Space science and exploration has reached exciting new heights in the past 12 months.
We learned that galaxies are bigger than we thought, how Europe is building its new Ariana 6 rocket, and what space travel does to the astronauts’ bodies. Germany’s first female astronaut will also go into space in 2025.
2025 is set to be just as exciting, but what lies ahead?
NASA’s ‘stranded’ astronauts will return to Earth this spring
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will return to Earth in March 2025.
The two astronauts left the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2024 after
difficulties in maneuvering their spacecraft meant that their eight-day mission had to be extended.
Although not technically “marooned”, since there are regular crew trips and supply ships that can bring them back later, the scientists were forced to stretch their time on the ISS from two weeks to now , at least nine months.
Astronauts have since joined Crew-9, a mission from SpaceXlaunched from the ISS to bring two astronauts back home.
Crew-9 was scheduled to return to Earth in March 2025, but NASA announced in December that it would delay production of Crew-10, which is intended to replace Crew-9.
Crew-10 is delayed by a month, meaning the astronauts should return to Earth in March if there are no further delays.
Measuring biology from space
2025 will be the year that the European Space Agency (ESA) will start analyzing the Earth’s environment from space.
The FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) project will provide global maps of plant health and stress. FLEX has a 3 1/2 year plan since its inception.
The satellite will include new instruments capable of measuring photosynthetic activity from space for the first time. The instrument, called FLORIS, will measure plant fluorescence to record photosynthesis in abundance to provide a better understanding of how plant ecosystems affect the global carbon cycle.
A separate ESA mission to be launched in 2025 will also analyze Earth’s forests. The Biomass Project will measure information about the state of our forests and how they are changing.
The results of both missions can help inform policy on climate change protection, agricultural management and food security.
Next steps for Artemis, but no action for 2025
2025 will be an important year for NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon as part of the Artemis program, but there will be no rockets going up.
Instead, space enthusiasts will continue to NASA to follow important steps in preparation for the Artemis II mission.
In 2022, Artemis I successfully tested the unmanned Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit. Artemis II is the latest mission scheduled to land a crew in 2026. The Artemis III mission will return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
The Artemis II mission was scheduled to launch in late 2025, but has been pushed back to April 2026 to provide more time to resolve issues encountered by the Orion Spacecraft in its first mission.
The delay also gives business partners SpaceX and Axiom Space time to meet their milestones in the development of the Starship lunar lander and new space suits respectively.
Astronauts will be using the LUNA facility in Germany to train for future missions to the Moon.
Lunar eclipses and meteor showers
There will also be many things happening near Earth that we will be able to see with the naked eye, or with telescopes.
That is unless more satellites continue to blind the view of astronomers in space.
The Quadrantid meteor shower it runs from mid-November to mid-January each year, culminating on January 3.
Meteors will shine from the northern sky but will appear in all parts of the sky. You need to wake up early and hope that the peak comes at the right time in your part of the world.
The Visit Aquariids meteor shower it will also be visible from April 20 to May 21. Eta Aquariids is a powerful shower when viewed from the tropics but can also be seen north of the equator. Eta Aquariids Summit from May 3-4.
Another day in your local calendar is March 14, not a eclipse of the moon it will be seen in the Pacific, America, Western Europe, and West Africa.
Depending on where you live, you will have a second chance in 2025 on September 7, when eclipse of the moon it will be seen in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
However, there is no need to worry about asteroids or meteors hitting the Earth.
Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany
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