Most exciting year for solar system exploration? Options

[Superstring]

In light of the coming rendezvous with Ceres and the Pluto-Charon system, I thought I'd start a conversation about what everyone considers to be the most exciting years in solar system exploration. I think 1969 is obviously the most exciting year for manned exploration, so for this topic I'd like to focus more on the robotic missions.

Here are the ones I consider the top 3 contenders:

1965 - Mariner 4 sends back the first pictures of another world's surface other than Earth & Luna, revealing Mars to be utterly different than many had imagined.
1979 - Voyager 1 & 2 are the first to image the surfaces of the 4 Galilean Moons, revealing their surprising natures on a global scale.
2015 - If all goes as planned, Dawn and New Horizons will image the surfaces of 3 never-explored worlds (Ceres, Pluto, and Charon) in high resolution.

Some other notable years...

1972 - Mariner 9 is the first craft to orbit another planet, and dramatically expands the scope of Mars imagery.
1974 - Mariner 10 images Venus and Mercury for the first time.
1975 - Venera 9 is the first probe to take photos from the surface of another planet.
1980 - Voyager 1 explores Saturn and several of its moons.
1986 - Voyager 2 explores the Uranus system.
1989 - Voyager 2 explores Neptune and Triton, discovering a world with nitrogen geysers.
2005 - Huygens lands on Titan, and Cassini reveals the dark side of Iapetus and the plumes of Enceladus.
2014 - Rosetta is the first craft to image a comet in high resolution and the first to land a probe on a comet.

All just my opinion. What say you?

[dvandorn]

I would add:

1958 -- Explorer 1 discovers the van Allen belts of energetic particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field, extremely basic information needed for planning of all future spaceflights of any kind.

1959 -- Luna (aka Lunik) 3 photographs the far side of the Moon for the first time, and for the first time we see prominent backside features such as Tsiolkovsky crater.

1966 -- Humans see the Moon from its surface for the first time, from both Luna 9 and Surveyor I.

1976 -- Viking landers 1 and 2 give humanity its first actual views of Mars from its surface, making the Red Planet an actual place and not just a light in the sky.

-the other Doug (With my shield, not yet upon it)

[craigmcg]

Going from memory... Once Cassini dives into Saturn in September 2017, will Mars be the only planet left with active missions? It certainly seems like the last 10 years have been the a peak time for exploration.

[katodomo]

Mariner 9 started orbiting Mars in November 1972, Mars 2 from December 1972. I'd book that for that year.

So we basically just need something for: 1957, 1960-1964, 1967-1971, 1972, 1975, 1977-1978, 1981-1985, 1987-1988, 1990-2005, 2006-2013.



1957 - first orbit achieved.
1967 - first atmospheric entry probe at another planet (Venera 4)
1970 - first robotic sample return from another body (Luna 16), first teleoperated rover (Lunokhod 1), first hard landing on another planet (Venera 7)
1972 - first in-situ spectroscopic analysis of surface material of another planet (Venera 8)
1973 - first soft landing on another planet (Mars 3)
1977 - first spacecraft photo showing two separate bodies (Voyager 1 - Earth and the Moon)... ok, finding one for this year was hard
1978 - first mooring at a Sun-Earth Lagrange point (ISEE-3)

1960-1964 - only saw launch failures in attempting for new exploration achievements.
1968-1969 - Moon Race throws that one out of whack, although I bet one could find something.

Someone do 1981+. Pioneer 10 was the first beyond Neptune in 1983, and multiple firsts by Galileo comes to mind for 1990+.

[katodomo]

Going from memory... Once Cassini dives into Saturn in September 2017, will Mars be the only planet left with active missions?

"Active" as in in place? Juno's dive is scheduled for October 2017, so technically there'll still be at least one other after Cassini. For a month.

BepiColombo for Mercury would be enroute by then, since 2016. Has Venus flybys scheduled for 2019 and 2020 to swing down to Mercury for 5 flybys over the next couple years, and would then place two orbiters at Mercury in 2024.

[mcaplinger]

So we basically just need something for... 1990-2005, 2006-2013.

Gee, you've managed to skip over my entire professional career from Mars Observer on. The only "exciting" things that have happened since 1990 were Huygens and Rosetta?

[scalbers]

How about the Galileo probe entry in 1995, first in-situ investigation of a giant planet atmosphere?

[Explorer1]

I heard that two rovers landed on Mars back in 2004, along with an orbiter arriving; ring any bells?

[tasp]

Just for me, Voyager 1 approach and encounter with Saturn was as exciting as it ever got.

All the way in, the ring pictures just kept getting better and better. No one imagined so much detail, and then the spokes were seen !!!

Right up to closest approach to Titan we all were hoping for a break in the clouds to see the surface, but it wasn't to be till Cassini got there.

The satellites were weirdly different from Jupiter's

The ring plane crossing was a nail biter too.

Did I mention the rings ?

[angel1801]

I rarely post here, though I am now a 3-year member of the Planetary Society.

Here's one that have not been mentioned.

1986 - Gittto imaged Halley's comet.

[climber]

I don't know if 2015 will be the more exciting year but, these days, each time I refresh, 3 topics are on top:
NH, NEAR, Philae
Definitively the most exciting MONTH.

[SFJCody]

I don't know if 2015 will be the more exciting year but, these days, each time I refresh, 3 topics are on top:
NH, NEAR, Philae

NEAR? That's a blast from the past! First time I ever became aware of Doug Ellison's work- that great NEAR landing photomosaic he made.

I wasn't around at the time, but I'm sure the 1979 Voyager flybys of Jupiter must make that year one of the top three. A wonderful abundance of planetary diversity revealed unexpectedly. Like having another solar system on our doorstep.

[climber]

Yep, this was the Dawn of exploration...

I can't believe I wrote NEAR

[hendric]

Meh, all those asteroids look alike, amirite?

[stevesliva]

Gee, you've managed to skip over my entire professional career from Mars Observer on. The only "exciting" things that have happened since 1990 were Huygens and Rosetta?

Perhaps they mean seminal or novel, though that's still in the eyes of the beholder.

Magellen at Venus was huge for understanding that world as more than a cloud, same as Cassini at Titan.