Buckle up, space enthusiasts! 2026 is shaping up to be an absolutely stellar year, packed with groundbreaking missions and discoveries that will redefine our understanding of the cosmos. Forget the future – it's happening now!
We're diving headfirst into the 'New Space' era, where collaborations between space agencies like NASA and private companies are the norm. With a staggering global space budget of over $500 billion and rising, we're witnessing the dawn of orbital internet, space tourism for everyday people, and a revolution in space and planetary science. Plus, we're taking our first giant leaps back to the Moon, with Mars firmly in our sights.
But here's where it gets controversial... just like on Earth, tensions are brewing in space. The USA and China are locked in a race to put humans on the Moon. Private enterprise's use of space raises environmental concerns, and international law is struggling to keep pace. And the military use of Cislunar Space (the area around Earth out to the Moon's orbit) is heating up, with the US Space Force, boasting a budget twice that of NASA, and China doubling its space spending. Europe, despite its recent progress, seems to be lagging behind.
Ireland's Giant Leap:
Ireland is making its mark on the cosmic stage, committing €170 million to the European Space Agency (ESA) between 2026 and 2030 and unveiling a new National Space Strategy. Over 100 Irish companies are already involved in space missions, working on everything from software to materials. And get this: Irish astrophysics is going interstellar, with UCD, DIAS, Maynooth University, and others developing their own space probes and instruments.
And it gets even more exciting! Soon, people from Ireland will journey to space. Dr. Norah Patten, an aeronautical engineer, is scheduled for a Virgin Galactic flight in 2027, and Belfast-born astrophysicist Dr. Rosemary Coogan is awaiting her first mission as a UK-funded ESA astronaut.
Adding to this, Ireland holds the presidency of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the world's largest astronomical observatory. This, combined with its other space endeavors, firmly establishes Ireland's presence in global space exploration and astronomy.
Back to the Moon!
The race to the Moon isn't just a two-horse race anymore. The USA's Artemis program involves Europe, Japan, and Canada. Artemis II, launching between February and April, will see the first humans orbit the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Imagine, 82% of the world's population has never witnessed humans traveling to the Moon! This mission will pave the way for lunar landings in the coming years.
But that's not all! China's Chang'e-7 mission will send an unmanned probe to the lunar south pole in August, complete with a rover and a hopping drone. NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) will launch three private unmanned missions, deploying experiments and mini-rovers in preparation for a long-term return to the Moon by multiple nations.
A Golden Age of Discovery:
We're entering a golden age of astronomical discovery, with the full operation of the Vera C. Rubin Telescope in Chile and the launch of three new space telescopes in 2026. The Vera C. Rubin Telescope, 25 years in the making, will survey half the visible universe every three days, transforming our understanding of the cosmos. It will monitor billions of galaxies and stars, discovering millions of asteroids and thousands of planets around other stars.
In October, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, will investigate dark matter and energy and search for exoplanets with 100 times the scope of Hubble. China launches its first Xuntian Space Telescope to probe the Cosmos at Hubble quality but with images 300 times the size. ESA will launch the PLATO space telescope in December to search for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars.
Planetary Adventures:
Among the many exciting planetary missions, two stand out. Japan's MMX will journey to Mars' moon Phobos to collect samples and return them to Earth in 2031. ESA's Hera will arrive at the binary asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos to study the aftermath of NASA's DART mission, which intentionally crashed into Dimorphos in 2022, all in an effort to learn how to deflect dangerous asteroids from hitting Earth.
Finally, on November 15, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, will reach a distance of 1-light-day from Earth – a milestone that will make headlines.
What do you think? Are you excited about the future of space exploration? Do you think the Artemis program is the right approach? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
