NASA's future space missions hold countless opportunities to utilize better technology and explore the unknown. Our future space shuttles will be less expensive, more efficient and travel farther than ever before. Below is a list of NASA's future expeditions, as well as a description of each. Click on the image to learn more.
Mission to Mars: Insight
Launch Date: TBD
The InSight mission will place a lander on Mars that will drill beneath the surface to investigate Mars' interior structure. The mission is designed to give scientists a better understanding of Mars' evolution as a rocky planet.
The lander, which will be equipped with a seismometer and a heat-flow probe to study Mars' interior, is based on NASA's successful Phoenix Mars lander design.
Launch Date: TBD
The InSight mission will place a lander on Mars that will drill beneath the surface to investigate Mars' interior structure. The mission is designed to give scientists a better understanding of Mars' evolution as a rocky planet.
The lander, which will be equipped with a seismometer and a heat-flow probe to study Mars' interior, is based on NASA's successful Phoenix Mars lander design.
Deep Space Atomic Clock
Launch Date: 2016
The Deep Space Atomic Clock, DSAC, is a technology demonstration of a small, ultra-precise, mercury-ion atomic clock, which will be launched into Earth's orbit. The technology, which is designed to improve navigation of spacecraft to distant destinations and enable collection of more data with better precision, is 50 times more accurate than today's best navigation clocks.
The project is scheduled for a 2016 launch aboard a hosted payload built in partnership with NASA's Space Communications and Navigation Program and the Department of Defense.
Launch Date: 2016
The Deep Space Atomic Clock, DSAC, is a technology demonstration of a small, ultra-precise, mercury-ion atomic clock, which will be launched into Earth's orbit. The technology, which is designed to improve navigation of spacecraft to distant destinations and enable collection of more data with better precision, is 50 times more accurate than today's best navigation clocks.
The project is scheduled for a 2016 launch aboard a hosted payload built in partnership with NASA's Space Communications and Navigation Program and the Department of Defense.
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on
Launch Date: 2017
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) mission will carry on the extremely important work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.
The GRACE missions measures changes in gravity over Earth's surface, producing a new map of the gravity field every 30 days. Thus, GRACE shows how the planet's gravity differs not only from one location to another, but also from one period of time to another.
Launch Date: 2017
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) mission will carry on the extremely important work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.
The GRACE missions measures changes in gravity over Earth's surface, producing a new map of the gravity field every 30 days. Thus, GRACE shows how the planet's gravity differs not only from one location to another, but also from one period of time to another.
Mission to Europa
Launch Date: TBD (2020s)
An as yet unnamed mission to Europa is planned to be sent to the frozen moon of Jupiter some time in the next 10 years, to determine whether any water or even life exists below the icy surface.
Launch Date: TBD (2020s)
An as yet unnamed mission to Europa is planned to be sent to the frozen moon of Jupiter some time in the next 10 years, to determine whether any water or even life exists below the icy surface.
https://www.nasa.gov/europa
Launch Date: To be Determined
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, is a future space instrument designed to investigate important questions about the distribution of carbon dioxide on Earth as it relates to growing urban populations and changing patterns of fossil fuel combustion.
Launch Date: To be Determined
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, or OCO-3, is a future space instrument designed to investigate important questions about the distribution of carbon dioxide on Earth as it relates to growing urban populations and changing patterns of fossil fuel combustion.
NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar
Launch Date: 2018
The satellite is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet's most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides. This information can be used to prevent future ecological hazards.
Launch Date: 2018
The satellite is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet's most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides. This information can be used to prevent future ecological hazards.