space probe

noun

1. Aerospace. an unmanned spacecraft designed to explore the solar system and transmit data back to earth.

space probe

noun

1. a vehicle, such as a satellite, equipped to obtain scientific information, normally transmitted back to earth by radio, about the atmosphere, surface, and temperature of a planet, conditions in space, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of space probe¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

As director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena from 1991 to 2001, Dr. Stone oversaw the Mars Pathfinder mission and its wheeled Sojourner rover; the Galileo space probe’s orbital mission to Jupiter; the launch of the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn and its rings and moons, a joint project involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian space agency; and a new class of Earth science satellites.

From New York Times

When scientists using NASA's Cassini space probe discovered organic compounds in blocks of ice from Enceladus, they wondered if this meant the Saturnian moon might have the ingredients for life.

From Salon

They then used a laser beam to excite the droplets and mass spectral analysis to mimic what instruments on the space probe will detect.

From Science Daily

"With suitable instrumentation, such as the SUrface Dust Analyzer on NASA's Europa Clipper space probe, it might be easier than we thought to find life, or traces of it, on icy moons," said senior author Frank Postberg, a professor of planetary sciences at the Freie Universität Berlin.

From Science Daily

A space probe nearing its 50th birthday has stopped contacting Earth and soon communications could be ceased entirely.

From Salon

Related Words

• spy satellite