Far from the pangs that torment our good old Earth, what if we turned to the stars to marvel this year?
2021 is shaping up to be a great vintage in terms of astronomy and space exploration.
While three probes (American, Chinese and Emirati) will soon complete their journey to Mars, NASA and the Russian agency Roscosmos should accomplish, in the coming months, the first exploits of their new lunar programs.
The International Space Station (ISS) will welcome a ghost, the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, but also “tourists”, including Tom Cruise and a mysterious Russian actress!
An exciting year ahead.
February 18: Perseverance lands on the red planet
This is the first challenge in a long adventure to bring Martian samples back to Earth in 2031: to land the Perseverance rover on the Jezero Martian crater on February 18, at 9:36 p.m.
A landing, without human intervention, which is not without risk.
Since Curiosity, arrived on the planet in 2012, we speak indeed to qualify the final descent of "seven minutes of terror".
The Emirati probe Hope will not have this problem: approaching Mars around February 9 to study the weather, it will "content" itself with placing itself in orbit.
I'm getting closer to Mars.
Once there, I will use my “radar eyes” to see what's beneath the surface.
My ground-penetrating radar can see at least 30 feet (10 meters) down to help search for signs of past microbial life.
#CountdownToMars
More on RIMFAX: https://t.co/KgAZ6UsSzy pic.twitter.com/jZCrhcNB60
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) October 8, 2020
Spring 2021: Thomas Pesquet leaves for the ISS
At an as yet undetermined date, probably between the end of March and the end of May, Thomas Pesquet will leave to join the International Space Station (ISS).
On board SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, the French astronaut will be accompanied by two Americans and a Japanese.
With a first mission carried out between November 2016 and June 2017, the French astronaut is no longer a "rookie" ("beginner"), underlined the president of the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes), Jean-Yves Le Gall, during an exchange with the press, this Tuesday.
This mission of “coordinating experiences”, as he succinctly described it, is “to be refined with NASA”.
With the Moon in sight for the forties then Mars?
End of April-May: Chinese probe Tianwen-1 lands on Mars
Like the United States (Perseverance) and the United Arab Emirates (Hope), China has taken advantage of the summer 2020 shooting window to embark on a seven-month journey to Mars.
After arriving in the vicinity of the planet around February 11, the Tianwen-1 probe will orbit several times in order to prepare for the rover's landing at best on April 23, if not in the following weeks.
A real challenge for China: only the United States has managed to deploy on Mars devices capable of communicating with the Earth.
June 10: an eclipse (a little) visible
The lucky ones who witnessed the 1999 eclipse may be hungry for more.
That of June 10, 2021 is annular, that is to say that the apparent size of the Moon will be smaller than that of the Sun and that it will not cover it entirely.
In addition, the spectacle, nevertheless impressive, of this ring of fire, will not be visible in our latitudes.
To attend, you will have to go to Canada or Greenland, which the Covid-19 may not allow ... The French will console themselves by admiring the Sun nibbled up to 10% of its surface by the Earth satellite .
Protective goggles intact and suitable for this type of observation will then be essential!
To see a total eclipse in metropolitan France, however, it will be necessary to wait until 2081 ...
July 22: the Dart probe leaves for the asteroid Didymos to deflect it
NEOs are objects whose trajectory is likely to closely intersect that of the Earth.
At the end of July, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take off with a 500 kilogram probe in the direction of one of them, the double asteroid Didymos.
His mission ?
Hit it to change its current price.
Impact expected in October 2022. The Dart mission (Double asteroid redirection test) from NASA, the American space agency, will be followed by the Hera mission from the European space agency ESA, responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of such surgery.
Because the threat, if it is weak, is taken seriously.
The asteroid Apophis, for example, which will approach Earth many times over the course of the century, has a non-zero risk of colliding with Earth April 12, 2068 (one in 150,000 chance).
Next visit in the area, on March 6.
A "hello" from afar, nearly 17 million kilometers away.
To the (asteroid) moon, DART!
🌘 # DART will use SMART Nav technology to fly into Didymos B, the moon of a nearby asteroid.
DART is planned to intercept the secondary member of the Near-Earth Asteroid Didymos binary system in October 2022. https://t.co/rtEi1AbiaE pic.twitter.com/WJPupMp23P
- Johns Hopkins APL (@JHUAPL) December 21, 2018
October 1: Russians take off to the moon for the first time in 45 years
The last time a Soviet machine landed on the Moon was on August 14, 1976. Since then, the USSR has disappeared but it is in the extension of the Luna program that Russia will take off Luna 25, lander bundled with about thirty kilos of instruments.
Direction: the south pole of the Earth satellite, in order to study its very fine atmosphere in particular.
First scheduled for 2019, the launch has been postponed to October 1, 2021. Its maintenance this year is not guaranteed, just like that of the Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-3.
October 31: launch of the James Webb Telescope, successor to Hubble
The epilogue of a long wait?
The James Webb Space Telescope, which was originally scheduled to fly in 2007, will go to the stars on October 31.
Intended to take over from Hubble, it will probe the universe in infrared light to see further and unravel its mysteries.
Referring to Tuesday a "gigantic investment" of 10 billion dollars for NASA and its partners, Jean-Yves Le Gall did not hide the stake for the Cnes: "When we mount it on Ariane 5, we will hold our breath.
"
October: shooting battle in space!
NASA boss Jim Bridenstine confirmed it last May: Tom Cruise is going to play in the ISS!
Directed by director Doug Liman, who will obviously be on the trip, the actor should stay a few days in zero gravity.
But while this shoot was shaping up to be the first ever to be organized in space, Russia would like to beat the Americans with a film tentatively titled “Challenge”, according to the Roscomos agency.
Facing Tom Cruise in this race against the clock, an unknown who will be chosen after a casting.
To be continued ...
NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station!
We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @ NASA's ambitious plans a reality.
pic.twitter.com/CaPwfXtfUv
- Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 5, 2020
November: first flight of the Artemis program
Everyone knows Apollo.
Now we'll have to remember Artemis.
The new lunar program of the United States begins concretely this year with Artemis 1, a first unmanned flight foreshadowing future manned missions from 2024. It is not humans but mannequins who will orbit the Moon before completing their race in the Pacific.
This will be the inaugural flight of the new American launcher, the Space launch system (SLS), designed by NASA and Boeing.
The most powerful rocket ever built, it will carry the Orion spacecraft, intended to accommodate in the future the astronauts who will set foot on the Moon.
Nine women and as many men were recently shortlisted by NASA.
Did you see this week's #Artemis team announcement?
18 astronaut have been selected for upcoming missions!
👇🏼Visit the link below to meet the team & tell us who you think will be the 1st woman & next man to walk on the Moon!
👩🏼🚀🌕👨🏼🚀
https://t.co/k98YEU1SsD pic.twitter.com/RNmtlbxA1h
- NASA STEM - Inspiring the #Artemis Generation (@NASASTEM) December 11, 2020
In 2021: the Chinese station is being built in space
It is a program carried out with great speed!
China recently announced that it will orbit Tianhe, the centerpiece of its future space station, Tiangong-3, during the first half of 2021. The module will be sent by a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from the launch site. of Wenchang, in Hainan province.
This first stage will be followed by several refueling missions and manned flights of taikonauts, lasting several months, in order to complete the construction of the Chinese space station in 2022.
