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This year the world has achieved several major successes in the race to space.
They include SpaceX sending its most powerful rocket to space and India reaching the moon.
Here's everything you need to know to stay informed about what happened during the 2023 space race.
Every year, space agencies and private companies move closer to making us a multi-planetary species, breaking barriers along the way.
This year was no exception. 2023 saw groundbreaking rocket launches, unprecedented moon missions and remarkable scientific discoveries.
Ahead of the new year, here's everything you need to know to catch up.
1. SpaceX's spaceship flew into space twice - and exploded both times
One of the most highly anticipated spaceflight events of the decade took place in 2023, after SpaceX launched its gargantuan Starship mega-rocket in its fully stacked form for the first time.
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. With its height of almost 120 meters, it is designed as a workhorse to transport people and cargo to and from Mars. It could also play a crucial role in NASA's return to the moon.
Elon Musk's SpaceX had previously shown that it could pilot the Starship spacecraft under its own power. But the company had never attempted to launch the spaceship atop its Super Heavy booster - a necessary step to get the spacecraft to space.
That seal was broken twice this year. The fully stacked mega rocket made its maiden flight on April 21.
The flight was, to some extent, a success. The rocket cleared the launch pad and flew for a few minutes. But it eventually burst into flames after it got out of control. It was later revealed that Starship's powerful engines had also blown up a crater in the concrete launch pad.
Undeterred, SpaceX modified the rocket and flew again on November 18. This time, the spacecraft successfully separated and flew into space, although it ruptured again within seconds of reaching the apex.
2. Private space companies made waves
It was also a big year for other space companies.
The story continues
Relativity Space showed off the capabilities of its monstrous 3D printers by launching and flying a rocket made of 85% printed material. Terran 1 successfully separated from its first stage, but did not quite reach orbit.
The company now wants to develop an even bigger rocket, called Terran R, in an attempt to beat Musk to Mars. While Relativity will continue to drive rocket development, its main goal is to demonstrate the power of its 3D printers, which could one day be used to create custom equipment for colonists on Mars, company CEO Tim Ellis previously said to Business Insider.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin received much-needed confidence from NASA. In May, it became the second private company after SpaceX to win the agency's coveted contract to develop technology to land astronauts on the moon. The company was awarded $3.4 billion.
The company was also awarded the NASA Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) contract, meaning New Glenn, a heavy lift vehicle under development by Blue Origin, could fly a research payload to Mars on its maiden flight.
SpaceX also beat a record it set last year.
As of October, the company had launched 74 orbital missions, up from the previous record of 62 in 2022.
The company aims to launch 100 flights by the end of 2023, Bill Gerstenmaier, a senior SpaceX official, said Oct. 18 during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science, per Space.com.
He added that next year it would aim for 12 flights per month, or a mission every three days or less, per Space.com.
3. China got serious about the moon
China once again demonstrated its precise capabilities in space engineering, reporting that it had reached orbit in July with a rocket powered by methalox, a compound liquid fuel of methane and oxygen.
The country thus defeated several American companies that were trying to put methalox-powered rockets into orbit, including SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The country continued to set aggressive timelines for its space program this year, announcing it could build a space station on the moon within five years and put boots on the moon by 2030.
4. Russia fell behind in its lunar ambitions
Meanwhile, Russia's moon ambitions took a hit this year.
Roscosmos tried to beat countries like China, the US, Japan and India by being the first to land a robotic mission near the moon's south pole, a strategically important location for upcoming lunar missions.
The country was trying to revive its long-dormant lunar program, which had not landed on the moon since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But after a successful launch in August, Roscosmos' Luna-25 probe broke contact with Earth and spun out of control before crashing into the moon.
5. Where Russia failed, India prospered - a move that puts them in pole position in the space race
India surprised the world in August when it became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole, and only the fourth country to ever land on the moon.
Released from the spacecraft a few days after landing, Chandrayaan-3's dog-sized rover collected crucial information about the lunar soil before being powered down in September.
"It certainly puts them on the international stage as an emerging space power," Robert Braun, chief of space exploration at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, previously told Business Insider.
6. Europe tried to catch up
Britain attempted the first launch from British soil from its new Cornwall spaceport at Newquay in January. But the celebration was cut short when Virgin Orbit's rocket failed to reach orbit. This was a blow to the spaceport when Virgin Orbit, its only publicly traded customer, closed shortly afterwards.
This failure is a symptom of a larger problem at stake. The European Space Agency's (ESA) independent access to space has steadily declined.
ESA is facing fire over the delay in the development of the Ariane 6 heavy rocket and the recent failures of its latest rocket, Vega-C. This has left the European agency in an "acute launch crisis" following the retirement of Ariane 5 in July, says ESA head Josef Aschbacher.
Britain's newly developed spaceports are part of a larger effort to expand commercial launch capabilities in the region. European countries have invested in building continental spaceports to complement ESA's launch pad in French Guiana. The first mainland EU spaceport was inaugurated in January around Sweden's Arctic Circle. In November, an orbital spaceport opened in Andøya, Norway.
Announcing the Swedish spaceport, EU President Ursula van der Leyen predicted a "change in the way we do space in Europe," promising more support for small space companies and private investors.
Europe's private spaceflight ambitions received a welcome boost in October when the bloc's first fully private rocket, a single-stage rocket called Miura-1 designed by Spanish firm PLDSpace, made its maiden flight.
The rocket failed to reach Earth orbit, but provided valuable data that the company hopes will fuel the development of its two-stage Muira-5 reusable rocket, which could be launched as early as 2025, Space reported .com.
Read the original article on Business Insider
