New Delhi

The quest to learn more about the universe is an unending one. Scientists have their eyes on asteroids, comets, the moon, planets, bodies that are not planets and more. Learning about these celestial objects requires missions to be sent out that can figure out what is going on. A lot of probes were launched in 2024, while a few others reached their destination. All of them aim to dive deep into the vast expanse of darkness that houses our tiny little home planet Earth. Here are the notable space missions of 2024.

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1. Japan’s SLIM Mission

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was a lunar mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It launched on September 6, 2023, but landed only the next year, on January 19. Japan became the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. It faced initial troubles, with reports suggesting a problem with the lander’s solar panels. It landed on its sides and the solar panels faced opposite the Sun. However, it started working on January 29. The lander surprisingly managed to survive three lunar nights and woke up in April. If finally bid adieu on August 23.

Also Read: VIDEO: Chinese rocket crashes down from space over Puerto Rico

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2. Europa Clipper Mission

NASA launched the Europa Clipper probe to study Europa, a Galilean moon of the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter. The mission took off on October 14 and is scheduled to reach the Jovian moon in April 2030. The spacecraft would use the gravity assists from Mars and Earth to reach Jupiter with enough fuel still available. The  Mars assist is scheduled for March 1, 2025, while the Earth assist will take place on December 3, 2026. The Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, found evidence that a subsurface ocean might be hiding underneath Europa's ice crust. Europa’s main aim is to explore this possibility.

3. Hera Mission

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The European Space Agency (ESA)  launched the Hera mission on October 7 to study the Didymos binary asteroid system. This is the same asteroid that was impacted by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft in 2022. As part of its space safety programme, ESA aims to know more about the crater made on the asteroid moonlet by the DART mission, and also how much of an impact an artificial projectile had on it. This would help scientists to prepare better for future asteroid missions. It would arrive at the asteroid Didymos in 2026.

Also Read: ISRO simulates space conditions for astronauts in 'Habitat-1'

4. Chang'e 6 lunar mission

China’s Chang'e 6 lunar exploration mission became the first to retrieve samples from the far side of the Moon. It was launched on May 3 and its lander and rover touched down in June. The lander’s robotic scoop and drill picked samples worth a total of 1,935.3 grams. The ascender module carried them into lunar orbit where it docked with the orbiter module before transferring the samples to an atmospheric re-entry module. The capsule returned to Earth on June 25.

5. IM-1 lunar mission

IM-1 was a robotic Moon mission that landed on February 22. Named Odysseus, it was the first one by a private company to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface. American space exploration company Intuitive Machines received funding from NASA for the mission. However, soon after touchdown, it tipped to a 30-degree angle. It lost power and shut down with the start of the lunar night on Febuary 29.

 6. Polaris Dawn:

SpaceX sent a private crewed flight into space on September 14 that took them to a point no one has ever reached since the Apollo programmes. It is only the first of three planned missions under Polaris. American entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and his crew - Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon - went 1,400 kilometres away from Earth, and later, at a lower altitude, carried out the first private spacewalk.