While 2020 was a challenging year for the space industry (and everyone else) amid the coronavirus pandemic, a number of exciting missions that will start or arrive at their destinations in 2021 have continued to move forward.
From Mars to asteroids, robots, humans, and more, we’ll see space exploration continue to expand across the solar system. We will also see some new rockets flying from companies like Firefly Aerospace and Relativity Space.
This is what we look forward to:
1) Three countries arrive on Mars
The space industry is expanding rapidly and the Red Planet is the most popular destination for missions, it seems. NASA will continue its long-running quest for life with the Perseverance robber, which will store samples from Mars for final analysis on Earth and tests the very first Mars helicopter, called Ingenuity.
China is ambitious Tianwen-1 mission, the first Mars mission for the land, will see an orbiter, lander and rover all exploring the red planet. The United Arab Emirates also sent their first mission, the Hope orbiter, to Mars to inspire the “next generation”.
2) Starliner’s second unmanned test mission
Boeing had some issues when its commercial crew Starliner Orbital Test Flight-1 (OFT-1) went into space in 2019 – IT did not reach the International Space Station as planned and both NASA and the company have researched and implemented some lessons learned for a new effort in 2021.
Boeing hopes launch a second attempt on March 29, 2021 after addressing the software issues that prevented Starliner from reaching its destination the first time. If Boeing succeeds, Starliner will become the second commercial spacecraft certified to launch astronauts into orbit, after SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
3) Test flight of the Starliner crew
Assuming Starliner passes the test flight without a crew, Boeing plans to send three astronauts to the International Space Station no earlier than June 2021. NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Nicole Mann and Barry “Butch” Wilmore will fly Boeing’s first manned test flight. Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson was originally assigned to lead the mission, but stepped down from the often delayed flight in October 2020 for personal reasons.
4) Japanese robber rides ULA’s first Vulcan missile
Japan’s first lunar rover, named Yaoki, will fly aboard the rookie mission for United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur missile in 2021. The new booster will phasing out Russian-made engines which powered ULA’s long-running Atlas line and replaced it with engines from Blue Origin.
Yaoki will fly to the moon with Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic’s Peregrine falcon lander on a mission sponsored by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. If the mission goes according to plan, the cremated remains of the noted science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke will be deposited on the moon.
5) Debut of Blue Origin’s New Glenn missile
Blue Origin, located in Washington State will ship its first orbital rocket in 2021, if everything goes according to plan. The rocket, named after NASA Mercury astronaut John Glenn, can send up to 14 tons (13 tons) to geostationary orbit and 50 tons (45 tons) to low Earth orbit.
NASA and Blue Origin recently announced the missile will be added to NASA’s fleet of commercial launch vehicles; NASA has already used Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket New Shepard (named after NASA Mercury astronaut Al Shepard.)
6) James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on October 31
NASA’s ambitious James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which scientists hope will reveal more about the atmosphere of exoplanets and the early universe, has been delayed for many years from its original launch date in 2007. But despite these delays, the telescope is now nearly ready. . and the final tests are preparing for some of the more complex parts, such as the lens hood.
July 2020, the pandemic forced JWST to postpone another seven months in 2021, from March to October. While the telescope allows for this date, NASA wants the telescope right and will take the time it takes, the agency says.
7) NASA’s Lucy mission launches to eight asteroids
An ambitious new NASA mission called Lucy should start in October or November to study eight space rocks over nearly a decade.
The spacecraft will be NASA’s first to visit Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which revolve around the sun in two clusters; one group is behind Jupiter and one is in front of it. Lucy will also pass a main-belted asteroid on its way to the massive gas giant planet.
8) NASA’s SLS megarocket launches the first lunar mission
If NASA is ambitious The Space Launch System’s megarocket could remove its testing hurdles this year With construction completed on time, the agency’s Artemis I mission will fly around the moon after launch in November 2021.
This will be the first launch for SLS and the second for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will be the first Unrewed Space Mission in 2014. Artemis I is key to NASA’s plans to land humans on the moon, as the agency plans a manned orbital lunar mission in 2023 and then a manned landing in 2024. However, meeting the landing deadline may also depend on NASA providing more funding receives for its human landing system, Administrator Jim Bridenstine has warned Congress.
9) Russia’s Moon landing mission to the South Pole
The Russian lander Luna-25 may be the first Russian craft to reach the lunar surface since it was part of the Soviet Union. Russia plans to launch the moon mission in 2021 with nine instruments on board.
Luna-25 will land near the south pole of the moon to investigate the lunar regolith and exosphere (atmosphere). This region is being considered by NASA and other space agencies for manned lunar missions in the future. The Soviet Union sent several unmanned missions to the moon between the 1950s and 1970s, including the first spacecraft to hit the surface (Luna 2 in 1959), the first spacecraft to soft land (Luna 9 in 1966), and the first lunar robot. (Luna 17 / Lunokhod 1 in 1970), among other milestones.
10) Astroscale space debris clearing test
The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale Demonstration (ELSA-d) mission is set to launch in March 2021 on a Russian Soyuz missile from Kazakhstan in an attempt to destroy the growing problem of space debris in orbit.
The dual spacecraft’s mission includes a 385-pound. (175 kilograms) “servicer” and a 37-lb. (17 kg) “customer” who will use rendezvous technology and a magnetic capture mechanism in orbit. Orbital debris is expected to increase in the coming years as more companies send small spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
11) Private astronauts fly to the International Space Station
SpaceX plans to send astronauts into space with Houston-based company Axiom Space in 2021 for a mission to the International Space Station.
The trip will likely include eight days at the station and two days of travel time. While tourists have visited the space station before, Axiom notes that this will be “the very first completely private” trip to the station. NASA hopes to open the space station to even more commercial opportunities in the future, although Congress has not given the agency as much money as desired in fiscal 2021 for these plans.
12) Moon landing by Houston’s Intuitive Machines
Houston-based company Intuitive Machines is planning fly the Nova-C robot lander on a NASA-sponsored flight in 2021, launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The lander will send five NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) payloads to the surface and send data to our planet for 13.5 Earth days.
Other cargoes from customers will fly aboard the Nova-C as the lander still has capacity for the mission. “Our partnership with Intuitive Machines is a great example of two private companies working with NASA to advance space exploration,” said SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.
13) SpaceX’s first commercial Starship launch to space
After several ambitious tests in 2020, SpaceX could send up its first commercial payload on a Starship spacecraft in 2021. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, said in June 2019 that the company was in talks with several telecom companies for that launch opportunity.
Even if SpaceX doesn’t hit that tentative date, things are moving fast with Starship’s development, including an ambitious maneuvering test in December 2020. The company eventually plans to use Starship for manned Mars missions.
14) Fly new missiles
The United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, and SpaceX aren’t the only companies planning to launch new rockets in 2021. Several small satellite launch companies also hope to reach Earth orbit in the coming year, including Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space, and Virgin Orbit.
Texas-based Firefly Aerospace initially hoped to launch its first Alpha missile, a two-stage booster for smallsat launches, in 2020, but is now aiming for multiple missions in 2021. In addition to launching the Alpha missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Firefly plans to launch at least two more missions in 2021 under a new launch agreement with Adaptive Launch Services.
Relativity Space is a Los Angeles, California start-up building the Terran 1 rocket, a fully 3D printed booster that will launch small satellites from pads on both Cape Canaveral, Florida and Vandenberg. The company is expected to launch its maiden flight in 2021 and recently received its second launch contract from NASA among other commercial agreements.
Virgin Orbit is a small satellite launch company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, which grew out of the entrepreneur’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company. Virgin Orbit is building LauncherOne, an air-launched rocket for smallsat launches, and has already launched a test flight that did not reach space.
The company had hoped to launch a second test flight of LauncherOne in December 2020, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has delayed the flight.
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