[Reading Science] Will the Year of Gyemyo Mark the Beginning of Humanity's Deep Space Exploration?

Starship Development Planned for Moon-Mars Exploration
Launch of '1000 Quadrillion Dollar' Treasure Asteroid Probe
Notable Space Development Missions in 2023

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The year 2023, the Year of the Black Rabbit, could be recorded as the inaugural year of humanity's full-scale deep space exploration. Civilian tourism in Earth's orbit is becoming active, and efforts to extend humanity's domain beyond lunar exploration to Mars are gaining momentum.

According to space news outlet Space.com on the 2nd, the most notable space development plan this year is SpaceX's planned Starship orbital test launch in early March. Starship, the most powerful reusable rocket ever, will be used by NASA for transporting lunar landers and Mars exploration missions. It is especially noteworthy as a transportation means that will expand humanity's domain from Earth to the Moon and Mars. Currently, the Starship body and the Super Heavy booster rocket to be mounted on it are completed. If the orbital test launch and other tests succeed within this year, it could be used for the Artemis project’s manned lunar exploration missions scheduled after 2025.

Following Starship, the Falcon Heavy launch, ranked second in history, is also attracting attention. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which combines three Falcon 9 launch vehicles, is set for its first launch on the 10th of this month. The approximately 70-meter Falcon Heavy’s main mission is to place the US national security satellite (USSF-67) into geostationary orbit at an altitude of 35,000 km.

Commercial space companies’ plans to launch private lunar landers are also among the major interests this year. ULA plans to launch the 'Peregrine Mission One' lunar lander developed by US company Astrobotic via the Vulcan Centaur liquid methane rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex in Florida within the first quarter. This is the first US lunar landing project since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. Accompanying it is the lunar exploration rover named Yaoki, developed by Japan’s Daimon Corporation.

SpaceX also has a mission to transport six astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled for February. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, launched by a Falcon 9 rocket, will carry six astronauts from the US, United Arab Emirates, and Russia, who plan to stay on the ISS for about 180 days.

The Polaris Dawn program, the first commercial spacewalk, is another major focus. Led by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, private astronauts plan to execute this program using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch vehicle after March. Boeing’s Starliner, a commercial manned space transportation system under development, is also scheduled to launch with two astronauts on board before April. Starliner is planned to be used later for astronaut transport to the ISS.

Additionally, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch a small lunar lander before April. The European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to launch the Jupiter icy moons explorer JUICE in July, and Russia’s Luna 25 lunar lander, the first lunar exploration mission since 1976, is also a point of interest.

A small satellite developed by the California Institute of Technology for creating high-resolution lunar mineral maps is also planned for launch this year. NASA’s Psyche asteroid explorer, originally scheduled for last year but postponed to October this year, is planned to arrive at the metallic 'treasure island' asteroid Psyche in August 2029 to verify its actual composition. Psyche is composed of rare metals and is estimated to have an economic value exceeding 1,000 quadrillion dollars.

India is pushing forward with its first independent manned spacecraft launch project (Gaganyaan-G1) targeting the end of this year, and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is expected to resume test launches of its New Shepard vehicle for private space tourism, which has been suspended since August last year. The UK’s Virgin Galactic is also expected to restart its low Earth orbit space tourism program, which has been halted since July 2021.

China’s space telescope Xuntian, to be attached to the space station Tiangong built at the end of last year, is also expected to be launched within this year at the earliest. The Xuntian telescope, with a 2-meter mirror similar in size to the Hubble Space Telescope, will observe about 45% of the entire sky for approximately 10 years using a 2.5 billion-pixel camera.