1. NASA Missions
Dragonfly Mission – Saturn’s Moon Titan
- Type: Rotorcraft lander ("dual quadcopter")
- Target: Titan (Saturn’s largest moon).
- Launch: July 2028; Budget: $3.35 billion.
- Purpose: Study habitability & organic compounds.
NEOWISE Telescope
- Launch: 2009 (as WISE).
- End: Mission concluded after 10+ years.
- Role: Near-Earth object detection.
Polaris Dawn Mission
- First: Non-governmental spacewalk.
- Altitude: ~700 km (aims to break 1966 Gemini 11 record).
- Vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9 + Dragon capsule.
Tanager-1
- Purpose: Detect CO₂ & CH₄ emissions.
- Launch Vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
- Goal: Hunt for primordial black holes & give deep Milky Way view.
Perseverance Rover – Mars
- Discovery: Rock "Cheyava Falls" with organic compounds.
- Tool: SHERLOC instrument.
PREFIRE Mission
- Type: Twin CubeSats.
- Purpose: Measure polar heat radiation.
CURIE Mission
- Goal: Study solar radio waves origins.
- Type: CubeSat mission.
2. European Space Agency (ESA) Missions
BepiColombo – Mercury
- Partners: ESA + JAXA.
- Launch: 2018; Mercury orbit in 2025.
- Objective: Magnetic field, geology, solar wind, exosphere.
- Update: Detected oxygen & carbon in Venus’s magnetosphere.
JUICE – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
- Target: Europa, Callisto, Ganymede.
- Launch: April 2023.
- Milestone: Earth flyby – Aug 20, 2024.
RAMSES – Rapid Apophis Mission
- Purpose: Observe asteroid Apophis during April 13, 2029 close pass (32,000 km from Earth).
3. Chinese Missions
Queqiao-2
- Agency: CNSA.
- Role: Lunar relay satellite.
- Status: Launch successful.
Chang’e-7
- Goal: Search water ice at Moon’s South Pole (2026).
- Partners: Egypt + Bahrain (hyperspectral camera).
APSTAR-6E
- Type: All-electric propulsion communication satellite.
- Status: Operational.
Shenzhou-19
- Purpose: Crewed mission to replace space station crew.
4. ISRO & India-Related Missions
RHUMI-1
- Type: First reusable hybrid rocket.
- Made by: Space Zone India + Martin Group.
- Payload: 3 CubeSats + 50 PICO satellites (climate data).
AstroSat
- Launch: Sept 28, 2015 by PSLV-C30.
- Role: Multi-wavelength astronomy.
- Finding: Modulation of X-ray photons in black hole binary.
LUPEX
- Partners: ISRO + JAXA.
- Launch: 2025.
- Target: Lunar polar exploration.
GSAT-20
- Type: Communications satellite (4,700 kg).
- Launch: SpaceX Falcon 9.
- Owner: NSIL.
INSAT-3DS
- Purpose: Meteorology (6-channel imager + 19-channel sounder).
- Launch: Feb 17, 2024.
Gaganyaan – G1
- Launch: Dec 20, 2024.
- Vehicle: HLVM3 (human-rated LVM3).
- Includes: Vyommitra humanoid.
- Objective: End-to-end human spaceflight test.
SpaDeX
- Goal: Docking experiment in orbit.
NavIC
- Type: Indian navigation satellite system.
- Update: Indigenous receiver chip development.
Shukrayaan – Venus Orbiter
- Launch: 2028.
- Status: Govt. approval given.
Space MAITRI
- Partners: NSIL (India) + Australia.
- Goal: Strengthen space collaboration.
5. Other Global & Miscellaneous Missions
Magnetar Eruption
- Most distant giant flare detected in Messier 82 galaxy.
Voyager 1
- Launched: Sept 5, 1977.
- Update: Sending usable data again.
LignoSat
- World’s first wooden satellite (Japan).
- Launch: Sept 2025.
Magellan Mission (NASA)
- Finding: Venus was volcanically active (1990–1992).
Gliese 12b
SPECULOOS-3b
- Earth-size planet, 55 light-years away.
GROWTH-India Telescope
- Location: Hanle, Ladakh (4,500 m altitude).
- Observation: 116 m asteroid close pass.
Sagittarius A*
- Supermassive black hole at Milky Way’s center.
Trojan Asteroids
- Found at L4 & L5 Lagrange points.
Juno Probe
- Objective: Jupiter studies.
- Finding: Lava lakes on moon Io.
Updated By 6 Aug 2025 ; 12:20 pm IST