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Are there any private space probes presently active? I'm asking about instruments which have left / are leaving the Earth-Moon system.

I know there is a plan for a telescope in one of the Earth - Sun Lagrange points, but I believe it's a government project.

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    $\begingroup$ No, there are none. $\endgroup$
    – gerrit
    Commented May 6, 2014 at 18:41
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    $\begingroup$ What motivation would there be for a privately owned company to invest so much money into a space probe? $\endgroup$
    – Philipp
    Commented May 7, 2014 at 12:09
  • $\begingroup$ Prospecting and selling the data. $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 23:21

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The only project I'm aware of is the Amsat P5a Mars (PDF) project for an amateur radio relay satellite, but that's still in the planning stage.

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Planetary Resources hopes to launch Arkyd prospector probes. The Arkyd 100 and 200 would be in the earth-moon neighborhood. But the Arkyd 300 would leave the earth-moon neighborhood and orbit an asteroid on a heliocentric orbit.

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