List of proposed Solar System probes

There are currently various proposed space probes to focus on the exploration of the Solar System. For planned missions to the Moon see the dedicated list of missions to the Moon, with its section future missions. Launched probes are in the List of Solar System probes and the List of active Solar System probes.

Scheduled missions

Mission name	Launch date	Description	Ref(s)
EscaPADE	October-November 2025	Two Mars orbiters	[1]
Martian Moons eXploration	2026	Martian moon sample return mission	[2]
Venus Life Finder	NET summer 2026	Private Venus atmospheric probe by Rocket Lab and MIT	[3]
M-Argo	2027	Cubesat mission to a near-Earth asteroid	[4]
DESTINY+	2028	Asteroid 3200 Phaethon flyby	[5]
Dragonfly	July 2028	Titan rotorcraft lander	[6]
Rosalind Franklin	2028	Mars rover, ExoMars	[7] [8]
Tianwen-3	2028	Mars sample return mission	[9]
MBR Explorer	2028	Flyby mission to seven asteroids	[10]
Venus Orbiter Mission	2028	Venus orbiter	[11]
Tianwen-4	September 2029	Jupiter and Callisto orbiter, Uranus flyby	[12] [13]
Comet Interceptor	2029	Flyby of an Oort Cloud comet	[14] [15]
VERITAS	2029	Venus orbiter	[16]
EnVision	2031	Venus orbiter	[17]
Mangalyaan-2	2031	Mars orbiter and lander	[18] [19]
DAVINCI	2032	Venus orbiter and atmospheric probe	[20]

Proposed missions

Mission name	Preliminary launch date estimate			Description	Ref(s)
	Estimated launch date	Estimate by	Estimate as of
Shensuo (Interstellar Express)	In 2019, the mission was planned to be launched in 2024. There are no updates after 2019.			"Voyager-like" mission to outer planets	[21] [22]
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return	The original mission plan is under review due to cost constraints; NASA "is expected to confirm the program – and its design – in the second half of 2026".			Mars sample return mission	[23] [24]
Asteroid deflection mission	2027	CNSA	2025	Asteroid deflection mission; one possible target is 2015 XF261	[25] [26]
Ramses	2028	ESA	2024	Asteroid orbiter	[27] [28]
Solar Polar Orbit Observatory	2029	National Space Science Center	2025	High-inclination solar orbiter, Jupiter flyby	[29]
Tera-hertz Explorer	Originally planned to be launched in "2020s". There are no updates after 2021.			Mars orbiter and lander	[30] [31]
Uranus Orbiter and Probe	NET 2031	NASA	2023	Uranus orbiter and probe	[32] [33]
Venus atmospheric sample return	2033	DSEL/CNSA	2025	Return atmospheric samples from Venus	[34]
Interstellar Probe	2036	NASA	2022	"Voyager on steroids"	[35]
Venera-D	2036	Russian Academy of Sciences	2025	Venus orbiter and lander	[36]
Enceladus Orbilander	2038	NASA	2023	Enceladus orbiter/lander	[37]
Mars Research Station for ISRU	2038	DSEL/CNSA	2025	Mars surface research station for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)	[34]
Probe to Neptune and Triton	2039	DSEL/CNSA	2025	Exploration of Neptune and its moon Triton	[34]

Suspended missions

The following missions were suspended or cancelled because of political, budgetary, or other reasons. The spacecraft were already assembled at the time of suspension/cancellation, so these missions can be resumed.

Mission name	Cancellation date	Description	Status and reason	Ref(s)
Janus	2023	Dual asteroids probe	Was expected to be a secondary payload on the Psyche launch. After the delay, it was assessed that Janus wouldn't be able to reach the required trajectory. Both spacecraft were placed into long-term storage.	[38]

See also

• Timeline of Solar System exploration
• Planned space telescopes
• Proposed space telescopes
• Planned heliophysics missions
• Planned Earth observation satellites
• Planned Moon missions
• Planned Venus missions
• Planned Mars missions
• Planned outer planets missions
• Future visits of minor planets and comets
• Future and proposed missions to be placed at Lagrange points

References

1. Foust, Jeff (September 24, 2025). "ESCAPADE launch on New Glenn planned for late October or early November".
2. "MMX - Martian Moons eXploration". MMX - Martian Moons eXploration. Retrieved 2 June 2024. The current schedule has a launch date in JFY 2026, followed by Martian orbit insertion in JFY 2027 and the spacecraft will return to Earth in JFY 2031.
3. "Rocket Lab Mission to Venus". Venus Missions. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
4. "ESA Technology CubeSats". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
5. "宇宙科学・探査ミッションの進捗状況について" [Space Science and Exploration Mission Progress](PDF). ISAS (in Japanese). CAO. 9 October 2024. p. 11. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
6. A. A. Donaldson (25 November 2024). "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Dragonfly Mission". NASA . Retrieved 26 November 2024.
7. "NASA, European Space Agency Unite to Land Europe's Rover on Mars - NASA" . Retrieved 2024-05-17.
8. Foust, Jeff (2024-04-10). "ESA awards contract to Thales Alenia Space to restart ExoMars". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
9. Jones, Andrew (2024-03-08). "China targets 2030 for Mars sample return mission, potential landing areas revealed". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
10. Kenneth Chang (May 29, 2023). "The United Arab Emirates Is Heading for the Asteroid Belt". The New York Times.
11. "Union Cabinet Approves India's Mission to Venus, and Sample Return from the Moon". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
12. CNSA Watcher [@CNSAWatcher] (23 December 2023). "Tianwen-4, launching Sept 2029, will journey to Jupiter using Venus & Earth gravity assists. Targeting Jupiter capture by Dec 2035 & a Uranus flyby in March 2045, the mission includes 2 probes, one exploring Jupiter's system and another flying by Uranus" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
13. Andrew Jones published (2022-09-22). "China wants to probe Uranus and Jupiter with 2 spacecraft on one rocket". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
14. "ESA's new mission to intercept a comet". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
15. "Comet Interceptor". www.cometinterceptor.space. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
16. "NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study 'Lost Habitable' World of Venus - NASA" . Retrieved 2023-11-30.
17. "ESA selects revolutionary Venus mission EnVision". www.esa.int. ESA. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
18. Kuthunur, Sharmila (17 May 2024). "India's ambitious 2nd Mars mission to include a rover, helicopter, sky crane and a supersonic parachute". Space.com.
19. "Unmanned helicopter likely to join India's second space odyssey to Mars". rfi. 5 March 2024.
20. "FY 2025 PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REQUEST SUMMARY". NASA. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
21. Wu, Weiren; Yu, Dengyun; Huang, Jiangchuan; Zong, Qiugang; Wang, Chi; Yu, Guobin; He, Rongwei; Wang, Qian; Kang, Yan; Meng, Linzhi; Wu, Ke; He, Jiansen; Li, Hui (2019-01-09). "Exploring the solar system boundary". Scientia Sinica Informationis. 49 (1): 1. doi: 10.1360/N112018-00273 . ISSN   2095-9486. S2CID   86476811.
22. Jones, Andrew (November 19, 2019). "China Considers Voyager-like Mission to Interstellar Space". Planetary.org. The Planetary Society. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
23. "NASA to Explore Two Landing Options for Returning Samples from Mars - NASA". NASA. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
24. Berger, Eric (11 September 2025). "NASA found intriguing rocks on Mars, so where does that leave Mars Sample Return?". Ars Technica. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
25. Lea, Robert (11 July 2024). "China plans to deflect an asteroid by 2030 to showcase Earth protection skills". Space. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
26. Foust, Jeff. "China reschedules planetary defense mission for 2027 launch". spacenews.com. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
27. "ESA moves forward with Apophis mission preparations". www.esa.int.
28. "Introducing Ramses, ESA's mission to asteroid Apophis". www.esa.int.
29. Jones, Andrew (2025-02-25). "China to send a spacecraft out of the ecliptic to study the Sun's poles". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
30. Takeshi Kuroda, Yasuko Kasai, Shinichi Nakasuka, Hiroyuki Maezawa, Takayoshi Yamada, Ryohei Takahashi: TEREX-1: A micro-satellite terahertz lander for the exploration of water/oxygen resources on Mars. 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Abstract B0.5-0006-21 (oral), id.223, January 2021.
31. Kasai, Yasuko (13 June 2018). "Tera-hertz Explorer, TEREX, Mission" (PDF). University of Tsukuba . NICT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
32. Simon, Amy; Nimmo, Francis; Anderson, Richard C. (7 June 2021). "Journey to an Ice Giant System: Uranus Orbiter and Probe". Planetary Mission Concept for the 2023–2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. NASA. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
33. Foust, Jeff (2023-05-03). "Plutonium availability constrains plans for future planetary missions". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
34. Jones, Andrew (2025-03-27). "China unveils planetary exploration roadmap targeting habitability and extraterrestrial life". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
35. Stone, Richard (28 July 2022). "'Voyager on steroids.' Mission would probe mysterious region beyond our Solar System" . Science. doi: 10.1126/science.ade1070 . Retrieved 15 August 2022.
36. "Президент РАН сообщил о переносе сроков российских миссий на Луну и Венеру". Meduza.
37. MacKenzie, Shannon M.; Kirby, Karen W.; Greenauer, Peter J.; Neveu, Marc; Gold, Rob; Davila, Alfonso; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Cable, Morgan; Craft, Kate; Eigenbrode, Jennifer; Glein, Christopher; Hofgartner, Jason; Mckay, Christopher; Phillips-Lander, Charity; Waite, Hunter; Burton, Dana; Seifert, Helmut; Boye, Jeff; Brock, Spencer; Chen, Michelle; Coker, Rob; Colonel, Grace; Criss, Tom; Crowley, Doug (14 October 2020). "Encealdus Orbilander: A Flagship Mission Concept for Astrobiology". NASA Technical Reports Server. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
38. "NASA to Store Janus Spacecraft, Mission to Study Asteroid Systems – Janus". blogs.nasa.gov. 2023-07-11. Retrieved 2023-07-11.