Astronomers predict 2021 will be great for space exploration. More organisations are investing in technology to explore space. Entrepreneurs are setting their sights on space tourism and on going to Mars. Science fiction is now becoming space fact. Many advances in technology no longer surprise us. These include things like mining for asteroids, colonising Mars, or taking weekend breaks to the Moon.

This year will start with a NASA project to help us understand the universe. A probe will study the collision of small particles in space to find out how planets formed. A NASA rover will also land on Mars to test for signs of microbial life. NASA said: "Returning samples of Mars to Earth has been a goal of planetary scientists since the early days of the space age." In October, a telescope will look at the first galaxies that formed in the universe.