Editing Category:Space probes

*A {{w|space probe}} is an unmanned robotic spacecraft that leaves {{w|Earth}} orbit and explores space. 
**It may approach the {{w|Moon}}; enter interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land on other planetary bodies; or approach interstellar space.
*They are featured prominently in several {{xkcd}} comics, several times referenced in relation to a specific event, like a landing or flyby.
**An entire subcategory has also been made just to cover all the comics about [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]].
'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<br>

==Explanation==
*Most mentioned are the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager probes}} as well as {{w|Pioneer 10}} and {{w|Pioneer 11}}.
**One comic is even named after {{w|Voyager 1}}:  [[1189: Voyager 1]]. It tallies the number of times the space probe has left the {{w|solar system}} (22!)
**Another comic is named after both [[2624: Voyager Wires]], and explains how they cominucat3e with Earth via trailing copper wires. Only one of them are shown though, but both are mentioned.
**In [[482: Height]] Voyager 1 and Pioneer 10 are shown. (They are labeled but there is also a third space probe near Voyager 1 that is not labeled. Being close to Voyager 1 it could be assumed to be Voyager 2, but the “height” may rather indicate that is should be Pioneer 11).
**In  [[502: Dark Flow]] the {{w|Pioneer Anomaly}}, observed for the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes, is mentioned in the title text.
**[[1246: Pale Blue Dot]] references the {{w|Pale Blue Dot}} a picture of the Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1.
**In [[1276: Angular Size]] both voyager probes projections are shown in the last panel.
**In [[1461: Payloads]] several space probes are shown in the chart including both Voyager 2 and Pioneer 10.
**In [[2253: Star Wars Voyager 1]] the name is again used and compares the distance of Voyager 1 in light minutes from Earth to the total run time of the nine episodes of Star Wars, the last to be released 3 weeks before this comic.
**In [[2414: Solar System Compression Artifacts]] the Voyager probe is mentioned and depicted once again. It adds yet another tally to the number of times the probe has left the solar system.
**One of the the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' articles is called ''[https://what-if.xkcd.com/38/ Voyager]'' about retrieving it again...
**Voyager 1 is mentioned twice in ''[[Thing Explainer]]'' both in ''Worlds around the Sun'' (where 25 other probes were also mentioned including Voyager 2 as well) and in ''The sky at night''. It is called ''Big Trip Taker One'' in the book.
*Most prominent features of space probes are in these comics which all directly related to an upcoming or even ongoing event (with extra references to the same space probes included as well):
**The latter was the case in [[1446: Landing]] which was a stop motion live tracking of the progress of the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}} lander separating from the {{w|European Space Agency}}'s {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} probe to land on comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. (This was also one of the space probes shown in Payloads).
***[[1621: Fixion]] depicts Rosetta and the Fixion explains the {{w|flyby anomaly}} experienced the first time (of three) the probe got close to Earth.
***This probe is also depicted in ''[[Thing Explainer]]'' in ''Worlds around the Sun'' where it is called ''Little world watcher''.
***When the Rosetta mission ended a new comic about it was released using the name of the probe as the title: [[1740: Rosetta]]. This continues a trend of naming comics after space probes. Until recently only the mars rover had this honour but in the same year as this cosmic was released also the space probe Juno was used like this, see below.
**In [[1476: Ceres]] the photos taken by the {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}} space probe of {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}, the largest known {{w|asteroid}} and the smallest known {{w|dwarf planet}}, is used in this comic, a few months before the probe went into orbit around Ceres. (This was also one of the space probes shown in Payloads).
***This probe is also featured in ''[[Thing Explainer]]'' in ''Worlds around the Sun'' where it is called ''Special Engine Boat''.
**[[1532: New Horizons]] is named after {{w|New Horizons}},  the {{w|NASA}} space probe sent to study the dwarf planet {{w|Pluto}} and its moons. In this comic, from 1½ month before the probe reached Pluto, it turns out an error has sent the probe back to Earth instead. (The Dawn mission is mentioned here as well).
***[[1551: Pluto]] was released on the day of New Horizons closest approach to Pluto on 2015-07-14 as a tribute to the achievement.
***On the same day the ''what if?''  [http://what-if.xkcd.com/137/ New Horizons] was released.
**[[1547: Solar System Questions]] asks several questions about among other the Philae lander, about Pluto and {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}, stating we have the answer soon, a clear reference to New Horizons, about Ceres saying we are working on it, a clear reference to Dawn and about both the Pioneer Anomaly and the flyby anomaly, thus referencing at least five of the comics mentioned above.
** [[1703: Juno]] was written in honor of the {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno space probe}}, which made headlines the day before this comic aired when it fired its engines and successfully entered into orbit around {{w|Jupiter}}. See also above under the description of the comic [[Landing]], about the  [[Rosetta]] comic regarding naming comics after space probes.
*** Shortly after, in [[1727: Number of Computers]], the computer on Juno is mentioned together with those on both the {{w|Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo orbiter}} and its {{w|Galileo Probe|probe}}, the only other space probe to have entered into orbit around Jupiter.
**[[2262: Parker Solar Probe]] is about the {{w|Parker Solar Probe}} which is currently getting closer and closer to the sun, reaching its closest approach in 2025, 5 years after the release of the comic. It had already for a couple of years been the closest mad made object to the Sun.
*The last Pioneer reference in Solar System Questions take these space probes up to four comics, but they still fall short of the Voyager space probes with six comics.
*These are the remaining comics related to space probes:
**In [[1244: Six Words]] [[Cueball]] shows a possible trajectory path for a space probe.
**In [[1337: Hack]] the {{w|International Cometary Explorer|ISEE-3/ICE}} space probe is taken over by {{w|Leet|elite}} {{w|Hackers (film)|hackers}}.
**In [[1536: The Martian]] the title text is a reference to a particular part of ''The Martian''s story involving the {{w|Mars Pathfinder|Pathfinder}} space probe that NASA landed on {{w|Mars}} in 1997.  
***The [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rover]] ''{{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}}'' from the Pathfinder expedition was later referenced in [[1585: Similarities]] (also only in the title text ) on the day the {{w|The Martian (film)|movie}} was released,
**In [[1643: Degrees]] regarding the use of non-{{w|SI units}} in the US, the {{w|Mars Climate Orbiter}} space probe is referenced through mentioning that ''We lost a Mars probe over this crap '' which relates to the fact that the {{w|Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure|cause of failure}} for this probe was the use of different units by two different teams working on the same part of the probe.
*Space probes also features prominently in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' blog.
**As mentioned above one of the entries is called ''Voyager'' and another ''New Horizons''. There may be more...
*Space probes also features prominently in the book ''[[Thing Explainer]]''
**The Curiosity  rover has it's own explanation ''Red World Space Car'', it is also depicted in the last explanation ''Sky Toucher'' inside the skyscraper, and in ''Worlds around the Sun'' see below.
**In ''The sky at night'' the location of Voyager 1 is also shown.
**Seven space probes going through our solar system as well as 29 that came close to Mars are displayed in the description of the Solar system in ''Worlds around the Sun''. 
***One probe is shown in both drawings (Rosetta).
***One probe is shown in one drawing and the rover (Curiosity) in the other. 
***One mission deployed both a rover and a lander, both are depicted (Pathfinder)
***Two mission also deployed landers, which are shown but not named)
***One probe is shown but not named
**From the above it can be found that the 36 drawn probes represents 31 missions, only one of which failed (unclear which this was see below), and only one not named, and thus also a bit unclear.
**In the book the probes have of course been given different name using the 1000 most common words. Some of these have been mentioned above when the probe has also been featured in comics and for the named mars rovers these have also been listed with more detail in the explanation for that category. 
**Here is a list of the probes shown on the page with the entire solar system giving first the name used in ''Thing Explainer'':
***''Big Trip Taker One'' - Voyager 1 (see above).
***''Big Trip Taker Two'' - Voyager 2 (see above).
***''Big World boat'' - {{w|Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo}} was the only probe to enter into orbit around {{w|Jupiter}}, until Juno (see above).
***''Ring World boat''  - {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} is the only probe to enter into orbit around {{w|Saturn}}.
***''Special Engine Boat'' - Dawn (see above).
***''Red World Space Car'' - {{w|Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)|Mars Science Laboratory}} i.e. the probe that delivered Curiosity.
***''?'' - A probe is shown but not named which visits {{w|Mercury}} after a flyby of {{w|Venus}}. It is probably {{w|Mariner 10}} but {{w|MESSENGER}} would also fit the bill, except that it took two flybys of Venus. However both missions also took three flybys of Mercury and only one is shown...
***''?'' - One of the {{w|Apollo program|Apollo missions}} is shown on the {{w|Moon}}, but also not named, although this is not a space probe since it was manned, and the two men are shown next to the landing module.
**The other side only shows mars and the probes that either went into orbit, landed or just visited Mars. Here is a list of the probes that just visited but didn't stay, the last two of these used Mars to get to other places:
***''Boat Rider Four'' - {{w|Mariner 4}}
***''Boat Rider Six'' - {{w|Mariner 6}}
***''Boat Rider Seven'' - {{w|Mariner 7}}. Note that Mariner 9 which was the first to successfully go into orbit is called Sea Goer? See below.
***''Red World Four'' -  {{w|Mars 4}}
***''Red World Six'' - {{w|Mars 6}}
***''Red World Seven'' - {{w|Mars 7}}
***''Wrong Turn Boat'' - It is unclear which probe this relates to, as it seems the wrong turn took it away from Mars. There have been two crash landings on Mars recently, one of which is the Mars Climate Orbiter (see above), where a wrong turn took it too steep into the atmosphere were it burned up, but that is not what is depicted. A Russian mission Mars 4 made a unintended flyby but it was due to loss of signal, and not a wrong, but a missed turn. And it is also shown as one of the other probes (see above).
***''Special Engine Boat'' - Dawn (was also shown in the image of the entire Solar System and mentioned above).
***''Little world watcher'' - Rosetta (see above).
**These probes went in to orbit around Mars, here are their names:
***''Red World Sky Watcher'' - {{w|MAVEN}}.
***''Red World Visitor'' - {{w|Mars Orbiter Mission}}
***''Red World Watcher'' -  {{w|Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter}} 
***''Fast Red World Boat'' - {{w|Mars Express}}
***''Twenty Oh One Red World Trip'' - {{w|2001 Mars Odyssey}}
***''Red World Looker'' - {{w|Mars Global Surveyor}}
***''Red World Moon Two'' - {{w|Phobos program|Phobos 2}}
***''Old North Person Two'' - {{w|Viking 2}} - the lander that was successfully deployed from this probe was not named but it is shown on the surface below the probe.
***''Old North Person One'' - {{w|Viking 1}} - the lander that was successfully deployed from this probe was not named but it is shown on the surface below the probe.
***''Red World Five'' - {{w|Mars 5}}
***''Red World Three'' - {{w|Mars 3}}
***''Red World Two'' - {{w|Mars 2}}
***''Sea Goer (The One After Eight)'' - {{w|Mariner 9}} seems like a mistake that Randall switched the name for those Mariner probes not going into orbit from Boat Rider, to Sea Goer for this one that did... Maybe there were a long time span between drawing the first part and the other, and he forgot that he had already given a name to the Mariner series in the first part?
**These last probes are the named probes that landed on Mars (see above for un-named), mainly rovers, so see more detail in the Mars rover category, but here are the names:
***''Road Finder'' - {{w|Mars Pathfinder}}.
***''Road Taker'' - {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner rover}}, which means "traveler".
***''Good Chances car'' - {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity rover}}.
***''Good Feelings car'' - {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit rover}}.
***''Fire Bird lander'' - {{w|Phoenix (spacecraft)|Phoenix}}.
***''The Feeling of Wanting to Know Things car'' - {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity rover}}. The probe that send this rover down, is the only mars probe shown in the drawing of the entire solar system - it is the Mars Science Laboratory which is also mentioned under the name for Curiosity ''(Red World Space Car)''.
</div>
<br>

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Comics by topic]]