The engineer explained that. Majed Abu Zahra, President of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah Governorate
Humanity once again leads space exploration in 2023 with a record number of successful rocket launches – exceeding more than 200 space launches – some by government agencies but mostly by private companies – signaling a change in the ways of the new space race.
Nearly half of space launches have been done by SpaceX alone, with more than two thousand new satellites joining Starlink satellites.
The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope has begun its mission to study the invisible universe, and the European Space Agency’s Juice probe has embarked on a long journey to Jupiter to help us better understand its icy moons. NASA’s Lucy probe has surprised us with a triple asteroid system. Rare, the “Osiris-Rex” probe brought back samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA launched the “Psyche” probe, the Saudi astronauts returned to space by visiting the international station as part of the “Axiom 2” mission, and India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon’s surface.
Will 2024 live up to the ambition?
Since the retirement of the Ariane 5 rocket in July 2023, the European Space Agency has relied on other countries to access space and the new Ariane 6 rocket is supposed to end this dependence, with the launch scheduled to take place between mid-June and the end of July. What makes Ariane 6 different is its ability to restart the upper stage engines. This means that in one launch it can send satellites to different paths, so launch costs should be half the cost of its predecessor, with more than twenty missions already ready.
However, long before the launch of “Ariane 6”, we are supposed to witness the first launch of the “Vulcan Centaur” rocket of the American company United Launch Alliance, currently scheduled for January 8th. Like “Ariane 6”, it provides a payload capacity similar to the “Falcon 9” rocket. SpaceX, like the Falcon 9, will reuse the first stage boosters, which reduces launch costs.
A name that has been relatively quiet recently is Blue Origin, but in the first half of August we should see the first launch of the Newglen rocket, which will have a reusable first stage and a greater mass capacity than the Vulcan Centaur and Vulcan Centaur rockets. Ariane 6, but not as capable as the Falcon Heavy. However, the New Glenn will provide more space on board than the Falcon Heavy, and when it comes to launching satellites, it is not only the mass that is important, but the size of the payload as well.
Everyone knows that most spaceports are located near the equator to give rockets an extra boost from the Earth’s rotation on its axis. However, being at high latitudes provides easier access to different types of orbits, such as polar orbits, which are ideal for Earth observation satellites, so in the summer In 2024, it is expected that the “Saxford Spaceport” will be opened off the coast of Scotland for smaller payload rockets, as many of them will complete their first flights, as it is expected to see the first launch of the rocket (Skyora XL – United Kingdom), and (RFA One – Germany). And (Zephyr – France), and others. It seems that countless small space rockets are planning to appear for the first time in 2024, and a few of them belong to countries with emerging space industries, such as Singapore and South Korea.
One thing I would like to point out is the unusual Indian space rocket (Vikram 1). It is made of carbon fiber and has 3D printed engines. It will be important to know how carbon fiber behaves in the face of pressure and temperature changes at launch.
The year 2024 is expected to witness the launch of some late commercial space missions, as mid-January is supposed to witness the launch of the “Axiom 3” mission, which is a short two-week trip to the International Space Station, and the first Axiom mission with an astronaut from the European Space Agency on board, and it may witness October: Axiom 4 mission.
During the month of April, a manned flight of about four astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Crew vehicle is expected on a 5-day trip around the Earth. Perhaps this trip will witness the first commercial spacewalk.
There will be many trips to the moon in 2024. On board the Falcon Centaur rocket (January 8) will be the “Peregrine” lunar lander belonging to the Astrobotic Technology company, and in mid-February Intuitive Machines will launch the first “Nova-C” lander, both of which are equipped with a set of The payloads are competing to be the first private companies to successfully land on the moon’s surface. In addition, on January 19, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s “Slim” spacecraft may land, which will make Japan only the fifth country to successfully land on the moon’s surface.
In May, China is expected to launch the Chang’e 6 probe, which is the first mission to bring a sample from the far side of the Moon. If it succeeds, that sample will be extremely important for understanding this far side of the Moon, and around this time we may witness a second launch of the lander ( Nova-C, which will test the ability to jump on the surface of the Moon to adjust landing sites, will also contain two rover probes, one from Nokia Communications and the other called (Prime-1) belonging to NASA to search for water ice and extract resources on the surface of the Moon.
In this vein, Astrobotic Technology plans to transport the rover (VIPER) in November, which will search for resources in the lower part of the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon’s south pole and will be the first rover equipped with headlights.
Finally, by November, the first manned test of NASA’s space launch rocket and Orion capsule will be within the “Artemis 2” mission, which will take four astronauts on board around the moon and back again to test all life support systems because these systems were not fully operational in the “Artemis” mission. 1”.
The second half of 2024 will witness the launch of several missions to explore different rocks around the solar system. In August, the first flight of the Neoglean rocket will send NASA’s twin Escapade probes on a three-year mission to Mars to study the planet’s magnetosphere and study how solar winds strip away its atmosphere. As part of NASA’s Simplex program, this mission will prove that low-cost missions ($80 million) can produce extremely important scientific results.
Eyes are also turning to Mars in September, with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Mars Moon Exploration (MMX) mission, which consists of a Mars orbiter and a lander on Phobos, one of Mars’s moons. The flight will also include a German-French rover that will move on the surface of Mars. This small celestial body and the important part of this mission is the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s attempt to bring back a sample of Phobos’ soil to try to solve the origin of Mars’ moons.
The month of October will witness the launch of two missions into deep space. The first is the Hera probe from the European Space Agency to study the results of NASA’s DART mission, which saw the vehicle collide with an asteroid’s moon to modify its orbit as a planetary defense test. We will also witness the launch of NASA’s upcoming “Europa Clipper” probe. It will reach Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in 2030 and will investigate the potential for life in the small ocean beneath Europa’s surface.
In the end, December will witness several missions to Venus, as Rocket Lab plans to launch the first private mission to Venus that will include the probe known as the “Life Finder on Venus” and a vehicle that will descend through the atmosphere of Venus and collect and transmit as much data as possible before it arrives. To a height of about 20 kilometers, where it is likely to malfunction due to the enormous pressure of the planet, which will destroy the probe.
After that, India will launch its first mission to Venus, an orbital vehicle called “Shukaryan-1,” to map the planet’s surface, look beneath the surface, and study the planet’s atmosphere, especially the way it interacts with the solar wind.
A lot will happen in 2024. We did not mention the thousands of satellites that will be launched and even the testing of new technologies and the flights of astronauts back and forth between the Chinese space stations and the International Space Station. There is no doubt that the scientific results will be many, and 2024 will undoubtedly be an important year for space exploration.
💥Disclaimer: Please note that the world of space exploration is rapidly evolving and launch dates are subject to change. The dates given here are correct at the time of writing (28 December 2023).
