Here are 4 important space missions that you might not know about. These missions could shape the future of space exploration, planetary defense, space tourism and space station construction.
Nanoracks Mars Demo-1
In June of this year, SpaceX will launch a dedicated mission for small satellites to Sun Synchronous Orbit. Nanoracks is a major participant in launches such as these, they frequently purchase slots for cubesats, and then sell them to other customers who don't want to spend the time navigating complicated launch contracts. After all of the satellites are deployed, a small experiment with big implications will remain. The small experiment will cut a few small segments of metal in microgravity.
That may not sound like much, but this is the first step in a large plan to build what Nanoracks calls "outposts". Nanoracks wants to convert upper stages from rockets, which usually just add to the growing cloud of space debris, into space stations. This is not a new concept, NASA's first ever space station, Skylab was a converted Saturn V third stage. But Skylab was converted on Earth, not in space. Nanoracks will need to do cutting, welding, and numerous other tasks to be able to convert a spent rocket stage into a small space station.
So, this small test by Nanoracks, who is also teaming up with Maxar, is a small step towards a future where spent rocket stages become space stations.
Sources: https://nanoracks.com/gw-high-school-partners-nanoracks-mars-demo-1/ https://www.broadcastprome.com/news/satellite/nanoracks-books-rideshare-and-habitat-demo-on-spacex-falcon-9/
Nauku Module launch
During the summer of 2020, Roscosmos (the Russian space agency) will launch their Nauku Laboratory module. This module was originally scheduled to launch in 2007, but has faced many delays.
The Nauku module contains a large area for Russian cosmonauts to conduct science experiments, in addition to crew quarters. On the outside there will be solar panels, radiators, thrusters, and a robotic arm built by ESA. Nauku will replace the small Pirs module beneath Zvezda.
Nauku might become the first part of a future space station to replace the ISS. Nauku also has the capabilities to operate solo, without the support of the rest of the International Space Station. Later this year, Roscosmos may launch a docking module called Prichal. Prichal will be a small module with 6 docking ports. It will act as a docking hub.
DART Spacecraft
66 million years ago, an asteroid crashed into Earth causing mega-tsunamis, and wiping out all of the dinosaurs. More recently, in 2013, an asteroid exploded over the town of Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring thousands of people. Asteroids can be dangerous, for decades people have hypothesized about what would happen if a killer asteroid hit the Earth and if we would be able to survive.
NASA, and other space agencies have began planning on how to stop an asteroid if it were on a collision course with Earth. The first part is detecting potentially hazardous asteroids. NASA, ESA, and other organizations are using dozens of different telescopes, both in space, and on Earth, to look for these asteroids. However, if we find a asteroid that could obliterate life on Earth, how will we stop it?
DART: Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test, is a bold plan by NASA to test a new way to redirect potentially catastrophic asteroids away from Earth. DART will launch this November on top of a Falcon 9. It will be propelled by Ion thrusters and be powered by Roll-Out Solar Arrays. After coasting through space for almost a year, it will crash into the asteroid Dimorphus. Dimorphus is part of a binary asteroid system. In this binary system, there is a large asteroid, Didymos, which is orbited by the smaller Dimorphus.
Scientists will study in depth the changes that are made to Dimorphus' and Didymos' orbits. They will use telescopes on Earth in addition to a small spacecraft called LICIACube. LICIACube is a cubesat designed by the Italian Space Agency. It will detach from DART before the impact and take pictures of the asteroid after it is impacted. In addition, ESA will launch their own spacecraft to investigate the results of the impact in about 5 years. The results of LICIACube, and from Earth-based observations will allow us to better understand how to deflect killer asteroids, and could potentially save humanity.
Sources: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=DART, https://dart.jhuapl.edu/
Boeing Starliner Test
In 2014, Boeing and SpaceX were selected by NASA to develop crew capsules to fly astronauts to the ISS. After numerous delays, SpaceX successfully launched astronauts on their Dragon 2 spacecraft, leaving Boeing in the dust. Boeing conducted an unmanned test of Starliner in December of 2019, called, Orbital Flight Test, or OFT-1. It was supposed to autonomously dock with the ISS, however multiple software issues resulted in the mission being unable to dock with the ISS.
After over a year and a half, Boeing is going to retry this unmanned test, or OFT-2 If successful, crewed flights will follow. Boeing has already agreed to 6 flights to the ISS, with potentially more in the future.
This could shape the future of the Boeing company. In case you haven't noticed, Boeing has had a hard time the last few years. After the 737 Max groundings in 2019, they lost billions of dollars. The COVID-19 pandemic has also severely harmed the commercial airplane industry. The Starliner could play a key role in the recovery of Boeing.
Boeing doesn't plan to use Starliner only to deliver NASA astronauts to the ISS. In the future, there will be multiple space stations orbiting Earth, some from space agencies, and some by commercial companies. The Starliner could in the future, carry astronauts to commercial space hotels. However, there are a few problems with this plan. Boeing plans to only have two Starliner spacecraft, and will reuse them multiple times. The two spacecraft will be busy doing ISS trips for NASA, so Boeing won't be able to schedule trips with paying tourists for a few years. SpaceX has already scheduled 2 tourist flights. In addition, the SpaceX Crew Dragon is significantly cheaper than the Boeing Starliner.
So in summary, we should be paying attention to Starliner, it could shape the future of Boeing, and of space travel.