Launches
Upcoming launches to the planets and small bodies, with a short list for the Moon. Dates are “no earlier than”.
The 2026 Mars window (November to December)
- MMX (JAXA) launched on 19 October 2026 on an H3-24L: mission page.
- ESCAPADE (NASA) launched back in November 2025 and uses this window through its Earth flybys on 7 and 9 November: mission page.
- Starship (SpaceX): in 2025 Elon Musk put the chance of an uncrewed flight in the 2026 window at 50/50 (Al Jazeera). A Mars Starship is not in the launch schedules, and SpaceX appears to have shifted its focus to the Moon. There has been no official cancellation; it is assumed here that it will not fly in 2026.
No other interplanetary launches are scheduled before the end of 2026.
Interplanetary launches in the next years
| NET | Mission | Destination | Agency | Rocket | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-03 | PLATO | L2 (exoplanets) | ESA | Ariane 62 | Observatory, outside the main scope |
| 2027 | Venus mission ("Venus Life Finder") | Venus | Rocket Lab / MIT | Neutron | Depends on Neutron being ready |
| 2028-03 | MBR Explorer | Asteroid belt (seven asteroids) | UAE | H3 | |
| 2028-04 | DESTINY+ and RAMSES | Phaethon / Apophis | JAXA / ESA | H3-24 | RAMSES to reach Apophis before 2029 |
| 2028-06 | NEO Surveyor | L1 (search for hazardous asteroids) | NASA | Falcon 9 | |
| 2028-07-05 | Dragonfly | Titan (rotorcraft) | NASA | Falcon Heavy | |
| 2028-08 | Comet Interceptor | A "fresh" comet | ESA / JAXA | Ariane 64 | |
| 2028-10 | ExoMars Rosalind Franklin | Mars (rover) | ESA / NASA | Falcon Heavy | |
| 2028, Q4 | Mars Telecommunications Orbiter | Mars | NASA / Blue Origin | New Glenn | |
| 2028 | Mars Orbiter (Relativity / Impulse) | Mars | Private | Terran R | Launch Library 2 also lists a "Mars Lander" for 2026, which is not realistic |
| 2031-12 | EnVision | Venus | ESA | Ariane 64 | |
| 2035 | LISA | Heliocentric orbit (gravitational waves) | ESA / NASA | Ariane 64 |
The Moon, briefly
| NET | Mission | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Chang'e-7 (CNSA), Long March 5 | Missed the 23–24 August 2026 window; partners (NARIT) speak of 2027 — Space.com, Wikipedia |
| 2027-01 | Griffin Mission One (Astrobotic), Falcon Heavy | NASA CLPS |
| 2027, Q1 | IM-3 (Intuitive Machines), Falcon 9 | NASA CLPS |
| 2027 | Blue Ghost 2 (Firefly) | Far side of the Moon |
| 2027 | Chandrayaan-4 (ISRO), two LVM-3 launches | Sample return |
| 2027 | Luna 26 (Roscosmos), Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat | Orbiter |
About this list
Compiled from Launch Library 2 (The Space Devs), with dates spot-checked against agency pages. Launch Library gives "no earlier than" (NET) dates, which tend to slip.