Ioonos

Beating Earth’s pull…

To tear away something weighing several tons from Earth’s pull requires a considerable amount of energy that only the launchers* are capable of providing. The stronger the energy the further the object in question can be sent. If a speed of at least 11.2 km per second is transmitted to this object (a high-speed train only moves at 150 meters per second, which is 75 times less), then earth’s pull is beaten; it cannot keep it in orbit and the object gets away. This object is a space probe.

… and more!

However, at this speed the probe still remains a prisoner of our solar system. If it is no longer an earth satellite it becomes a Sun satellite, which means it is subject to the gravitational pull of our star. But if we accelerate up to 16.6 km per second we go from the “second cosmic speed’ to the “third cosmic speed”. The probe breaks away from the Sun’s pull and leaves our solar system; it’s ready for the intergalactic journey!

We have to help each other…

As against satellites that only use their motors to change orbit, probes also use them to move forward. These are often chemical motors, as in rockets, but also ionic motors, which are less powerful but much more economical on energy. And there again, probes are able to use the gravitational forces of the planets to push themselves a bit further forward. A sort of game of leapfrog…

The most famous ones

The probes help us understand and observe the universe that surrounds us. The first one, “Luna 3”, was launched by the Russians in 1959 and was able to take photos of the other side of the Moon. In 2003 “Mars Express”, developed by ESA*, the European Space Agency, was the first to take three-dimensional photographs of Mars*. “Voyager 1”, a probe launched by NASA in 1977 was the first object built by man to leave our solar system, on 16 December 2004.