Major space missions planned for 2021

After a successful series of spaces missions 2021 promises exciting new international exploration projects over the past year.

Three countries have launched spacecraft designed to begin exploring Mars in 2021.

The US space agency, NASA, is waiting for its explorer, called Perseverance, to land on the Red Planet on February 18. The explorer, or rover, has the task of “looking for signs of life and collecting rocks and dirt samples“Says NASA.

Perseverance is NASA’s fifth Mars explorer. It carries a small experimental helicopter, called Ingenuity. The device would be the first to test the capabilities of such a device on another planet. An important experiment will test a device designed to capture carbon dioxide from Mars’ atmosphere and turn it into oxygen.

The Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft launched a Mars search mission last July looking for signs of water. It is also expected to reach March in February. The spacecraft will attempt to land at Utopia Planitia, a large flat area in the northern half of the planet. Once there, Tianwen-1 will deploy a rover for exploration.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched their Hope Probe in July 2020. The explorer is also due to reach the red planet next month. The country describes Hope as “the first probe to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers. “

The mission will study the climate and weather activity in the lower atmosphere of Mars. Hope will also observe and study hydrogen and oxygen in the upper Martian atmosphere, the UAE space agency said.

New space vehicles to test

Boeing is expected to conduct another unmanned flight test of its Starliner spacecraft. The company was chosen by NASA – along with US SpaceX – for its commercial crew program. The program uses private spacecraft to transport American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has already successfully completed two crewed missions to the ISS.

If Boeing’s unmanned test goes well, the company should move forward with its first crewed test flight of Starliner.

NASA said it plans to complete final preparations for the first flight of its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for a possible fall launch. The flight would be the first unmanned test flight for SLS and Orion. The goal is to complete a one month mission around the moon.

The test is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024. The long-term goal of the program is to establish a continuous human presence on the moon .

NASA tests planetary defense

At the end of July, NASA announces that it will launch its first “planetary defense test” against asteroids. The mission is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). He will send a spaceship to deliberately crash into an asteroid at high speed in an effort to change the asteroid’s orbit in space. The target is a near-Earth asteroid called Didymos. The operation will only be a test of defense aptitude, since Didymos poses no threat to Earth.

In October, NASA plans to launch its Lucy space mission. The operation aims to study a population of unusual objects orbiting Jupiter known as Trojan asteroids. The space agency says the mission will involve a 12-year journey to eight different asteroids.

Also in October, NASA plans to launch its James Webb Space Telescope, which has been repeatedly delayed. It replaces the Hubble Space Telescope with NASA, which has been in operation for 30 years.

The James Webb is a large infrared telescope that has an almost seven meter mirror to observe the space. NASA says the mission is designed to explore space more deeply and offer more answers about the universe’s past than any other spacecraft.

I am Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters, and NASA. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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Words in this story

mission – not. the flight of a spaceship to perform a certain task or job

sample – not. a small amount of something that gives information about what it was taken

probe – not. a vehicle used to examine or observe something up close

layer – not. a level of something spread over an area

asteroid – not. small planets or space rocks orbiting the sun

aptitude – not. the ability to perform a certain job or task

mirror – not. a piece of glass that reflects light or images