THE FUTURE?

At the moment, there are many space probes travelling to destinations around the Solar System (see space probes page), which will reach their target planets/moons/comets/asteroids in the very near future. These modern-day missions are much more different from the older ones which cost millions. Nowadays, space missions are cheaper and designed to do specific tasks (such as entering the tails of comets, looking for water on other planets). In the future, space stations may be built in orbit around Earth, such as the Mir Space Station (shown left) which is now out of use and will one day return to the surface of Earth. Of course, the main aim in the near future is to land man on Mars, and many recent and future missions involve finding out more about the Red Planet.

Below are missions that are planned in the near future.

2001: Genesis (USA): Solar Wind sample return
2001: Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter (USA): Orbiter
2001: Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander (USA): Lander/Rover
2002: Muses-C (Japan): Asteroid lander and sample return
2002: CONTOUR (USA): Flyby of three comet nuclei
2003: Rosetta (European Space Agency): Comet orbiter and lander
2003: Champollion / Deep Space 4 (USA): Comet sample return
2003: Mars Surveyor 2003 (USA): Orbiter and Lander
2003: Mars Express (European Space Agency): Mars Orbiter and Lander
2003: Europa Orbitor (USA): Proposed Europa Orbiter (Europa is a moon of Jupiter)
2003: Selene (Japan): Lunar Orbiter
2004: Pluto-Kuiper Express (USA): Proposed flyby of Pluto, Charon, heading to the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the Solar System. First mission to Pluto, expected to arrive in 2012
2005: Mars Surveyor 2005 (USA): Orbiter and Lander

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