2024 will be a fruitful period for space missions, especially to our closest neighbor, the Moon. And this is a continuation of an already epic 2023.
I’m a laboratory scientist, so I always want to have a “proper” sample to analyze. Instead of looking through telescopes to look at the stars, I prefer to see them in a bottle in my laboratory. My preferred technique is to burn the material to ash while measuring the organic compounds and other species released in the process.
That’s why it was such a joy to see NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission return safely from asteroid (101955) Bennu in September 2023. It was an even greater joy to receive a few precious scraps of Bennu to examine.
CLPS missions
NASA’s series of Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) missions, many of which will launch in 2024, plan to bring a variety of vehicles to the Moon. These missions are created and launched by different private companies under contract from NASA.
The CLPS program is part of NASA’s Artemis initiative to continue human exploration of the Moon. One of the main aims of the program is to investigate the possibilities of using lunar resources as fuel; so some of the instruments on CLPS-1, also known as Peregrine, are designed to assess the amount of hydrogen on the lunar surface. In fact, my colleagues at the Open University have developed a tool to do this.
CLPS-2 is scheduled to launch in early January 2024, with four more CLPS missions scheduled to launch throughout the year. That’s the good thing about the Moon; so close that there isn’t much concern about launch windows (no complicated orbits to calculate) or distance to travel.
In fact, it is hoped that human exploration of the Moon will take a small step forward when Artemis II orbits the Moon for several days, possibly as early as November 2024. One of the astronauts on the ship will be a woman; It’s certainly a giant leap forward in the discovery of our closest neighbor, hitherto only by men.
Pioneer
Continuing the lunar theme, NASA’s Pioneer mission is heading to the Moon to understand where water is located. Is it locked within the rock as part of the mineral structure, or has it accumulated as ice on the rocky surface?
Trailblazer is currently scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2024. However, an exact date has not been confirmed. This is a small mission that is part of Artemis’ manned lunar exploration program.
Chang’e 6
The launch of Chang’e 6, China’s last mission to the Moon, is planned for May 2024 and aims to bring the material back to Earth. This is particularly important because the spacecraft will collect material from the far side of the Moon, from the South Pole Aitkin Basin.
This is a region where it is believed that there is plenty of frozen water. We do not have any samples of material from this part of the Moon, and although any ice will have long since disappeared by the time the samples return to Earth, it is anticipated that we will learn a lot about this unexplored region and its potential as a field of exploration. water source for human visitors.
hera
In September 2022, NASA’s Dart mission encountered a system of two asteroids, Didymos and Dimorphos, and crashed into Dimorphos (the junior partner). The impact had a purpose: to see whether such an impact could change the direction of the asteroid; This was a necessary goal if Earth was to be the direct target of an incoming asteroid.
Two years later, the European Space Agency’s Hera mission will begin visiting the same asteroid pair. It was designed not to hit either body, but to measure the impact of the Dart’s previous impact. At the time of impact, Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos accelerated by 33 minutes; This was a significant movement, indicating that an asteroid’s path could be diverted.
But what we don’t know (and won’t know until Hera arrives in 2026) is how effective the effect is. Did Dimorphos stay in its new orbit, return to its old orbit, or continue accelerating? Hera will conduct a detailed investigation, the results of which will help define Earth’s planetary defense protocol. That is, assuming we take it into consideration.
European Clipper
Almost at the same time as Hera, NASA’s flagship mission is launching: the Europa Clipper to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
This mission has been long awaited since the Galileo mission first showed us images of Europa’s icy surface in the late 1990s. Since then, we have learned about the ocean hiding beneath the icy crust. Excitingly, Europa may host life in the form of a significant fauna similar to animals that live on the deep ocean floor around hydrothermal vents.
Europa Clipper will fly by Europa 40 to 50 times, taking detailed images of the surface, observing the moon for icy clouds, and most importantly, to see if this moon has conditions suitable to support life. The mission will also investigate whether Europa’s ocean is salty and whether the basic building blocks of life (carbon, nitrogen and sulfur) are present.
Unfortunately, any of these observations won’t be available until 2030, so we’ll have to wait patiently until then. The investigation will be complemented by observations from Esa’s Juice mission, which is currently heading towards Jupiter.
MMX
I started this article by expressing my satisfaction with the return of materials from Bennu. I will finish with anticipation of future joys. I know I’m talking about returning material from the Moon, but I’m actually much more excited about the possibility of returning material from another moon. The moon in question is Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.
The launch of the Japanese Space Agency’s Mars Lunar Exploration (MMX) mission to Phobos is currently scheduled for September 2024 and is designed to return material to Earth in 2029.
I’ll be 70 when the material comes back – but I hope I’m not too worn out to enjoy the analysis of a unique sample taken from a mysterious body.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Monica Grady works for the Open University. It receives funding from UKRI-Science and Technology Facilities Council. She is Senior Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum, London, and Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University. She tweets as @MonicaGrady (X’s?)