Central Idea

• The year 2024 is set to be a landmark year in space exploration, following significant achievements in 2023, including NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and India’s Chandrayaan-3 missions.

Upcoming Missions

• The year will feature several key missions under NASA’s Artemis plan and Commercial Lunar Payload Services, along with other international endeavors.

[1] Europa Clipper Mission

• Objective: NASA’s Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa, known for its icy surface and potential subsurface saltwater ocean.
• Significance: The mission aims to assess Europa’s habitability for extraterrestrial life by studying its icy shell, geology, and ocean.
• Launch Details: Scheduled for launch on October 10, 2024, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, with arrival at Jupiter set for 2030.

[2] Artemis II Mission

• Program Goals: Part of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon, including plans for a sustained presence and future Mars missions.
• Mission Specifics: Artemis II, following the uncrewed Artemis I, will be the first crewed mission orbiting the Moon since 1972, planned for November 2024.

[3] VIPER Lunar Mission

• Mission Overview: VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) aims to explore the Moon’s south pole for volatiles like water and carbon dioxide.
• Technology and Schedule: Equipped to handle extreme lunar temperatures, VIPER’s launch is scheduled for November 2024, focusing on resources for future human exploration.

[4] Lunar Trailblazer and PRIME-1 Missions

• SIMPLEx Program: These missions are part of NASA’s Small, Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx), offering cost-effective, rideshare opportunities.
• Objectives: Lunar Trailblazer will orbit the Moon to map water locations, while PRIME-1 will test drilling technology, both scheduled for mid-2024.

[5] JAXA’s Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) Mission

• Mission Focus: JAXA’s MMX mission aims to study Mars’ moons, Phobos and Deimos, to determine their origin.
• Science Operations: The spacecraft will conduct a three-year mission, including landing on Phobos and returning a sample to Earth, with a launch planned around September 2024.

[6] ESA’s Hera Mission

• Mission Purpose: Hera, by the European Space Agency, will study the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system, following NASA’s DART mission’s kinetic impact in 2022.
• Planetary Defense: Hera will assess the impact of DART’s collision and study the asteroids’ physical properties, with a launch set for October 2024.

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