Tianwen-2 goes to an asteroid for sampling: These space missions in 2025 are worth looking forward to!

In 2024, the global aerospace industry is full of excitement: China's Chang'e 6 successfully returned samples from the far side of the moon, the United States' Europa Clipper set off for Europa, and SpaceX's Starship achieved its first successful landing...

Now that 2025 has arrived, space agencies around the world are preparing more ambitious space programs to expand human vision to the moon, Mars, asteroids and even beyond. Among them, some space missions are particularly worth looking forward to.

01

Commercial payload lunar mission

NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is one of the pillars of the United States' future lunar scientific exploration. The program aims to use commercial companies' landers to send scientific instruments and technology experiment equipment to the moon.

In February 2024, the Odyssey lunar lander of the commercial aerospace company Intuitive Machines successfully landed.

In 2025, the program will welcome more companies to participate, including Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly Aerospace. These missions will send various scientific instruments to different locations on the moon to conduct lunar geological research, test new technologies for future manned missions, and collect lunar environmental data.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander

02

SPHEREx: A cosmic scout

In February 2025, NASA plans to launch the "Spectrophotometer for Cosmic History, Reionization Epoch, and Ice Explorer" (SPHEREx). This detector is like a "scout" of the universe, and will conduct sky surveys in the near-infrared band that is invisible to the human eye. For celestial bodies that are very cold or too far away, it is difficult to observe them with visible light, but relying on near-infrared light is very effective.

SPHEREx plans to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars to create a detailed map of the universe. Scientists will use this data to explore the origin of galaxies and understand the distribution of water and organic molecules in star-forming regions filled with gas and dust.

SPHEREx probe to create most colorful map of the universe yet

03

Space Rider: Reusable Space Laboratory

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s "Space Rider" plans to conduct its first orbital test flight in the third quarter of 2025. This is not an ordinary "spaceship", but a reusable space laboratory. It will carry out various scientific experiments in low-Earth orbit to study the growth of plants in a microgravity environment, material properties, and biological processes.

Additionally, Space Rider will test new space communications technologies and robotic tools, paving the way for future missions to the moon and Mars.

Space Rider will provide a reusable space transportation system

For regular travel to and from low Earth orbit

04

Perseverance: Producing Hydrogen and Oxygen on the Moon

On January 15, 2025, the Resilience lunar probe of Japanese aerospace company iSpace and the Blue Ghost 1 of Firefly Aerospace of the United States were launched together on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Due to the use of energy-saving orbits, Resilience will travel to the moon in a circuitous way and is expected to land on the lunar surface between May and June.

In addition to studying the lunar soil, Perseverance has a more eye-catching mission: to conduct a "water decomposition" experiment. This experiment will extract water from the lunar surface, heat it into steam, and then decompose it into hydrogen and oxygen. The water, oxygen and hydrogen produced will be valuable resources for future long-term lunar missions.

The mission will also test new navigation systems and autonomous control technologies that are critical for future lunar exploration and could be used on missions to Mars and beyond.

Perseverance lander and lunar rover

05

Space weather "smile" cracked

"Smile Satellite" is the abbreviation of the Solar Wind-Magnetosphere Interaction Panoramic Imaging Satellite (SMILE), a joint project of China and the European Space Agency, which is expected to be launched in 2025.

The satellite will use soft X-ray technology for the first time to "take photos" and combine it with field detection data to study how solar wind energy enters the geomagnetic umbrella and triggers space weather.

According to the plan, the "Smiling Satellite" will be transported to the Kourou Space Launch Center in French Guiana in July 2025, and will be launched by the Vega-C launch vehicle of the European Arianespace Company before the end of 2025.

Smile satellite renderings

06

Tianwen-2: "Interstellar Express" from Asteroid to Comet

In May 2025, China will launch the Tianwen-2 spacecraft. This is not just an ordinary "space trip", but more like an "interstellar express".

Tianwen-2 will first head to the near-Earth asteroid 469219 (sometimes also called 2016 HO3). The asteroid is about 40-100 meters in diameter, and scientists believe it may be a part of the moon that was ejected into space in an impact event. By studying this asteroid, scientists hope to learn about the early solar system and its formation process.

Tianwen-2 will use touch-and-go sampling and adhesion sampling techniques to collect samples from the asteroid's surface and send them back to Earth for further study.

Tianwen-2 will then continue on to its second target, Comet 311P/PANSTARRS, a comet located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By studying cometary material, scientists can gain insight into the secrets of the early solar system and the origins of water and organic molecules on Earth.

Tianwen-2 renderings

Reference Information:

https://theconversation.com/from-new-commercial-moon-landers-to-asteroid-investigations-expect-a-slate-of-exciting-space-missions-in-2025-243645

https://nssc.cas.cn/smile/

Compiled by: Liu Yun

Planning: Zhang Chao, Li Peiyuan, Yang Liu

Reviewer: Liu Yong, Researcher at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ambassador of China's Space Science Popularization