ArsTechnica looks ahead to 2018 space news:
Last year offered a mixed bag for spaceflight aficionados. The highs were very high, with SpaceX flying, landing, and reflying rockets at an unprecedented rate while finally beginning to deliver on its considerable promise. But the lows were pronounced, too, with the loss of the Cassini spacecraft in the outer Solar System and NASA's continued lack (for nearly a full year) of an administrator.
There were also delays upon delays. The ultra-expensive James Webb Space Telescope saw its launch date slip from 2018 into some time in 2019. NASA's Space Launch System rocket saw its maiden launch slip from late 2018 into 2019 and then again into 2020. The Falcon Heavy also moved to the right on the calendar, from November, then December, and finally into early 2018.
But all of those delays mean that the last couple of years of the 2010s should feature a lot of spaceflight action, and a good chunk of that will occur in the next 12 months. Looking ahead at what is to come, here are the key spaceflight milestones we're most eager to see in 2018, grouped by the approximate quarter of the year in which they might happen.
Falcon Heavy, Solar Sails, Chinese Land on the Moon, and more.
[The 'loss' of the Cassini spacecraft was a planned event. Having nearly exhausted the fuel available for orbit corrections, it was sent on a trajectory to disintegrate in Saturn's atmosphere. This, instead of running the risk of possibly landing on, and contaminating, one of Saturn's potentially habitable moons (e.g. Enceladus) --martyb].
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Saturday January 06 2018, @10:46PM
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite [wikipedia.org] (exoplanets, March 2018 launch)
Chandrayaan-2 [wikipedia.org] (Lunar orbiter, lander, rover, Q1 2018 launch)
Parker Solar Probe [wikipedia.org] (Venus flybys, very close study of the Sun, summer 2018 launch)
CHEOPS [wikipedia.org] (exoplanets, end of 2018 launch)
A bunch of private spacecraft were supposed to land on the Moon early this year to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize [wikipedia.org]. The deadline was extended several times and is now March 31, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Solar_System_exploration#2010s [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Saturday January 06 2018, @10:57PM (4 children)
After all, the rest are just pedestrian.
Landing a Falcon Heavy would be the cat's meow.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Saturday January 06 2018, @11:13PM (1 child)
They make a good case for the Falcon 9 Block 5 [wikipedia.org]. It has increased thrust and improvements that could make it much easier and faster to refurbish/reuse.
Even if Falcon Heavy works, there won't be that many flights of it. There will be more Falcon 9 flights per year (some payloads originally planned for Falcon Heavy years ago have flown on improved versions of Falcon 9 instead). And BFR will knock both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy out of the park [wikipedia.org] by lifting more while being fully reusable (recovering and reusing the Falcon 9/Heavy second stage is unlikely).
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday January 07 2018, @05:30AM
If it flies. Falcon Heavy is the big deal because it means that the largest rocket in the world is privately owned.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:47AM (1 child)
If the Chinese land on the moon and build a base, that for me will be the highlight.
Moon, then Mars.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @01:52AM
No, more like Moon, then "You likee new laser weapon base, silly 'Mellicans?"
All our base are berong to us!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @11:00PM (1 child)
Will 2018 be the year Musk impregnates the Red Planet?
Will he cheat and spill a space probe filled with Musky sperm on Mars instead?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 06 2018, @11:05PM
Shit, it could be in the trunk of his BRIGHT RED Tesla Roadster.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 07 2018, @10:36AM (3 children)
It seems odd to be concerned about Cassini contaminating a moon when Huygens risked just that with the landing on Titan. If crashing into a moon is so bad, would it not have been better to leave Cassini in as stable and safe an orbit as available? Maybe they were thinking of avoiding contamination from the plutonium RTGs on Cassini, rather than any earthly bacteria that might somehow have survived 2 decades in space?
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday January 07 2018, @11:18AM
I would like all the Saturnians to know that I was opposed to throwing nuclear devices at them, and that I for one welcome our new overlords.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 07 2018, @05:53PM
It was.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Sunday January 07 2018, @06:13PM
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/ [nasa.gov]
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-nasas-cassini-probe-must-destroyed [pbs.org]
There is some discrepancy there, but more is known about Titan than when we first contaminated it, and non-water-based life [wikipedia.org] has been a subject of speculation.
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(Score: 2) by clone141166 on Sunday January 07 2018, @12:15PM (1 child)
...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 07 2018, @06:14PM
Do you need a reboot?
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(Score: 1) by corey on Sunday January 07 2018, @11:02PM
I, and a lot of others consider the end of Cassini as a high not low. It was the planned end to a highly successful and fruitful mission that lasted decades. I guess people involved with the mission were sad in a sense that it was crashed but it should be celebrated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 07 2018, @11:10PM
32 square meters. That seems like a pretty small sail, and no matter how big it is, the inverse-square law makes it useless outside maybe 3AU. This seems like a better way to sail:
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/01/plasma-magnet-sails-to-get-manned-missions-to-mars-in-1-week.html [nextbigfuture.com]
It does require electric power, but it also provides radiation shielding. And it grows as the solar wind weakens, so
its pulling power is constant out to who-knows-where.