Summary
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has highlighted a mission pipeline that includes a 2027 solar radio observatory and Mars helicopter and lunar drone missions targeted for 2028. Its portfolio also spans asteroid detection and Earth science.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has highlighted a pipeline of missions that includes a formation of small satellites to study the Sun, helicopters for Mars and drones for the lunar South Pole. JPL says SunRISE is set for launch in 2027, while the Mars and Moon missions are planned for 2028.
The look ahead comes as JPL approaches 90 years since Caltech students and enthusiasts began rocket-propulsion tests in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco on Oct. 31, 1936. Managed for NASA by Caltech, the laboratory has since led missions ranging from Explorer 1, which discovered Earth’s radiation belts in 1958 using an onboard Geiger counter, to spacecraft and robotic explorers at other worlds.
A solar observatory made from six spacecraft
SunRISE—the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment—will use six satellites, each about the size of a toaster oven, flying in formation. JPL says the formation will create a radio antenna dish spanning miles to study solar activity. In radio interferometry, observations from separated antennas are combined so they can work together as a much larger observing system.
JPL says the information SunRISE gathers could help make space exploration safer for people. The source does not specify a particular safety application, but the mission is part of a wider effort to better understand the Sun’s activity and its effects in space.
Two missions aimed at 2028 would take robotic exploration in different directions. JPL-managed SkyFall is designed to deploy three helicopters during descent over Mars to map hidden ice deposits and analyze weather patterns. For the Moon, JPL is developing MoonFall, which is intended to land a group of large propulsive drones at the lunar South Pole in support of NASA’s Moon Base effort.
Asteroids and Earth are also in the portfolio
JPL also manages NEO Surveyor, a mission designed to search for potentially hazardous asteroids that other telescopes may miss. The purpose is to identify objects so NASA can assess potential threats and plan accordingly.
The laboratory’s Earth-science work includes missions measuring changes in water through slight variations in gravity, studying how powerful tropical convective storms form, and examining how different kinds of air pollution affect human health. JPL also helps lead NISAR, a joint mission with the Indian Space Research Organisation that tracks changes to Earth’s surface in relation to natural disasters.
Together, the missions illustrate the range of tools in JPL’s programme: spacecraft operating as a distributed radio observatory, rotorcraft designed for Mars, drones intended for the lunar surface, and instruments observing Earth and near-Earth objects. The 2027 and 2028 dates are JPL’s stated plans and targets.