2015 was a somewhat spectacularrr in solar system exploration. Astounding pictures and data came in from New Horizons at Pluto. Rosetta watched 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko become active as it passed through perihelion. Intriguing images of Ceres were sent by Dawn. Curiosity provided millions of years worth of stratigraphic information, and data from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was used to show the presence of liquid water on Mars’s surface. Japan placed Akatsuki into orbit around Venus, which is the first probe they have successfully put into orbit about another planet. At Saturn, Cassini engaged in closer and riskier flybys of moons, heading towards its disposal in 2017. Deep Space Climate Observatory was placed at Lagrangian point L1

So what is in store in 2016?

Much of the above is ongoing: more data will come through from Dawn, Rosetta, various Mars orbiters and rovers, Cassini, Akatsuki. Rosetta is still active and there remains some hope of restarting contact with the Philae lander: the main ship will be brought closer and closer to the comet, and will impact around September this year. Cassini will run some very close passes of Titan. Dawn will provide higher resolution images of Ceres, and Curiosity will go higher up Mount Sharp, mapping more of Mars’s geological history.

Juno will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016. Whereas Galileo spent most of its time characterising the moons of Jupiter, Juno will be very much focused on Jupiter itself, including determining its internal solid structure.

OSIRIS-REx will be launched: this will be NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission. It won’t be arriving at asteroid Bennu until 2019.

The ESA’s first ExoMars launch will also take place in 2016. This consists of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli EDM lander. It will also arrive in orbit in 2016. There will be another ExoMars launch in 2018.

So in terms in incoming data, perhaps not as spectacular as 2015.

One other planned event is the inaugural launch of China’s Long March 5 rocket, which will have a 25 tonne LEO capacity … but frankly they’ve been projecting this inaugural launch for some years now.

A great summary, dv.

For Cassini in 2016 see:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/saturntourdates2016/
I really hope that Cassini will at some time be able to actually image at least one of the ice cubes in Saturn’s rings this year.

Dawn is now transmitting first images from its closest orbit of Ceres. There have been five so far (starting Dec 22), such as this one.

About Juno at Jupiter. Amateur astronomers get your telescopes ready.

“The Juno team has kicked off the first stage of JunoCam activity with the launch of a new Web platform on the mission’s website. Now and throughout the mission, amateur astronomers are invited to submit images of Jupiter from their own telescopes. These views will be the basis for online discussions about which of Jupiter’s swirls, bands and spots JunoCam should image as it makes repeated, close passes over the planet. The ground-based views will be essential for identifying and tracking changes in the planet’s cloud features as Juno approaches. “In between our close Jupiter flybys, Juno goes far from the planet, and Jupiter will shrink in JunoCam’s field of view to a size too small to be useful for choosing which features to capture. So we really are counting on having help from ground-based observers,” said Candy Hansen, a member of the Juno science team who leads planning for the camera.”

“Juno is the second mission chosen as part of NASA’s New Frontiers program of frequent, medium-class spacecraft missions that address high-priority exploration initiatives in the solar system. NASA’s New Horizons mission, which will soon encounter Pluto, is the first New Frontiers mission; OSIRIS-REx is next in the lineup, slated to launch in 2016. Instead of taking 11 days to orbit the planet, Juno will now complete one revolution every 14 days. The revised plan lengthens Juno’s mission at Jupiter to 20 months instead of the original 15, and the spacecraft will now complete 32 orbits instead of 30. But the extra time doesn’t represent bonus science for the mission — rather, it’s an effect of the longer orbital period and the change in the way Juno builds its web around Jupiter. Basically, it will take Juno a bit longer to collect the full data set the mission is after, but it will get a low-resolution version of its final products earlier in the mission than originally planned.”

“OSIRIS-REx will travel to a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study. The mission is scheduled for launch in late 2016. As planned, the spacecraft will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023.”

“After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we’re not ready to launch in the 2016 window.”

News on Mars Rovers for 2016?

Jan 17 2016

The launch of Jason-3, an international mission led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to continue U.S.- European satellite measurements of the topography of the ocean surface.
————

Jan. 1, 2016. Weekly Recap From the ISS – Completion of critical ocular health testing, notable developments with the OASIS liquid crystal study and an intriguing find inside the Veggie planter punctuated the holiday week aboard the International Space Station.

1 Jan 2016 from Mars. What are those white veins in the rock I wonder?

Dried Martian blood.

mollwollfumble said:

1 Jan 2016 from Mars. What are those white veins in the rock I wonder?

!http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01210/mcam/1210MR0054260010603001C00_DXXX.jpg

!http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01210/mcam/1210MR0054260070603007C00_DXXX.jpg

hmm odd formation. Have a wider view?

“Adding to the puzzle, some silica at one rock Curiosity drilled, called “Buckskin,” is in a mineral named tridymite, rare on Earth and never seen before on Mars. The usual origin of tridymite on Earth involves high temperatures in igneous or metamorphic rocks, but the finely layered sedimentary rocks examined by Curiosity have been interpreted as lakebed deposits. Furthermore, tridymite is found in volcanic deposits with high silica content. Rocks on Mars’ surface generally have less silica, like basalts in Hawaii, though some silica-rich (silicic) rocks have been found by Mars rovers and orbiters. Magma, the molten source material of volcanoes, can evolve on Earth to become silicic. Tridymite found at Buckskin may be evidence for magmatic evolution on Mars.”

Tridymite is not quartz but has the same chemical composition SiO2, it tends to form clear hexagonal plates.

Looks like the black area on all the maps is sand dunes. This track from the landing site “Bradbury Landing” to current location “Namib Dune” is a few weeks out of date. Curiosity seems to be trying to get around the southern end of the dunes on its path up Mount Sharp at lower right.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

1 Jan 2016 from Mars. What are those white veins in the rock I wonder?

!http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01210/mcam/1210MR0054260010603001C00_DXXX.jpg

!http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01210/mcam/1210MR0054260070603007C00_DXXX.jpg

hmm odd formation. Have a wider view?

No wider view yet, these are the most recent raw images from Mastcam. Perhaps you can figure out how to mosaic them.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1210&camera=MAST_

The year, Bigelow is sending a small version of his inflatable space motel up to the International Space Station.

“The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is transported to the International Space Station (ISS) inside the SpaceX Dragon supply vehicle’s unpressurized aft trunk compartment. Once Dragon is docked to the ISS, a crew member uses the station’s robotic arm to extract BEAM and attach to a port on the Tranquility node. After the module is secured to the port, BEAM is inflated from its packed dimensions of 5.7 feet long and just under 7.75 feet in diameter to its pressurized dimensions of 12 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter. BEAM weighs approximately 3,000 pounds and has 560 cubic feet of pressurized volume. The BEAM module’s skin is made up of multiple layers of soft goods. The different layers of BEAM from inside to outside consist of the air barrier (bladder), restraint, Micro-meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) layers, External MLI layers and an exterior BETA cloth. The restraint provides the primary structural load bearing member of the BEAM module. BEAM also has a very robust micro-meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shield. This MMOD shield is designed and tested to the low-Earth orbit MMOD environment. The shield is designed to stop potential particles from breaching into the primary structural restraint layer and the gas bladder. The probability of penetration is extremely low. In the very unlikely event of a penetration, the BEAM would slowly leak instead of bursting. It is designed in this manner to preclude any damage to the rest of ISS. Another desirable feature of the fabric skin of BEAM is its ability to better absorb noise for a quieter habitable volume than the aluminum walls of the ISS modules. The BEAM investigation runs two years. During this test period, BEAM is not used for storage and is not occupied. The module is constantly monitored for temperature, pressure, and radiation, and ISS crew periodically (four times per year) enter the module to collect data and check on its structural condition. After two years of testing, BEAM is released from ISS to burn up on reentry into the atmosphere.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Expandable_Activity_Module