Deep Space Probes

Space probes are types of unmanned spacecraft which are launched out of the Earth’s orbit with a view to gathering data and exploring specific areas of space whilst still communicating remotely with Earth. Some probes will simply be sent out to planets relatively close to Earth whilst others may be sent farther afield. These kinds of probes are often referred to as deep space probes.

Probes can be designed to land on a planet or to ‘fly by’ it. In some cases the probe will be directionally trained to make use of the orbit of planets. Deep space probes are designed to be able to investigate the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond.

It is thought that deep space probes will be our best way of finding planets that lie outside of our own solar system and of discovering more about deep space in general. Probes in general have been extremely useful in giving us information on the planets in our own solar system including those that are too far away for manned spacecraft to reach - the hope here is that deep space probes will be able to take this one stage further. These potential planets are often referred to as extra-solar or exoplanets.