2025 promises to be a groundbreaking year for space exploration, with various international space agencies gearing up for daring missions aimed at unearthing the secrets of the cosmos. From lunar landers and Mars explorations to ambitious asteroid missions, this year is set to expand humanity’s horizons like never before.
NASA leads the way with its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon using commercial landers. Following the success of Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander, which marked the first U.S. Moon landing since Apollo back in February 2024, NASA has several CLPS missions lined up for 2025. These upcoming missions will leverage partners such as Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly Aerospace, each carrying promising payloads to explore lunar geology, test new technologies, and gather environmental data.
Another exciting mission is the SPHEREx observatory set to be launched by NASA in February 2025. This instrument will conduct near-infrared surveys of the sky, mapping more than 450 million galaxies and over 100 million stars within our Milky Way. Such extensive mapping is key to answering fundamental questions about the origins of galaxies and the presence of water and organic compounds necessary for life.
Japan is also making significant strides with its M2/Resilience mission, scheduled for January 2025. This mission will deploy both a lander and micro-rover onto the lunar surface to study soil composition and conduct innovative water-splitting tests to produce the essentials for potential long-term exploration. Set against the backdrop of Japan’s growing involvement in lunar exploration, the M2/Resilience mission builds upon the technological advancements of the Smart Lander for Investigative Moon (SLIM) project, which achieved impressive landing accuracy earlier.
China is not to be overshadowed. Its Tianwen-2 mission, launching in May 2025, aims to gather samples from the near-Earth asteroid Kamoʻoalewa, believed to be a fragment of the Moon. This mission will not only help scientists understand the early solar system but also test techniques for gathering asteroid samples, enhancing the knowledge necessary to navigate future deep-space missions.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) is gearing up for several flyby missions scheduled throughout 2025. Notably, the BepiColombo mission will achieve its sixth Mercury flyby, providing data about the planet's geology and atmosphere. NASA’s Europa Clipper will execute significant maneuvers with flybys at Mars, aiding its long trek to Jupiter’s moon Europa, where it hopes to find life-sustaining conditions under its icy crust.
Also worth noting is ESA's Hera mission, which aims to assess and clarify asteroid deflection techniques, providing much-needed information for planetary defense strategies. NASA’s Lucy mission continues to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, conducting flybys to investigate these ancient celestial bodies, which hold clues about the early solar system.
These planned missions showcase the collaborative spirit and rapid advancements of international space exploration, which are set to inspire future generations of scientists and explorers. Innovations developed through these endeavors could pave the way for sustained human presence beyond Earth, fostering exploration, discovery, and perhaps, the ultimate expansion of humanity to new frontiers.
One aerospace engineer aptly captured the essence of this year, stating, "2025 promises to be a groundbreaking year for space exploration. With NASA’s ambitious missions and significant contributions from other countries, we are set to make remarkable strides in humanity’s knowledge of the universe." This is clearly reflected not only in mission objectives but also through shared international efforts and technological advancements.
