In 2024, space exploration saw significant milestones achieved by NASA’s Europa Clipper and SpaceX’s Starship, among others. As we head into 2025, space agencies worldwide are gearing up for even more ambitious goals. Here’s a look at the most exciting missions planned for the coming year.
NASA has several Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions scheduled for 2025, including deliveries by companies Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly Aerospace. These missions will carry scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to different lunar locations, studying lunar geology, testing new technologies for future human missions, and gathering data on the Moon’s environment.
In February 2025, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will perform a flyby maneuver at Mars, gaining speed and trajectory for its long voyage to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission will also perform a flyby of Mars in March 2025, studying the Didymos binary asteroid system.
The ESA’s JUICE mission will make a Venus flyby in August 2025, gaining speed and trajectory for its journey to Jupiter. NASA’s Lucy mission will continue its journey to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids in 2025, with a key event being its flyby of the inner main-belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson.
Tianwen-2, an ambitious asteroid sample return and comet probe mission scheduled for launch in May 2025, aims to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and study a comet. The spacecraft will use touch-and-go and anchor-and-attach techniques to collect samples from the asteroid’s surface.
These missions mark significant milestones in humanity’s understanding of the universe. With NASA’s ambitious plans and contributions from other countries, 2025 promises to be a groundbreaking year for space exploration, advancing scientific knowledge and inspiring future generations to look to the stars.
Source: https://theconversation.com/from-new-commercial-moon-landers-to-asteroid-investigations-expect-a-slate-of-exciting-space-missions-in-2025-243645