What’s Happening in Space in 2023

Psyched for Psyche!

Perhaps the most anticipated mission of the year is NASA’s Psyche, an orbiter to explore the origin of planetary cores. It will do this by studying an asteroid, 16 Psyche, which is believed to be the largest ‘M-Type’ asteroid consisting of high amounts metal phases, such as iron-nickel. It’s theorised these could be similar to the iron core of rocky planets. The spacecraft is currently scheduled to launch on 10 October but, as with all launches in this blog, is subject to change (and they often do!)

Whilst NASA will be focusing on the origins of planets, ESA will turn their attention to moons with their JUICE mission (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer.) As the name suggests, this spacecraft will head to our Solar System’s largest planet to study the moons Ganymede, Calisto, and Europa (Io, the fourth Galilean moon, is volcanic as opposed to icy.) It has long been believed that large bodies of water could exist below these moons’ surfaces, making them potentially habitable to life. It is set for launch in the second half of April, though it will take over eight years to reach Jupiter.

And looking out into space further will be the Xuntian Space Station Telescope, scheduled for launch in December. The Chinese space telescope will have a two-metre primary mirror and a field of view 300-350 times that of Hubble. It will co-orbit China’s new Tiangong space station, allowing it to dock with the station when required for maintenance.

Ready for Launch

Prime won’t be the only rocket taking its maiden flight this year. Amongst the sea of brand-new shiny rockets and spacecrafts, a few really catch the eye.

Perhaps the first of these to launch will be the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur. Originally planned for 2019, the first flight of this new launch vehicle should see Kuipersats 1 and 2 sent into space, along with Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander.

Blue Origin hopes to launch New Glenn in the last quarter of 2023. Named after the first American to orbit the Earth, the 98m tall vehicle will have a fully reusable first stage, and potentially a reusable upper stage too, named Jarvis.

The next in the Ariane line of rockets should also become active this year. Ariane 6 is currently under development by ArianeGroup on behalf of the European Space Agency. Like New Glenn, a launch towards the end of the year is being targeted.

And last but not least is SpaceX’s fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle Starship. Standing at 120m high, Starship will be the most powerful rocket ever made, with greater efficiency and twice the thrust of a Saturn V as SpaceX set their sights on the Moon and Mars. This maiden launch will see a crewed lunar flyby in a spacecraft partially funded by Yusaka Maezawa, who himself will be part of the crew along with six to eight invited artists as passengers. For full transparency, I did predict all four of these would launch last year (as well as Prime from Sutherland) …. but I feel very confident we’ll see at least a couple in 2023!