Last year brought notable firsts in space exploration. Now, we have six new space missions, ready to change our views.
From the James Webb Space Telescope, Chandrayaan-3, bold Mars missions, to Artemis 1, space never felt so busy.
Here is what you have to look forward to.
Mars Missions: all the Details
Next month, the Red Planet will finally welcome a bunch of terrestrial robots from many countries.Â
We’re going to start with the United Arab Emirates’ Al Amal (Hope) spacecraft (February 9 landing), followed by China National Space Administration’s Tianwen-1, and end with NASA’s beloved Perseverance.
Al Amal is the country’s first interplanetary mission. It will stay on Mars for two years, surveying the weather and atmosphere.
On the other hand, Tianwen-1 includes a surface rover and an orbiter. The mission aims to examine the mineral composition of the Martian ground and search for sub-surface water basins.
If China succeeds, it will become the third country to send a rover to the Red Planet.
As for NASA’s Perseverance, this will reach Mars’ Jezero Crater on February 18, and begin its quest for signs of ancient life.Â
The James Webb Space Telescope
Even if the James Webb Space Telescope is 14 years late (2007 launch attempt), it aims to capture some fantastic shots of the Universe in ultraviolet and visible light.Â
The telescope has a mirror of 6.5-meter diameter, which is much bigger than Hubble’s.
Artemis-1
Artemis-1 is the first flight of the Artemis program, led by NASA. The mission has a sole, brave goal, to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.Â
Artemis-1 will be sent into orbit late 2021 on the first NASA Space Launch System (one of the most powerful rockets in operation). It will include an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, and it will reach a max. distance from Earth of 450,000km.Â
Watch the video below for more details:
Chandrayaan-3
The Indian Space Research will launch in March 2021 its third lunar mission, dubbed Chandrayaan-3. It will include only a rover and a lander.
The goal is to reach the lunar south pole’s Aitken basin and find any subsurface water ice (essential for any future sustainable lunar occupancy).