In 2023, space exploration reached new heights, and the new year, 2024, promises to be just as exciting.
NASA plans to launch Artemis 2 in November 2024. It will send four astronauts around the Moon on a ten-day lunar flyby.
NASA will send several landers to the Moon in 2024, including VIPER (a soil sample prospector), PRIME-1 (to perform chemical analysis of ice samples), and Blue Ghost Mission 1 (to analyse the heat flow of the lunar interior). China also plans to launch Chang'e 6, a robotic lunar exploration mission.
Japan will send Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) in 2024 to Phobos, the largest moon orbiting Mars. Moreover, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper in October will orbit Jupiter and perform a series of flybys of Europa, one of the planet's 90 moons.
In October 2024, ESA's Hera will launch towards two asteroids called Didymos and Dimorphos. Hera's mission follows NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which affected Dimorphos and changed its orbit in 2022.
Sierra Space, an aerospace company, will launch Dream Chaser, a reusable spaceplane that launches on the back of a rocket.
ISRO's success with Chandrayaan 3 and Aditya L-1 has set the stage for another exciting year. India has planned many space missions, including Gaganyaan 1, Mangalyaan-2, and Shukrayaan-1.