Jupiter's south pole as observed by Juno. Landing on the moon is still tricky for any newbie. It will take at least five NASA payloads to the moon, along with several other payloads from other groups. Intuitive Machines will launch its Nova-C lander to the moon in October (aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket). If all goes well, it will be the first private spacecraft to successfully land on the moon. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is an opportunity for small companies interested in doing something with the moon, whether it’s flying small payloads there with novel spacecraft, testing out new spaceflight technologies on the moon, or conducting some cool lunar science.Īstrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lander (to be launched on the maiden flight of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket) will take the first batch of 28 CLPS payloads to the moon in June, including 14 from NASA. Artemis is intended to return people to the moon permanently, and private industry is involved. NASA’s Artemis program, the successor to Apollo, is not just going to comprise a couple of quick trips to the moon and back. The first CLPS missions to the moon, June and October Just remember: space is unpredictable, and there’s a good chance many of these missions may get delayed for months or even years. Here are the 11 missions we’re most excited to see launch or hit new milestones next year. Arguably, more is in store, especially as NASA’s ambitions to go back to the moon ramp up and the private space industry continues to grow more rapidly than ever. Any lingering hopes that Artemis 1, the first mission in NASA’s new lunar exploration program that’s supposed to return people to the moon later this decade, would still fly in 2020 were quashed by the time the pandemic shut down most of NASA's facilities.Īnd yet, 2021 looks to be a pretty exciting time for space. SpaceX’s Starship did not go into space ( though it did go high). Some of those went brilliantly: SpaceX sent astronauts into space! China brought moon rocks back to Earth! But unfortunately, a lot of other stuff didn’t happen: Europe and Russia’s Rosalind Franklin rover got delayed to 2022. Last year we listed the seven space missions that we were most excited to see take flight throughout 2020.
Like nearly everything else in the world, space activity was hit hard by the pandemic. Spaceflight in 2020 did not go as planned.
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