These are the six missions that promise never-before-seen advances in space exploration in 2024

NASA and international space agencies plan to perform key space exploration missions in 2024. (Europa Press)

The space exploration outlook for 2024 anticipates a number of crucial missions, such as the continuation of NASA’s Artemis plan and the Moon-focused Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Also noteworthy are the Martian Moon exploration mission scheduled for September, as well as Europa Clipper and Hera in October, and the Artemis II and VIPER missions to the Moon in November, provided preparations continue as planned.

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2023 was a significant year for cosmic exploration, with milestones such as the asteroid sample return by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and the exploration of the lunar south pole by India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. These results have laid the foundation for the exciting launches expected in the second half of next year, marking a new era of scientific discoveries and studies beyond our planet.

With their eyes on these projects, astronomy experts and enthusiasts are preparing to witness what could be another series of historic moments for humanity and planetary science. Global interest in these events is palpable and is expected to generate widespread media coverage and discussions in the scientific community. Among these stands out:

NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission will undertake a historic 10-day journey around the Moon with a diverse crew. (Josh Valcarcel/NASA/REUTERS)

NASA plans to launch Artemis II, the first crewed mission of its ambitious Artemis lunar exploration program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. This historic milestone, which could take place in November 2024 although could be delayed until 2025, aims to carry four astronauts on a 10-day mission that will orbit our satellite before returning to Earth.

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Artemis II, marking another major milestone, hopes to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon, continuing the Artemis I mission, which placed an uncrewed capsule into lunar orbit in late 2022. The execution of Artemis II essentially depends on the availability and preparation of the necessary equipment, including spacesuits and oxygen equipment.

The planning for Artemis II involves not only continuing what was accomplished by Artemis I, but also paving the way for Artemis III and subsequent missions, which could eventually end with a human presence on Mars. To date, details about the crew or the specific systems to be used have not been fully disclosed, highlighting the extent of the work the space agency has done to ensure both the safety of the astronauts and the success of the mission.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission aims to discover the potential habitability of the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa. (Europa Press)

NASA is preparing to launch the Europa Clipper mission to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa, whose journey will begin on October 10, 2024. The spacecraft will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and arrive in the Jovian system in 2030. The This project’s main goal is to determine whether the saltwater ocean presumed to exist beneath Europa’s ice sheet could be a suitable habitat for extraterrestrial life.

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Europa is one of Jupiter’s largest natural satellites and is slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon. The Europa Clipper mission will conduct nearly 50 flybys to study in detail its ice sheet, the geology of its surface and the ocean believed to lie beneath it. Additionally, they will look for evidence of active geysers that may be spewing water from the moon’s interior. The launch window for this mission will last 21 days, offering flexibility to choose the optimal time to undertake the historic journey.

Scientists around the world await with great interest the results that this exploration may reveal, as the volume of water in Europa’s supposed subterranean ocean is estimated to exceed more than twice the sum of all Earth’s oceans, according to information by NASA quoted by CBS News.

VIPER, a lunar robot delayed until November 2024, will search for volatile compounds at the lunar south pole. (NASA/Daniel Rutter/Europa Press)

NASA has delayed until November 2024 the launch of the VIPER robot, whose mission is to explore the Moon’s south pole for volatile compounds such as water and carbon dioxide. The mission was initially scheduled for 2023, but was postponed for further testing of the landing system, developed by Astrobotic, a private company under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

The VIPER, an acronym for Volatile Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will operate during a 100-day mission in extreme conditions, ranging from the intense heat of the lunar day, with temperatures up to 107 degrees Celsius, to the cold shadow regions of the satellite. , where the thermometer can drop to an unusual -240 degrees Celsius. The golf cart-sized rover will be powered by batteries, heat pipes and radiators to overcome the thermal challenges of the lunar environment.

Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1 focus on mapping water on the Moon with an eye to future lunar landings. (Europa Press)

NASA is preparing to launch two missions under its SIMPLEx program: Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1, which seek to maximize low-cost lunar exploration. Lunar Trailblazer, which will be ready in early 2024, will orbit the Moon to measure its temperature and map the presence of water molecules. PRIME-1, scheduled to launch in the middle of that year, will drill into the lunar surface as a test for a type of drilling similar to that used by the VIPER mission.

Both missions aim to better understand the dynamics of water on the Moon, although Lunar Trailblazer will do so from orbit and PRIME-1 will do so by drilling directly into the ground. This last aspect is fundamental to pave the way for future missions, including VIPER robotics, which aims to land at the lunar south pole and study the soil in depth. Delays in previous commercial lunar payload service missions could affect the launch dates of these missions.

The aforementioned delays concern a previous mission with the same landing partner, postponed to February 2024 at the earliest. Such a postponement would create a domino effect that could modify the schedule of PRIME-1 and, consequently, that of Lunar Trailblazer.

JAXA will try to solve the puzzle of the origin of Mars’ moons with the MMX mission. (Sebastian Carrasco/Europa Press)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch the Mars moon exploration mission, MMX, in September 2024. The main objective of the mission is to clarify the origin of the Martian satellites Phobos and Deimos, which remain a mystery for science. The MMX robotic spacecraft will spend three years conducting science operations in Mars orbit and land on Phobos to collect samples that will later be sent to Earth.

The scientific interest in the Martian moons lies in the unknown of their origin, since it is not known with certainty whether Phobos and Deimos are asteroids captured by the gravity of Mars or whether they formed from debris already present in the orbit of the red planet. . The MMX mission will seek to gather evidence to unravel this question by carrying out detailed observations of both celestial bodies and analyzing samples that will be collected from the soil of Phobos.

ESA’s Hera mission will continue the impact of DART to advance the planetary defense strategy. (Mario García Sánchez/EFE/ESA)

The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed the launch of the Hera mission for October 2024, intended to survey the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system. This system was where NASA’s DART mission conducted a planetary defense maneuver in 2022. Hera will arrive at its destination in late 2026 to examine the physical properties of asteroids after the historic DART impact that changed NASA’s orbit. Dimorphos.

Hera’s predecessor, the DART mission, implemented the kinetic impact technique, which involves slamming an object at high speed into an asteroid to alter its trajectory. This is considered a crucial test to safeguard Earth from possible future risks of collision with dangerous objects in space. The Hera mission will evaluate the results of the collision, focusing on how the impact changed Dimorphos’ orbit, and study mechanisms to improve planetary defense in the future.

After confirming the orbital change of Dimorphos, ESA scientists plan with Hera to obtain detailed data on the composition and internal structure of the asteroid. Using high-tech instruments on board Hera, this study is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of these space entities and how they interact following a kinetic impact event.

2023-12-28 10:17:00
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