A series of diverse space missions are expected to take off in 2024 in order for scientists to better understand space’s origins, and its foreign properties. After the advantageous year of space exploration in 2023, scientists involved in the National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA), and other nation’s space organizations, such as European Space Agency (ESA), hope for another successful year of safe space launches.
The Indian Space Research Organisation became the only space program that has ever successfully sent a mission to the South Pole of the moon with their spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, in August 2023, and NASA is aiming to become the second.
NASA’s lunar rover, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, also known as the VIPER mission, is expected to launch in late 2024, and land on this side of the moon for a one-hundred day mission.
The purpose of this mission is for VIPER to explore the extreme environment in order to search for volatiles. Volatiles are substances that evaporate easily, such as water and carbon dioxide. NASA believes that finding these molecules could support future space exploration.
“The critical information will teach us about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon and help determine how we can harvest the Moon’s resources,” NASA said.
Later this year, NASA is also planning to travel further than the moon. NASA is expecting to launch the Europa Clipper mission in a 21-day launch period starting on October 10th. The spacecraft will then travel to Jupiter, with an expected arrival of 2030.
The purpose of the Europa Clipper mission is to investigate one of Jupiter’s many moons called Europa. Scientists believe that beneath Europa’s icy surface, there may be saltwater oceans that are expected to have double the amount of water all of Earth’s oceans have combined. Any information that NASA learns through this mission is hoped to benefit their research regarding ocean planets.
Unlike many other upcoming space missions, ESA’s Hera mission has a different purpose. While other spacecraft are orbiting planets and landing, the Hera mission is hoping to collide with an asteroid in order to study the physics of the event.
The Hera mission will travel to the same asteroid system that NASA’s DART visited in 2022, Didymos-Dimorphous. DART also collided with an asteroid to test a planetary defense technique known as kinetic impact.
“This could prove useful if humanity ever finds a potentially hazardous object on a collision course with Earth,” Florida Phoenix writer Ali M. Bramson said.
Earth’s moon won’t be the only moon being visited by a robotic spacecraft this year. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is planning to send a robotic mission to two of Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos.
JAXA’s Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) is planned to orbit these two moons for three years, and then land on Phobos to collect a sample and bring it back to Earth. The main purpose of the mission is to discover how Mars’ moons originated, as scientists are unsure if these moons were debris already floating around, or former asteroids that Mars caught into its orbit.
“The creation of this system is one of the keys to solving the mysteries of planetary formation in the Solar System,” JAXA said.
For the first time in history, NASA is planning to send a spacecraft to monitor and systematically map out Earth by monitoring activity. This spacecraft, known as the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will measure many of Earth’s processes, including ecosystem disturbances regarding climate change.
NISAR will also monitor sea-level rise in centimeters to measure changes on Earth’s surface. Additionally, NISAR will observe natural hazards, particularly regarding ice-sheet collapses. This kind of radar will provide the most detailed view of Earth NASA has ever had.
Over the course of the timeline of space exploration, more than 600 people have been launched off of Earth in a spacecraft, and multiple more astronauts are planned to go on missions in the following years.
“It’s really cool and accomplishing that people have been and are still going to space,” NHS freshman Lola Arpi-Tenesaca said.
Despite the fact that there aren’t any significant space missions involving astronauts planned to launch soon, the accomplishments astronauts, scientists, and mathematicians have already achieved are recognized by many NHS students.
“It’s really cool how people are able to leave the planet and see space,” NHS freshman Skylar Urbina said.
Although all of these expeditions are scheduled to take place during 2024, it’s possible that some missions will be delayed. The timing will depend on the many circumstances of Earth and other planet’s orbits, technical issues, and safety precautions that come with the task of sending rockets into outer space.
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