Program archive

Outer Solar System

Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons turned distant points of light into complex worlds with rings, atmospheres, active geology, oceans, and Kuiper Belt neighbors.

Missions: 2
People: 0
Vehicles: 2

Explore this program

Choose a path through the Outer Solar System archive.

Currently viewing · Overview

Robotic explorers across the giant planets and beyond

Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons turned distant points of light into complex worlds with rings, atmospheres, active geology, oceans, and Kuiper Belt neighbors.

Program details1977–presentNASA · JPL · international partners · 1977–present

Flight record2 flights2 robotic or uncrewed

First flown missionVoyager 2August 20, 1977

Latest flown missionVoyager 1September 5, 1977

Core capabilities

Multi-world reconnaissance

Used flybys and to explore many planets and moons efficiently.

Long-lived systems

Maintains communications and power across decades and billions of kilometers.

Orbital investigation

Cassini repeatedly observed Saturn, its rings, magnetosphere, and moons.

Frontier exploration

Voyager studies interstellar space while New Horizons continues through the Kuiper Belt.

Program story

Voyager 1 and 2 launched in 1977 and used a rare planetary alignment to transform knowledge of the giant planets. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune, while both spacecraft later crossed the heliopause.

Cassini-Huygens entered Saturn orbit in 2004. Cassini revealed active plumes at Enceladus and mapped an extraordinarily complex Saturn system, while Huygens made the first landing in the outer solar system on Titan.

New Horizons completed the first Pluto flyby in 2015 and later explored Arrokoth, extending close-range reconnaissance into the Kuiper Belt.

Program archive

Outer Solar System

Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons turned distant points of light into complex worlds with rings, atmospheres, active geology, oceans, and Kuiper Belt neighbors.

Missions: 2
People: 0
Vehicles: 2

Explore this program

Choose a path through the Outer Solar System archive.

Currently viewing · Overview

Robotic explorers across the giant planets and beyond

Voyager, Cassini-Huygens, and New Horizons turned distant points of light into complex worlds with rings, atmospheres, active geology, oceans, and Kuiper Belt neighbors.

Program details1977–presentNASA · JPL · international partners · 1977–present

Flight record2 flights2 robotic or uncrewed

First flown missionVoyager 2August 20, 1977

Latest flown missionVoyager 1September 5, 1977

Core capabilities

Multi-world reconnaissance

Used flybys and to explore many planets and moons efficiently.

Long-lived systems

Maintains communications and power across decades and billions of kilometers.

Orbital investigation

Cassini repeatedly observed Saturn, its rings, magnetosphere, and moons.

Frontier exploration

Voyager studies interstellar space while New Horizons continues through the Kuiper Belt.

Program story

Voyager 1 and 2 launched in 1977 and used a rare planetary alignment to transform knowledge of the giant planets. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune, while both spacecraft later crossed the heliopause.

Cassini-Huygens entered Saturn orbit in 2004. Cassini revealed active plumes at Enceladus and mapped an extraordinarily complex Saturn system, while Huygens made the first landing in the outer solar system on Titan.

New Horizons completed the first Pluto flyby in 2015 and later explored Arrokoth, extending close-range reconnaissance into the Kuiper Belt.