There are an insane amount of cool space things happening in 2021

Writing about the space industry kept me sane during the tumultuous and trying times of 2020. While the pandemic swept around the world and America dealt with extremely divisive social and political issues, the space industry more or less chugged along.

Three missions launched to Mars. NASA got back into the human spaceflight game, thanks to SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched an asteroid, while a Japanese vehicle returned with several grams of asteroid regolith, and China brought some Moon rocks back to Earth. In South Texas, some Starships lived, and some Starships died. All of it was glorious to watch.

As we look ahead to a new year, there is as much, if not more, space goodness to come. I asked readers for suggestions on Twitter about what they're anticipating in the coming year and received more than 400 responses. This list is a distillation of those ideas, plus some of my own, to compile the space goodness we most have to look forward to in 2021. Spoiler alert: there's a lot.

But first, a cautionary note: history has taught us not all of this will happen (see, for example, last year's space preview). And if a rocket or other major technical program has a timeline culminating in a "Q4" flight next year this far out, it will very likely slip into the following year. Nevertheless, we're making our best guess at what could happen this year in space.

The Mars fleet arrives

Three Mars missions launched from Earth during the summer of 2020, and all three are now approaching the Red Planet. The big question is, will all three make it safely there in February?

The United Arab Emirates' first mission to the Red Planet, Mars Hope, is due to arrive on February 9. At this time, the spacecraft will make a challenging maneuver to slow down and enter orbit around Mars with an altitude above the planet as low as 1,000km. If all goes well, the spacecraft will spend a Martian year—687 Earth days—studying the planet's atmosphere and better understanding its weather.

China has not said when, exactly, that its ambitious Tianwen-1 mission will arrive at Mars, but it's expected in mid-February. After the spacecraft enters orbit, it will spend a couple of months preparing to descend to the surface, assessing the planned landing site in the Utopia Planitia region. Then, China will attempt to become only the second country to soft-land a spacecraft on Mars that survives for more than a handful of seconds. It will be a huge moment for the country's space program.

NASA's Mars Perseverance will likely be the last of three missions to arrive at Mars, reaching the Red Planet in mid-February and attempting a landing in Jezero Crater on February 18. This entry, descent, and landing phase—much like with the Curiosity lander in 2012—will be must-see TV.

History suggests at least one of these three missions will not make it, but we'll hope to defy those odds.

More Starship flights

SpaceX ended up flying its Starship vehicle three times in 2020. Twice, it sent prototypes with a single engine to 150 meters. Then, in December, it sent a full-size prototype to an altitude of about 12.5km. During this stunning flight, the vehicle—complete with three Raptor engines, a nose cone, and flaps–executed a belly flop maneuver and very nearly landed safely in South Texas.

We can probably expect a lot more flights, to higher altitudes, in 2021. As SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained to Ars in February, SpaceX has been focused on building the machine to build the machine in South Texas. Now, much of that work is complete, and SpaceX is rapidly producing Starship vehicles at its Boca Chica launch site. In late December, as the company rolled its "Serial Number 9" Starship to the pad, components of vehicles 10 through 17 were in various stages of development at the factory beneath tents.

At the same time, SpaceX is also beginning to fabricate the Super Heavy rocket that will serve as Starship's first stage. It seems plausible that one of the Starships presently under construction will make an orbital flight attempt atop Super Heavy this year. Or not. One thing is for sure—it will be fun to watch the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of SpaceX as it seeks to build an interplanetary spaceship the likes of which has never been seen before.

James Webb Space Telescope

Snarking about the delays in the launch schedule of the ultra-ambitious James Webb Space Telescope has become commonplace in the space community, and indeed this flagship astrophysics mission is far behind schedule and over budget.

However, it seems like NASA's current science leadership has addressed a number of the technical and management issues that had been plaguing the telescope program and causing delay after delay. Now, there seems to be quiet confidence that NASA's space telescope will stick to its October 31, 2021 launch date on a European Ariane V rocket.

After the launch, anxiety will only increase as the telescope undergoes a two-week process that will see deployment of a sunshield as well as primary and secondary mirror assemblies. All of this could make for an exciting end of 2021 for astronomers—or a heartbreaking one if this complex process goes awry.