Context: 2024 promises to be an important year for space exploration with ambitious programs and numerous technological developments.
- Several new missions are lined up under NASA’s Artemis plan, Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, the Martian Moons eXploration mission, Europa Clipper and Hera, etc.
Six Significant Space Missions in 2024
Here are six notable space missions scheduled for 2024:
- Europa Clipper
- Artemis II
- VIPER Mission
- Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) Mission
- Hera Mission
- SIMPLEx, Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1 Missions:
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Europa Clipper:
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- Associated Space Agency: NASA
- Mission: It will explore one of Jupiter’s largest moons, Europa.
- Objectives:
About Europa:
- Europa is slightly smaller than the earth’s moon, with a surface made of ice. Beneath its icy shell.
- Europa likely harbors a saltwater ocean, which scientists expect contains over twice as much water as all the oceans here on Earth combined.
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- To investigate whether Europa’s ocean could be a suitable habitat for extraterrestrial life.
- The mission will also look for active geysers spewing out from Europa.
- Launch: The spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030.
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Artemis II Launch:
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- Associated Space Agency: NASA
- About Artemis Programme: Named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, Artemis is NASA’s plan to go back to the moon.
- The mission builds upon Artemis I, which sent an uncrewed capsule into orbit around the moon in late 2022.
- Objectives of Artemis Programme:
- It will send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972, including the first woman and the first person of color.
- Artemis also includes plans for a longer-term, sustained presence in space that will prepare NASA for eventually sending people even farther to Mars.
- Artemis II is the first crewed step in this plan, with four astronauts planned to be on board during the 10-day mission.
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- Associated Space Agency: NASA
- Mission: To search for water on the moon.
- About VIPER: VIPER stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, is a robot that NASA will use to explore the moon’s south pole.
- Objectives VIPER of Mission:
- To search for volatiles (molecules that easily vaporize like water and carbon dioxide) at lunar temperatures.
- These materials could provide resources for future human exploration on the moon.
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Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) Mission:
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- Associated Space Agency: Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
- Mission: To study Mars’ moons viz. Phobos and Deimos.
- Objectives of MMX Mission:
- To determine the origin of Mars’ moons.
- MMX will also land on Phobos’ surface and collect a sample before returning to Earth.
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- Associated Space Agency: European Space Agency (ESA).
- Objective:
- To investigate the Didymos binary asteroid, including the very first assessment of its internal properties.
- To measure in great detail the outcome of NASA’s DART mission kinetic impactor test.
Didymos Binary Asteroid
- Asteroid Didymos and its small moonlet Dimorphos make up the called a binary asteroid system, meaning the small moon (Dimorphos) orbits the larger body (Didymos).
- The two asteroids are not a threat to Earth, but because they do pass relatively close to Earth, they were chosen as the target for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.
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SIMPLEx, Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1 Missions:
- These are small, low-cost planetary missions
- Associated Space Agency: NASA
- SIMPLEx: SIMPLEx, stands for Small, Innovative Missions for PLanetary Exploration.
- These missions save costs by tagging along on other launches also known as rideshare, or secondary payload.
- Lunar Trailblazer: Lunar Trailblazer will orbit the moon for water, measuring the temperature of the surface and mapping out the locations of water molecules.
- PRIME-1 Mission: It will help scientists search for water at the lunar South Pole, and will be the first in-situ resource utilization demonstration on the Moon.
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News Source: TH
January 4, 2024
