What is certain is that the unmanned probe - which is being closely followed by Voyager II - is still functioning.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Voyager 'at edge of Solar System'

Personally I think that the bouncing ball approach should be the standard way to land a small unmanned probe on Mars.

BBC: Mars 2 - Earth 0

One way to resolve the issue might be to send an unmanned space probe to Pluto.

ECONOMIST: Pluto out in the cold

It includes, for example, the case of Mariner 1, an unmanned Venus probe launched in July 1962.

ECONOMIST: Mishaps in space: Foolish, not ghoulish | The

These include sending an unmanned rover to the lunar surface as well as sending a probe to collect surface samples and return them to earth.

ECONOMIST: China launches a rocket and aims for the moon

Unmanned missions will precede that, though -- indeed, a new Moon probe is set to be the first launch from the aforementioned Vostochny Cosmodrome.

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