Historical Probes

The Historical Probes are part of the Wanderer adventure, added in the Wanderer Update. The probes are replicas of real-world probes, such a the Hubble Space Telescope or the Sputnik Satellite. To activate the probes, a is required and will reward the player with a different palette for each probe.

Kepler Space Telescope

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Grey Mountains
 * Database Entry: 2009.03.07
 * Reward: Wanderer Blue Palette

The Kepler Space Telescope was launched on March 7, 2009, in a heliocentric orbit around Earth. Its primary mission was to discover Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars. It was deactivated on November 15, 2018.

New Horizons Probe

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Grey Mountains
 * Database Entry: 2006.01.19
 * Reward: Wanderer Yellow Palette

The New Horizons probe was launched on January 19, 2006, into an earth and solar system escape trajectory. It was launched as part of NASA's New Frontiers program, with the primary mission to do a flyby study of Pluto.

Hubble Space Telescope

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Orange Crags
 * Database Entry: 1990.04.25
 * Reward: Wanderer Orange Palette

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, into a low Earth orbit. It provides extremely high-resolution images that ground-based telescopes could not provide, due to being outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere. It is the only satellite designed to be maintained by astronauts.

Voyager 2 Probe

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Mountain Forest
 * Database Entry: 1977.08.20
 * Reward: Wanderer Fuchsia Palette

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, with the primary mission to study the Jovian, Saturnian, Uranian and Neptunian systems. It left the heliosphere for interstellar space on November 5, 2018, and remains in contact with the NASA Deep Space Network.

Mariner X Probe

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Rocky Peaks
 * Database Entry: 1977.08.20
 * Reward: Wanderer Red Palette

Mariner 10 was launched on November 3, 1973, with the mission to identify and measure Mercury's environment, atmosphere, surface, and body characteristics and to make similar investigations of Venus along the way. It was the first space probe to use the gravitational slingshot maneuver, using Venus's gravity to alter its trajectory towards Mercury. It was abandoned when it ran out of maneuvering fuel and remains in orbit somewhere around the sun.

Pioneer I Spacecraft

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Dark Peaks
 * Database Entry: 1958.10.11
 * Reward: Wanderer Teal Palette

Pioneer I was the first spacecraft to be launched into space by NASA on October 11, 1958, and had the original mission to go to the moon. However, the launch did not go as planned, and changes to the flight trajectory caused the spacecraft to fall back to earth after it had reached a height of 113,800 km.

Sputnik Satellite

 * Planet:
 * Biome: Yellow Cavern Mountains
 * Database Entry: 1957.10.04
 * Reward: Wanderer Green Palette

Sputnik 1 was the first satellite to ever be launched into orbit. It was launched on October 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union. It remained in elliptical orbit for 3 weeks before it's batteries died and lost contact, then silently for 2 more months before falling back to earth.