So, 2020, a new decade which is going to be packed with progress in the space sector.
This year is alone is already going to see some important launches and missions which
are really going to push the boundaries of what has been achieved before.
So, what have we got to look forward to?
I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watching Astrum, and in this video we will explore
what’s coming up in 2020 for space ventures and exploration missions, and just a heads
up, this is going to be a very busy year indeed!
This video is a collaboration with the channels “Atraviesa lo Desconocido” and our very
own Astrum Español, which I encourage you to subscribe to if you are a Spanish speaker.
Find the links in the description below.
Number 8!
This year we’ll see a number of missions going to Mars due to a favourable alignment
of Earth and its close neighbour.
This launch window is about as good as it gets, and an opportunity like this will not
happen again for about 15 years.
Now, the Mars mission in question this time is the Al-Amal Mars Mission from the United
Arab Emirates.
Yes, you heard that right!
It seems that this year the UAE have decided to dedicate some of their petrodollars to
science, which is something you can think about the next time you fill up your tank.
The mission is built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, the University of Colorado and
the Arizona State University; and it consists of an orbiter with which they intend to study
the Martian climate and atmosphere.
As a side note, Al-Amal means hope and from this one can hope it will be the beginning
of a fruitful space race for the Arab world.
Number 7, and we have the Indian Space Agency ISRO, which intends to land its own lunar
rover this year, with the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
You may remember the previous mission, Chandrayaan-2, which unfortunately deviated from its course
and ended up crashing, destroying the prospects of exploring the Moon’s poles in 2019.
However, India has not given up hope and intends to move forward with its goal of being the
4th nation to successfully land on the Moon.
Fortunately, they can reuse the designs from several components from the previous mission,
mainly the orbiter.
If they succeed, they will place an exploration rover called Pragyan at the lunar south pole,
its main mission being the search for water ice.
This is an important mission if future lunar colonies are to have a chance of being self-sufficient,
as it’s thought the Moon may hide millions of tonnes of water in its polar craters.
I must mention that although this mission is proposed for 2020, it is quite likely to
be delayed until 2021.
For number 6, we are going to talk about China, as they have planned another mission to the
Moon, this time for the Chang’e 5 mission.
This mission is made up of an autonomous lander plus a sample return capsule, with which they
intend to return rocks and lunar material back to Earth for later analysis.
This is ambitious, as autonomous sample return missions have only been attempted with weak
gravity asteroids up until now.
With this mission, the Chinese space agency aims to expand knowledge about the composition
of the moon.
Given the success they have had in 2019 with their lunar rover that is still currently
operating, we hope this mission is a success and helps provide a wealth of data about our
closest neighbour.
Number 5, and we have the Chinese space agency again, who are determined to also send a probe
to Mars.
To me, this is great news as it signals the beginning of another space race, which will
undoubtedly foster competitiveness among the different space agencies, and as a result
hopefully expand their budgets.
The mission has been temporarily called Huoxing-1, which in Chinese means Mars-1.
The Asian giant hopes to place an orbiter around the red planet and land a rover for
exploration on the surface, specifically to look for traces of life on the planet, and
to analyse its geological and atmospheric composition.
It is expected to be launched in July or August 2020, using a Long March 5 rocket, from the
island of Hainan, the southernmost point of the country.
From Europe, at Number 4, we have Cheops, a telescope placed in Earth orbit by the European
space agency, which is expected to be operational during 2020, with the mission of examining
known planets beyond the Solar System.
It will specifically look to measure exoplanet’s radii to give us a better understanding of
other star systems.
It will also search for additional exoplanets around stars where exoplanets have already
been found.
These discoveries, combined with observations from other telescopes, assists in the overall
goal to find habitable exoplanets by checking their composition to see if they contain liquid
water, with the end goal being to find out if we are really alone in this universe or
not.
Number 3, and we have the Artemis mission of NASA, which aims to send humans back to
the Moon.
By 2020, for the first part of the mission, NASA will launch an unmanned ship to test
the launch systems and the Orion capsule.
This is a very exciting mission, because if it is successful and everything is functioning
properly, it will open the door for future missions to create a permanent settlement
on the Moon.
The key to the whole mission will be the construction of Gateway, a permanent Lunar Orbital Platform
that will serve as a communications centre and laboratory for future lunar missions.
This platform will be built not only by NASA, but by several space agencies: the European,
Russian, Japanese and Canadian space agencies; and if they pull it off it will be an incredible
feat spanning many nations.
For Number 2 we have two space agencies shaking hands to launch another rover to Mars, ESA
and Roscosmos which will also utilise the launch window in summer.
This solar powered rover is the Rosalind Franklin mission, previously known as ExoMars.
This mission is all about trying to find traces of life on the red planet, plus scouting out
potential hazards for future manned missions, all with the help of a drill and an onboard
laboratory.
They intend for it to operate for at least 218 sols or about 7 earth months.
This is a very interesting mission since it specifically aims to find life outside of
Earth, plus it’s not just a single space agency venture.
With a bit of luck, this rover will not only land successfully, but will also be able to
operate well beyond its estimated lifetime, and provide us with data and discoveries for
many years to come.
And finally, for number 1, we have the NASA counterpart.
Of course, the Americans were not going to be left behind and will launch their own rover
to Mars with the Mars 2020 mission.
We are still waiting for them to give it a name, but it will probably follow the naming
conventions of the previous massively successful rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity.
This is undoubtedly the biggest and most ambitious of the rovers being sent to Mars this year.
The mission has an expected duration of at least one Martian year, and its design is
inspired by the Curiosity rover, although it incorporates a series of improvements over
its predecessor, mainly a more durable wheel design, a drill to obtain soil samples and
a drone to fly over the ground!
Yes, that’s right, a helicopter on Mars.
Like the Russian-European mission, it will also look for traces of Martian life, so the
future looks very promising for all those who are eager to find life outside of Earth.
So, place your bets now, do you think we’ll find anything there?
Scientists also intend to study systems that could produce oxygen on Mars, which is vital
for the viability of future human missions to our neighbouring planet.
So, we have a busy year lined up, with even more already underway.
So, don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on anything going forward!
Without doubt we can say that this will be a Martian year, although all these missions
to the neighbouring planet are expected to arrive in 2021.
And as you can see, it seems that there are new space agencies that are adding to the
endless ambition to explore our Solar System.
This is wonderful news for everyone, and I hope all missions will be successful.
What data will they discover?
Can these missions reveal the mystery of whether life exists on Mars?
Is this the prelude to future human missions to the Moon and beyond?
Thanks for watching!
And a big thanks again to these channels for collaborating with me for this video.
If you are a Spanish speaker, links for their channels are in the description.
Want to keep up to date with these and other missions as they happen?
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All the best, and see you next time.