by The coming year is packed with exciting spaceflight missions, from long-awaited rocket launches to incredible lunar missions – including several moon landings and crewed flights – a new Jupiter probe that will go to the outside and even a demonstration flight of new International Space Station replacement spacecraft. With that in mind, here are some specific missions we’re looking forward to in 2024.
1. Moon Missions
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission on 6 September. Currently en route to the lunar surface, the spacecraft is scheduled for a January 19 landed inside the moon’s Shioli Crater. The SLIM mission aims to demonstrate a landing with a precision of less than 330 feet (100 meters) from the target. If successful, the spacecraft’s landing will mark the first ever soft lunar landing by a Japanese spacecraft, and will make Japan the fifth country to land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India.
Designated company Astrobotic Technology is also targeting the moon next year, with plans to launch its first lunar lander on January 8, followed by a landing attempt on February 23. The IS Lunar ground hawk it will carry 20 commercial and government payloads, including a small lunar rover developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists and a series of smaller rovers provided by the Mexican Space Agency.
The launch window for Intuitive machines‘ The IM-1 lunar mission opens in mid-February. This spacecraft aims to touch down near the moon’s south pole, which requires specific lighting conditions that are only available in the region for a few days each month. In partnership with SpaceX, the IM-1 mission is the company’s first lunar landing attempt as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which will later support the space agency’s initiative. The free Artemis program, and plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon.
of China Chang’e 6 mission it is expected to launch in 2024, representing the country’s second sample return mission. The lander will collect material from the South Port-Aitken basin (SPA) on the far side of the moon. This mission follows the successful Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission, launched in 2020.
2. Artemis 2
If all goes as planned, humans will also be going back to the moon in 2024. Artemis 2 the lunar mission will send the first astronauts around the moon in almost 50 years. Due to launch no earlier than November 2024, the eight-day mission will fly four astronauts around the moon on board Orion spacecraft using a Spatial Address System (SLS) rocket.
Passing about 6,400 miles (10,300 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, the Artemis 2 mission represents the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis crew includes 2 NASA commanders Reid Wisemana NASA pilot Victor Glover (the first person of color to leave low Earth orbit), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman to make the trip) and Canadian Space Agency an astronaut Jeremy Hansen (the first non-American to make the trip).
3. Centaur Vulcan rocket
After multiple delays over five years, United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) first flight arrived. Vulcan Centaur rocket game scheduled for January 8. The rocket has been fully assembled at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for its inaugural flightwhich will carry multiple payloads, including Astrobotic Technology’s aforementioned Peregrine lunar lander.
At 202 feet (62 meters) tall, Vulcan Centaur is a successor to ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV rockets with advanced capability to carry payloads of up to 7.7 tons to geostationary orbit. With a January 8 launch, the rocket will carry payloads from the space Celestis memorabilia company, including remnants of the original cast members “Trek star” TV series – Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan – as well as series creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry and series actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry to recur.
4. Sierra Space Dream Chaser
NASA and Sierra Space are hoping to launch the company’s demonstration mission Spacecraft Dream Chaser in 2024 using the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is a reusable private spacecraft designed to carry cargo and astronauts low earth orbit. The first uncrewed flight of the shuttle-shaped spaceplane will be to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser is to deliver over 7,800 pounds of cargo for this demonstration mission, but is capable of carrying up to 11,500 pounds. It can also bring experiment samples, trash and other cargo from the lab back to orbit World. If successful, Dream Chaser will become an integral part of NASA’s commercial replacement services program.
5. Polaris Dawn
The IS Polaris Dawn mission — a private human spaceflight mission operated by SpaceX on behalf of Jared Isaacman, the founder of payment provider Shift4 — to be launched no earlier than April 2024. Isaacman and three others will spend several days in low Earth orbit on their Team Dragon spaceship.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the The free Polaris program,which aims to conduct scientific experiments, raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and make the first commercial spacewalk using spacesuits-designed. Led by Isaacman, the Polaris Dawn crew includes one veteran astronaut and a businessman, two SpaceX personnel experienced in crewed and uncrewed launches and mission operations, and a former combat pilot.
6. Starship IFT-3
SpaceX on Starship a rocket preparing for its third flight, IFT-3, within the first quarter of 2024. The IFT-3 of Ship 28 and Booster 10 aims to validate critical technologies necessary for future lunar and interplanetary missions. This mission follows the company’s second flight test (IFT-2) on November 18, 2023, which showed a successful hot phase but lost telemetry after eight minutes of flight. Each flight test provides valuable data, from which the company can learn and adapt future efforts. That said, a critical test planned for IFT-3 is the propellant transfer using two different tanks within a Starship.
7. Ariane 6
The IS European Space Agency (ESA) aim to launch a Ariane 6 rocket in mid-2024. Tests were recently completed on December 7 and December 15, which were related to operational launch readiness for the rocket’s inaugural flight. While the December 7 test of the rocket’s upper stage was terminated shortly after what appeared to be a normal liftoff, the December 15 test of the rocket’s core and upper stages went smoothly.
The practice countdown proceeded as planned, ending with a four-second firing of the core stage’s Vulcain 2.1 engine. The cause of the abort during the December 7 test is still under investigation, and an update is expected in mid-January. However, ESA does not expect this to affect the Ariane 6 schedule, and further tests of the rocket’s launch system are slated for early 2024.
8. Launch ESCAPAGE New Glenn
The first address of Blue Originand Glenn’s new rocket It looks promising for 2024 after a long history of delays since 2020. The two-stage heavy lift rocket stands more than 320 feet (98 meters) tall, and is capable of nearly 100,000 pounds ( 45 metric tons) of low-load hauling cargo. earth’s orbit. New Glenn is designed to be a reusable launch vehicle for up to 25 missions. NASA’s Explorers of Escape and Acceleration Plasma and Dynamics (ESCAPADE) mission is to study the magnetosphere of Mars as part of its inaugural flight.
this Mission ESCAPADE consists of two small identical spacecraft that will simultaneously collect two-point observations to better understand how energy and plasma flow into and out of the magnetosphereand how they interact with solar wind. It will take ESCAPADE explorers about 11 months to arrive Mars post address.
9. Europa Clipper
NASA plans to send a spacecraft to explore Jupiter’s moon Europe in 2024. Aptly named the Clip Europe, the spacecraft will study the icy Jovian moon to determine whether its subterranean ocean is habitable. It is scheduled to launch on October 6, 2024, on top of a SpaceX Heavy Falcon rocket and will reach Jupiter on April 11, 2030.
The spacecraft will go into orbit Jupiter, instead of Europa, due to radiation concerns. Europa (the second largest moon from Jupiter) is located deep within the planet’s magnetosphere, where charged particles are generated by the gas gianta powerful magnetic field could damage the spacecraft’s electronics. When it reaches Jupiter, the spacecraft will make almost 50 flights abroad – one of the most promising places in Europe. Solar system to search for life beyond Earth — and its closest approach is only 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface of the moon, allowing for a close-up view of the moon’s surface.
10. Boeing Starliner
First crewed test flight of it Game Boeing Starliner Spacecraft is tentatively scheduled for mid-April. The eight-day mission includes test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni William, who will travel to the International Space Station on the reusable capsule. Manufactured by Boeing, Star line consisting of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module. The spacecraft is designed to carry crew to low-Earth orbit and will be used for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. For its first test flight, Starliner will launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket.
Boeing was struggling delay launch its first crewed test flight in years. The company announced that the vehicle will be ready by March; However, the timing of the launch is ultimately determined by NASA, and due to traffic at the space station, Starliner will not have the opportunity to lift off to the orbiting laboratory until April 2024.
