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Here's A List Of Every Upcoming Space Mission For The Next Twenty Years - And Some Of Them Are Unbelievably Awesome
It seems like almost every week there's a new exciting space mission announced, from fanciful journeys to Mars to serious scientific expeditions.
But how can you keep track of it all? Why, if only someone had compiled every interesting space mission of the next 20 years into a handy timeline. Wouldn't that be nice?
Well, wish no more, because that is just what we've done. Below, you'll find a list of every rocket launch, spacecraft rendezvous, manned mission, and more you should have on your radar.
Feel like we've missed something? Post your suggestion in the comments and, if it's worthy, we'll add it to the list.
Note that all dates are subject to change.
2017
March – The Planetary Society's Lightsail 2 – their second demonstrator of solar sail technology – is expected to launch into orbit.
September 15 – NASA’s Cassini mission around Saturn will come to an end.
Autumn – Private company Asgardia, which wants to create the first “space-based nation”, will launch its first unmanned satellite.
November – SpaceX will perform an unmanned test of its Crew Dragon vehicle in orbit. A manned flight is scheduled to follow in May 2018.
Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn since July 1, 2004. NASA/JPL-Caltech
December – Russia's long-awaited Nauka module, also called the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at some point this year. The latest reports say it has been delayed to December.
December – By the end of the year, Blue Origin is expected to begin manned launches to space, ahead of paid space tourism flights.
December – A new NASA planet-hunting telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), should launch by the end of the year.
December 19 – A new European planet-hunting telescope, the Characterising Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS), will be ready to launch.
TBD – XCOR’s Lynx spaceplane is set to begin test flights. The plane will seat two people on short hops into space.
TBD – Private Arizona-based company World View Enterprises aims to start sending paying customers on high-altitude balloon rides, spending two hours at an altitude of 30,500 meters (100,000 feet) for $75,000.
TBD – China will attempt to return samples from the Moon with its Chang’e 5 mission. This will be the first lunar sample return mission since 1976.
TBD – Two competitors in Google's Lunar XPRIZE, Moon Express and SpaceIL, are expected to launch to the Moon and attempt to land unmanned probes, the first ever private lunar landings. Several other companies also have launch contracts.
TBD – SpaceX's new heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy, should launch for the first time.
The Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in operation. SpaceX
2018
January – Proposed launch date for Inspiration Mars, a private mission to send two people on a flyby of Mars. It’s highly unlikely the mission will ever happen, however.
February – NASA’s Juno mission, which is currently studying Jupiter, is scheduled to end. A recent issue with the spacecraft, however, has meant the mission may be extended beyond 2019.
April – The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch BepiColombo, Europe’s first mission to Mercury.
May 5 – NASA will launch its delayed InSight lander to Mars. Touchdown is expected on November 26. The unmanned probe will study the interior of the Red Planet.
May – SpaceX plans to launch its first unmanned mission to Mars, which will also be the first private Mars mission.
June – First unmanned test of Boeing's Starliner crew capsule. A manned flight will follow in August 2018.
July 31 – NASA’s Solar Probe Plus mission will launch, the first mission to fly into the Sun’s upper atmosphere, approaching within just 8.5 solar radii of the “surface”.
July – Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft will arrive at its target, the asteroid Ryugu. It launched on December 3, 2014, on its way to the asteroid, and will attempt to return a sample to Earth in December 2020.
August – NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid Bennu, returning to Earth in September 2023 with a sample of between 60 grams and 2 kilograms (0.1 and 4.4 pounds) – the largest sample returned to Earth since the Apollo missions.
OSIRIS-REx will fire bursts of nitrogen to loosen material from the asteroid. NASA
October – NASA’s huge new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is scheduled to launch for the first time. It will send the Orion spacecraft on a three-week mission around the Moon, although rumors abound that one – or both – of the SLS or Orion may be scrapped.
October – NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the high-profile successor to the Hubble space telescope that has experienced numerous cost overruns and delays, will finally launch.
December – India will launch its next mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, which will include an orbiter, lander, and rover.
TBD – Japan will launch a new Moon mission called SELENE-2, a successor to 2007’s SELENE mission. Like India’s mission, it will consist of an orbiter, lander, and rover.
TBD – China will aim to become the first nation to land a probe on the far side of the Moon with its Chang’e 4 lunar lander.
2019
January 1 – New Horizons will perform a flyby of an object in the outer Solar System, a Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69.
October – The Sierra Nevada Corporation’s unmanned Dream Chaser vehicle, a space plane about a quarter the size of the Space Shuttle, will launch for the first time atop an Atlas V rocket.
Late 2019 – Japan’s unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is expected to launch. It will be able to perform a precise landing by analyzing the ground during its approach.
TBD – 2019 may be the year that Virgin Galactic finally starts sending paying customers into space.
TBD – Asteroid mining company Deep Space Industries may launch its first unmanned spacecraft to an asteroid called Prospector 1.
Deep Space Industries wants to one day mine asteroids. Note, this is a future concept, not Prospector 1. DSI
