Place in 2021 – The missions, launches, and events you can look forward to in the next 12 months

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 has been a very busy year for a place – and next year looks set to be just as exciting.

The last 12 months have seen missions launch to Mars, the first (and second) human space missions for NASA, and examples of return missions from asteroids and the Moon.

In 2021 we expect to launch even more exciting missions, including a space telescope with much delay, and we may see continued major improvements in private space lighting.

Here are the things to look for …

Mars missions arrive

The year will begin with the arrival of three missions to Mars, two of which will come to the surface.

On February 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance mission is expected to sweep down on Mars, where it will conduct the most extensive study for past life on Mars to date.

He will be accompanied by the Chinese rover Tianwen-1 in April, which will reach Mars in February but remain in orbit until it attempts to land.

And the United Arab Emirates Hope mission will go into orbit in February, the first Arab mission to Mars, where it will study the climate and climate of the Red Planet, among other goals.

James Webb space telescope

After much, much delay, is 2021 finally going to be the year we see NASA, ESA and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in Canada?

Hopefully with this, when the telescope – which came after the Hubble Space Telescope – was launched on the Ariane 5 rocket which is currently scheduled for October 31, 2021.

The complex telescope will be located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, where it will give us unparalleled glorious views of the infrared universe. It’s just the small thing about getting it to the place first.

More Starship launches

Earlier this month we saw the amazing “belly flop” flight of SpaceX’s StarsX Mars rocket prototype SN8, designed to one day take humans to the Red Planet.

In early 2021, we expect to see a similar flight from the next prototype, SN9, which we hope will be able to land this flight.

But 2021 may be the year we see a Starship vehicle take orbit, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk saying he was “80 to 90 percent” confident that would happen.

New rockets

In addition to Starship, 2021 could be the year we see several more rockets launch successfully for the first time.

The most famous of these is NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which is expected to be the rocket that will take astronauts back to the Moon in 2024. However, with the incoming Biden administration , the future of this rocket and Artemis Moon program remains uncertain.

Elsewhere, we expect Virgin Orbit to see another launch effort, and 2021 could also see mermaid shows for Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket, the Vulcan United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket, and Ariane 6 rocket Arianspace.

Boeing launches people

While 2020 saw the first and second launch of humans on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, it was also entitled to see similar performances from Boeing’s Starliner vehicle, funded under the same NASA program.

However, problems with the spacecraft on a test flight in December 2019 meant that human flights were delayed while the issues were addressed.

Assuming we see a second successful attempt of that test flight soon, we may see Boeing putting astronauts on Starliner for the first time sometime later in the year.

SpaceX launches people again (and again)

While Boeing is aiming for its first human launch, SpaceX will be aiming for a third with a Crew-2 mission in March 2021.

On board will be NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

SpaceX is also targeting Crew-3 in October, and may even make individual Crew Dragon individual human commercial flights, including one with a special Tom Cruise on board…

Moon missions

Several missions to the Moon are expected to launch next year. One of these, in July, will be an Astrobotic falconer, which is expected to roost in an area known as Lacus Mortis.

Another private mission from the company Intuitive Machines is expected to launch in the summer of 2021, with a lawyer named Nova-C on board.

And, perhaps in 2021, we may see India launch its Chandrayaan-3 mission, the second attempt to land on the Moon after the Vikram landslide crash on the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019.

Lucy’s launch

Later in the year, in a three-week launch window that opens on Oct. 16, we see the launch of NASA’s new spacecraft named Lucy, an exciting mission to study trojan asteroids Jupiter.

Lucy spends 12 years traveling to and studying six of these asteroids, the first ever mission to study trojan asteroids.

A study of these asteroids, which share the orbit of Jupiter, offers some interesting opportunities for science, giving us a new window into a group of asteroids that are little understood in our Solar System.

Other pieces

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission it will leave the asteroid Bennu in March 2021, taking with it a large sample it took from the surface, arriving back on Earth in 2023.

Also in March, the asteroid Apophis it will fly far away from Earth, at 16.9 million kilometers. This is our last chance to see the asteroid before a much closer pass in 2029 of just 31,000 kilometers.

July should publish the Double Asteroid Retrieval Test (DART) Spacecraft, a mission with NASA to try to remove an asteroid from Earth.

Also in July, NASA’s Mission Juno it is expected to end at Jupiter. However, the mission can be extended to explore the mountains of Jupiter.

There are several missions scheduled fly past Venus next year, including ESA ‘s Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo spacecraft, and NASA’ s Parker Solar Probe.

China is expected to launch the so-called basic model Tianhe for the upcoming space station, Tiangong 3, sometime in 2021.

The Theater Vera C. Rubin it will take its first look at the universe in mid-2021, before full activity begins in October 2022.

And NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) it is also expected to launch in late 2021, which will attempt to fly past an asteroid near Earth called the 1991 VG.

Overall, it is expected to be a very busy year. So, goodbye and good luck 2020, and see you all in 2021!