It’s no secret that the space industry has made some big leaps in recent years. The democratisation of launch technology and an increasing desire to get humans farther out into space have contributed to a major boom in space-based projects.
But what can we expect to be the next ground-breaking project? We recently conducted a survey on LinkedIn asking which area – launcher, satellite communication, space debris removal, and human exploration – will produce it. Following this, let’s look at some top contenders for this title.
A good place to start is with a fairly recent launch—the Ariane 6 rocket. Launched on July 9th, Ariane 6 is the ESA’s next-gen launch vehicle. Despite the industry generally shifting towards reusable rockets, Ariane 6 is an expendable launch vehicle that uses liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
So why is it an important milestone considering it’s a continuation of existing technology? In simple terms, Ariane 6 is designed to reduce launch costs, in turn increasing access for European member states. Although reusable rockets may be the future, the Ariane 6 offers instant, fairly inexpensive access to space for highly complex missions.
Next up is the Europa Clipper, due for launch in October 2024. Focusing on space exploration, the Clipper’s mission is to investigate the habitability of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. It’ll look at the composition of Europa’s ice shell and the potential for an ocean underneath. Considering Europa is one of the top contenders for microbial life, this is an essential mission.
Importantly, too, its data will be used to justify a future Europa Lander mission. The Clipper is an important milestone in itself, though. It’ll be the biggest spacecraft developed by NASA for a planetary mission and will use an innovative orbiting pattern. Rather than orbiting Europa and being exposed to massive amounts of radiation, it’ll conduct multiple flybys while orbiting Jupiter instead. The 3.5-year mission will hopefully shift our perception of planetary exploration and have a big impact on future designs.
Jumping forward an entire year to October 2024, we have the Hera mission. Developed by the ESA, its purpose is to test the validity of kinetic deflection of near-Earth objects. Following on from NASA’s DART mission, Hera will investigate the impact of the kinetic deflection up close. It’ll look at the internal and external characteristics and will be supported by two CubeSats.
The potential of this project should be clear. While Hera won’t conduct any deflection itself, its data will be invaluable for successful repetition in the future. The mission will also test autonomous navigation and will be our first probe to make contact with a binary asteroid system.
Axiom Mission 4, also launching in October 2024, will be Axiom’s fourth launch and will put a team of astronauts on board the ISS. While this in itself isn’t new, Axiom plans to launch its own commercial space station in the future, so this mission is an important step. Axiom’s space station will hopefully commercialise microgravity research, potentially doing to it what SpaceX has done to launch services.
Finally, we have Clear Space, which plans to launch sometime in 2024. As a reaction to our increasing launch of satellites, Clear Space focuses on debris removal, essential for the continuing use of Earth’s orbit. Its first mission will be to remove the PROBA-1 satellite from orbit to test removal technology in a real-world setting. Provided it’s successful, that’ll be a major leap for space sustainability.
The short answer is that there arguably won’t be a single big thing in the space industry, considering how much it encompasses. Even something as major as getting humans to Mars, for example, will be made up of thousands of big things. That said, there are plenty of exciting missions coming up in the next 18 months, so keep an eye out for some game-changers!
