Setting sights on the stars: What does 2021 have in store for space exploration? – Times Now

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Despite the pandemic raging across hundreds of countries, 2020 did turn out to be quite significant for space exploration. From the stunning images of the Martian surface that NASA's Curiosity rover sent back, to the NASA astronauts being shuttled to the International Space Station aboard a novel SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket, there were some incredible milestones hit over the course of the last year.

But if science ever rested on its laurels, we would never have made it this far. With that in mind, what does 2021 have in store for humanity's pursuit of space exploration?

Well, the answer is quite a lot. To begin with, in the early months ofnext year, three spacecraft on individual Mars exploration missions Mars 2020, Tianwen-1 and Hope are all set to enter the Red Planet's orbit. The United Arab Emirates' Hope orbiter is scheduled to reach by February 9 while NASA's Perseverance rover attempt to touch down on Mars' surface on February 18. The Chinese lander is scheduled to arrive in late April.

The Perseverance mission is particularly unique in that it isn't just martian rock samples that NASA is looking to collect. The rover also houses a tiny helicopter named Ingenuity which, once Persevearance lands, will begin making short test flights into the Martian skies. This will mark the first time a rotorcraft will take flight on an extraterrestrial planet.

Later in May, the astronauts that SpaceX's vessel flew to the ISS will return before a second SpaceX Crew Dragon mission with another four astronauts will make their way to the orbiting station. The second batch of astronauts, like the first one, will also spend six months aboard the ISS.

2020 saw a lot of talk of doomsday asteroids and that may continue in 2021 but for another reason. In July next year, NASA plans to conduct a Double Asteroid Redirection Test the Earth's first-ever planetary defence project. Simply put, it is going to hurl a projectile no larger than a small car at an asteroid moon to make impact in Autumn 2022. Researchers are hoping to study the impact and how effective the mission is in changing the trajectory of the asteroid.

NASA will also launch its James Webb Space Telescope in 2021. The massive telescope is optimised to collect light in the infrared spectrum and the hope is that it will help us peer deep into the early universe to uncover truths about the first galaxies ever created.

But perhaps, the biggest endeavour that NASA will begin prepping for in 2021 is the Artemis 1 mission. Earlier this year, the American space agency revealed its intention to send a manned mission back to the Moon by 2024. However, the first step of this mission will entail launching the SLS rocket-enabled Orion spacecraft around the Moon without a pilot.

Not to be outdone though, Russia is also gearing up to launch its Luna-25 spacecraft next year to land a lunar vehicle on the surface of the moon making it the first Russian moon mission since 1976. Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos has also announced that it may begin offering space tours in 2021 commencing with the launch of two tourists into orbit.

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Setting sights on the stars: What does 2021 have in store for space exploration? - Times Now