Top 5 space missions that will launch this year
2022 has been a record-breaking year in terms of space research. NASA calls this phase the "golden era of space exploration" and rightly so. From Artemis 1 to the ground-breaking discoveries of the JWST, several milestones have been achieved including the completion of China's Tiangong space station. Let's take a look at some of the space missions lined up for this year.
NASA's asteroid-return spacecraft is expected to land on September 24
Samples from a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu will be brought back via NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security -Regolith Explorer) mission. If everything goes according to the plan, the spacecraft will make a soft landing in the Utah desert on September 24. Before this asteroid samples have been returned via the Hayabusa mission, headed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
India's Skyroot Aerospace will launch a satellite this year
After the successful launch of Vikram-S—the country's first-ever privately built rocket—in November 2022, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. (SAPL) is preparing to launch a satellite this year. The company intends on bringing down the cost of a launch by 50% when compared with current pricing for established competitors like Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit and California-based Rocket Lab USA Inc.
The JUICE mission is expected to take off in April
The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, its first dedicated robotic explorer to Jupiter in April. The mission will probe into water-rich Jovian moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. It will carry 10 science instruments that will help map out the surfaces of the three moons, including an ice-penetrating radar to study the subsurface oceans.
dearMoon is the first lunar tourist mission
The dearMoon project, funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, will be the first tourist mission to the Moon. The lunar mission, which was initially announced in 2018, will take eight members, including Indian actor Dev Joshi and South Korean K-pop artist TOP, on a weeklong trip around the Moon and is planned to launch aboard SpaceX's Starship.
Test flight of SpaceX's Starship can happen this year
The first orbital test flight of SpaceX's Starship is expected to take place this year. It is a two-component system comprising the Starship spacecraft (that will carry the crew and cargo) and the Super Heavy rocket. It will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever to lift off with a capacity of deploying 100 tonnes of cargo to the low Earth orbit.
