[The Epoch Times, February 27, 2024](Epoch Times reporter Linda compiled and reported) It turns out that 2023 is quite important for space missions: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will retrieve samples from asteroids , India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission explores the south pole of the moon, and 2024 will become another exciting year for space exploration.
Several new missions from NASA’s Artemis program and Commercial Lunar Payload Services will target the moon.
There will be several launch missions in the second half of this year, including the Mars satellite exploration mission in September, the Europa Clipper and Hera missions in October, and the Artemis II and VIPER lunar landing missions in November.
Here are six of the most exciting space missions in 2024, as reported by CBS News.
1. Europa Clipper
Schematic diagram of the Europa Clipper spacecraft flying by Europa, with Jupiter in the background. (NASA/JPL-CALTECH)
NASA will launch the “Europa Clipper”, which will explore one of Jupiter’s largest moons, “Europa”, also known as “Europa”. Europa is slightly smaller than the moon and has a surface made of ice. Beneath its icy crust may lie a salty ocean that scientists estimate contains more than twice as much water as all Earth’s oceans combined.
Scientists hope to use Europa Clipper to investigate whether Europa’s ocean is suitable for alien life. To this end, the mission plans to fly over Europa about 50 times to study Europa’s icy shell, surface geology and underground ocean. The mission will also look for active geysers erupting from Europa.
This would be a significant and fundamental change for scientists hoping to understand Europa’s ocean world.
The launch window period refers to the period during which the mission is launched and achieves the planned route. It will start on October 10, 2024 and last for 21 days. The spacecraft will be launched by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket and arrive at Jupiter in 2030.
2. Artemis II
Four astronauts who will participate in the plan to return humans to the moon. (NASA)
The Artemis program, named after the twin sister of Apollo, the sun god in Greek mythology, is NASA’s plan to return to the moon. This will be the first time humans have returned to the moon since 1972, including the first woman and first astronaut of color to land on the moon. Artemis also includes plans for a longer-term, sustained presence in space, which will prepare NASA to eventually send humans farther to Mars. Artemis 2 is the first step in the program, carrying four astronauts on a 10-day mission.
The mission builds on Artemis 1, which launched an unmanned space capsule into orbit around the moon in late 2022. Artemis 2 will launch astronauts into orbit around the moon and then back to Earth. It is currently planned to launch as early as November 2024. But it could also be postponed to 2025, depending on whether necessary equipment such as space suits and oxygen equipment are ready.
3. VIPER searches for water on the moon
Schematic diagram of VIPER lunar landing robot exploring the moon. (Daniel Rutter/NASA)
VIPER is the abbreviation of “Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover” (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover). It is a golf cart-sized robot that NASA will use to explore the moon’s south pole by the end of 2024.
Originally scheduled to launch in 2023, NASA delayed the mission to complete more testing of the lander system, which was developed by private company Astrobotic as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
The robot is tasked with finding volatiles, which are molecules that evaporate easily in lunar temperatures, such as water and carbon dioxide. These materials can provide resources for future human exploration of the moon.
The VIPER robot will rely on batteries, heating tubes and radiators to maintain temperature during its 100-day mission. Its exploration range ranges from the lunar solar hot zone of 107 degrees Celsius to the lunar shadow zone of minus 240 degrees Celsius.
VIPER is scheduled to launch and reach the lunar surface in November 2024.
4. Lunar Pathfinder and PRIME-1 mission
Schematic diagram of the Lunar Pathfinder orbiting the moon. (NASA)
NASA has recently invested in a class of small, low-cost planetary missions called SIMPLEx, which stands for Small, Innovative Planetary Exploration Missions. These missions are launched with other space launchers through ride-sharing or secondary payloads to save costs. Lunar Trailblazer is one example. Like VIPER, Lunar Pioneer will also search for water resources on the moon.
VIPER will land on the lunar surface to study a specific area near the South Pole in detail, while Lunar Pathfinder will orbit the moon, measuring surface temperatures and mapping the location of lunar water molecules.
Currently, Lunar Pathfinder is expected to be ready by early 2024.
However, since it is a secondary payload, its launch timing depends on the launch readiness of the primary payload. The Lunar Pathfinder will ride on the Falcon 9 rocket used to launch the PRIME-1 mission in mid-2024.
The PRIME-1 mission is a robot that will land on the lunar surface and drill into the moon’s interior – a test of the drilling technology VIPER will use.
5. JAXA’s Mars satellite exploration mission
A schematic diagram of the “Mars Satellite Exploration” spacecraft exploring two small satellites of Mars. (NASA)
While Earth’s moon will welcome many visitors in 2024 – robotic and manned spacecraft large and small – Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos ) Soon visitors also arrived. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is developing a robotic mission called “Mars Satellite Exploration” (MMX), which is scheduled to be launched around September 2024.
The mission’s main scientific goal is to determine the origin of Mars’ moons. Scientists are unsure whether Phobos and Deimos are previously asteroids captured into orbit by Mars’ gravity, or formed from debris already orbiting Mars.
The spacecraft will conduct three years of scientific operations around Mars to observe Phobos and Deimos. MMX will also land on the surface of Phobos and collect samples before returning to Earth.
6. European Space Agency’s Hera mission
This diagram shows the Hera mission that will study the impact of a 2022 collision on the asteroid system. (ESA)
Hera is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission designed to return to the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system, which NASA’s DART mission visited in 2022.
But DART not only visited these asteroids, it also collided with one of them to test a planetary defense technology called “kinetic impact.” DART hit Dimorphos with such force that it changed its trajectory.
Kinetic impact technology slams something into a planet to change its path. This technology is used to protect the Earth from dangerous flying objects.
Hera will launch in October 2024 and arrive at Didymos and Dimorphos in late 2026, where it will study various physical properties of asteroids. ◇
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei
