As we talked about in part one, a lot is going on in the Space Industry, such as Moon and Mars missions, China and India becoming significant players. There are some other topics we would like to highlight. 

6 - Private Ventures Flying Crew  

Commercial companies are working on reducing the costs of space travel. NASA commissioned companies like SpaceX and Boeing to build its ISS crew spacecraft.  SpaceX Crew Dragon was the first private-owned spacecraft to dock successfully with the ISS. The first in-flight abort test is scheduled for the 4th of January next year, and if successful, the first crew test flight happens in the first quarter of January.   

Competing with SpaceX, there is Boeing, also aiming to transport American astronauts to the ISS. CST-100 Starliner has its launch date scheduled for the beginning of 2020, following the uncrewed test this month.  

7- Satellite Constellations  

Crew Dragon isn’t the only ambitious plan from SpaceX. The company also plans to launch a new satellite system called Starlink to provide a global high-speed internet connection. Starlink is a satellite constellation, a network of satellites working together to achieve one goal. SpaceX already has the permission to launch 1200 satellites, and 120 were already launched, there is one more launch of 60 satellites scheduled for this year and 24 for 2020.  

8 – Solar Orbiter  

ESA and NASA have a joint probe project to study the Sun to analyze the heliosphere, and charged particles surrounding the Solar System. The mission scheduled to 2020 will last seven years and will pass by the Moon and Mercury before reaching the Sun. 

9 – Space Debris  

Space debris, or space trash, has been a great concern recently brought to the lights. The increase in space activities generated a rise in collisions creating more waste and increasing the chances of other accidents (Kessler Syndrome).  

ClearSpace1, the first mission to remove a piece of space debris from orbit, will only be launched in 2025 by ESA. Until there, it is necessary to take other measures, a topic that will be intensively discussed next year.  

10 – Defense and Military  

With the increase of competitivity in space activities, it is necessary to have measures to ensure the safety of space assets, as collisions can damage equipment vital for communication and earth observation. With mega-constellations in LEO, a policy becomes necessary to ensure sustainability in space. Topics such as debris, weather, and hostile threats need to be managed.  

For that, London will hold the 15th annual Military Space Situation Awareness and also the Space Defense 2020, aiming to discuss UK’s Space Power and space military plans and capacities. On the other side of the world, the USA government budget agreement for 2020 authorizes the creation of a new military branch. As the name suggests, the United States Space Force focus is the space. However, the details need to be worked out, the branch’s primary goals are to provide freedom of operation for the United States in, from, and to space, and be responsible for space operations.  

The decade of the new 20s is foreseen by Scott Pace, Director of Space Policy Institute in Washington DC; David Baker, former NASA engineer, author and editor of Spaceflight Magazine; and by Monica Grandy, professor of planetary and space sciences at the UK’s Open University. They see a decade with human space flights, space tourism, Moon bases for future exploration of the Solar System, and Mars colonies.  

Important Launch Dates for 2020  

Dates extracted from Royal Museums Greenwich’s website and may change.  

Early 2020  

The 4th of January 2020 (earliest possible date) SpaceX Crew Dragon in-flight abort test  

The 5th of February 2020 Solar Orbiter (European Space Agency/NASA)  

Early 2020 International Space Station Expedition 62 (Russian and US astronauts to form part of the new ISS crew)  

Early 2020 SpaceX Crew Dragon Demonstration Mission 2  

Early 2020 Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test  

Early 2020 OneWeb satellite launch (OneWeb/Roscosmos)  

Middle 2020  

July 2020 Mars 2020 Rover (NASA)  

July 2020 ExoMars 2020 Rover and surface platform (European Space Agency and Roscosmos)  

July 2020 Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover (China National Space Administration)  

July 2020 Hope Mars Mission (United Arab Emirates)  

Late 2020  

Artemis 1: November 2020 (TBC)  

December 2020 Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft test flight (Indian Space Research Organisation)  

Late 2020 Chang’ e 5 (China National Space Administration)  

Throughout 2020 Starlink (SpaceX)  

Some of those missions will be live-streamed and will be shared on our social media, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn and don’t miss it.  

Article written by Juliane Verissímo - Marketing Department of VisionSpace