2020 in spaceflight
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 The Perseverance rover is set to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket in 2020. | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 7 January |
| Last | 9 April |
| Total | 26 |
| Successes | 23 |
| Failures | 3 |
| Partial failures | 0 |
| Catalogued | 22 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 1 |
| Suborbital | 0 |
| Total travellers | 3 |
| EVAs | 3 |
This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2020.
Overview
Exploration of the Solar System
Four missions to Mars were planned to be launched in 2020, including three rovers, two orbiters, and a lander. NASA plans to launch the Mars 2020 mission, which includes the Perseverance rover and Mars Helicopter, and will cache samples for eventual return to Earth.[1] The China National Space Administration (CNSA) will launch its HuoXing-1 (Mars-1) mission, which includes an orbiter, a lander, and a small rover; it will be China's first mission to another planet using its own delivery vehicle.[1] The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos planned to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover using the Kazachok lander as part of their common Mars program ExoMars.[1] However, on 12 March 2020 it was announced that the launch of the lander and rover was delayed until 2022. Problems with the vehicle, being considered not ready for the mission, caused the delay.[2] Finally, the United Arab Emirates will launch the Hope Mars Mission orbiter on a Japanese rocket.[1]
China also intends to launch Chang'e 5, the first sample-return mission to the Moon since Luna 24 in 1976. Chang'e 5 will use the recently developed Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will sample the asteroid 101955 Bennu in August.[3] JAXA's Hayabusa2 mission will return samples of 162173 Ryugu to Earth in December.
Two solar missions are scheduled to be launched: ESA's Solar Orbiter to a heliocentric orbit, and India's Aditya-L1 to the Sun-Earth L1 point. Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, will decrease its minimal distance to the Sun further to 14.2 million kilometers.
Human spaceflight
China plans to test a new generation of crewed spacecraft in October, and begin construction of the Chinese large modular space station with the launch of the Tianhe Core Cabin Module, though this is delayed to 2021.[4]
In the United States, SpaceX's Dragon 2 and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner are expected to make their first crewed flights in 2020 as part of the Commercial Crew Development program,[5] restoring human spaceflight capability lost after the Space Shuttle's retirement in 2011.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch set a women's record-breaking 328 days in space ending on 6 February 2020. Scott Kelly still holds the all-time American record with 340 days in space; Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov holds the all-time record of 437 days. Koch also participated in the first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir on 18 October 2019.[6]
Rocket innovation
SpaceX hopes to begin orbital testing of its fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit vehicle Starship.[7]
The trend towards cost reduction in access to orbit is expected to continue. Arianespace's Ariane 6 will make its maiden flight, targeting a per-satellite launch cost similar to a Falcon 9.[8] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's H3 launch vehicle, scheduled to enter service this year, will cost less than half that of H-IIA, its predecessor.[9] Despite the increasing competition the cost of delivering cargo to the ISS will go up.[10]
Internet satellite constellations
SpaceX expects to begin operation of its Starlink constellation in 2020, with over 1000 satellites launched by the end of the year.[11] As of 29 March 2020, 362 satellites were launched.
OneWeb planned to start service in 2020 as well,[12] but filed for bankruptcy in March 2020 after 74 satellites were launched.[13]
Orbital launches
Suborbital flights
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | |
| Remarks | ||||||
| 9 January 08:00:00 |
 S-310
|
45 | Uchinoura
|
JAXA
| ||
| JAXA | Suborbital | Technology | 9 January | Successful | ||
| Apogee: 131 km[332] | ||||||
| 19 January |  K-4
|
Visakhapatnam
|
Indian Navy
| |||
| Indian Navy | Suborbital | Missile test | 19 January | Successful | ||
| Apogee: 500 km? The missile was from a submerged platform located in the coastal waters of Andhra Pradesh. This test was undertaken in full operational configuration during which the missile traversed a distance of over 3,500 km in approximately 21 minutes.[333] | ||||||
| 19 January 15:30[74] |
 Falcon 9 Block 5
|
Kennedy LC-39A
|
SpaceX
| |||
| Dragon 2
|
SpaceX | Suborbital | Test flight | 19 January | Successful | |
| Apogee: 40 km.[334] In-flight abort test at Max Q. It was planned that the capsule from the first demonstration mission SpX-DM1 would be used, but that capsule having been subsequently destroyed after the mission in a fire during a ground-test, a new capsule was assigned for this mission.[335][336][337] | ||||||
| 24 January | K-4
|
Visakhapatnam
|
Indian Navy
| |||
| Indian Navy | Suborbital | Missile test | 24 January | Successful | ||
| Apogee: 500 km? | ||||||
| 27 January 13:40 |
 Black Brant IX
|
Poker Flat Research Range
|
NASA
| |||
| PolarNOx 2
|
Virginia Tech | Suborbital | Thermosphere research | 27 January | Successful | |
| Apogee: 260 kilometres (160 mi) | ||||||
| 5 February 08:33 |
Minuteman-III
|
Vandenberg Air Force Base LF-04
|
US Air Force
| |||
| FTU-2
|
US Air Force | Suborbital | Test flight | 5 February | Successful | |
| 12 February | UGM-133 Trident II
|
USS Maine (SSBN-741), Pacific Missile Range Facility
|
US Navy
| |||
| US Navy | Suborbital | Missile test | 12 February | Successful | ||
| Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) 30 | ||||||
| 16 February | UGM-133 Trident II
|
USS Maine (SSBN-741), Pacific Missile Range Facility
|
US Navy
| |||
| US Navy | Suborbital | Missile test | 16 February | Successful | ||
| Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) 30 | ||||||
| 20 March 08:30 |
UGM-27 Polaris (STARS)
|
Barking Sands LC-42
|
US Navy
| |||
| C-HGB
|
US Navy | Suborbital | Technology | 20 March | Successful | |
| Common-Hypersonic Glide Body, successful hypersonic glide vehicle test[338] | ||||||
| ↓ Upcoming launches ↓ | ||||||
| TBD [339] |
 Hapith I
|
Taitung Launch Site
|
TiSPACE
| |||
| Ionosphere Scintillation Package (ISP)
|
NSPO | Suborbital | Flight test | |||
| Maiden flight of Hapith I. Apogee: 250 kilometres (160 mi)[339] | ||||||
| H1 2020 (TBD)[341] |  Miura 1
|
El Arenosillo
|
PLD Space
| |||
| Suborbital | Microgravity Research | |||||
| Maiden flight of Miura 1. Apogee: 150 kilometres (93 mi).[340] | ||||||
| 2020 (TBD)[342] |  Skyrora 1
|
TBA
|
Skyrora
| |||
| Suborbital | ||||||
| Maiden flight of Skyrora 1. | ||||||
| 2020 (TBD) |  RS-28 Sarmat
|
Plesetsk
|
RVSN
| |||
| RVSN | Suborbital | Missile test | ||||
Deep-space rendezvous
| Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 January | Parker Solar Probe | 4th perihelion | |
| 17 February | Juno | 25th perijove of Jupiter | |
| 10 April | Juno | 26th perijove | |
| 10 April | BepiColombo | Gravity assist at Earth | |
| 2 June | Juno | 27th perijove | |
| 7 June | Parker Solar Probe | 5th perihelion | |
| 11 July | Parker Solar Probe | Third gravity assist at Venus | |
| 25 July | Juno | 28th perijove | |
| August[3] | OSIRIS-REx | Touch-and-go maneuver on Bennu for sampling | |
| 16 September | Juno | 29th perijove | |
| 27 September | Parker Solar Probe | 6th perihelion | |
| 16 October | BepiColombo | First gravity assist at Venus | |
| 8 November | Juno | 30th perijove | |
| 26 December | Solar Orbiter | First gravity assist at Venus[343] | |
| 30 December | Juno | 31st perijove | |
| December | Hayabusa2 | Sample return to Earth |
Extravehicular activities (EVAs)
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|
Orbital launch statistics
By country
For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 China |
8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | ||
 Europe |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| India |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
 Iran |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Japan |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Russia |
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Includes Soyuz launches from Kourou | |
| United States |
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | Includes Electron launches from Mahia | |
| World | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0 | ||
By rocket
- Ariane 5
- Atlas V
- Delta IV Heavy
- Electron
- Falcon 9 new
- Falcon 9 reused
- Falcon Heavy
- H-IIA
- H-IIB
- Kuaizhou 1A
- Kuaizhou 11
- Long March 2
- Long March 3
- Long March 4
- Long March 5
- Long March 6
- Long March 7
- Long March 8
- Long March 11
- Soyuz-2 (Russia)
- Soyuz-ST (Europe)
- PSLV
- GSLV Mk II
- GSLV Mk III
- SSLV
- Proton-M
- Vega
- Vega C
- Others
By family
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares | United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane | Europe |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas | United States |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon | United States |
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-II | Japan |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kuaizhou | China |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March | China |
7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | |
| R-7 | Russia |
5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Simorgh | Iran |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
By type
| Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares 200 | United States |
Antares | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane 5 | Europe |
Ariane | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas V | United States |
Atlas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States |
Electron | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon 9 | United States |
Falcon | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-IIA | Japan |
H-II | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kuaizhou | China |
Kuaizhou | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 2 | China |
Long March | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 3 | China |
Long March | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Long March 7 | China |
Long March | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Simorgh | Iran |
Simorgh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Soyuz-2 | Russia |
R-7 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
By configuration
| Rocket | Country | Type | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antares 230+ | United States |
Antares | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ariane 5 ECA | Europe |
Ariane 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas V 411 | United States |
Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atlas V 551 | United States |
Atlas V | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Electron | United States |
Electron | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Falcon 9 Block 5 | United States |
Falcon 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| H-IIA 202 | Japan |
H-IIA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kuaizhou 1A | China |
Kuaizhou | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 2C | China |
Long March 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 2D | China |
Long March 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Long March 3B/E | China |
Long March 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Long March 7A | China |
Long March 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Simorgh | Iran |
Simorgh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Soyuz-2.1a | Russia |
Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Soyuz-2.1a / Fregat-M or ST-A | Russia |
Soyuz-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M or ST-B | Russia |
Soyuz-2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By spaceport
| Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baikonur |  Kazakhstan |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cape Canaveral | United States |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jiuquan | China |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kennedy | United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kourou |  France |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mahia |  New Zealand |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| MARS | United States |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Plesetsk | Russia |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Semnan | Iran |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Taiyuan | China |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tanegashima | Japan |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wenchang | China |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Xichang | China |
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0 | ||
By orbit
- Transatmospheric
- Low Earth
- Low Earth (ISS)
- Low Earth (SSO)
- Low Earth (retrograde)
- Medium Earth
- Geosychronous
(transfer) - Inclined GSO
- High Earth
- Heliocentric
| Orbital regime | Launches | Achieved | Not achieved | Accidentally achieved |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatmospheric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Low Earth / Sun-synchronous | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | Including flights to the ISS |
| Geosynchronous / GTO | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | |
| Medium Earth / Molniya | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| High Earth / Lunar transfer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0 |
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d Wall, Mike (25 July 2019). "4 Mars Missions Are One Year Away from Launching to the Red Planet in July 2020". Space.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Amos, Jonathan (12 March 2020). "ExoMars Rosalind Franklin: Rover mission delayed until 2022". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- ^ a b "X MARKS THE SPOT: NASA SELECTS SITE FOR ASTEROID SAMPLE COLLECTION". AsteroidMission.org. NASA. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ a b c Pietrobon, Steven (19 November 2019). "Chinese Launch Manifest". Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ Wall, Mike (10 October 2019). "SpaceX Could Launch NASA Astronauts Into Space in Early 2020". Space.com. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ Ashley Strickland (6 February 2020). "Astronaut Christina Koch lands back on Earth after a record-breaking 328 days in space. Here's what she did". CNN. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Clark, Stephen (3 April 2020). "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
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- ^ Gebhardt, Chris (9 February 2020). "ESA Solar Orbiter mission rides on ULA Atlas V to study the Sun". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
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