Robotic spacecraft carries no man with it as the name indicates it is controlled by the remote. Robotic spacecraft is especially designed for the collecting ideas from outer space and thus it is known as space probe. Space mission are done by using robotic spacecraft rather than crewed operation. Robotic spacecraft are safer and cost is low while installing such spacecraft. Some planetary objectives such as Venus and near to Jupiter are unfriendly or unfavorable for survival of any man hence robotic spacecraft are best option for exploring these areas.

Sometime the distance also matters for usage robotic spacecraft. Planets like Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are very far from earth and robotic spacecraft is only the way to explore these planets.

History of Spacecraft

1. First artificial satellite was put in earth orbit was Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957 . Weight of Sputnik 1, was recorded as 83.6 kg. It was put into the earth orbit by Soviet Union. Sputnik 2 was launched on 3 November 1957 by Soviet Union and it carried a female dog into the space.  Weight of Sputnik 2 was calculated to be 508.3 kg.
2. First successful space probe Explorer 1 was launched by United States on 31 January 1958. Weight of this artificial satellite was less than both previous satellite Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2. Explorer 1 sensed that there is narrow band of radiation surrounding the earth. This was named after the scientist whose equipments detected it as Van Allen belts.
3. France (1965), Japan (1970), China (1970), the United Kingdom (1971), India (1981) and Israel (1988) were only the six countries who got successful in launching their space mission.
4. European Space Agency carried out relatively fewer space exploration mission in past than any other country. Giotto mission accounted for the comet named Halley’s Comet. European Space Agency had launched many interplanetary spacecraft such as Rosetta space probe, Mars Express, Venus Express in recent years.

Robotic spacecraft are usually remotely-controlled but the earliest orbital spacecraft Sputnik 1 and Explorer 1 did not receive control signals from Earth. With the advanced technology and better equipments these spacecraft were developed allocate control from the Earth. Cassini-Huygens and the Mars Exploration Rovers are highly self-governed and use on-board computers which enable them to operate independently for extended periods of time.

Thus robotic spacecraft play important role in the space missions and are highly advanced spacecraft for finding evidences from outer space.

Tags: history of spacecraft, planetary objectives, robotic spacecraft