We are about to end a year that has been full of remarkable success in the space science area. Most likely, it will remain in humanity’s history as the pioneer of outstanding work and the exploration of unimaginable places. Brace yourselves! This is was just the beginning. Next year promises to be at least as intense as 2018.
The year will start with an outstanding encounter
NASA is waiting for New Horizons to reach Ultima Thule. This is a strange Kuiper Belt item located at about 4 billion miles distance from the Sun. NASA’s spacecraft will arrive close to Ultima Thule in the first days of 2019 and it will take as many photos as possible. The images will be used for in-debt studies on the mysterious Kuiper Belt.
Apart from this encounter, 2019 will bring more study material from outer space. Hopefully, scientists will be able to answer some burning questions. They can use data from other revolutionary missions as well:
- Robotic visitors should head for the Moon in 2019
- Samples from the Ryugu asteroid will be collected thanks to Hayabusa2 probe
- NASA will start testing commercial flights hoping to find modern means of delivering astronauts to space. SpaceX and the Space Agency will make their first attempt to establish new connections will be made on January 17;
- NASA’s Opportunity Rover might be coming back home. The item has been in sleep mode since June this year;
- InSight will deliver precious information about Mars, its surface, composition and surrounding environment;
- We will get to see awesome photos of the Sun and Jupiter, thanks to the Parker Solar Probe and Juno probe;
- Next year, we will commemorate Apollo 11 Moon landing’s 50th anniversary;
- The CHEOPS space telescope will be launched;
- We will get to see some astonishing astronomical phenomena in 2019: a total lunar eclipse, three full super-Moons and more.
We will find out more about each of these events as they are approaching.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.