space probe

noun

1. Aerospace.,  an unmanned spacecraft designed to explore the solar system and transmit data back to earth.

space probe

noun

1. a vehicle, such as a satellite, equipped to obtain scientific information, normally transmitted back to earth by radio, about the atmosphere, surface, and temperature of a planet, conditions in space, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of space probe¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

In 2034, NASA's space probe Dragonfly is expected to reach Titan, with the aim of investigating what is on its surface.

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Voyager 1 is one of two identical space probes.

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They then used a laser beam to excite the droplets and mass spectral analysis to mimic what instruments on the space probe will detect.

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A space probe nearing its 50th birthday has stopped contacting Earth and soon communications could be ceased entirely.

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Four years later, she joined a four-day mission on the same spacecraft when it sent the Magellan robotic space probe to Venus to map the planet’s surface.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• spy satellite www.thesaurus.com