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The Year in Space and Physics
A look back at the biggest events and trends of 2021
Promises, in the space industry at least, sometimes seem to count for little. How often have bold entrepreneurs claimed to be mere years from mining asteroids, or walking on Mars? Space agencies and governments do little better: pouring billions into rockets that rarely fly or Moon programmes that never lift off.
Annual reviews of our progress in space often, then, take on a repetitive nature. The maiden launch of NASA’s Space Launch System — the mammoth SLS rocket — has been forecast for launch in every year since 2016. The James Webb was delayed so frequently that it became a joke, mocked in comics. Partly, of course, that is because space is hard. Innovative projects often run far beyond budget and schedule. But it is also because of needless inefficiencies, of political decisions and over ambition.
This year, however, things look a little different. Several long promised events — from the birth of true space tourism to the launch of the James Webb — have finally come to pass. A larger shift, too, is taking place in the space industry. A plethora of new rockets promises to make space easier and cheaper to access. Governments, too, are changing — as China rises and NASA makes room for commercial partners.
