2010

The year 2010 did not see humanity's second manned mission to Jupiter, as it did in Arthur C. Clarke's novel centered on that year, but it may be remembered as a pivotal year in the history of mankind's move into space.

The year saw a shift in U. S. space policy, emphasizing technology development to build a foundation for deep space manned missions. It saw the continued maturation of unmanned programs around the world. China, India, and Japan had successful unmanned lunar missions, and Japan successfully returned samples from a comet to Earth. Several governments of major nations expressed interest in participating in an international program to build a lunar base.

Private space efforts continued gaining momentum, as well. The Google Lunar X-Prize competition gathered more teams; attempts to win the prize should commence very soon. Bigelow Aerospace and Boeing have joined to look at building private space stations and a transportation system to get people to them. Virgin Galactic is well into its test flight schedule for its commercial suborbital offering, and is already looking at orbital flights. Interorbital Systems is still planning a manned orbital flight launched from the sea off Tonga in a matter of months. SpaceX completed two successful test flights in 2010 of its projected workhorse launcher, the Falcon 9.

Several probes at Mars continue to provide data that deepens our understanding of that planet. Cassini continues to reveal marvels and mysteries in the system of Saturn. The year saw the number of exoplanets swell to over 500. With new appreciation of where life might thrive, new possibilities for finding life elsewhere in this solar system and beyond have opened up.

What 2011 may hold we can only wait and see.