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List of spacecraft intentionally crashed into extraterrestrial bodies

(Redirected from Deliberate crash landings on extraterrestrial bodies)

This is a list of uncrewed spacecraft which have been intentionally destroyed at their objects of study, typically by hard landings or crash landings at the end of their respective missions and/or functionality. This list only includes spacecraft specifically instructed to crash into the surface of an astronomical body other than the Earth, and also does not include unintentionally crashed spacecraft, derelict spacecraft, or spacecraft designed as landers. Intentionally crashing spacecraft not only removes the possibility of orbital space debris and planetary contamination, but also provides the opportunity (in some cases) for terminal science given that the transient light released by the kinetic energy may be available for spectroscopy; the physical ejecta can be used for further study.

Deep Impact at Comet 9P/Tempel 1
Dart Impact at Dimorphos
Mars 2020 Skycrane descend stage crash smoke plume in the distance

Even after soft landings had been mastered, NASA used crash landings to test whether Moon craters contained ice by crashing space probes into craters and testing the debris that got thrown out.[1] Several rocket stages utilized during the Apollo space program were intentionally crashed on the Moon to aid seismic research, and four of the ascent stages of Apollo Lunar Modules were intentionally crashed onto the Moon after they had fulfilled their primary mission. In total at least 47 NASA rocket bodies have impacted the Moon.

A recent impactor, the unusual double-crater of which was photographed on March 4, 2022 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is of unknown provenance; no space program has taken credit for it,[2] although a later study attributed it to a spent upper stage from the Chang'e 5-T1 mission.[3]

The Deep Impact mission had its own purpose-built impactor which hit Comet 9P/Tempel 1. Terminal approaches to gas giants which resulted in the destruction of the space probe count as crash landings for the purposes of this article. The crash landing sites themselves are of interest to space archeology.

Luna 1, not itself a lunar orbiter, was the first spacecraft designed as an impactor. It failed to hit the Moon in 1959, however, thus inadvertently becoming the first man-made object to leave geocentric orbit and enter a heliocentric orbit, where it remains.

Planets edit

Mercury edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
MESSENGER   United States 30 April 2015 Probably around 54.4° N, 149.9° W, near the crater Janáček Intentionally crashed at end of mission.

Venus edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Venera 3   Soviet Union 1 March 1966 20°N 80°E / 20°N 80°E / 20; 80 First manmade object to hit another planet. Failed to transmit data.
Venera 4   Soviet Union 18 October 1967 19°N 38°E / 19°N 38°E / 19; 38 First probe to transmit data from another planet's atmosphere. Succumbed after 53 minutes, within 26 kilometres (16 mi) from the surface.
Venera 5   Soviet Union 16 May 1969 3°S 18°E / 3°S 18°E / -3; 18 Succumbed after 51 minutes, within 26 kilometres (16 mi) from the surface.
Venera 6   Soviet Union 17 May 1969 5°S 23°E / 5°S 23°E / -5; 23 Succumbed after 51 minutes, within 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from the surface.
Venera 7   Soviet Union 15 December 1970 5°S 351°E / 5°S 351°E / -5; 351 Unexpectedly survived impact and generated extremely weak signal after landing. [a]
Pioneer Venus Large probe   United States 9 December 1978 4°24′N 304°00′E / 4.4°N 304.0°E / 4.4; 304.0 Stopped transmitting on impact with surface.
Pioneer Venus Small Probe North   United States 9 December 1978 59°18′N 4°48′E / 59.3°N 4.8°E / 59.3; 4.8 Stopped transmitting on impact with surface.
Pioneer Venus Small Probe Day   United States 9 December 1978 31°18′S 317°00′E / 31.3°S 317.0°E / -31.3; 317.0 Unexpectedly survived impact and transmitted for another 68 minutes.
Pioneer Venus Small Probe Night   United States 9 December 1978 28°42′S 56°42′E / 28.7°S 56.7°E / -28.7; 56.7 Unexpectedly survived impact and transmitted for another 2 seconds.
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Bus   United States 9 December 1978 Stopped transmitting on within 110 kilometres (68 mi) from the surface.
Pioneer Venus Orbiter   United States 22 October 1992 intentionally held to lower orbit to facilitate orbital decay.
Magellan   United States 13 October 1994 Controlled entry into Venus upon conclusion of mission.
  1. ^ Venera 8-14 and Vega 1 and 2 were explicitly designed to land on Venus and are not included in this list.

Mars edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Mars Science Laboratory Sky crane   United States 6 August 2012 Bradbury Landing
4°35′09″N 137°25′52″E / 4.5859°N 137.4312°E / 4.5859; 137.4312		 Debris field created by the heat shield, sky crane, and other components.
Mars 2020 Sky crane   United States 18 February 2021 Octavia E. Butler Landing
18°27′11″N 77°27′01″E / 18.453°N 77.4504°E / 18.453; 77.4504		 Debris field created by the heat shield, sky crane, and other components.

Jupiter edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Galileo atmospheric probe   United States 7 December 1995 Functioned for 57.6 minutes, disintegrated in the Jovian atmosphere
Galileo   United States 21 September 2003 Disintegrated in the Jovian atmosphere.

Saturn edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Cassini orbiter   United States 15 September 2017 9.4° N, 53° W 30 seconds of terminal data, more than anticipated, were received prior to Cassini's disintegration in Saturn's atmosphere.

Planetary moons edit

Earth's Moon edit

Further information: Moon landings and List of artificial objects on the Moon
Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Luna 2   Soviet Union 13 September 1959 29°06′N 0°00′E / 29.1°N -0°E / 29.1; -0 Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 4   United States 26 April 1962 15°30′S 130°42′W / 15.5°S 130.7°W / -15.5; -130.7 Intentional hard impact; hit lunar far side due to failure of navigation system.
Ranger 6   United States 2 February 1964 9°24′N 21°30′E / 9.4°N 21.5°E / 9.4; 21.5 Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 7   United States 31 July 1964 10°21′S 20°35′W / 10.35°S 20.58°W / -10.35; -20.58 Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 8   United States 20 February 1965 2°43′N 24°37′E / 2.72°N 24.61°E / 2.72; 24.61 Intentional hard impact.
Ranger 9   United States 24 March 1965 12°50′S 2°22′W / 12.83°S 2.37°W / -12.83; -2.37 Intentional hard impact.
Lunar Orbiter 1   United States 29 October 1966 6°21′N 160°43′E / 6.35°N 160.72°E / 6.35; 160.72 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Hiten   Japan 10 April 1993 34°18′S 55°36′E / 34.3°S 55.6°E / -34.3; 55.6 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Lunar Prospector   United States 31 July 1999 87°42′S 42°06′E / 87.7°S 42.1°E / -87.7; 42.1 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed into polar crater at end of mission to test for liberation of water vapour (not detected).
SMART-1   ESA 3 September 2006 34°15′43″S 46°11′35″W / 34.262°S 46.193°W / -34.262; -46.193 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe   India 14 November 2008 89°46′S 39°24′W / 89.76°S 39.40°W / -89.76; -39.40 Impactor. Water found.
SELENE Rstar (Okina)   Japan 12 February 2009 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Chang'e 1   China 1 March 2009 1°30′S 52°22′E / 1.50°S 52.36°E / -1.50; 52.36 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Kaguya   Japan 10 June 2009 Lunar orbiter, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
LCROSS (Centaur)   United States 9 October 2009 84°40′30″S 48°43′30″W / 84.675°S 48.725°W / -84.675; -48.725
84°43′44″S 49°21′36″W / 84.729°S 49.360°W / -84.729; -49.360 		Impactors: main craft flew through the plume of lunar dust created by its own upper rocket stage gathering data. Water confirmed.
Longjiang 2   China 31 July 2019 16°41′44″N 159°31′01″E / 16.6956°N 159.5170°E / 16.6956; 159.5170[4] Micro-satellite, intentionally crashed at end of mission.
Chang'e 5 ascender   China 7 December 2020 30°S 0°E / 30°S 0°E / -30; 0 Intentional impact of ascent stage after delivering sample to orbiter.

Other bodies edit

Asteroids edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
NEAR Shoemaker   United States 12 February 2001 Eros Slow impact with asteroid surface, spacecraft operated for another two weeks on asteroid surface.
Hayabusa 2 Small Carry-On Impactor (SCI)   Japan 5 April 2019 Ryugu Copper projectile shot at surface with explosive charge to expose asteroid subsurface.
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)   United States 26 September 2022 Dimorphos First attempt in history to redirect an asteroid.

Comets edit

Mission Country/Agency Date of landing/impact Coordinates Notes
Deep Impact   United States 4 July 2005 Tempel 1 The "Smart Impactor" had a payload of 100 kg of copper, which at its closing velocity of 10.2 km/s had the kinetic energy equivalent to 4.8 tonnes of TNT.
Rosetta   ESA 30 September 2016 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Intentionally crashed at end of mission.

Chronological gallery edit

  •  
    Ranger 4
  •  
    Ranger 6
  •  
    Rangers 7, 8, and 9
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    Lunar Orbiter 1
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    Hiten
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    Galileo Probe
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    Galileo
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    Lunar Prospector
  •  
    Deep Impact
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    SMART-1
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    Chandrayaan-1
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    SELENE (Kaguya)/Okina
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    Chang'e 1
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    LCROSS
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    MESSENGER
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    Mars Science Laboratory
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    Cassini
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    Mars 2020

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Crash Landing on the Moon". NASA Science. Archived from the original on April 16, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  2. ^ Chron, Ariana Garcia (June 29, 2022). "'Mystery rocket' that crashed into the Moon baffles NASA scientists". Chron.
  3. ^ Wall, Mike (16 November 2023). "Rogue rocket that slammed into the moon last year confirmed to be Chinese vehicle". Space.com. Future US Inc. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  4. ^ Robinson, Mark (November 14, 2019). "Longjiang-2 Impact Site Found!".
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