2018 has been another amazing year in terms of space exploration and rocket launches. Now that we’re almost at the end, I’d like to offer a few highlights. Some of the missions are still ongoing and one is coming to its oh so much awaited rendezvous in less than a week time.
- Rocket launches. 2018 was another good year, with about 100 launches (in between commercial and not), with China now contributing about 40% of them. “The 100th orbital launch of 2018, Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-11 lofted three international crewmembers from the United States, Canada, and Russia to the International Space Station via a 6-hour orbital rendezvous flight. Launch occurred at 06:31 EST (1131 UTC) on Monday, 3 December 2018 – which was 17:31 local time at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan. Docking to the ISS followed at 12:33 EST (1733 UTC).” (NASA Spaceflight, 2018)
- Going toward the Sun. Two space missions were launched heading toward the core of our Solar System. The first is Parker Solar Probe, the first mission to ever “touch the Sun”. “The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the Sun’s atmosphere about 4 million miles from the surface. Parker Solar Probe launched aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Aug. 12, 2018 at 3:31.” (NASA’s mission webpage). The second is Bepi Colombo, on its way to Mercury.
- Asteroids and Dwarf Planets. A few spacecraft are now either on their way (New Horizons reaching Ultima Thule on January 1, 2019) or already exploring their targets (OSIRIS-REX with Bennu, since December 3).
Waiting for the science they’re going to send home, let’s get ready for another year full of space!