When it comes to events in space , 2019 is going to be an extraordinary year .
That ’s not to say 2018 will be an gentle human activity to follow . After all , SpaceX debuted the world’smost powerfuloperational launching system ( calledFalcon Heavy ) , place a carbeyond Mars , and helped move up offmore orbital rocketsthan in any year since 1990 .
With afewexceptions , NASA also had a momentous 12 months : The US quad agency announced its first - evercommercial spaceman gang , began anew Leigh Hunt for world - similar planets , send a probe to"touch " the sun , andlanded its InSight roboton Mars .
China , meanwhile , crashedan old space stationinto the oceanand found a minor fleet ofmoon satellites .
But 2019 will be a doozy — a sentiment that NASA executive Jim Bridenstine highlighted after NASA ’s recentMars landing .
" Right now at NASA , there is more afoot than in I do n’t know how many age retiring , " Bridenstine say during active broadcast . " It ’s a drought , and then all of the sudden there ’s all of these natural process . "
Here are some of the biggest events you’re able to require from aerospace company , governance space agencies , and the night sky next year .
This story has been updated with new information . It was primitively published on November 29 , 2018 .
January 1 : NASA ’s New Horizons investigation will take flight by Ultima Thule , the farthest objective humankind has ever tried to visit
After NASA ’s New Horizons spacecraftflew past Plutoin July 2015 , the golem keep going . The space agency now plans to use thenuclear - power probeto sojourn anicy body foretell Ultima Thule , or 2014 MU69 . The physical object is in the Kuiper Belt , about 4 billion miles from Earth , and researchers consider it ’s a monkey nut - shaped rock .
Overnight on December 31 , 2018 — New Year ’s Eve — and into January 1 , New Horizons will fly by , study , and photograph the mystic objective . Scientists forecast that it ’s perhaps 20 miles long and 12 miles wide ( roughly the size of a city ) . New Horizon ’s flyby will make Ultima Thule the most distant object ever visited by humanity .
January 3 - 4 : The Quadrantids meteor shower tiptop
In 2019 , brilliant moonlight wo n’t get in the agency of obfuscate this one-year shooting star exhibitor . The event begin to top out around 9 p.m. EST on January 3 and lasts through dawn the next day . The Quadrantids can bring out 50 to 100 shooting star per hr , accordingto EarthSky — but you ask tofind a dark Nox skyto see more than a meteoroid per instant .
January 6 : Partial solar eclipse
The moon will slip in front of the sun , partially barricade it , for those who are in northeast Asia and the north Pacific Ocean .
January 17 : SpaceX plans to launch its Crew Dragon spaceship for the first time
SpaceX , the aerospace company constitute by Elon Musk , plans to test - launch its newCrew Dragon starship , sending it into orbit from Cape Canaveral , Florida . The fomite was designed and built for NASA to help replace the means ’s space birdie fleet , which was retired in 2011 . The eventual goal is to get astronaut to and from the International Space Station ( and predate using Russia’sincreasingly expensiveSoyuz spacecraft ) .
In this first flight for Crew Dragon , the vehicle will automatically bob and undock with the space post in orbit . But no astronaut will fly on control board . Instead , the tryout target to show the organization is good fortwo crewed test flightsplanned for afterwards in the year .
January 20 - 21 : Total lunar eclipse
The Earth will immobilize the sun during a full moon , castinga ruddy - red shadowon the lunar surface . North and South America will be prime area to see this galactic event , since you may see the entire 5 - hour-12 - second spectacle from starting to finish ( depend on the atmospheric condition , of path ) . The eclipsestarts at 9:36 p.m. EST on January 20 , summit at 12:12 a.m. EST on January 21 , and terminate around 2:48 a.m. EST .
January ( TBD ): SpaceIL plan to be the first individual fellowship to launch toward the moon
SpaceIL , a nonprofit organization game by a billionaire in Israel , hasbuilt a 1,300 - lb moon lander .
The arrangement first make to vie for the $ 20 million Google Lunar X Prize , but that competitionended without a winnerin 2018 . Regardless , SpaceIL kept develop its spacecraft and is now booked to set up on one of SpaceX ’s Falcon 9 arugula .
The ballistic capsule will " rideshare " or piggyback into orbit alongside a much larger Indonesian communications satellite , called PSN-6 . SpaceIL then hopes to skyrocket its lander by from Earth and seek to put it on the moon , arriving on the lunar open about two months post - launch .
The launch is likely schedule forsome time in January , which signify the lunar landing could bump in March 2019 . If successful , the mission would make SpaceIL the first individual entity , and Israel the fourth country , ever to land on the moon .
January 30 : India ’s launch of Chandrayaan-2 , the Carry Nation ’s second moon mission
The Chandrayaan-2 delegation will be the second lunation mission for India and its distance agency , call ISRO . The mission will have an orbiter , lander , and asix - wheel roverto research the lunar surface .
The mission follows ISRO ’s first lunar missionary post , called Chandrayaan-1 , which began in October 2008 . In addition to photographing the moon , the revolve space vehicle shot a investigation that slammed into the surface , kick up dust to study from afar . ISRO lose contact with the satellite in August 2009 , but NASAfound the spacecraftin March 2017 .
February 12 ( and six more times in 2019 ): NASA ’s Juno ballistic capsule fly over Jupiter
The $ 1 billionJuno missionreached Jupiter in July 2016 and has taken many arresting images of the gun hulk since then . The ballistic capsule ’s elongated eye socket brings it past the satellite once every 53.5 years in flybys called perijoves .
The investigation has so far explored some ofJupiter ’s deepest secrets , including the mystery of why itsGreat Red Spot is shrinking . NASAofficiallyextendedJuno ’s mission in the summer of 2018 , break the robot a few more age to proceed probing Jupiter .
Perijove 18 , the first of 2019 , is slated for February 12 . Mission managers have alsoplanned six other such maneuversfor the twelvemonth : April 6 , May 29 , July 21 , September 12 , November 3 , and December 26 .
February ( TBD ): OneWeb hop to plunge its first 10 satellites , which could compete with SpaceX ’s all - Earth internet plans
SpaceX hope tolaunch almost 12,000 satellite into orbit — which would shadow the amount of spacecraft currently in Earth ’s arena — over the next decade . The finish is to treat all of Earth with an internet service that is much faster , cheaper , and more resilient than any current serving . The company has received approvalfrom the FCCto build the web .
However , so has a lead competitor of SpaceX’s : OneWeb . OneWeb , a company based in London , design to plunge many satellites to establish service as before long as it can . The first 10 are slate to plunge ahead of time in the twelvemonth , and 10 more could follow in August .
March ( TBD ): Boeing plans to launch its CST-100 Starliner spaceship for the first time
Like SpaceX , Boeing is working on spacecraft that will help NASA supersede its space shuttle and ferry astronauts to and from range . Boeing ’s spaceship is call the CST-100 Starliner , and the first deputation will also be without a bunch — the vehicle will autonomously fly to the space place .
Boeing wanted to conduct a test launch of its Starliner to begin with in the yr , butleaky valves discovered during a testled to NASA delay the attempt by many month .
Early 2019 ( TBD ): SpaceX is expected to launch its second Falcon Heavy rocket
The first mission of SpaceX’sFalcon Heavy rocket salad , which is the most powerful operational launcher , blast Elon Musk’sred Tesla roadsterand a astronaut dummybeyond Mars .
The fomite ’s next mission ( and its first paid one ) is foretell Space Test Program-2 . The end is to plunge a group of military satellites into orbit . NASA ’s experimentalDeep Space Atomic Clockwill also be hitching a drive . The clock take aim to land unequaled preciseness in timing to recondite - space missions , which should improve communications and pilotage .
April 4 and September 1 : NASA ’s $ 1.5 billion solar investigation zooms past the sunshine
NASA ’s Parker Solar Probe ( PSP ) already broke the record forthe fastest human - made objective . On November 5 , 2018 , it fly past the sunlight at more than 212,000 mph — virtually 120 miles per second ( 3.3 time as fast as theJuno spacecraftat Jupiter ) . That ’s fast enough to fly from New York to Tokyo in less than a minute .
But PSP will maketwo more flybysthis yr , each closer to the Lord’s Day and more or less quicker than the one before it . The end is to crack two 60 - class - old mysteries : why the sun has a solar confidential information anddangerous aggregated ejections of particles , and how the electric glow — the adept ’s outer air — can heat up to millions of degree ( about 100 time as hot as the sun ’s surface temperature ) .
PSP will also zoom by Venus on December 26 , 2019 . The tactics will utilize the planet ’s gravity to draw the spacecraft into a tighter cranial orbit around the sun .
May 6 - 7 : The Eta Aquarids meteor cascade apex
agree toSeaSky.org , the Eta Aquarids are an " above - average " shooting star exhibitor than can produce one meteoroid per minute under a dark sky . The meteors are because of bit and pieces of Halley ’s Comet thatEarth drifts through .
June ( TBD ): SpaceX to launch a Crew Dragon spaceship with two NASA astronaut — the companionship ’s first human passengers
Assuming the first Crew Dragon mission without any people on board is a success , NASA will then plunge the next mission withastronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnkenon board . Each is a vet of spaceflight , and they could be the first to vanish SpaceX ’s Crew Dragon capsule .
" The first flight is something you dream about as a test buffer , and you do n’t ever think it ’s drop dead to happen to you , but it looks like it might , " Hurley say in August .
July 2 : Total solar eclipse
The moon will full block up the Sunday this summer , do a total solar eclipse . To see it , though , you ’ll have to bein the Southern Hemisphere .
The proficient locations will be central Chile and Argentina . Those willing to take a boat mount off the sea-coast of South America and into the Pacific Ocean can also view it , as can anyone who hop-skip in an aeroplane andflies through the moon ’s umbral shadow . The eclipse willpeak at 4:55 p.m. UTCand give away the sun ’s wispy and mysterious corona , or atmosphere .
June ( TBD ): China plans to conduct a test launching of a novel crewed spacecraft
China is not sit idly by while private company and other space agencies send people into orbit . The nation plans to bear a trial launch of a fomite it call theNew Generation Manned Spacecraftsometime in mid-2019 . The test wo n’t send up any people , but eventually China wants to use the fomite to ferry four to six taikonauts into orbital cavity .
July 16 : fond lunar eclipse
fond lunar eclipses are not as thrilling as full ones , but the events are still fun to take in . The edge of Earth ’s red - orange - hued darkness will strike the moon , induce part of it to be briefly darken . The event will mostly be visibleto people in Africa and westerly Asia .
August 12 - 13 : The Perseids meteor exhibitor peaks
The Perseids is usually one of thebest meteor showersof the yr . However , a full moon will launder out some of the harder - to - see meteor during the event ’s peak in 2019 .
November 11 : Mercury transportation across the Dominicus
Mercury is so small and so closely to the sun that it ’s typically hard to see . However , on November 11 , 2019 , it will seem to move , or transportation , in front of our local star . Thelast fourth dimension the planet did this was in 2016 , and before that it was 2006 , so the event is middling rare . If you ’re depart to take in it , make trusted you haveappropriate protective eyewear(orprepare to get originative ) .
former 2019 ( TBD ): China intends to set up a mission to the moon that could riposte a sample to Earth
China is pursuing an aggressive lunar - exploration campaign called Chang’e ( the name come from a Sun Myung Moon goddess ) . It start up with the moon orbiter Chang’e-1 , which launch in October 2007 . Two more commission after that include landers , a rover , electrical relay planet , andmicrosatellites . Chang’e-4 will essay to set downa young lander and roveron the far side of the lunar month in December 2018 .
But Chang’e-5 will be China ’s most challenging moon mission yet . A lander will attempt to drill out and scoop up nearly five pounds of lunar soil , then skyrocket the grit back to Earth . This would give China itsfirst - ever samples of the moon .
former 2019 : SpaceX says it will direct a trial launch of Elon Musk ’s unexampled Starship spaceship in southern Texas
SpaceX is working on a 387 - ft - tall Eruca vesicaria sativa ship called Big Falcon Rocket . The society is build the top half of the fomite , called Starship , under a giant tent in Los Angeles , California .
Elon Musk , the company ’s founder and chief designer , and Gwynne Shotwell , its chairwoman and chief operating police officer , have both enunciate they hope to carry the test launching of the starship on short " hops " in South Texasby the end of 2019 .
SpaceX is work up asimilar - sounding tentat its facility inBoca Chica , Texas . The company also recently applied for an FAA observational launching license . The app program requests two years to do launch - and - landing tests that could last up to six instant and riseabout 16,400 feetin elevation .
December 13 - 14 : The Geminids meteoroid cascade top
The Geminids are wide bonk as the " Billie Jean King of the meteor shower , " since they canproduce a couple of meteors every minuteduring their peak . This year ’s sluttish show will compete with a intimately full moonshine , but that wo n’t lave out the brightest and most colorful shooting star , which arecaused by junk from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon .
December 26 : ring-shaped solar occultation
The moon does not orbit Earth in a perfect set , so sometimes it appears smaller and more aloof . If the moon blocks the Dominicus during this minimum lunar size , you get an annular solar occultation — when the moon ’s black circle does n’t totally extend the sun ’s disk .
The event in 2019will be visibleto parts of Europe , Asia , Australia , and Africa , as well as piece of the Indian and Pacific Oceans .
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