A lot of space organizations have big plans of their own for our sole natural satellite. China's space agency could landed its Chang'e-4 craft & its rover on the far side of the moon. The lander will explore the area near the south pole on the side of the moon that always faces away from Earth.
Lunar traffic will likely pick up with a planned lander/rover mission by India's space agency that could launch as soon as Jan. 30. A few weeks later, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to send the first Israeli lunar lander on its way.
Google Lunar XPrize contestants, SpaceIL and at least three other finalists -- Berlin's PTScientists, India's Team Indus and Florida-based Moon Express -- are all aiming to land on the moon at some point in 2019.
Moon Express and a fifth XPrize finalist, Astrobotic, have also been chosen to work with NASA to send new science experiments to the surface of the moon. At a press conference in November, the space agency said the first commercial lunar payloads from the program could fly in 2019. They'll likely demonstrate technology needed to develop future lunar landers and missions.
China may be able to launch its Chang'e-5 mission by the end of the year. The follow-up to Chang'e-4 would collect samples from the surface and bring them back to Earth, marking the first time that's happened in decades.
Other spacecraft will get closer to space rocks in 2019. Both Japan's Hayabusa-2 and NASA's Osiris-Rex will spend part of the year making preparations to swipe samples of the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, respectively. Hayabusa-2 is scheduled to collect its sample this year while Osiris-Rex will wait until 2020.
NASA's Juno spacecraft is scheduled to make seven more close passes by Jupiter in 2019.
Mars Insight probe will get to work drilling into the Martian surface to explore the planet's interior and listen for "Marsquakes."
Europe's Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS), which is meant to provide a better look at exoplanets around distant stars. It could launch as soon as November.
Rare glimpses of the far side:
Topic: More Lunar probes & beyond for 2019 (Read 2504 times)
