Shensuo (spacecraft)
Shensuo (Chinese: 神梭), formerly Interstellar Express is a proposed Chinese National Space Administration program designed to explore the heliosphere and interstellar space.The program will feature two or three space probes that will purportedly be launched in 2024 and follow differing trajectories to encounter Jupiter to assist them out of the Solar System. The first probe, IHP-1, will travel toward the nose of the heliosphere, while the second probe, IHP-2, will fly near to the tail, skimming by Neptune and Triton in January 2038. There may be another probe—tentatively IHP-3—which would launch in 2030 to explore to the northern half of the heliosphere. IHP-1 and IHP-2 would be the sixth and seventh spacecraft to leave the Solar System, as well as first non-NASA probes to achieve this status.
Mission type | Heliosphere science, planetary flyby |
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Operator | Chinese National Space Administration |
Mission duration | 25 years (planned) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | Proposed: May 2024 |
Flyby of Earth (gravity assist) | |
Closest approach | October 2025 |
Flyby of Earth (gravity assist) | |
Closest approach | December 2027 |
Flyby of Jupiter | |
Closest approach | March 2029 |
Flyby of 50000 Quaoar | |
Closest approach | 2040 (tenative) |
Distance | TBD |
Mission type | Heliosphere science, planetary flyby |
---|---|
Operator | Chinese National Space Administration |
Mission duration | 25 years (planned) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | Proposed: May 2024–2026 |
Flyby of Earth (gravity assist) | |
Closest approach | May 2027 |
Flyby of Earth (gravity assist) | |
Closest approach | March 2032 |
Flyby of Jupiter | |
Closest approach | May 2033 |
Flyby of Neptune | |
Closest approach | January 2038 |
Distance | 1,000 km |
Flyby of Triton | |
Closest approach | January 2038 |
Distance | TBD |
Flyby of Kuiper belt object (TBD) | |
Closest approach | TBD |
Distance | TBD |