The year 2016 saw a couple of landmark space missions, launch of the world's largest search for extraterrestrial life, and Juno's rendezvous with Jupiter, apart from remarkable milestones by ISRO. This year, too, looks promising for space science. Watch out for these space missions and major events in 2017:
1. ISRO's record launch: In January, ISRO plans to launch a record number of 83 satellites in one go, a first-of-its-kind feat for the Indian space agency. While three of the satellites are Indian, the remaining 80 belong to Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the US.
2. China's mission to the moon: China has unveiled an ambitious mission for 2017—not just land a rover on the moon, but to collect samples and return to earth. The lunar probe, Chang'e 5, marks the third phase of China's lunar exploration project. China lags behind space giants like the US and Russia, and a successful lunar return mission will give China the much needed edge.
3. Cassini grand finale: NASA's Cassini probe, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, is set for a finale on September 15 this year. NASA plans to send it crashing into Saturn as the probe is running out of fuel and does not have enough to continue orbiting the planet. Also, by making the plunge, Cassini gets a chance to explore a region that no other probe has ventured into before—the area between the planet and its rings. As part of the Grand Finale, as NASA calls it, Cassini will undertake 22 orbits between the planet and the rings, capturing a treasure-trove of information and images. After this, the probe will plunge into the planet's upper atmosphere, to end up in a spectacular ball of fire.
4. Tackling space debris: If messing up the earth with trash wasn't enough, we have piled up about 7,000 tonnes of hazardous trash in space, ranging from used rockets, dysfunctional satellites and debris from collisions. In an attempt to tackle space junk, harpoons, sails and net are to be sent to space. Dubbed RemoveDebris, the mission is led by the Surrey Space Centre, in collaboration with the European Space Agency. Among other techniques, the mission will test a fishing net-like device to capture orbiting space junk. Once captured, the rubbish could then be dragged back to earth by a spacecraft.
5. Test launch of Blue Origin: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's private space firm, Blue Origin, plans to get people into space this year. After the successful 'in-flight escape test' in October last year, the agency is hopeful of flying people—test astronauts—in 2017, and launching commercial space flights in 2018. It won't be long before the frontiers of space open up to the common man, the richer ones, that is.
6. Private mission to the moon: Private teams worldwide are competing to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge, a $30-million competition to put a rover on the moon. What's interesting is that India is in the race, too. Bengaluru-based private entity TeamIndus has teamed up with scientists from ISRO to land a spacecraft on the moon, have it travel at least 500m and beam high-definition video, images and data back to the earth. The mission is planned for launch on December 28 this year. The Google Lunar XPRIZE aims to inspire entrepreneurs to create a new era of affordable access to the moon and beyond.