It seems like almost every week there ’s a Modern exciting space deputation 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 age into a ready to hand timeline . Would n’t that be dainty ?
Well , bid no more , because that is just what we ’ve done . Below , you ’ll come up a tilt of every rocket launch , ballistic capsule rendezvous , manned mission , and more you should have on your radar .
Note that all dates are subject to change .
2017
March – The Planetary Society’sLightsail 2 – their second demonstrator of solar sail technology – is expected to establish into orbit .
September 15 – NASA’sCassinimission around Saturn will come to an end .
Autumn – individual companyAsgardia , which want to make the first “ distance - base state ” , will launch its first unmanned satellite .
November – SpaceX will perform an unmanned test of itsCrew Dragonvehicle in orbit . A manned flight of stairs is scheduled to follow in May 2018 .
Cassini has been in domain around Saturn since July 1 , 2004 . NASA / JPL - Caltech
December – Russia ’s long - awaitedNauka mental faculty , also promise the Multipurpose Laboratory Module ( MLM ) , is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station ( ISS ) at some decimal point this year . The late reports say it has been retard to December .
December – By the terminal of the yr , Blue Originis carry to begin manned launch to space , out front of pay space touristry flights .
December – A unexampled NASA satellite - hunting telescope , theTransiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS ) , should launch by the end of the year .
December 19 – A new European major planet - hunting scope , theCharacterising Exoplanets Satellite(CHEOPS ) , will be ready to launch .
TBD – XCOR’sLynx spaceplaneis set to begin test flight . The plane will invest two mass on short hop into space .
TBD – Private Arizona - base companyWorld View Enterprisesaims to start send pay customers on high - altitude balloon ride , spend two time of day at an altitude of 30,500 meters ( 100,000 feet ) for $ 75,000 .
TBD – China will assay to return samples from the Moon with itsChang’e 5mission . This will be the first lunar sample rejoinder mission since 1976 .
TBD – Two competitors in Google’sLunar XPRIZE , Moon Express and SpaceIL , are await to launch to the Moon and assay to land remote-controlled investigation , the first ever secret lunar landings . Several other companies also have launching contracts .
TBD – SpaceX ’s raw threatening - lift rocket , theFalcon Heavy , should establish for the first time .
The Falcon Heavy will be the most herculean projectile in mathematical operation . SpaceX
2018
January – suggest launching date forInspiration Mars , a private mission to send two multitude on a flyby of Mars . It ’s highly improbable the military mission will ever take place , however .
February – NASA’sJunomission , which is currently studying Jupiter , is scheduled to end . A late egress with the spacecraft , however , has meant the mission may be extended beyond 2019 .
April – The European Space Agency ( ESA ) will launchBepiColombo , Europe ’s first mission to Mercury .
May 5 – NASA will launch its delayedInSightlander to Mars . Touchdown is expected on November 26 . The remote-controlled probe will take the interior of the Red Planet .
May – SpaceX plans to launch its first unmannedmission to Mars , which will also be the first secret Mars mission .
June – First unmanned trial of Boeing’sStarlinercrew capsule . A manned trajectory will take after in August 2018 .
July 31 – NASA’sSolar Probe Plusmission will launch , the first delegation to vanish into the Sun ’s upper atmosphere , approaching within just 8.5 solar radius of the “ surface ” .
July – Japan’sHayabusa 2spacecraft 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’sOSIRIS - RExspacecraft 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 pound ) – the largest sample returned to Earth since the Apollo missions .
OSIRIS - REx will evoke bursts of nitrogen to loosen material from the asteroid . NASA
October – NASA ’s huge new rocket , theSpace Launch System(SLS ) , is scheduled to establish for the first prison term . It will post theOrion spacecrafton a three - workweek commission around the Moon , although rumors burst that one – or both – of the SLS or Orion may be junk .
October – NASA’sJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) , the high - profile replacement to the Hubble quad scope that has know legion price overrun and delays , will ultimately establish .
October - ESA will set up itsSolar Orbiter(SolO ) , a mission that will study the Sun ’s heliosphere , its poles , and solar wind .
December – India will set up its next mission to the Moon , Chandrayaan-2 , which will include an orbiter , lander , and rover .
TBD – Japan will launch a new Moon mission calledSELENE-2 , a replacement to 2007 ’s genus Selene foreign mission . Like India ’s missionary station , it will consist of an satellite , lander , and rover .
TBD – China will direct to become the first commonwealth to land a investigation on the far side of the Moon with itsChang’e 4lunar lander .
2019
January 1 – New Horizonswill perform a flyby of an object in the outer Solar System , a Kuiper Belt objective forebode 2014 MU69 .
October – The Sierra Nevada Corporation ’s unmannedDream Chaservehicle , a space plane about a quartern the size of the Space Shuttle , will plunge for the first clip atop an Atlas V arugula .
Late 2019 – Japan ’s unmannedSmart Lander for enquire Moon(SLIM ) is await to establish . It will be able to execute a precise landing place by analyzing the ground during its approach .
TBD – 2019 may be the year thatVirgin Galacticfinally starts sending paying customers into distance .
TBD – Asteroid mining companyDeep Space Industriesmay launch its first remote-controlled space vehicle to an asteroid prognosticate Prospector 1 .
Deep Space Industries wants to one twenty-four hours mine asteroid . Note , this is a succeeding concept , not Prospector 1 . DSI
2020
July – NASA ’s next Mars rover , tentatively named theMars 2020 scouter , will establish to the Red Planet . It will draw a bead on to search for house of retiring life on Mars . This , and the other Mars commission below , will arrive in former 2021 .
July – ESA’sExomars roverwill launch to Mars , searching for house of preceding or present life .
July – The United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) will attempt to launch its first mission to Mars , an artificial satellite calledHope .
July – India will plunge its 2nd mission to Mars , an orbiter calledMangalyaan 2 . It may also include a lander and rover .
July – SpaceX may establish its next unmannedmission to Mars .
July / August – China plans to launch an orbiter , lander , and rover to Mars , its firstmission to the Red Planet .
October – TheAsteroid Impact Mission(AIM ) , a joint NASA - ESA foreign mission to see how mosh a spacecraft into an asteroid changes its trajectory , will establish . The position of the missionary station is presently in endangerment , however , after ESA pulled its support .
TBD – Chang’e 6 , another Formosan mission to the Moon , will launch . It ’s not clear what this mission will do .
TBD – TheSquare Kilometer Array(SKA ) , the world ’s largest radio telescope array with a collecting orbit of one square kilometer ( 0.39 square naut mi ) , will exchange on for the first time .
TBD – Bigelow Aerospace hop to start construction of thefirst space hotelwith its B330 module .
TBD – ESA’sEuclidmission will launch . It will be tasked with hit the books the acceleration of the universe by measure the redshift of aloof extragalactic nebula , give us a greater discernment of dark Department of Energy and dark subject .
AIM would undertake to falsify the flight of an asteroid , with a view to one 24-hour interval use this proficiency to bring through Earth . NASA / ESA
2021
October – NASA will launch a ballistic capsule calledLucyto take Jupiter ’s Trojan asteroids , and one chief belt asteroid , from August 2027 to March 2033 .
TBD – Earliest escort for NASA’sOrion spacecraftto launch with a crew for the first time on a missionary work to lunar orbit and back . The target is between 2021 and 2023 for this missionary work .
TBD – India contrive to launch itsfirst man mission .
2022
TBD – ESA will launch itsJupiter Icy Moons Explorer(JUICE ) , a spacecraft to study the Jovian lunation Ganymede , Callisto , and Europa . It would enter reach around Jupiter in 2030 and Ganymede in 2033 .
TBD – China will launch the first part of a new heavy quad station , about one - seventh the size of it of the ISS . This first mental faculty will be calledTiangong-3 .
TBD – TheThirty Meter Telescope(TMT ) , an passing enceinte 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 establish itsEuropa Multiple - Flyby Mission . This spacecraft will perform repeated flybys of Jupiter ’s moon Europa to study its subsurface ocean and ascertain its habitableness , and may also let in a lander .
TBD – Japan may launch a delegacy toreturn a samplefrom the Martian moon Phobos .
2023
October – NASA will launch thePsychemission , to study a alloy - rich asteroid of the same name in 2030 .
2024
TBD – SpaceX plans to launch thefirst manned Mars charge , part of its bluff Interplanetary Transport System ( ITS ) project .
TBD – ESA may found a sample restitution mission to the Martian moon Phobos , calledPhootprint .
TBD – TheEuropean passing Large Telescope(E - ELT ) , the world ’s largest optical telescope , will become operable .
TBD – TheInternational Space Station(ISS ) will be shut and later de - orbited . This date may be extend to 2028 or even later , though .
TBD – ESA’sPlanetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars(PLATO ) planet is expected to launch , which will research for planetary systems beyond our own , with an emphasis on terra firma - corresponding satellite around Sun - like stars .
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants a million multitude to be on Mars by the end of the century . SpaceX
2025
TBD – At some point in the mid-2020s , NASA may launch a mission toreturn a sampleof fabric from the surface of Mars .
TBD – NASA will launch itsWide Field Infrared Survey Telescope(WFIRST ) in the mid-2020s , which will analyse dark energy and search for planetary systems like our own .
2026
TBD – aim year for the launch of NASA’sAsteroid Redirect Mission(ARM ) , which will see a crew in an Orion capsule call a capture asteroid in lunar orbit . This may be combined with the late Orion mission or scrapped entirely , though .
TBD – project launch engagement for the first crewedMars Onemission . Since its declaration in 2012 , however , the chance of this ever happening have pretty much lessen .
2028
TBD – ESA will launch itsAthenamission , a infinite scope that will map the hot gas in the creation , and study supermassive black hollow .
Early 2030s
TBD – NASA may launchhumans into sphere around Mars , perhaps land on the Martian moon Phobos and engage rovers on the surface of Mars . They are aiming for manned mission to the surface of Mars by the end of the 2030s .
TBD – Around this sentence , China and Russia have tentative proposals toland people on the Moon .
2031
TBD – Proposed launch for Russia’sMercury - Pspacecraft , which will perform the first ever set down on Mercury .
TBD – Russia want to perform its firstmanned lunar landing place .
2036
TBD – Breakthrough Starshot , a bold opening move to send spacecraft to our nearest star topology , Proxima Centauri , is expected to plunge .
