Active Spacecraft Survey
What's at each planet right now: from MRO at Mars to Juno at Jupiter to Akatsuki at Venus.
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Every planet has, at most, a handful of robots actively studying it. Mars has the most: seven active orbiters (NASA's MRO + MAVEN, ESA's Mars Express + ExoMars TGO, India's Mangalyaan, China's Tianwen-1, UAE's Hope) plus surface rovers (Perseverance, Curiosity) and the Ingenuity helicopter. Jupiter has one: NASA's Juno, in a polar orbit since 2016, studying Jupiter's magnetic field + auroras + deep atmosphere. Venus has one: JAXA's Akatsuki, the only active Venus orbiter, studying cloud-top winds + lightning. Saturn currently has none — Cassini ended in 2017; the next dedicated mission (NASA's Dragonfly to Titan) launches mid-2027. Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto currently have no active orbiters either.
The global nature of this list matters. Mars in 2026 has spacecraft from the US, Europe, Russia, India, China, and the UAE all actively orbiting. The era of "only NASA does this" ended around 2014 when Mangalyaan arrived. Hope (2021) was the first interplanetary mission from any Arab country. Tianwen-1 (2021) made China the second nation to land a rover on Mars (after the US). Akatsuki, after a near-miss in 2010, became the first JAXA interplanetary success when JAXA re-attempted orbit insertion five years later. The chart you see when you zoom in on Mars in Orrery has all those flags represented.
Most of these missions outlive their designed lifetimes by years or decades. MRO was designed for a 2-year primary mission; it's been at Mars 20 years and counting, and serves as a critical data relay for every surface mission. Mars Express was a 2-year primary; it's 22 years in. Juno was designed for 33 perijove passes; it's done 60+. These extensions are how planetary science gets long baselines.
Mars — orbital fleet as of 2026: MRO (NASA, since 2006, 300 km polar orbit, HiRISE camera + atmosphere observations + data relay). MAVEN (NASA, since 2014, 6200 km orbit, atmospheric escape rates). Mars Express (ESA, since 2003, 4200 km, mineralogy + atmosphere). ExoMars TGO (ESA, since 2016, 400 km, trace gases + Russian relay). Mangalyaan / MOM (ISRO, 2014–2022, methane + atmosphere — first Asian Mars mission). Tianwen-1 (CNSA, since 2021, 4250 km, delivered Zhurong rover + global mapping). Hope / EMM (UAE Space Agency, since 2021, 30,000 km equatorial, atmospheric science). On the surface: Perseverance + Curiosity rovers (both NASA) and the now-grounded Ingenuity helicopter.
Jupiter system: Juno (NASA, since 2016, polar 53-day orbit). Designed to map Jupiter's magnetic field + atmosphere + interior structure. Polar orbit avoids Jupiter's intense equatorial radiation belt — the belt is so harsh that other gas-giant orbiters would be permanently damaged within months on an equatorial trajectory. Juno's mission has been extended multiple times; it will continue until it's deorbited into Jupiter (designed to prevent biological contamination of Europa, which the spacecraft passes near). The next Jupiter mission is ESA's JUICE (Jupiter Icy moons Explorer, arriving 2031); NASA's Europa Clipper launches 2024 and arrives 2030.
Venus: Akatsuki / PLANET-C (JAXA, since 2015 after a 5-year recovery). Cloud-top circulation, super-rotation studies, lightning detection. The next Venus missions launch in the late 2020s — NASA's DAVINCI + VERITAS, ESA's EnVision, ISRO's Shukrayaan. After a 30-year hiatus in Venus exploration (Magellan ended in 1994), the late 2020s will see four new orbiters arrive within a few years of each other. Mercury currently has no active spacecraft (MESSENGER ended in 2015); ESA/JAXA's BepiColombo arrives 2026. Uranus + Neptune have only ever been visited by Voyager 2 (1986 + 1989); a dedicated Uranus mission is the top priority of the 2023 Planetary Decadal Survey.