translated from Spanish: 2020, an odyssey in space

The Year of Mars
At the beginning of October, the Red Planet will be “only” 62 million kilometers from Earth, so we are faced with a good time to send probes to Martian soil.
There are four missions in folder: the European space agency ESA is sending its ExoMars rover from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The goal is to look for traces of possible past life on the surface of Mars. NASA, for its part, prepares the Mars 2020 probe, a vehicle that will scan the ground for carbon, as well as collect geological samples that will be brought back to Earth. China and the United Arab Emirates also turn their eyes to Mars.
In the case of the Chinese, they will send an orbiter that is expected to be operational for several years, and a module that will leave a rover on Martian soil. If it turns out, it would be the first successful martyring for China. United Arab Emirates will send its Hope mission. The name of the program says it all: the scant experience of the Emirati allows them to give themselves a margin to fail. But their goal is to have an operational orbiter by 2021, when the country turns 50 years of independent living.
China, to the Moon
Not in conforming to Mars, China is also preparing its Chan’e 5 mission to the Moon. Following the successful landing of Chang’e 4 on the hidden side in early January 2019, the plan now is to land at the other end of the satellite. There, the mission will take samples from the ground to bring them back to Earth. It would be a sensational breakthrough: the last time something like this happened was in 1976, when the Soviet luna 24 probe collected geological remains and returned the USSR with them.
If all goes well, by the end of 2020 NASA’s Orion and ESA will make its maiden voyage to our satellite. As part of the Artemis-1 mission, he will remain in space for four weeks, and orbit the Moon for some days. While he will not be carrying astronauts on board, he will have two dolls from the German Aerospace Center, which will measure a number of variables to which humans would undertake the voyage would be exposed.
Lunar eclipses
Unfortunately, 2020 will be a disappointing year in terms of lunar eclipses. This, because while there will be four, they will all be penumbrals. What does this mean? That the Moon will pass through the periphery of the Earth’s shadow, so that the uninitiated in the subject will barely notice that an eclipse is occurring.
The first will take place on 10 January between 18 and 20 GMT. The second, on 5 June between 18.30 and 20.30 GMT. Exactly one month later you will see the third, between 3 and 4 hours GMT, and finally on November 30, between 9 and 10.30 GMT.
Solar eclipses
Another thing will be solar eclipses. June 21 will be the first, and it will be annulled. How’s that? Because at that date the Moon is farther from Earth than normal, it cannot cover the entire face of the Sun, producing a bright ring of fiery light that siluetees the Moon. It’s like a 1 euro coin is placed on top of another 2 euro coin.
This wonderful phenomenon will be visible along a 14,000-kilometer strip that will pass over South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, India, China, Taiwan and Guam. Part of Africa, Asia and Australia, on the other hand, will be partial. In GMT time, the eclipse will start at 3.46 and end at 9.34.
Darkness in Chile and Argentina
The astronomical event of the year will be the total solar eclipse on December 14, in which the new moon will fully cover the Sun. For two minutes and ten seconds, the day will be night and it will even be possible to see the stars. Almost all of this will happen over the sea, but eclipse fans will be able to enjoy the climax of darkness, which will occur on land, specifically over southern Chile and Argentina.
The phenomenon will also be partially visible in parts of the South Pacific, South America, Antarctica, Namibia and South Africa. There the sun will appear as a bitten cookie, because the moon will only cover only part of our star. Caution should be exercised: to safely see this phenomenon is required the use of special sunglasses. Normal sunglasses are not enough. Looking at the sun unprotected can lead to total blindness.
Every 20 years: Jupiter meets Saturn
From May to December, Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in the Solar System, will form a beautiful duo in the firmament, which will be visible from every corner of the planet except the Arctic.  The climax of this cosmic brotherhood will take place on December 21, when, from a terrestrial point of view, Jupiter passes over Saturn. Only every 20 years are both planets so close to the sky.
Meanwhile, our neighbor Venus will shine like an evening star until May. From June, until the end of the year, it will also be visible in the morning sky.
Hubble Anniversary and Shooting Star Year
April 24 marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. A 30-year-old car is considered a classic or lies in the junkyard, but the telescope operated by NASA and ESA is in perfect condition and continues to deliver valuable information about the depths of space. In addition, it is the luxury of marveling at people completely oblivious to astronomy with their extraordinary photographs of planets, clusters, nebulae and galaxies.
The Hubble team celebrates enthusiastically, but also with nostalgia, as the space shuttle fleet was eliminated and it is no longer possible to send service missions to the telescope. Hubble has already been repaired five times, the last in 2009. Some cameras and instruments are likely to fail over the course of 2020, but astronomers expect the telescope to remain operational for many more years.
While in 2019 the star showers were hard to observe due to the brightness of the Moon, the scenario in 2020 will be more auspicious. To see the Perseids between 9 and 13 August, the waning crescent will not be an obstacle. Even better will be the situation for the Leonidas, between November 17 and 17, and the Geminida, between December 12th and 15th, dates when there will be wonderfully dark nights thanks to the new Moon.

Original source in Spanish