Gallery: The Space Missions and Events We're Most Looking Forward to in 2015
JHU-APL/SwRI01NH-pluto
Soon after New Horizons passes closest to Pluto, it could pass through a ring of orbital dust.
NASA/JHU-APL/CIW02colormercury-lg-sm
After orbiting Mercury for nearly four years, the MESSENGER spacecraft is about out of gas. The mission was slated to end in March, but mission engineers were able to [eke out](http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=269) more propellant using helium to extend the mission for another month. The spacecraft will then crash into Mercury—but not before taking unprecedented close-up data and pictures from mere miles above the planet’s surface.
Hinode03650665main-hinode-eclipse-orig-full
There will be two total lunar [eclipses](http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/dates-of-next-lunar-and-solar-eclipses#2015) this year, on April 4 and Sept. 28, completing the four-eclipse series in 2014-2015 known as a tetrad. Both should be visible from most of the Americas. And if you find yourself near the arctic, you can catch the only total solar eclipse of the year on March 20. There will be a partial solar eclipse over Africa and the Indian Ocean on Sept. 13. The Hinode spacecraft captured this solar eclipse in 2011.
CERN041304107-12-A4-at-144-dpi
Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland discovered the Higgs boson in 2012. After two years of maintenance and upgrades, the LHC is set to begin another [three-year run](http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/12/cerns-large-hadron-collider-gears-run-2) in March and is boud to discover more about the space, and the universe. Physicists will crank up its energy to 13 GeV (gigaelectron volts, a unit of energy), almost twice that of its previous run. More powerful collisions hopefully means more discoveries.
NASA/JPL-Caltech05PIA17650-sm
Last year, astronomers [discovered plumes of water](https://www.wired.com/2014/01/ceres-water-jets/) on Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Whether the jets are from volcanoes or sublimation—which produces the tail on a comet—remains a mystery. The Dawn mission scientists hope to find answers when the spacecraft arrives at Ceres in March. Water comprises about 40 percent of the dwarf planet by volume, making it a true water world.
ESA–D. Ducros, 201006Artist-s-impression-of-LISA-Pathfinder-sm
The European Space Agency’s eLISA mission will be the first space-based instrument to detect ripples of space and time called gravitational waves, which are created, for example, by colliding black holes. The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, shown in this illustration and scheduled for launch this year, will demonstrate the technology needed to measure the subtle fluctuations in the fabric of the cosmos.
ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team07Colour-image-of-comet
Rosetta's [primary science mission](https://www.wired.com/2014/11/rosetta-philae-future-comet-missions/) is just beginning, as the orbiter accompanies comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko toward its closest approach to the sun this summer. The spacecraft will study the comet as the increasing sunlight triggers jets of gas and dust to erupt. In February, Rosetta will make its most dramatic flyby, swooping in within four miles of the comet’s surface.
SpaceX08crs4-dragon-orbit-2
NASA and private companies continue to work toward sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit. SpaceX plans more missions using its Dragon spacecraft, seen here, to deliver cargo and supplies to the International Space Station, including an expandable, habitable module built by Bigelow Aerospace. Orbital Sciences, whose Antares rocket [exploded last October](https://www.wired.com/2014/10/antares-rocket-explosion/), will try again, sending its Cygnus spacecraft on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket.
