Space

[New] The Mars mission is among a number of new space projects China is pursuing, including putting Chinese astronauts on the moon and having a space station by 2022.
[New] By 2030, China's economy will outgrow the US, and China plans to use its vast economic resources to project its presence deep into space in ways that may lead to escalating military confrontations with the newly created US Space Force.
[New] GHGSat aims to launch two new satellites this year while the EDF advocacy group plans to launch its own satellite in 2022.
The funding from the International Space Investment Expand Capability Program will allow researchers to build a small satellite - called SpIRIT - to be launched in space by 2022, in collaboration with multiple Australian space industry companies and the Italian Space Agency.
A collaboration between the Australian space company, Gilmour Space, and researchers at the University of Queensland is working on a rocket that's due to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbits by 2022.
Current reduction in the cost of spending of space tourism is expected to gain traction for the global space tourism market over coming years.
With the world at a pivotal point for space, the global space industry is expected to be worth U.S. $600 billion by 2030.
Australia is investing close to $700 million into the space sector as part of our goal to triple its size to $12 billion and add up to an extra 20,000 jobs by 2030.
Even when the U.S. commercial crew systems are operational, NASA intends to continue launching astronauts on Soyuz, and Russia will launch cosmonauts on the U.S. systems, to ensure all are trained to fly on all the vehicles.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will not launch its new generation of space rocket, the Ariane 6, in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Australia's space sector is expected to triple over the next decade, meaning Victoria's space sector could potentially create up to 4,000 new jobs and boost the economy by $1.3bn.
Three other missions are heading for Mars over the next year, including NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover, China's Tianwen-1, which will launch next month, and ExoMars, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
The Emirates has already launched two satellites and sent an astronaut to the International Space Station and it has vowed to build a human settlement on Mars by 2117.
SpaceX, NASA and other space agencies could be charged a yearly-fee of up to $235,000 for every satellite they launch to try and clamp down on debris in orbit.
Anticipated to be the first aircraft to fly on another planet, the Mars Helicopter Scout will be deployed from the Mars 2020 rover next year and is expected to fly five times during 30 days on Mars.
The first GEO satellite is required to achieve initial launch capability by late 2025, with all five Block 0 satellites on orbit by 2029.
The US Air Force expects its first Next Gen OPIR satellite to achieve initial launch capability by late 2025, and plans to launch all 5 satellites in Block 0 by 2029.
HawkEye 360, which has three satellites in orbit, plans to launch another trio later this year on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The Indian space station will be much smaller than the International Space Station and will be used for carrying out microgravity experiments (not for space tourism).
The world may be facing a vicious cycle in which extreme weather caused by climate change drives up energy use for heating and air conditioning, further increasing planet-warming emissions.
Currently operating with limited capacity, Konnect Africa will see its in-orbit resources increase tenfold with the entry into service of the Eutelsat Konnect satellite in the autumn of 2020.
Current plans are in place for China to send a probe to Mars in 2020 as it prepares to complete a space station by 2022.

See full forecast

Last updated: 05 July 2020