Most daring space missions coming in 2025
Technology
From China’s asteroid retrieval to first private ‘luxury’ space station
(Web Desk) - This year looks set to be another blockbuster year for daring space missions, from China's asteroid retrieval to the first-ever private space station.
Here are some of the biggest space missions ahead.
CHINA ASTEROID RETRIEVAL
China is set to launch the Tianwen-2 mission to sample near-Earth asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3) in 2025.
The Tianwen-2 mission will see a spacecraft anchor down on the asteroid, which scientists believe could be a fragment of the Moon, to collect samples.
SCOUTING THE LUNAR SURFACE
Following on from the Odysseus Moon landing in 2024, Nasa's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) will continue delivering commercial lunar landers.
The CLPS scheme is what brought Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander to the Moon in February 2024 - marking the first US Moon landing since 1972.
NASA has several CLPS missions planned for 2025: including deliveries by companies Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace.
Each mission will have a different end-goal, carrying out different experiments at various locations on the lunar surface.
PRIVATE SPACE STATION LAUNCH
As plans to retire the International Space Station unfold, one of the main contenders to replace the orbital outpost will launch no earlier than August 2025.
It is set to become the world's first commercial crewed space station.
Haven-1, from private space company Vast, feels more like a luxury hotel than a space station with its sleek wood veneer slats, soft and padded white walls.
It even boasts a gym space and private rooms featuring entertainment and online communication tech to contact home.
SPACE RIDER
The European Space Agency (ESA) has tabled plans to conduct an orbital test flight of its uncrewed Space Rider spaceplane in the third quarter of 2025.
The reusable spacecraft is designed to carry out various scientific experiments in low Earth orbit, such as how plants and materials behave in microgravity.
Space Rider will also demonstrate new technologies for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
For example, it will test advanced telecommunication systems, which will be crucial for keeping contact with spacecraft and astronauts over long distances.
STARSHIP TEST FLIGHTS
Elon Musk's SpaceX is plotting a groundbreaking test to transfer fuel from one Starship to another while docked in low Earth orbit.
The demonstration, scheduled for March 2025, will see two windowless Starship vehicles launch about three to four weeks apart.
The second Starship will serve as a refueling tanker for the first.
