Space Missions 2025
Today we’ll take a look at space exploration this year.
We’ll review new launches and the progress of space probes already in flight.
NASA, ESA and the Chinese and Japanese space agencies will be active.
However Space 2025 sees the further rise of private companies in space exploration.
Read on!
Blue Origin
The year has started with a first launch.
Blue Origin is a private space company owned by Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos.
On January 16th, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifted off from Cape Canavaral in Florida.
New Glenn launch: Blue Origin
The second stage went into Earth orbit.
So the main aim of the mission was sucessfully completed.
The first stage booster was meant to be recovered.
That part of the mission failed.
However the Blue Origin team was happy with their debut space mission.
Blue Origin rockets are rivals to Elon Musk’s Space X Falcon.
How that rivalry plays out in the future will be fascinating.
And the rocket names?
They are named for NASA’s early astronauts.
New Glenn is inspired by John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.
They have, though, missed out on a great acronym.
Surely Blue Origin New Glenn should be BONG!
They also have New Shepard in honour of Alan Shepard who made a sub-orbital flight in 1961.
Later he famously played golf on the Moon.
Manned Spaceflight
Sadly no Artemis Moon return mission will take place this year.
We’ll have to wait until 2026 for Artemis 2.
Artemis / SLS: NASA
But there will be action in Earth orbit.
International Space Station
Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore should finally return to Earth in March.
They arrived at ISS last June for an 8-day mission.
But problems with the return spacecraft meant that they had to stay on the station.
A new Crew Dragon capsule should bring them home in Spring.
Space X will also take more paying, private astronauts to ISS as part of an agreement made last year.
Haven-1
The International Space Station will be decommissioned soon, probably in 2031.
So private companies are looking at sending their own stations into Earth orbit.
The first should be Haven-1, scheduled for launch later this year.
Crew Dragon capsule approaching Haven-1: Credit Vast Space LLC
It will be launched by a Falcon rocket for the Vast Space company.
Another Falcon will then launch a 4-person crew in a Dragon capsule.
They may spend around a month aboard Haven-1.
Space 2025 sees another giant leap in the private, non-governmental, exploration of space.
Space X Starship
Space X’s Starship programme will take a further step forward in 2025.
It is planned that two Starships will meet in Earth orbit and transfer fuel from one to the other.
Both craft will then return to Earth.
This kind of manouevre is essential for the success of the Artemis programme and space exploration beyond the Moon.
Starship on launch pad: Space X
Space Rider
ESA, the European Space Agency, will test a new spacecraft this year.
Space Rider is the Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return!
It is designed as a kind of re-usable space plane to take astronauts into Earth orbit.
People will eventually spend up to two months aboard the vehicle.
The 2025 launch will not carry astronauts, it’s a test flight only.
Space Rider: ESA
The Moon
Although Artemis 2 will not now take people around the Moon, lots of robots will make the trip.
Blue Ghost
In mid-January, Space X will take NASA’s Blue Ghost to our Moon.
The spacecraft will take a leisurely 45 days to land there
It will deploy ten instruments on the surface.
They will examine the rocks, dust and radiation levels.
The instruments will operate for a lunar day, 14 Earth days, in Mare Crisium.
ispace Resilience
The same Falcon 9 rocket will take Japan’s ispace Resilience lunar lander.
This is the company’s second attempt at a lunar landing.
The first, in April 2023, crashed on the Moon’s surface.
Resilience will deploy a minirover called Tenacious.
IM-2
Another Falcon rocket will take a probe designed by Intuitive Machines.
A previous probe, IM-1, landed in February 2024.
IM-2 will touch down near the lunar South Pole.
It will carry instruments and rovers from the USA, Finland and Japan.
One of the aims is to test for the presence of water in this frigid area.
Griffin 1
Later in the year, maybe in September, Astrobotics Griffin will touch down on the Moon.
It too will investigate conditions at the Lunar South Pole.
A small Cube Rover will travel around the area.
Griffin Lander & Cube rover: NASA
Lunar Pathfinder
Finally, ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder should enter orbit around the moon some time in 2025.
Lunar Pathfinder: ESA
Space 2025 is a busy year for Moon missions!
Planet Missions
Europa Clipper
On March 1st, NASA’s Europa Clipper will fly within 600 miles of Mars.
Europa Clipper: NASA
The red planet’s gravity will help it on its way to Jupiter and arrival there in 2030.
Hera
Also in March, ESA’s Hera space probe will get a gravity assist from swinging by Mars.
On its way, Hera will study Mars’ moon Deimos.
Hera’s mission target is a rendezvous with double asteroid Didymos-Dimorphos in late 2026.
Hera at asteroid Didymos, artist impression: ESA
Tianwen 2
China will be in play in Space 2025.
A Long March rocket will send a probe to an asteroid and on to a comet.
The Tianwen 2 spacecraft will visit asteroid Kamo‘oalewa in 2026.
It will then fly on to comet 311P/PanSTARRS in 2034.
Juno
NASA’s highly successful Juno mission will end some time this year.
It has sent back wonderful images of Jupiter and its moons over the last 8 years.
We’ll review the project later in 2025.
Earth Orbit
There are several astronomical satellites scheduled for launch this year.
SPHEREx & PUNCH
In February, A Falcon rocket will launch two NASA missions with beautifully contrived acronyms.
SPHEREx will survey the sky in infrared to collect the spectra of millions of distant galaxies.
The acronym stands for Spectrophotometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer.
Neat!
Launched alongside SPHEREx, a spacecraft called PUNCH will launch four mini satellites to study the Sun.
PUNCH stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere.
Artist impression of PUNCH satellites: NASA
Space Missions 2025
So 2025 looks like being an exciting year of space exploration.
We’ll see more satellites launched to contribute to the technology of daily life.
Space probes will tell us more about our Solar System.
And, most exciting of all, we are on the threshold of a new chapter of humans in space.
The author: Dennis Ashton is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Wonderdome presenter.
In 2024, Dennis received the Special Contribution award from the British Association of Planetaria.
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