This is a list of proposed spacecraft that are planned to focus on the exploration of the Solar System, ordered by date of spacecraft launch.
Mission name | Launch date | Description | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Blue Ghost M1 | Q3 2024 | Lunar lander | [1] [2] |
MMX | September 2024 | Martian moon sample return mission | [3] [4] [5] |
Europa Clipper | 10 October 2024 | Jupiter orbiter, Europa multiple flyby | [6] [7] [8] |
Hera | October 2024 | Asteroid 65803 Didymos rendezvous | [9] |
VIPER | November 2024 | Lunar rover | [10] [11] [12] |
Rocket Lab Venus Probe | 30 December 2024 | Venus atmospheric probe | [13] |
DESTINY+ | 2024 | Asteroid 3200 Phaethon flyby | [14] [15] |
Tera-hertz Explorer | 2025 | Mars orbiter and lander | [16] [17] |
Tianwen-2 | May 2025 | Asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa sample return, comet 311P/PanSTARRS orbiter | [18] |
Artemis II | September 2025 | 4-person lunar flyby | [19] [20] |
Artemis III | September 2026 | 4-person lunar flyby, 2-person lunar landing | [19] [21] |
Chang'e 7 | 2026 | Lunar south pole lander, rover and flying probe | [22] |
Luna 26 | 2027 | Lunar orbiter | [23] |
Dragonfly | July 2028 | Titan rotorcraft lander | [24] [25] |
Luna 27 | 2028 | Lunar lander | [23] |
Tianwen-3 | 2028 | Mars sample return mission | [26] |
DAVINCI | June 2029 | Venus orbiter and atmospheric probe | [27] |
Tianwen-4 | September 2029 | Jupiter and Callisto Orbiter, Uranus flyby | [28] [29] |
Comet Interceptor | 2029 | Flyby of an Oort Cloud comet | [30] [31] [32] |
VERITAS | 2029 | Venus orbiter | [27] |
Luna 28 | 2030 | Lunar sample return mission | [33] |
Mission name | Preliminary launch date estimate | Description | Ref(s) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Estimated launch date | Estimate by | Estimate as of | |||
Hakuto-R Mission 2 | 2024 | ispace | 2019 | Private lunar lander and rover | [34] |
Shukrayaan-1 | 2024 | SpaceNews | 2020 | Venus orbiter | [35] |
Mars Orbiter Mission 2 | 2024 | Business Standard | 2019 | Mars orbiter | [36] |
Europa Lander | 2025 | SpaceNews | 2019 | Europa lander | [37] [38] |
Orel spacecraft | 2026 | RIA Novosti | 2018 | Uncrewed lunar orbit | [39] [40] |
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return | 2026 | The Space Review | 2020 | Mars sample return mission | [41] |
ExoMars | 2028 | European Space Agency | 2022 | Rosalind Franklin, Mars rover | [42] [43] [44] |
Venera-D | 2029 | Russian Space Research Institute | 2021 | Venus orbiter and lander | [45] |
This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:
A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.
The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's New Frontiers or Flagship Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space exploration.
The exploration of Jupiter has been conducted via close observations by automated spacecraft. It began with the arrival of Pioneer 10 into the Jovian system in 1973, and, as of 2023, has continued with eight further spacecraft missions in the vicinity of Jupiter. All of these missions were undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and all but two were flybys taking detailed observations without landing or entering orbit. These probes make Jupiter the most visited of the Solar System's outer planets as all missions to the outer Solar System have used Jupiter flybys. On 5 July 2016, spacecraft Juno arrived and entered the planet's orbit—the second craft ever to do so. Sending a craft to Jupiter is difficult, mostly due to large fuel requirements and the effects of the planet's harsh radiation environment.
The exploration of Uranus has, to date, been through telescopes and a lone probe by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which made its closest approach to Uranus on January 24, 1986. Voyager 2 discovered 10 moons, studied the planet's cold atmosphere, and examined its ring system, discovering two new rings. It also imaged Uranus' five large moons, revealing that their surfaces are covered with impact craters and canyons.
A planetary flyby is the act of sending a space probe past a planet or a dwarf planet close enough to record scientific data. This is a subset of the overall concept of a flyby in spaceflight.
The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a serial publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation. The documents identify key questions facing planetary science and outlines recommendations for space and ground-based exploration ten years into the future. Missions to gather data to answer these big questions are described and prioritized, where appropriate. Similar decadal surveys cover astronomy and astrophysics, earth science, and heliophysics.
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is an interplanetary spacecraft on its way to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. These planetary-mass moons are planned to be studied because they are thought to have beneath their frozen surfaces significant bodies of liquid water, which would make them potentially habitable for extraterrestrial life.
Europa Clipper is a space probe in development by NASA. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.It is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission.
The Planetary Missions Program Office is a division of NASA headquartered at the Marshall Space Flight Center, formed by the agency's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Succeeding the Discovery and New Frontiers Program Office, it was established in 2014 to manage the Discovery and New Frontiers programs of low and medium-cost missions by third-party institutions, and the Solar System Exploration program of NASA-led missions that focus on prioritized planetary science objectives. The Discovery and New Frontiers programs were established in 1992 and 2001 respectively, and have launched fourteen primary missions together, along with two missions launched under the administration of the Planetary Missions Program Office. The Solar System Exploration Program was established alongside the office, with three missions planned for launch under the new program.
Tianwen-4, formerly known as Gan De, is a planned Chinese interplanetary mission to study the Jovian system, possibly sharing a launch with a spacecraft which will make a flyby of Uranus.
Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) is a planetary exploration program operated by NASA. The program funds small, low-cost spacecraft for stand-alone planetary exploration missions. These spacecraft are intended to launch as secondary payloads on other missions and are riskier than Discovery or New Frontiers missions.
Chodas said that Europa Clipper now has a launch readiness date of 2024, a year later than plans announced last year.
The launch date for Dragonfly, the fourth mission in the New Frontiers Program, has been delayed to June 2027.
ISRO now plans to develop and launch a follow-up mission called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2 or Mangalyaan-2) in 2024.
Российский корабль "Федерация" без экипажа на борту впервые может облететь Луну в 2026 году [The Russian Federation spaceship without a crew on board may first fly around the moon in 2026]