# lander

> spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body

**Wikidata**: [Q763288](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q763288)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lander_(spacecraft))  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/lander

## Summary
A lander is a spacecraft designed to descend toward and come to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. It is a type of spacecraft specifically engineered to make direct contact with a celestial body's surface for scientific investigation.

## Key Facts
*   A lander is a subclass of spacecraft.
*   It is designed to descend toward and come to rest on the surface of an astronomical body.
*   Lunar landers are a specific type of lander intended to land on the surface of the Moon.
*   The Europa Lander is a proposed NASA spacecraft concept for Jupiter's moon Europa.
*   Philae was a robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft.
*   Many landers, such as the Vega and Venera Descent Crafts, were designed for in-situ studies of atmospheres and superficial crusts.
*   The entity has 42 sitelinks across various platforms.
*   Its Wikipedia title is "Lander (spacecraft)".
*   Aliases for lander include "Landesonde" and "登陆舱".

## FAQs
### Q: What is a lander?
A: A lander is a type of spacecraft specifically designed to descend to and come to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. Its primary function is to make controlled contact with the celestial body's surface.

### Q: What is the purpose of a lander?
A: Landers are used to conduct in-situ studies of the atmosphere and surface of astronomical bodies. They can carry scientific instruments to analyze the environment directly or deploy other vehicles like rovers to explore the landing site.

### Q: What are some examples of landers?
A: Notable examples include Philae, which accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft, and various Venera Descent Crafts that studied Venus. Lunar landers are designed for the Moon, and the Europa Lander is a proposed concept for Jupiter's moon Europa.

### Q: How does a lander differ from an impact probe?
A: A lander is designed for a controlled descent to come to rest on a surface, often to perform scientific studies. In contrast, an impact probe is a spacecraft that deliberately impacts a celestial body without braking, typically to analyze the resulting plume or seismic activity.

## Why It Matters
Landers are crucial for direct exploration of astronomical bodies beyond Earth, providing unique insights that cannot be obtained through remote sensing or orbital observations. By successfully descending and coming to rest on surfaces, they enable in-situ scientific investigations, allowing for direct analysis of soil, rock, and atmospheric samples. This capability has yielded invaluable data on the composition, geology, and atmospheric conditions of planets and moons, exemplified by missions to Venus (Venera missions) and Mars (Phoenix, InSight, Mars Pathfinder). Furthermore, landers often serve as deployment platforms for rovers, significantly extending the range and scope of surface exploration. The engineering challenges overcome to achieve controlled landings on distant celestial bodies represent significant technological advancements. Ultimately, landers are fundamental to advancing our understanding of the solar system, searching for signs of past or present life, and paving the way for future human exploration.

## Notable For
*   Enabling direct, in-situ scientific study of the surfaces and atmospheres of astronomical bodies.
*   Serving as platforms for deploying rovers and other scientific instruments onto planetary surfaces.
*   Being a distinct class of spacecraft, differentiated from impact probes by their controlled descent and resting on a surface.
*   Having successfully explored diverse celestial bodies, including the Moon, Mars, and Venus.

## Body

### Definition and Classification
A lander is a spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. It is classified as a subclass of spacecraft. Other related classifications include:
*   **Impact probe**: A spacecraft which deliberately impacts a celestial body without braking, distinguishing it from a lander.
*   **Lunar lander**: A specific type of spacecraft intended to land on the surface of the Moon.
*   **Europa Lander**: A proposed spacecraft concept by NASA for a lander for Jupiter's moon Europa.

### Notable Examples and Missions
Numerous landers have been developed and deployed for various space exploration missions:
*   **Philae**: A robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft.
*   **Challenger Memorial Station**: The lander for the Opportunity rover, located at Meridiani Planum.
*   **Columbia Memorial Station**: The lander for the Spirit rover, located in Gusev crater.
*   **MASCOT**: A small lander carried on the Hayabusa2 mission.
*   **Pioneer Venus Probes**: Included the Large Probe (Sounder Probe) and multiple Small Probes (Day, Night, North) of the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe mission, originating from the United States.
*   **Vega Descent Crafts**: The Vega 1 and Vega 2 lander probes were identical to those of Venera 9 through 14, designed to study the atmosphere and superficial crust.
*   **Venera Descent Crafts**: Venera 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 were space probes from the Soviet Union. Many of these included descent craft/landers for in-situ studies of Venus's atmosphere and surface. Venera 7 was a space probe that landed on the planet Venus.
*   **XL-1 Lander**: The Xelene lander mission (TO 19C, or Masten Mission 1) is designed to bring eight payloads to the lunar surface in 2023 and operate them for at least 12 days.
*   **Phoenix**: A robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program.
*   **InSight**: A robotic lander on Mars.
*   **Mars Pathfinder**: A Mars lander.
*   **Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander**: A mission that was cancelled in May 2000.
*   **Schiaparelli EDM lander**: The ExoMars 2016 lander module.
*   **Viking 1 Lander**: A Mars lander deployed by the Viking 1 spacecraft, originating from the United States.
*   **Laplace-P**: A proposed orbiter and lander by the Russian Federal Space Agency designed to study the Jovian moon system and land on Ganymede.

### Related Concepts
*   **Project Morpheus**: A NASA vertical landing and takeoff test vehicle, which had its inception in July 2010 in the United States.
*   **Fobos-Grunt**: A former Russian spacecraft.

### Identifiers and Metadata
*   **Aliases**: lander, Landesonde, 登陆舱, مركبة الإنزال, هابطة, الهابطة
*   **Freebase ID**: /m/0196y3
*   **Sitelink Count**: 42
*   **Commons Category**: Landers (spacecraft)
*   **WordNet 3.1 Synset ID**: 03643494-n
*   **Unified Astronomy Thesaurus ID**: 901

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Thing",
  "name": "lander",
  "description": "A spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body.",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193026",
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lander_(spacecraft)"
  ],
  "additionalType": "https://schema.org/Spacecraft"
}

## References

1. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013