2023-12-30 13:00:00
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The year 2023 has been pivotal for space exploration, with milestones such as the return of the asteroid sample from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and the exploration of the lunar south pole by India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. But 2024 is shaping up to be even more exciting.
Several new projects under NASA’s Artemis plan are aiming for the Moon. The second half of the year promises exciting launches, including the Europa Clipper and Hera mission in October, and Artemis II and VIPER to the Moon in November, if all goes as planned.
India explores the south pole of the Moon
Return to the Moon: NASA Project Artemis
As an integral part of the project ArtemisNASA will conduct a crucial flight to test the capabilities of the Orion orbiter, a key element in its strategy to return to the Moon.
Artemis, NASA’s plan to return to the Moon
Although this mission will not be manned, it represents an essential step towards the return of humans to the natural satellite. This important test precedes the actual trip with astronauts on board, planned for 2025. The mission will evaluate Orion’s capabilities in detail, setting the stage for future manned expeditions.
The Far Side of the Moon: China’s Chang’e-6 Mission
The Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) will launch the Chang’e-6 mission in August 2024, destined for the far side of the Moon. This ambitious mission aims to land in this mysterious region and collect soil and rock samples. The goal of Chang’e-6 is to better understand the composition and history of the far side of the Moon.
These samples will be crucial to understanding the impact of asteroids and other space objects on the lunar surface, providing a new perspective on this enigmatic and underexplored environment.
Search for Life in the Solar System: NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission
The mission Europa Clipper, scheduled to launch in October 2024, will study Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, for signs of life. Europa is known for its icy surface and underground liquid ocean, which could support life. This ocean has the basic ingredients for life: water, energy and organic molecules.
The planet Jupiter, the gas giant of the solar system
Europa Clipper will investigate this ocean world in detail, raising the possibility of discovering extraterrestrial life within our own solar system.
VIPER in search of water on the Moon
VIPER, which means “Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover“, is a golf cart-sized robot that NASA will use to explore the south pole of the Moon in late 2024.
Originally scheduled for 2023, NASA delayed the mission to complete more testing on the landing system. This robotic mission is designed to search for volatiles, which are molecules that evaporate easily, such as water and carbon dioxide, at lunar temperatures.
These materials could provide resources for future human exploration on the Moon. VIPER will be launched and delivered to the lunar surface in November 2024.
Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1 missions
NASA has recently invested in a class of small, low-cost planetary missions called SIMPLEx. These missions save costs by joining other launches as secondary cargo.
An example is Lunar Trailblazer, which will search for water on the Moon. But while VIPER will land on the surface of the Moon, Lunar Trailblazer It will orbit it, measuring the surface temperature and mapping the location of water molecules around the globe. At the moment, Lunar Trailblazer is on track to be ready in early 2024.
JAXA Mars Moon Exploration Mission
While Earth’s Moon has many visitors planned for 2024, Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos will soon receive a visitor as well. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, has a robotic mission in development called Mars Moon Exploration, or MMX, planned for launch around September 2024. The primary science goal of the mission is to determine the origin of the moons of Mars.
ESA Hera Mission
Hera is a mission of the European Space Agency to return to the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system that NASA’s DART mission visited in 2022. But DART not only visited these asteroids, it collided with one of them to test a planetary defense technique called “kinetic impact.”
DART hit Dimorphos with such force that it changed its orbit. Hera will launch in October 2024, making her way in late 2026 to Didymos and Dimorphos, where she will study the physical properties of the asteroids.
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