An artist’s conception of a starship passing the moon. Space exploration has been a busy year, with successes like the (finally) successful conclusion of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission. the completion of China’s Tiangong Space Station and the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
It seems likely that 2023 will be a busy year. The top five missions to look out for are listed below.
Chinese & Russian Space Stations
The ISS was supposed to be retired by 2016, however that date has now been moved up to at least 2020. However, Russia has plans to repurpose the Russian components from ISS to construct a new experimental space station named OPSEK – Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex – before retiring ISS. This will take place as part of the decommissioning procedure sometime in the 2020s. The station would be utilized to put together manned interplanetary spacecraft for solar system targets. A sort of departure and arrival point in low Earth orbit would be formed by the moon, Mars, and possibly Saturn.
SpaceX Starship
The largest spacecraft that can transport people from Earth to locations in space will be called Starship (the International Space Station is larger, but it was convened in space). With the ability to launch 100 tonnes of payload into low Earth orbit, it will be the most potent launch vehicle ever to take to the skies.
DearMoon
The highly awaited dearMoon mission, which will send people on a six-day journey around the Moon and back, will finally debut on Starship as scheduled in 2023. The specific date has been planned since 2018 but will depend on the Starship test’s win. It will be the first launch for genuine deep space tourism.
Whether or not deep space tourism becomes the next great thing or is consigned back to being a pipe dream may depend on the success or failure of the dearMoon mission.
Asteroid Explorer Returns To Earth
The NASA mission to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu is known, mercifully, more popularly as OSIRIS-REx: the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer. The collection of over several samples and their return to Earth for examination was one of the main objectives of this robotic expedition.
With up to a pound of priceless asteroid samples aboard, OSIRIS-REx is now quickly making its way back to Earth. On September 24, if everything goes according to plan, the capsule will separate from the spacecraft, penetrate the atmosphere, and parachute to a soft landing in the Utah desert.
Indian Private Space Launch
Although SpaceX is the most well-known commercial space launch industry, there are numerous more businesses worldwide that are working on their line of launch vehicles. Skyroot Aerospace will shortly launch its first satellite as the first private Indian company after successfully launching its Vikram-S rocket in November 2022.
We are approaching a new phase analogous to the “Golden era” of space launches in the 1960s and ’70s, with numerous daring advancements and missions scheduled for 2023. Watching how scientific advances will be made will be fascinating. Visit the official page of All In One Trendz for further updates similar to this one!