 Prognoz 11 (Interball Tail Probe) Russia highly elliptical geocentric Study Solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere Molniya Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) ESA/NASA Earth-Sun L1 halo Atlas IIAS Prognoz 12 (Interball Auroral Probe) Russia highly elliptical geocentric Study aurora Molniya Polar NASA highly elliptical geocentric Decommissioned 28 April 2008 Delta II 7925-10 Cluster ESA highly elliptical geocentric at launch 4 spacecraft Ariane 5G Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) NASA low Earth Decommissioned 4 May 2009 Pegasus-XL Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) NASA Earth-Sun L1 Lissajous Delta II 7920-8 Spartan 201 (STS-87) NASA low Earth during deployment Landed 5 December 1997 Space Shuttle Columbia Equator-S ISTP/MPE geosynchronous transfer orbit success(terminated early) Contact lost 1 May 1998 Ariane 4 (44P) Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) NASA low Earth (Sun-synchronous) Decommissioned 21 June 2010 Pegasus-XL Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE) LASP low Earth Deorbited 13 December 2003 Pegasus-XL Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite (ACRIMSAT) NASA low Earth (Sun-synchronous) Contact lost 14 December 2013 Taurus 2110 IMAGE NASA high Earth Contact lost 18 December 2005 Delta II 7326-9.5 Cluster II ESA high Earth 4 Spacecraft, replaced the original Cluster mission that failed on launch. Soyuz-U/Fregat Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) NASA low Earth Delta II 7920-10 CORONAS-F Russia low Earth 16 instruments, worked until 2005 Tsyklon-3 Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager (RHESSI) NASA low Earth Decommissioned 16 August 2018 Deorbited 2023 Pegasus-XL Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) NASA/LASP low Earth Decommissioned 25 February 2020 Pegasus-XL Double Star CNSA/ESA highly elliptical geocentric 2 spacecraft, one was deorbited 14 October 2007 the other remains in orbit Long March 2C PAMELA detector (located on Resurs-DK No.1) PAMELA group low Earth Decommissioned 7 February 2016 Soyuz-U TWINS A & B (located on USA-184 and USA-200) NASA highly elliptical geocentric (Molniya) 2 hosted payloads, decommissioned 2020 Delta IV-M+(4,2), Atlas V 411 Hinode (Solar-B) JAXA / NASA / PPARC low Earth (Sun-synchronous) M-V Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) NASA heliocentric 2 spacecraft, 1 still operational Delta II 7925 CORONAS-Photon Russia low Earth 11 instruments, failed after 10 months due to power supply problems Tsyklon-3 Space Technology 5 (ST5) NASA low Earth (Sun-synchronous) 3 spacecraft, decommissioned 30 June 2006 Pegasus-XL Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) NASA low Earth (Sun-synchronous) Pegasus-XL Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) NASA various 5 spacecraft Delta II 7925-10C Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigations (CINDI) NASA low Earth Deorbited 28 November 2015 Pegasus-XL IBEX NASA high Earth Pegasus-XL/Star-27 Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) NASA geosynchronous Atlas V 401 Van Allen Probesformerly Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) NASA highly elliptical geocentric 2 spacecraft, decommissioned 2019 Atlas V 401 Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) NASA atmospheric total of 63 flights, last launched 30 August 2016 high-altitude balloons Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) NASA low Earth (Sun-synchronous) Pegasus-XL Swarm ESA low Earth 3 spacecraft Rokot / Briz-KM Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) NASA/NOAA Earth-Sun L1 Lissajous Falcon 9 v1.1 Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) NASA highly elliptical geocentric 4 spacecraft Atlas V 421 Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) (aboard SES-14) NASA geosynchronous Ariane 5 ECA Parker Solar Probeformerly Solar Probe Plus NASA heliocentric Delta IV Heavy Space Environment Testbeds (on DSX) AFRL medium Earth Decommissioned 31 May 2021 Falcon Heavy Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) SSL/NASA low Earth Contact lost November 2022 Pegasus-XL Solar Orbiter ESA/NASA 24°-inclination heliocentric Atlas V 411Sunstorm17 August 2021ESAlow EarthCubeSatVega Aditya-L1 ISRO Earth-Sun L1 Halo PSLV-XL (C57) CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment (CURIE) NASA low Earth 2 spacecraft Ariane 6 PROBA-3 ESA Highly elliptical orbit 2 spacecraft PSLV-XL PUNCH NASA Sun-synchronous orbit Falcon 9 EZIE NASA Falcon 9 TRACERS NASA Falcon 9 Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) NASA L1 Lagrange point Falcon 9 Carruthers Geocorona Observatory NASA L1 Lagrange point Falcon 9 SOLAR-1 (previously SWFO-L1) NOAA L1 Lagrange point Falcon 9 SMILE ESA/CAS Highly elliptical orbit
Planned missions
SpacecraftLaunch dateOperatorOrbitDescription SunRISE Summer 2026 NASA supersynchronous geosynchronous Earth orbit 6 CubeSats HENON ESA Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 Space weather mission to demonstrate solar storm forecasting capabilities MUSE NASA Solar-C JAXA HelioSwarm NASA nine spacecraft Solar Polar Orbit Observatory CNSA heliocentric polar orbiter Vigil ESA Earth-Sun L5 and L1 2 spacecraft
Proposed missions SpacecraftProposed launch dateOperatorStatusRefsGalileo Solar Space TelescopeINPE ADAHELI ESA Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite (HERMES) 2025 NASA Cross-scale Investigation of Earth’s Magnetotail and Aurora (CINEMA) NET 2030 NASA Study Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer (CMEx) NASA Study
Cancelled missions SpacecraftProposed launch dateOperatorStatusRefsSolar Sentinels 2014 NASA Not selectedSolar Cruiser2025NASA Not selectedSundiverAustralian Academy of Science Not selected
Graphic
See also List of solar telescopes
References
External links NASA - Heliophysics missions