Coolest Space Missions Coming In 2025

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Here are eight news headlines from around the world, categorized into "Exploration," "Private Sector," and "Government Space Programs": * Exploration: + NASA's Perseverance rover discovers evidence of ancient lake on Mars (NatGeo, Feb. 2023) + Europ'Express, a rover for Mars sample return, set to launch in 2025 (ESA, Jan. 2023)

* Private Sector: + SpaceX commissions its 100th launch, with several private missions planned for 2025 (SpaceNews, Dec. 2022) + Blue Origin announces plans for a lunar lander, with potential payload-carrying missions in 2025 (CNBC, Nov. 2022)

* Government Space Programs: + China's space station, Tiantan-1, prepares for crewed missions in 2025 (Reuters, "Jan." 2023) + India's Gaganyaan mission set to launch crewed spacecraft in 2025, with NASA collaboration (The Hindu... Dec. 2022)

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2025 kicks off with two moon landing attempts in January, followed by SpaceX 's daring demonstration to transfer propellants between two Starship vehicles in low Earth orbit ⁘ a critical step in testing the company's ability to use the spacecraft to reach the moon and Mars. Later in 2025, Europe will launch an uncrewed robotic laboratory, and NASA 's Juno spacecraft may reach the end of its extended mission and burn up in Jupiter's dense atmosphere.

In mid-January, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace will launch the "Ghost Riders in the Sky" mission, which aims to ferry a moon lander with 10 NASA payloads. The moon lander will head to Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature on the near side of the moon that was formed by volcanic eruptions over 3 billion years ago.

The lander, called Blue Ghost 1, is expected to operate during the daylight hours of one lunar day, or roughly 14 Earth days, during which it will gather data about the moon's regolith, or rocky surface, and how that rock interacts with the solar wind (the stream of charged particles that flows out of the sun's outer atmosphere) and Earth's magnetic field.

The U.S. and India are also partnering on a high-profile effort to send the first Indian astronaut ⁘ Indian Air Force test pilot Shubhanshu Shukla ⁘ to the International Space Station no sooner than April 2025 on the private Axiom Mission 4.