Space missions to follow in 2017

January 3, 2017 by Astronomy  

This year we can look forward to a number of fantastic missions, this is by no means a comprehensive list. I am only going to list the ones that particularly excites me - bear in mind that missions can be postponed (or even cancelled)

Emperor Trump, might need to divert funds to the great wall of Mexico (visible from Mars with the naked eye), if / when it turns out that he couldn't bully Mexico into paying the bill.  

Two exoplanet hunting telescopes to be launched

  • TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope)- NASA Mission


    In a two-year survey of the solar neighborhood, TESS will monitor more than 200,000 stars for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. This first-ever spaceborne all-sky transit survey will identify planets ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants, around a wide range of stellar types and orbital distances. No ground-based survey can achieve this feat.

  • CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) - ESA Mission


    The first mission dedicated to searching for exoplanetary transits by performing ultra-high precision photometry on bright stars already known to host planets. The mission's main science goals are to measure the bulk density of super-Earths and Neptunes orbiting bright stars and provide suitable targets for future in-depth characterisation studies of exoplanets in these mass and size ranges.

Two lunar missions

  • Chang'e 5 Lunar Probe - CNSA Mission


    Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming to return at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to the Earth.

  • First private moon landing - Google XPrize

    The first team that successfully completes this mission will be awarded the $20 million Grand Prize. The second team to successfully complete the mission will be awarded $5 million. To win either of these prizes, teams must prove that 90% of their mission costs were funded by private sources. Teams have until the end of 2016 to announce a verified launch contract to remain in the competition and complete their mission by the end of 2017.

Read More

Notable spaceflight activities in 2017 - WikiPedia


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