The Expedition Program

The Expedition Program was a series of unmanned probes launched to explore the Hope System from 1959-1987. These missions were the first to explore the outer planets like Scurra and Cailus, while also reaching the outer bounds of the Hope System and exploring dwarf planets such as Tiecho.

Expedition 1

Expedition 1 was the first Aronian attempt to document many planets of the Hope system, as until this point the only other visited planet had been Sera through the Ursa Program, also by the UFSL.

Launching from the Rilton Space Center in 1959, it performed a gravity assist around Nyx, taking the first photograph of its dark side while doing so. On this trajectory it later gravity assisted around Poree in early 1960, performing the measurements of its potential magnetic field, atmosphere, and environment, as well as taking and transmitting the first close up photograph of the planet. In late 1961 the probe reached the gas giant Scurra where it took never before seen measurements and photos of the planet. Skipping Tiberius due to a lack of useful planetary alignment, the probe reached the massive gas giant Cailus in early 1964.

Following its encounter with Cailus the probe had no further gravity assists planned, and continued on its trajectory out of the Hope System. In 1966 the last picture was taken with the probe, where it was pointed back towards Hope to take a final photo of the Hope system and Aron. After this point its aging systems were shut off as the years went by, and the probe's communications finally went silent in 1981. Theorizing using the trajectory and speed of the probe at last contact, Expedition 1 left the bounds of the Hope System in 2002, becoming the first Aronian spacecraft to do so.

Expedition 2

Expedition 2 was the second version of the Expedition series of probes, and was planned to fill the gaps which Expedition 1 left, mainly the outer gas giant Giras and the mysterious binary pair of Polion and Tiberius. Expedition 2 was built with cooperation between the UFSL and Rohandile, as after the success of Expedition 1 Rohandile had its own experiments it wanted to conduct

Expedition 2 launched from the Rilton Space Center in 1964, and due to an orbital alignment of Aron's moons it performed a gravity assist around Nyx as well as Parvus. Following this it once again used Poree for a gravity assist, turning its trajectory to Tiberius and Polion. Arriving in late 1967, it took the first close up photos of the binary pair of planets and the first measurements of their magnetic fields, environments, and atmospheres. Making a gravity assist around Tiberius, Expedition 2 headed towards Giras, where it led the first studies of the far out ice giant and its diverse moons upon its arrival in early 1973. Expedition 2's reached its last destination in mid 1974, the dwarf planet Tiecho and its large moon Fraeni. Previously only seen through massive telescopes as a tiny point of light, Tiecho was the first dwarf planet to be visited by an Aronian spacecraft.

Like its predecessor Expedition 1, Expedition 2 continued its trajectory out of the Hope system. Contact with the probe was lost in 1994, though it likely left the Hope System in 2009.

Expedition 3

Expedition 3 was the third and final probe in the expedition program. Beginning construction in the early 70's, it was planned to further explore the outer gas giant moons and the outer dwarf planets to try and find evidence of an 11th planet in the far reaches of the Hope System. Although the spacecraft was completed in 1975 after multiple delays, the discovery of the Kertari Meteor caused massive funding cuts as resources were moved to the Delari Program. By 1977 Expedition 3 was ready to be launched, however by this point the Eridanus Rocket slated to carry it had been fully committed to planetary defense. Its entire upper stage was subsequently given to the SSK to launch Sokalevski I as its use saved up to 3 months of time for the SSK to build its own launch system for the probe. The Expedition 3 program sat in limbo for the next decade, its leaders trying to scrape together funding as the Kertari Disaster continued to consume more and more resources. With the end of the Kertari Disaster in 1985 the Expedition 3 program fought an uphill battle in the UFSL government to regain funding. After months of attempting to convince government officials of the mission's importance, Expedition 3 was reactivated a further year was spent modernizing the decade old probe. Finally, in early 1987 Expedition 3 launched from Rilton Space Center.

After performing a gravity assist around about Aronian moons