NASA and international space agencies are ramping up for an eventful year in space exploration in 2024. With a series of crucial missions planned, including continued efforts on the Moon and exploration of Jupiter’s moon Europa, scientists and enthusiasts are eagerly anticipating the potential for groundbreaking discoveries and scientific advancements.
Among the key missions set for 2024 is NASA’s Artemis II, the first crewed mission of the Artemis lunar exploration program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. Scheduled for November 2024, Artemis II will orbit the Moon for 10 days and could mark another historic milestone by sending the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface.
The Europa Clipper mission, set to launch on October 10, 2024, will take off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Its primary objective is to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and determine the potential habitability of the subsurface ocean believed to exist beneath its icy exterior.
Another mission, VIPER, which was initially scheduled for 2023, has been delayed until November 2024. VIPER aims to explore the lunar south pole in search of volatile compounds such as water and carbon dioxide.
Additionally, NASA is preparing for the launch of two missions under its SIMPLEx program: Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1. These missions will focus on mapping water on the Moon and performing tests with a drill similar to that used by the VIPER mission, respectively.
The year 2024 will also see the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launching the Mars moon exploration mission (MMX) in September. The mission’s main objective is to clarify the origins of the Martian satellites Phobos and Deimos, which remain a mystery to scientists.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is also gearing up for a significant mission in 2024, known as the Hera mission, which aims to inspect the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system. This system was the target of NASA’s DART mission, which conducted a planetary defense maneuver in 2022, marking a critical test for safeguarding the Earth against possible future risks of collision with dangerous objects in space.
With a multitude of missions and exploratory efforts planned for 2024, the year is expected to usher in a new era of scientific discoveries and studies outside our planet.addafi