While 2020 was a challenging year for the space industry (and everyone else) amidst the coronavirus epidemic, a set of exciting missions that would launch or reach their destination in 2021 continued to move forward.
From Mars to asteroids, robots, humans and more, we will see that space exploration continues to expand into the solar system. We will also see some new rockets take flight from companies like Firefly Aerospace and Relativity Space.
Here we are looking forward to:
1) Three countries arrive on Mars
It looks like the space industry is expanding rapidly and Red Planet is the hottest spot for missions, it seems. NASA will continue its long search for life with him Firm roverIs, which will do Mars samples and cache for final analysis on Earth First of all test the Mars helicopter, which is called ingenuity.
China’s ambitious Tianwen– The mission, the first Mars mission for the country, an orbiter, a lander and a rover will all explore the Red Planet. The UAE also sent its first mission, Hope Orbiter, “Next Pay Generation on Mars.”
2) Starliner’s second uncrewed test mission
Boeing had many issues when its commercial crew Starliner Orbital Test Flight-1 (OFT-1) entered space in 2019 – it The International Space Station did not arrive as planned And both NASA and the company investigated and implemented some of the lessons learned for the second attempt in 2021.
Boeing hopes Start another attempt on March 29, 2021 After addressing software issues that prevented Starliner from reaching its goal for the first time. If Boeing succeeds, it will build the second commercial crew spacecraft Starliner to bring astronauts into orbit, after the SpaceX crew dragon.
3) Starliner crew test flight
Assuming the Starliner will pass its emerging flight test, Boeing plans to send three astronauts to the International Space Station before June 2021. NASA astronauts Mike Fink, Nicole Mann and Barry “Butch” Wilmore will fly with Boeing’s first crew test flight. The mission was originally assigned to Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, but reasons Landed on a delayed flight in October 2020 for personal reasons.
4) Japanese rover rides ULA’s 1st Vulcan rocket
Japan’s first lunar rover, called Yaoki, will take off in 2021 on a rookie mission for the United Alliance’s new Vulcan Centurion rocket. New booster Russian-made engines out Who operated ULA’s long-running Atlas line, replacing them with Blue Origin-made engines.
Yaoki will fly to the moon with the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic Peregrine Lander On a mission sponsored by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. If the mission is planning Funeral of renowned science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark Will be deposited on the moon.
5) Debut of the new Glen Rocket of Blue Origin
And Washington Washington’s state-owned company Blue Origin Launches its first orbital rocket in 2021, If all goes to plan. Named New Glenn after NASA’s Mercury astronaut John Glenn, the rocket can send 14 tons (13 metric tons) into geological orbit and 50 tons (45 metric tons) into low Earth orbit.
NASA and Blue Origin recently announced The rocket 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) The James Webb Web Space Telescope will launch on 31st October
NASA’s ambitious James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which scientists hope the Exoplanet will reveal more about the atmosphere and the early universe, has been delayed for many years since its launch in 2007. But, despite this delay, the telescope is now almost Is ready. And final testing is being prepared on some of its more complex parts, such as the sunshade.
July 2020, The epidemic forced JWST To delay seven more months from March to October 2021. However, when the telescope makes this possible date, NASA wants to get the telescope right and it will take the necessary time, the agency says.
)) NASA’s Lucy mission will launch into eight asteroids
An ambitious new NASA mission, named Lucy, should begin in October or November to study eight space rocks in about a decade.
The spacecraft from NASA will be the first to visit Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid, Which orbits the sun in two clusters; One group is behind Jupiter and one is ahead. Lucy will pass through the asteroid of the main belt to go to the giant gas giant planet.
8) 1st lunar mission launched by NASA’s SLS Magrocket
If NASA’s ambitious The space launch system Magrocket could overcome its testing hurdle this year And with construction completed on time, the agency’s Artemis mission will fly around the moon after its launch in November 2021.
This will be the first launch for SLS and the second launch for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which did this first. Space mission back in 2014. Artemis I is the key to NASA’s plan to land humans on the moon, as the agency plans a crew orbital lunar mission in 2023 and then a crew landing in 2024. However, meeting the landing deadline could also be contingent on NASA receiving more money. Its human landing system, Administrator Jim Brydenstein has warned Congress.
9) Russia lunar landing mission at the South Pole
The Russian Lander Luna-25 may be the first Russian craft to reach the lunar surface as it is part of the Soviet Union. Russia plans to launch a lunar mission in 2021 With nine tools on board.
Luna-25 will come down to the moon’s south pole to do research on the lunar regolith and expofer (atmosphere). The area is being considered for future crude moon missions by NASA and other space agencies. The Soviet Union sent a number of useless missions to the moon between 1950 and 1970, including the first surface-to-surface spacecraft (Luna 2 in 1959), the first soft-land spacecraft (Luna 9 in 1966) and the first robotic lunar rover. (Luna 17 / Lunokhod 1 in 1970), among other targets.
10) Astroscale Space Junk Cleanup Test
End-to-Life Services set by Astroscale-Performance (ELSA-d) Mission Launched in March 2021 On a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan to deal with this The growing problem of space junk in orbit.
The dual spacecraft mission consists of 385-lb. (175 kg) “Servicier” and 37-lb. (17 kg) “Client” who will use the presented technique and the magnetic capture mechanism in orbit. Orbital debris is expected to increase in the coming years as more companies send smaller spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.
11) Private astronauts fly to the International Space Station
SpaceX Houston-based company plans to launch a spacewalk with Axiom Space in 2021 For the International Space Station mission.
The trip probably shows 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 station’s first “completely private” trip. NASA hopes to open the space station for more commercial opportunities in the future, However, Congress did not give that much money to the agency in FY2021 For these plans.
12) Lunar landing by Houston’s intuitive machines
The Houston-based company plans intuitive machines Robotic Nova-C lander flight in 2021 on a NASA-sponsored flight, Launching on the 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 days from Earth.
Other customer payloads will fly on the Nova-C as the lander still has the capacity for this mission. Gwynn Shotwell, President of SpaceX Gwen Shotwell, President of SpaceX Our partnership with Intuitive Machines of two private companies working closely with NASA to further the SpaceX Exploration is an excellent example. Said in a statement.
13) SpaceX’s first commercial starship launched into space
After several ambitious tests in 2020, SpaceX will launch its first commercial payload on the Starship spacecraft in 2021. The company was in talks with several telecom companies for the launch opportunity.
Even if SpaceX doesn’t make it a temporary date, it’s moving fast, including starship development. An ambitious exercise in December 2020. The company eventually plans to use Starship for crew Mars missions.
14) New rocket takes flight
United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and SpaceX are not the only companies planning to launch a new rocket in 2021. Several smaller satellite launch companies also hope to reach orbit next year, including Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space and Virgin Orbit.
Texas-based Firefly Aerospace initially hoped to launch its first alpha rocket, a two-stage booster for a smallset launch in 2020, but is now targeting multiple missions in 2021. Also the first launch of the Alpha Rocket 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 start to building the Thirteen 1 rocket in Los Angeles, California, a fully 3D printed booster that will launch small satellites from the pads in both Cape Canaveral, Florida and Wendenberg. The company is expected to launch its first flight in 2021 and recently received its second launch agreement from NASA in other commercial agreements.
Virgin Orbit is a small satellite launch company founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson who has exited the entrepreneurial Virgin Galactic Space Tourism Company. VirginBbit is not building a launcher, an air-launched rocket for the SmsLasset launch, and it has already launched a test flight that did not reach space.
The company had hoped to launch a second test flight of the launcher in December 2020, but an ongoing coronavirus epidemic has delayed the flight.
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