NASA will Launch Mission to an Unexplored World in 2022

This year we can expect the science results from the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, see a new mission launch to study an unexplored world and watch a NASA spacecraft deliberately crash into an asteroid’s moon. Several countries are planning for 2022 to be the year they send robotic explorers to the moon while planning ahead for the return of humans to the lunar surface in the future.

Mars was a hotspot in 2021, with three missions from separate countries arriving on the red planet early in the year, and the interest in the fourth planet from the sun is only heating up.Prepare for inspiring new flights by NASA Ingenuity helicopter, which is still going strong beyond its expected life span, and the beginning of the Perseverance rover’s investigation of the intriguing remains of an ancient river delta on Mars beginning in the summer.

Samples collected there could reveal if organic molecules associated with signs of life, or even microfossils, are present on Mars. Another robotic explorer will also touch down on the red planet. Europe’s first planetary rover is ready to launch.The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, a joint venture between the European Space Agency and Russian space agency Roscosmos, is expected to lift off in September. It was initially scheduled for launch in July 2020, but the agencies cited concerns over coronavirus and spacecraft component readiness.

The larger ExoMars program includes the Trace Gas Orbiter, which was launched to Mars in 2016 and has been sending back scientific data. The Trace Gas Orbiter will also relay information gathered by the rover after it lands on Mars.Once the ExoMars rover launches in September from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, it will spend nine months cruising through space before reaching Mars on June 10, 2023. The rover will land at Oxia Planum, an area just north of the Martian equator.