The space race continues: check out the biggest events of 2023

Man's first trip to the moon was undoubtedly a "small step for man, and a giant leap for mankind". Since the space race experienced in the Cold War, space technology has been developing.

In the last year, the world witnessed 178 successful orbital launches. While the forecast for the next arrival of man on the Moon is only three years from now, we will be able, in 2023, to see other space missions. Check out the main ones below.

Space missions in 2023

SpaceX

SpaceX is having success in its fundraising. With that, the aerospace company of one of the richest men in the world, elonMusk, will not be left out of this year's orbital launches.

Between the months of February and March, SpaceX will launch its Starship spacecraft into orbit. For this, scientists will use a first-stage rocket booster, called Super Heavy.

SpaceX's future expectation is to use Starship as a means of transporting cargo and humans that can be used more than once. In addition to Starship, the company will launch the Euclid space telescope in July.

The return of OSIRIS-REx

Four years after its launch, OSIRIS-REx arrived at the asteroid Bennu to collect rock samples. With its work done, the ship of the NASA should return to Earth on September 24th.

Although there is a possibility of this small asteroid colliding with Earth in the next century, this was not the reason for the interest in studying it. The samples brought back from the asteroid Bennu can help scientists to understand the first chronological phases of the solar system, that is, the primitive solar system.

US releases

Intuitive Machines will launch the Nova-C spacecraft in March of this year. If the objectives are achieved, it will be the second aircraft to land on the Moon. And this is not the only American spacecraft that has this objective.

Astrobotic Technology will send the Peregrine Lunar Lander, and the forecast is that this one will also be launched by March. If this mission succeeds, the exosphere, that is, the most distant atmospheric layer of its soil, magnetic fields and other aspects of the natural satellite will be studied.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP)

With the CCP, NASA intends to accelerate space technological development, and in view of that, Space X returns to the 2023 launch list. This is because there is a competition between it and Boeing, which intends to send astronauts to the ISS on a regular basis, but before that, it needs to complete the tests.

To this end, the Starliner spacecraft will transport two NASA astronauts in April 2023, in the company's first manned deployment. But first, in February, SpaceX will send four astronauts to the International Space Station.

JUICE mission

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, also called JUICE, will be sent to study three moons of the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter. This will be the first time that a spacecraft will orbit the moon of another planet. The event will be possible thanks to the European Space Agency and takes place in April 2023. It is estimated that JUICE will reach its destination in 2031.

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