The space race was a rivalry between the two superpowers that stemmed from World War II, and was halted years ago. The defunct Soviet Union gave way to its predecessor's lean Russia in 1991 and has lived on inherited technology in recent years. America also faced difficulties. When Atlantis retired their last shuttle in 2011, they relied on Moscow to take their astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Two major changes in recent years have been the emergence of new protagonists, the cases of China, Japan and India, and, above all, individual initiative. The Artemis project, which aims to send humans back to the moon in 2025, depends on your share of billionaires Elon Musk – owner of X/Twitter and founder of Space X, Tesla… – and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In the construction of rockets that should send us back to Earth's satellite and to Mars in the next decade. This is the release schedule for this year.
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January: Peregrine Study and Japan
The space mission will begin next week. On Monday the 8th, NASA plans to send the Peregrine spacecraft to the moon. The device is expected to land on the moon on February 23. On board it carries a probe that is part of the aforementioned Artemis project. A few days later, on the 20th, the Japanese probe Slim, launched on September 7, is scheduled to land on the moon. In April this year, the Hakuto-R probe from private company IceSpace crashed during a landing maneuver. If it achieves this this time, Japan will become the fifth country to land on an Earth satellite, following the US, Russia, China and India.
The launch of the IM-1 lunar mission is expected in the middle of the second month of the year. It is an initiative of Intuitive Machines, a company founded in 2013 that specializes in space exploration, infrastructure and services and SpaceX. Like the aforementioned Peregrine, it will carry objects to probe the satellite.
After several delays and a cost of about $5 billion, aerospace giant Boeing hopes to finally have the Starline capsule ready to carry two astronauts to the International Space Station. The contraption is designed to replace the already successfully tested SpaceX Crew Dragon. Both aim to end the aforementioned dependence on Russia to supply personnel and cargo to the ISS.
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Mid July-Late June: Ariane 6
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that its priority this year is to “restore autonomous access to space”. After the retirement of Ariane 5 last summer, the continent is relying on the Ariane 6 rocket, cheaper and more versatile than its predecessors, to launch between mid-June and late July.
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August: Jeff Bezos' Big Rocket
The battle between mega-millionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos has so far been decided in favor of the former. The Amazon CEO's counterattack will come with the New Glenn rocket, which is supposed to carry two NASA probes to Mars. The device has a range of about 100 meters and is reusable like almost all sophisticated rockets.
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October: Lunar Flight to Europe
NASA's Europa Clipper mission will take off to study Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons. In particular, it will investigate whether the subterranean ocean beneath its crust could support life. Travel over 2.9 billion kilometers and reach the goal by 2030. 4.5 billion euros have been invested in this project.
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Autumn: Astronauts in lunar orbit
It is perhaps the most awaited moment of the year. The Artemis 2 mission will mark the return of humans to lunar orbit. Christina Koch, theoretically the first woman to set foot on the moon in 2025, will be on board. The schedule of the project is directly linked to the development of Elon Musk's mega rocket 'Starship'. After two flight tests in which the device exploded mid-flight, more tests are planned this year to verify its functionality.
