Idiopathic Joker
Moderator
2020
July – NASA’s next Mars rover, tentatively named the Mars 2020 rover, will launch to the Red Planet. It will aim to search for signs of past life on Mars. This, and the other Mars missions below, will arrive in early 2021.
July – ESA’s Exomars rover will launch to Mars, searching for signs of past or present life.
July – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will attempt to launch its first mission to Mars, an orbiter called Hope.
July – India will launch its second mission to Mars, an orbiter called Mangalyaan 2. It may also include a lander and rover.
July – SpaceX may launch its next unmanned mission to Mars.
July/August – China plans to launch an orbiter, lander, and rover to Mars, its first mission to the Red Planet.
October – The Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), a joint NASA-ESA mission to see how slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid changes its trajectory, will launch. The status of the mission is currently in jeopardy, however, after ESA pulled its funding.
TBD – Chang’e 6, another Chinese mission to the Moon, will launch. It’s not clear what this mission will do.
TBD – The Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world’s largest radio telescope array with a collecting area of one square kilometer (0.39 square miles), will switch on for the first time.
TBD – Bigelow Aerospace hopes to start construction of the first space hotel with its B330 module.
TBD – ESA’s Euclid mission will launch. It will be tasked with studying the acceleration of the universe by measuring the redshift of distant galaxies, giving us a greater understanding of dark energy and dark matter.
AIM would attempt to alter the trajectory of an asteroid, with a view to one day use this technique to save Earth. NASA/ESA
2021
October – NASA will launch a spacecraft called Lucy to study Trojan asteroids in the asteroid belt and beyond from August 2027 to March 2033.
TBD – Earliest date for NASA’s Orion spacecraft to launch with a crew for the first time on a mission to lunar orbit and back. The target is between 2021 and 2023 for this mission.
TBD – India plans to launch its first manned mission.
2022
TBD – ESA will launch its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), a spacecraft to study the Jovian moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. It would enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030 and Ganymede in 2033.
TBD – China will launch the first part of a new large space station, about one-seventh the size of the ISS. This first module will be called Tiangong-3.
TBD – The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an extremely large telescope that will be built in either Hawaii or the Canary Islands, will become operational.
TBD – At some point in the mid-2020s, possibly 2022, NASA will launch its Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission. This spacecraft will perform repeated flybys of Jupiter’s moon Europa to study its subsurface ocean and ascertain its habitability, and may also include a lander.
TBD – Japan may launch a mission to return a sample from the Martian moon Phobos.
2023
October – NASA will launch the Psyche mission, to study a metal-rich asteroid of the same name in 2030.
2024
TBD – SpaceX plans to launch the first manned Mars mission, part of its bold Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) project.
TBD – ESA may launch a sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos, called Phootprint.
TBD – The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the world’s largest optical telescope, will become operational.
TBD – The International Space Station (ISS) will be closed and later de-orbited. This date may be extended to 2028 or even later, though.
TBD – ESA’s Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) satellite is expected to launch, which will search for planetary systems beyond our own, with an emphasis on Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants a million people to live on Mars by the end of the century. SpaceX
2025
TBD – At some point in the mid-2020s, NASA may launch a mission to return a sample of material from the surface of Mars.
TBD – NASA will launch its Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) in the mid-2020s, which will study dark energy and search for planetary systems like our own.
2026
TBD – Proposed year for the launch of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which will see a crew in an Orion capsule visit a captured asteroid in lunar orbit. This may be combined with the previous Orion mission or scrapped entirely, though.
TBD – Proposed launch date for the first crewed Mars One mission. Since its announcement in 2012, however, the chances of this ever happening have pretty much diminished.
2028
TBD – ESA will launch its Athena mission, a space telescope that will map the hot gas in the universe, and study supermassive black holes.
Early 2030s
TBD – NASA may launch humans into orbit around Mars, possibly landing on the Martian moon Phobos and operating rovers on the surface of Mars. They are aiming for manned missions to the surface of Mars by the end of the 2030s.
TBD – Around this time, China and Russia have tentative proposals to land people on the Moon.
2031
TBD – Proposed launch for Russia’s Mercury-P spacecraft, which will perform the first ever landing on Mercury.
TBD – Russia wants to perform its first manned lunar landing.
2036
TBD – Breakthrough Starshot, a bold initiative to send spacecraft to our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is expected to launch.
July – NASA’s next Mars rover, tentatively named the Mars 2020 rover, will launch to the Red Planet. It will aim to search for signs of past life on Mars. This, and the other Mars missions below, will arrive in early 2021.
July – ESA’s Exomars rover will launch to Mars, searching for signs of past or present life.
July – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will attempt to launch its first mission to Mars, an orbiter called Hope.
July – India will launch its second mission to Mars, an orbiter called Mangalyaan 2. It may also include a lander and rover.
July – SpaceX may launch its next unmanned mission to Mars.
July/August – China plans to launch an orbiter, lander, and rover to Mars, its first mission to the Red Planet.
October – The Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), a joint NASA-ESA mission to see how slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid changes its trajectory, will launch. The status of the mission is currently in jeopardy, however, after ESA pulled its funding.
TBD – Chang’e 6, another Chinese mission to the Moon, will launch. It’s not clear what this mission will do.
TBD – The Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world’s largest radio telescope array with a collecting area of one square kilometer (0.39 square miles), will switch on for the first time.
TBD – Bigelow Aerospace hopes to start construction of the first space hotel with its B330 module.
TBD – ESA’s Euclid mission will launch. It will be tasked with studying the acceleration of the universe by measuring the redshift of distant galaxies, giving us a greater understanding of dark energy and dark matter.
AIM would attempt to alter the trajectory of an asteroid, with a view to one day use this technique to save Earth. NASA/ESA
2021
October – NASA will launch a spacecraft called Lucy to study Trojan asteroids in the asteroid belt and beyond from August 2027 to March 2033.
TBD – Earliest date for NASA’s Orion spacecraft to launch with a crew for the first time on a mission to lunar orbit and back. The target is between 2021 and 2023 for this mission.
TBD – India plans to launch its first manned mission.
2022
TBD – ESA will launch its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), a spacecraft to study the Jovian moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. It would enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030 and Ganymede in 2033.
TBD – China will launch the first part of a new large space station, about one-seventh the size of the ISS. This first module will be called Tiangong-3.
TBD – The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an extremely large telescope that will be built in either Hawaii or the Canary Islands, will become operational.
TBD – At some point in the mid-2020s, possibly 2022, NASA will launch its Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission. This spacecraft will perform repeated flybys of Jupiter’s moon Europa to study its subsurface ocean and ascertain its habitability, and may also include a lander.
TBD – Japan may launch a mission to return a sample from the Martian moon Phobos.
2023
October – NASA will launch the Psyche mission, to study a metal-rich asteroid of the same name in 2030.
2024
TBD – SpaceX plans to launch the first manned Mars mission, part of its bold Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) project.
TBD – ESA may launch a sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos, called Phootprint.
TBD – The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the world’s largest optical telescope, will become operational.
TBD – The International Space Station (ISS) will be closed and later de-orbited. This date may be extended to 2028 or even later, though.
TBD – ESA’s Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) satellite is expected to launch, which will search for planetary systems beyond our own, with an emphasis on Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants a million people to live on Mars by the end of the century. SpaceX
2025
TBD – At some point in the mid-2020s, NASA may launch a mission to return a sample of material from the surface of Mars.
TBD – NASA will launch its Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) in the mid-2020s, which will study dark energy and search for planetary systems like our own.
2026
TBD – Proposed year for the launch of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which will see a crew in an Orion capsule visit a captured asteroid in lunar orbit. This may be combined with the previous Orion mission or scrapped entirely, though.
TBD – Proposed launch date for the first crewed Mars One mission. Since its announcement in 2012, however, the chances of this ever happening have pretty much diminished.
2028
TBD – ESA will launch its Athena mission, a space telescope that will map the hot gas in the universe, and study supermassive black holes.
Early 2030s
TBD – NASA may launch humans into orbit around Mars, possibly landing on the Martian moon Phobos and operating rovers on the surface of Mars. They are aiming for manned missions to the surface of Mars by the end of the 2030s.
TBD – Around this time, China and Russia have tentative proposals to land people on the Moon.
2031
TBD – Proposed launch for Russia’s Mercury-P spacecraft, which will perform the first ever landing on Mercury.
TBD – Russia wants to perform its first manned lunar landing.
2036
TBD – Breakthrough Starshot, a bold initiative to send spacecraft to our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is expected to launch.
