Initial field ion microscopes, precursors to modern atom probes, were usually glass blown devices developed by individual research laboratories.

The Deep Space series was continued by the Deep Space 2 probes, which were launched in January 1999 on Mars Polar Lander and were intended to strike the surface of Mars.

Space probes have been placed into orbit around all the five planets known to the ancients: first Mars ( Mariner 9, 1971 ), then Venus ( Venera 9, 1975 ; but landings on Venus and atmospheric probes were performed even earlier ), Jupiter ( Galileo, 1995 ), Saturn ( Cassini / Huygens, 2004 ), and most recently Mercury ( MESSENGER, March 2011 ), and have returned data about these bodies and their natural satellites.

However, when they were finally launched to Mars, the Viking probes still searched ( unsuccessfully ) for extant life there.

Mariner 1 ( P-37 ) and Mariner 2 ( P-38 ) were two deep-space probes making up NASA's Mariner-R project.

Originally, a Mariner 11 and Mariner 12 were planned as part of the Mariner program, however, due to congressional budget cuts, the mission was scaled back to be a flyby of Jupiter and Saturn, and renamed the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn probes.

Beginning in 1965, the Mariner and Viking space probes revealed that the canals were an illusion, and that the Martian environment is extremely hostile to life.

The bones were found using metal detectors and metal rods as probes.

* The planets of the solar system and their moons were closely observed via numerous space probes.

Pulsed plasma thrusters were the first electric thrusters to be deployed in space, used for attitude control on the Soviet probes Zond 2, from parking at Earth orbit to Mars on November 30, 1964, and Zond 3 in 1965.

Three probes were incorporated in its sensors, so it could obtain three mutually orthogonal components of the field vector.

Mariner 3 ( together with Mariner 4 known as Mariner-Mars 1964 ) was one of two identical deep-space probes designed and built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) for NASA's Mariner Mars 1964 Project that were intended to conduct close-up ( flyby ) scientific observations of the planet Mars and transmit information on interplanetary space and the space surrounding Mars, televised images of the Martian surface and occultation data of spacecraft radio signals as affected by the Martian atmosphere back to Earth.

Although polymorphisms can exist in the restriction enzyme cleavage sites, more commonly the enzymes and DNA probes were used to analyze VNTR loci.

The development of space travel gave scientists the opportunity to study the comet at close quarters, and several probes were launched to do so.

There were also two Japanese probes, Suisei and Sakigake.

The probes were unofficially known as the Halley Armada.

The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters.

Although they were designated officially to study just the planetary systems of Jupiter and Saturn, the space probes were able to continue their mission into the outer solar system, and they are expected to push through the heliosheath in deep space.

These two space probes were built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and they were paid for by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ), which also paid for their launchings from Cape Canaveral, Florida, their tracking, and everything else concerning the space probes.

Alpha decay can provide a safe power source for radioisotope thermoelectric generators used for space probes and artificial heart pacemakers.

Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke's " Crusade " revolves around a planetwide life-form based on silicon and superfluid helium located in deep intergalactic space, processing its thoughts slowly by human standards, that sends probes to look for similar life in nearby galaxies.

It concludes that it needs to make planets more habitable for similar life-forms, and sends out other probes to foment supernovae to do so.

On 24 March 1995, the Japanese robotic deep-sea probe Kaikō broke the depth record for unmanned probes when it reached close to the surveyed bottom of the Challenger Deep.

The European Space Operations Centre ( ESOC ) is responsible for controlling ESA satellites and space probes.

The first commercial use of fuel cells was in NASA space programs to generate power for probes, satellites and space capsules.

A DIY musician probes the circuit board of a synthesizer for Circuit bending | " bends " using a jeweler's screwdriver and alligator clips

Other advanced techniques, such as nonradioactive in situ hybridization, can be combined with immunochemistry to identify specific DNA or RNA molecules with fluorescent probes or tags that can be used for immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked fluorescence amplification ( especially alkaline phosphatase and tyramide signal amplification ).

Given sufficient travel time and engineering work, both unmanned and generational interstellar travel seem possible, though present considerable technological and economic challenges are unlikely to be met in the near future, particularly for manned probes.

At present in 2007 the practice of nanotechnology embraces both stochastic approaches ( in which, for example, supramolecular chemistry creates waterproof pants ) and deterministic approaches wherein single molecules ( created by stochastic chemistry ) are manipulated on substrate surfaces ( created by stochastic deposition methods ) by deterministic methods comprising nudging them with STM or AFM probes and causing simple binding or cleavage reactions to occur.

The advantages of using northern blotting include the detection of RNA size, the observation of alternate splice products, the use of probes with partial homology, the quality and quantity of RNA can be measured on the gel prior to blotting, and the membranes can be stored and reprobed for years after blotting.

Some radioisotope thermoelectric generators have been created to power space probes ( for example, the Cassini probe ), some lighthouses in the former Soviet Union, and some pacemakers.

Olympus Mons is an unlikely landing location for automated space probes in the near future.

Chemical synthesis allows for the introduction of non-natural amino acids into polypeptide chains, such as attachment of fluorescent probes to amino acid side chains.

The development of a number of novel probes for noninvasive, in vivo PET imaging of neuroaggregate in human brain has brought amyloid imaging to the doorstep of clinical use.

Example options include: specifying the packet size used as the probe, automatic repeated operation for sending a specified count of probes, and time stamping.

* Vulnerability scanner, a computer program that probes for weaknesses

Cathodoluminescence and EBIC are referred to as " beam-injection " techniques, and are very powerful probes of the optoelectronic behavior of semiconductors, in particular for studying nanoscale features and defects.

Evidence of past landslides has been detected on many bodies in the solar system, but since most observations are made by probes that only observe for a limited time and most bodies in the solar system appear to be geologically inactive not many landslides are known to have happened in recent times.

The attitude control rocket motors for satellites and space probes are often very small, an inch or so in diameter, and mounted in groups that point in four directions ( within a plane ).

Once the probes are connected, the user programs the analyzer with the names of each signal, and can group several signals together for easier manipulation.

One mission concept, the Venus Aerobot Multisonde ( VAMS ), envisions an aerobot operating at altitudes above that would drop surface probes, or " sondes ", onto specific surface targets.

A point of contention is whether it is better to use proud probes, where the angle between the magnetic field and the surface is at least 15 °, or flush-mounted probes, which are embedded in the plasma-facing components and generally have an angle of 1 to 5 °.

In probing and examining the oceanic surface of the planet Solaris from a hovering research station the human scientists are, in turn, being studied by the sentient planet itself, which probes for and examines the thoughts of the human beings who are analyzing it.

Ten probes from the Venera series successfully landed on Venus and transmitted data from the surface, including the two Vega program and Venera-Halley probes.

Among the other results, probes of the series became the first man-made devices to enter the atmosphere of another planet ( Venera 4 on October 18, 1967 ), to make a soft landing on another planet ( Venera 7 on December 15, 1970 ), to return images from the planetary surface ( Venera 9 on June 8, 1975 ), and to perform high-resolution radar mapping studies of Venus ( Venera 15 on June 2, 1983 ).

Unfortunately the surface conditions on Venus are extreme, which meant that the probes only survived on the surface for a duration of 23 minutes ( initial probes ) up to about two hours ( final probes ).

Although it was hoped they would reach the surface still functioning, the first probes failed almost immediately, thereby disabling data transmission to Earth.

Realizing the ships would be crushed before reaching the surface, the Soviets launched Venera 5 and Venera 6 as atmospheric probes.

Venera 15 and 16 were similar to previous probes, but replaced the entry probes with surface imaging radar equipment.

Simplified arrangement for measuring resistivity of a bulk material with surface probes.

Phobos probes carried several instruments: solar x-ray and ultraviolet telescopes, a neutron spectrometer and the Grunt radar experiment designed to study the surface relief of Phobos.

Unlike the US Surveyor probes that relied entirely on retrorockets, first Luna landers used a combination of retrorockets and gas-filled cushioning bags to reach the lunar surface safely.

To stimulate the facial muscles and capture these " idealized " expressions of his patients, Duchenne applied faradic shock through electrified metal probes pressed upon the surface of the various muscles of the face.