Catalogue · Technologies

The technologies of exploration

Launchers, crewed vehicles, probes, satellites, stations and instruments: the hardware that makes exploration possible, by category.

Hardware catalogue

24technologies

6categories

Launchers

Super-lourd

SpaceX

▸ Super-lourd

In development

Starship

The most powerful fully reusable launch system ever built; centerpiece of future lunar and Martian flights.

NASA

▸ Super-lourd

Operational

SLS Block 1

The heavy-lift launcher of the Artemis program; sent Orion around the Moon (Artemis I in 2022, Artemis II in 2026).

Lourd

SpaceX

▸ Lourd

Operational

Falcon Heavy

Three Falcon 9 cores combined; one of the most powerful operational launchers, with side boosters recovered.

ESA · ArianeGroup

▸ Lourd

Operational · first flight 2024

Ariane 6

Europe's heavy-lift launcher; guarantees Europe's autonomous access to space.

Blue Origin

▸ Lourd

Operational · first flight 2025

New Glenn

Partially reusable heavy-lift launcher, first stage recovered at sea.

Moyen

SpaceX

▸ Moyen

Operational

Falcon 9

The world's most-launched rocket; reusable first stage recovered and reflown dozens of times.

Léger

ESA · Avio

▸ Léger

Operational

Vega-C

Small European launcher for light payloads and low orbit.

Rocket Lab

▸ Léger

Operational

Electron

Small launcher dedicated to smallsats, with a high launch cadence.

Crewed vehicles

NASA · ESA

▸ Vaisseau lunaire

Operational

Orion

Crewed spacecraft designed for deep space; carried a crew around the Moon (Artemis II, 2026).

SpaceX

▸ Capsule orbitale

Operational

Crew Dragon

Reusable capsule that has carried crews to the ISS since 2020.

Boeing

▸ Capsule orbitale

In development

Starliner

Crewed capsule undergoing qualification for crew rotations to the ISS.

Roscosmos

▸ Capsule orbitale

Operational

Soyuz

The oldest crewed spacecraft still in service; has served the ISS since its beginnings.

Probes & rovers

NASA

▸ Rover martien

Operational

Perseverance

Astrobiology rover in Jezero crater; collects and seals samples for a future return.

NASA

▸ Sondes interstellaires

Operational

Voyager 1 & 2

Launched in 1977; the only human-made objects to have reached interstellar space.

NASA

▸ Sonde solaire

Operational

Parker Solar Probe

Skims the Sun's corona to study the solar wind, protected by a heat shield.

NASA

▸ Sonde lointaine

Operational

New Horizons

Flew by Pluto in 2015; now exploring the Kuiper belt.

Satellites & observation

ESA · UE

▸ Observation de la Terre

Operational

Copernicus / Sentinel

Fleet of observation satellites that monitor climate, land, and oceans.

SpaceX

▸ Constellation internet

Operational

Starlink

Constellation of thousands of satellites in low orbit providing global Internet access.

ESA · UE

▸ Navigation

Operational

Galileo

The European satellite navigation system, a civilian alternative to GPS.

Space stations

International

▸ Station orbitale

Operational

International Space Station (ISS)

The largest crewed object in orbit; a permanent laboratory, the fruit of global cooperation since 1998.

CNSA

▸ Station orbitale

Operational

Tiangong

The Chinese space station, permanently crewed in low orbit.

Telescopes & instruments

NASA · ESA · CSA

▸ Télescope infrarouge

Operational

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

The largest space telescope; observes the early Universe and exoplanet atmospheres in infrared.

NASA · ESA

▸ Télescope

Operational

Hubble Space Telescope

In orbit since 1990; revolutionized astronomy and our view of the Universe.

ESA

▸ Télescope

Operational

Euclid

Maps the geometry of the Universe to unravel the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.