This article lists planned future orbital and suborbital spaceflight launches and events.
For an overview of spaceflight in the near future, see 2020s in spaceflight.
Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
Remarks | |||||||
Q1 2033 [8] [46] | Ariane 6 | Kourou ELA-4 | Arianespace | ||||
MetOp-SG B2 | EUMETSAT | Low Earth (SSO) | Meteorology | ||||
Q1 2033 [8] | Ariane 6 | Kourou ELA-4 | Arianespace | ||||
MTG-I3 | EUMETSAT | Geosynchronous | Meteorology | ||||
Q3 2033 [8] | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||
Sentinel-3 NG TOPO A | ESA | Low Earth (SSO) | Earth observation | ||||
Sentinel-3 Next Generation Topography satellite. | |||||||
Q4 2033 [8] | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||||
Sentinel-6 NG B | NASA / NOAA / EUMETSAT / ESA | Low Earth | Earth observation | ||||
Sentinel-6 Next Generation satellite. | |||||||
JFY2033 (TBD) [14] | H3 | Tanegashima LA-Y2 | MHI | ||||
IGS-Radar 10 | CSICE | Low Earth (SSO) | Reconnaissance | ||||
JFY2033 (TBD) [14] | H3 | Tanegashima LA-Y2 | MHI | ||||
IGS-Optical 11 | CSICE | Low Earth (SSO) | Reconnaissance | ||||
2033 (TBD) [51] | Long March 9 | Wenchang | CASC | ||||
CNSA | Low Earth | Flight test | |||||
First flight of the Long March 9 super heavy-lift launch vehicle. | |||||||
Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
18 April 2028 | Lucy | Flyby of asteroid 11351 Leucus | Target altitude 1000 km |
June 2028 | Hayabusa2 | Flyby of Earth [55] | Gravity assist |
11 November 2028 | Lucy | Flyby of asteroid 21900 Orus | Target altitude 1000 km |
18 January 2029 | JUICE | Third and final gravity assist at Earth | |
21 April 2029 | OSIRIS-APEX | Rendezvous with asteroid 99942 Apophis [56] | Observation operations begin 8 April |
August 2029 | Psyche | Arrival at asteroid 16 Psyche | |
26 December 2030 | Lucy | Third gravity assist at Earth | Target altitude 660 km |
July 2031 | Hayabusa2 | Arrival at asteroid 1998 KY26 [55] | |
July 2031 | JUICE | Flyby of Ganymede | |
July 2031 | JUICE | Jupiter orbit insertion | |
July 2032 | JUICE | Flyby of Europa | |
2 March 2033 | Lucy | Flyby of binary asteroid 617 Patroclus-Menoetius | Target altitude 1000 km |
December 2034 | JUICE | Ganymede orbit insertion | Planned first orbit of a moon other than Earth's |
Vega is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program, and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program.
The European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) is an under construction module of the Lunar Gateway. It will provide refueling through additional xenon and hydrazine capacity for use in the Power and Propulsion Element's ion engines and hydrazine thrusters. It will also provide additional communications equipment, a habitation area, and storage. It will have a launch mass of approximately 10,000 kg (22,000 lb), a length of 6.4 m (21 ft), and a diameter of 4.6 m (15 ft). ESA awarded two parallel design studies for ESPRIT, one mostly led by Airbus in partnership with Comex and OHB and one led by Thales Alenia Space. The construction of the module was approved in November 2019. On 14 October 2020, Thales Alenia Space announced that they had been selected by ESA to build the ESPRIT module.
This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.
Ariane 6 is a European expendable launch system developed by ArianeGroup on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). It replaces the Ariane 5, as part of the Ariane launch vehicle family. The stated motivation for Ariane 6 was to halve the cost compared to Ariane 5, and increase the capacity for the number of launches per year.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which Artemis program participants plan to assemble in an orbit near the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s.
The year 2022 witnessed the number of launches of SpaceX's Falcon rocket family surpassing the CNSA's Long March rocket family, making the United States the country with the highest number of launches in 2022 instead of China. This year also featured the first successful launch of Long March 6A, Nuri, Angara 1.2, Vega-C, Kinetica-1, and Jielong-3. National space agencies' activities in this year is also marred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to tension between Roscosmos and Western space agencies, threats of ending collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), and delays on space missions.
ELA-4, is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana located along the Route de l'Espace in the Roche Christine site, between ELA-3 and ELS launch facilities. The complex is composed of a launch pad with mobile gantry, an horizontal assembly building and a dedicated launch operations building. ELA-4 is operated by Arianespace as part of the Ariane 6 program. As of November 2022 the first launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2026.
Spaceflight in 2025 promises to follow the 2020s trend of record breaking orbital launches and increased developments in lunar, Mars and low-earth orbit exploration.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2027.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.