7+ missions planned to go to the Moon in 2022

This time, we’ll take a look at missions planned to launch this year to the Moon. Of course, only at the end of this year, we’ll know which of them made it. Anyway, how many of them do you know? Let’s find out.

NASA – Capstone

Let’s start with a mission from NASA. Although the full name of the mission is Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, let us use its acronym CAPSTONE. The goal is to test a before unused, unique orbit around the Moon. How do you test an orbit, you might ask? You send a space into the orbit and track if it’s able to stay in it. Thus, NASA is doing exactly that. They’ll send Capstone into a cis-lunar near rectilinear halo orbit and test technologies to keep it there. So that they know they can place a spacecraft there, before they are sending the Gateway station into this orbit.

Capstone itself is a small spacecraft that will launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. The planned launch date is currently not earlier than 3 May. As all launches from Rocket Lab so far, it’ll launch from New Zealand.

NASA – Artemis I

The differences between the previous mission and the next one couldn’t be bigger. Capstone launches on a small rocket, while Artemis I launches on one of the biggest rockets developed by humanity so far. That is NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). Not only the rockets are quite differently, but also the spacecrafts. The SLS will launch the Orion capsule (with the European service module). What’s so special about it? It’ll be the first spacecraft capable of carrying humans to the Moon for 50 years. Although this won’t happen on Artemis I. The goal of this mission is to test the rocket and the spacecraft. It’ll therefore fly on a mission to the Moon. If all goes well, the next mission will bring a crew back into lunar orbit. Similar to what Apollo 8 did.

It’s currently planned to launch on 6 June 2022 from Florida. I’ll write more about it in an upcoming post.

JAXA – Slim

For now, let’s switch to another mission, planned to launch NET than June. It’s the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (or short Slim). It’s basically a technology demonstration. The goal is to develop accurate landing capabilities for small spacecraft. Not only for landing on the Moon but also on other planets. If successful, it might be followed by a lunar sample return mission. In contrast to the missions before, the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) is behind this mission.

KARI – Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO)

In August, another space agency is planning to launch a mission to the Moon. This time it is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which is the space agency of South Korea. The mission name is the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). As you might have guessed from the name, it is an orbiter. The main goals of the mission are to demonstrate technologies, surveying resources as well as creating a topographic map. It will also carry some payloads from NASA.

ISRO – Chandrayaan-3

And we are moving on to another country, India. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is basically a repeat of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Why would they repeat a previous mission, you might ask? You can read more about Chandrayaan-2 in my previous post, but to sum it up. The mission was only partially successful. The orbiter of the mission was successful and is still operational. However, the lander failed to touch down softly on the surface of the Moon. ISRO is therefore repeating the lander and rover part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Because the orbiter is still functional in orbit around the Moon, Chandrayaan-3 will use it for communication with Earth. Therefore, saving mass, which can be used to improve the lander and rover.

The plan currently is to launch in August on a GSLV Mk III from India. If successful this time, India will become the fourth country to soft land on the surface of the Moon.

Roscosmos – Luna 25

Meanwhile, we are looking at jet another country with plans to launch a lunar mission this year, Russia. Roscosmos is planning to continue the Soviet lunar probe program, therefore naming it’s planned lunar lander Luna 25. At least in January, it was supposed to launch on 22 September. I think recent events will lead to a slip of the launch date. The main goal of the mission is to demonstrate landing technology as well as do some science on the surface of the Moon. It’ll be the first all-Russian exploration mission since 2011.

Intuitive Machines – IM-1

Now for something different. The organizations behind the missions so far are all space agencies from different countries. The next three missions are commercial lunar landers. If successful, those will be the first mission of commercial companies to the Moon.

So, let’s start with the first one, mission IM-1 from Intuitive Machines. NASA selected Intuitive Machines as part of their Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS). It’ll therefore carry five NASA-sponsored instruments to the surface of the Moon. The landing will be done by the Nova-C lander developed and build by Intuitive Machines. The lander is supposed to launch sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year on a Falcon 9.

Astrobotic Technology – Peregrine One (PM1)

The Peregrine 1 mission is another commercial lunar mission. Like the IM-1 mission, it is part of NASA’s CLPS program. The lander, based on a design originally build for the Google Lunar-X-Prize, will deliver 14 payloads to the surface of the Moon. It’ll launch on a Vulcan VC2 rocket not earlier than October.

ispace – Mission 1 (M1)

The third commercial lunar lander in this list is from ispace. Which is a company from Japan with its own lunar exploration program, called HAKUTO-R. The first mission of the program, Mission 1, is currently planned to launch in the fourth quarter at the earliest. So, it might very well slip into next year. Because the lander is currently in final assembly and needs to complete a test campaign successfully, before it can launch.

It will carry payload from space agencies, for example from JAXA or the UAE, as well as payloads from commercial companies to the lunar surface. The lander will use a Falcon 9 to launch to the Moon.

Summary

So, there are quite many missions planned to launch to the Moon this year. But as is with plans, they are probably going to shift back. Some might even not make it at all this year. Let’s hope the best for the missions and the people working on them. Especially those of the commercial companies doing their first attempts to land softly on the Moon. As we have seen in the past with Chandrayaan-2 or the Beresheet lander, this isn’t easy.

I’m excited for all this new missions to the Moon. There is still so much to learn about the Moon and how to get there. And I want to learn more about the effort it takes. Do you want to join me? Then follow me on this blog or on Twitter.

Credit for image at the top: Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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