Space mission timeline

ESA's mission to the Didymos double asteroid, surveying the result of NASA's DART impact so that deflection can be repeated with confidence.

Next: Arrival at the Didymos system — November 2026 (expected)

JAXA mission that returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020, then flew past Torifune in 2026; its extended mission targets 1998 KY26 in 2031.

Next: First Earth swing-by — In 2027 (expected)

The NASA spacecraft that returned samples from Bennu, sent on to study Apophis after the asteroid's close pass by Earth in 2029.

Next: Second Earth gravity assist — March 2027 (expected)

China's mission to collect a sample from the small near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa and then explore a comet in the main asteroid belt.

Next: Departs Kamo'oalewa, sample return capsule on trajectory to Earth — April 2027 (expected)

Lucy

NASA / SwRI

Jupiter Trojan asteroids · cruise

NASA mission flying past a record number of asteroids, including the Trojans that share Jupiter's orbit, from 2023 to 2033.

Next: Flyby of Trojan asteroid Eurybates and its moon Queta — August 11, 2027

Image: NASA/Glenn Benson

NEO Surveyor

NASA

Near-Earth objects (survey telescope) · development

NASA's infrared space telescope designed to find asteroids and comets that could be hazardous to Earth, planned for launch no earlier than September 2027.

Next: Launch on Falcon 9 — September 2027 (expected)

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The UAE's mission to the main asteroid belt, planned to fly past six asteroids and then land on the asteroid Justitia; launch is scheduled for March 2028.

Next: Launch on H3 from Japan — March 2028 (expected)

JAXA mission to fly past Phaethon, the asteroid behind the Geminid meteor shower, and study the dust it sheds; launch is planned for Japan's fiscal year 2028.

Next: Launch (H3, shared with Ramses) — Between April 2028 and March 2029 (expected)

ESA's mission, with Japan's JAXA, to meet the asteroid Apophis before its close pass by Earth on 13 April 2029 and watch how Earth's gravity changes it.

Next: Launch toward Apophis (H3, shared with DESTINY+) — April 2028 (expected)

Psyche

NASA

(16) Psyche · cruise

NASA mission to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, which may be part of the core of an early planet; arrival is planned for August 2029.

Next: Arrival at asteroid Psyche — August 2029 (expected)

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

ESA and JAXA mission to Mercury, launched in October 2018, that splits into two orbiters to study the planet together; science is to begin in April 2027.

Next: Enters orbit around Mercury — November 21, 2026

Europa Clipper

NASA

Europa, Jupiter · cruise

NASA mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, to find out whether the ocean beneath its ice could support life; arrival at Jupiter is planned for April 2030.

Next: Earth gravity assist — December 3, 2026

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration, launched in October 2026 to land on Phobos, deploy a rover and bring a sample of the Martian moon back to Earth in 2031.

Next: Enters orbit around Mars — August 2027 (expected)

ESA's Mars rover, built to drill up to 2 m below the surface in search of signs of past or present life; launch is targeted for 2028 and landing for 2030.

Next: Launch on Falcon Heavy — In 2028 (expected)

China's Mars sample return mission, planned for launch around 2028 on two rockets, to bring samples from the Martian surface to Earth around 2031.

Next: Two launches on Long March 5 — In 2028 (expected)

India's first mission to Venus, planned for launch in March 2028, to study the planet's atmosphere, surface and interaction with the Sun.

Next: Launch — In 2028 (expected)

NASA rotorcraft mission to Saturn's moon Titan, to fly between sites and study the chemistry that came before life; launch no earlier than July 2028.

Next: Launch on Falcon Heavy — July 2028 (expected)

NASA mission to Venus with a spacecraft and a probe, to learn whether Venus was once wet and habitable like Earth.

Next: Launch — In 2029 (expected)

NASA Venus orbiter to map the planet's surface through its clouds and learn how Venus and Earth came to differ.

Next: Launch — In 2031 (expected)

ESA mission, with NASA, to study Venus from its core to its upper atmosphere and learn why it became so unlike Earth; launch is planned for November 2031.

Next: Launch on Ariane 6 — November 2031 (expected)

A crewed NASA mission in Earth orbit, planned for 2027, to test docking with the commercial landers that are to take astronauts to the Moon.

Next: Crewed launch on SLS — In 2027 (expected)

NASA's first crewed Moon landing of the Artemis program, planned for 2028.

Next: Crewed Moon landing — In 2028 (expected)

China's mission to the Moon's south pole, with an orbiter, a lander and a craft built to fly into shadowed craters, to search for water ice.

Next: Launch on Long March 5 — In 2026 (expected)

NASA's twin spacecraft to study how the solar wind strips away Mars' atmosphere; launched in November 2025, with arrival at Mars planned for September 2027.

Next: Earth flyby and burn toward Mars — November 2026 (expected)

ESA mission, with JAXA, that will wait in space for a pristine comet, or an interstellar object, and fly past it with three spacecraft at once.

Next: Launch (Ariane 6 rideshare) — Between 2028 and 2029 (expected)

ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, launched in April 2023, to study Jupiter and its ocean moons and to become the first spacecraft to orbit Ganymede.

Next: Final Earth gravity assist — January 2029 (expected)

New Horizons

NASA / JHU APL / SwRI

Pluto, Arrokoth, Kuiper Belt · extended

NASA mission that made the first close study of Pluto in 2015 and flew past Arrokoth, the most distant object explored up close, in 2019.

Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute