06/04/2024, 11:29 Astronauts are returning to the moon…well, sort of

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Astronauts are returning to the moon…

well, sort of
There are plenty of other launches, missions and rockets to look out for

Heirs to Apollo image: josh valcarcel/nasa

Nov 13th 2023 Save Share Give

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06/04/2024, 11:29 Astronauts are returning to the moon…well, sort of

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By Alok Jha

B y the end of 2024, astronauts are due to return to the Moon for the first
time in more than half a century. Well, sort of. As part of nasa’s Artemis II
mission, four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock
Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will travel 7,400km beyond the Moon, swing
around and return to Earth, without landing on the lunar surface. Their ten-day
voyage will test the Space Launch System (sls) rocket and the Orion
spacecraft for future missions. As well as being the first humans to reach the
vicinity of the Moon since those of Apollo 17 in 1972, Mr Glover, Dr Koch and
Mr Hansen will be the first black man, first woman and first non-American
respectively to leave Earth orbit.
The earliest that Artemis II can launch is November, and it may be delayed to
2025. It will certainly be beaten to the Moon in May by the latest mission in the
Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme (known as Chang’e). Like Chang’e 5
before it in 2020, Chang’e 6 aims to deliver a robotic lander to the Moon’s
surface, collect a few kilograms of rocks and bring them back to Earth. The
target location is on the far side of the Moon and the mission will also carry
instruments from France, Italy, Pakistan and Sweden.

Astronauts are due to return to the Moon—well, sort of

In September Japan will attempt to join the Mars club by launching its Martian
Moons Exploration (mmx) mission to study the planet’s moons, Phobos and
Deimos. Because the moons are too small to gravitationally capture the
spacecraft, mmx will instead enter a “quasi-satellite orbit” around them. It is
due to land on Phobos in 2025 to scoop up rock samples for return to Earth by
the end of the decade.
O b l l hE Cli b d d d d
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 In October nasa plans to launch Europa Clipper, a probe dedicated to studying
06/04/2024, 11:29 Astronauts are returning to the moon…well, sort of

the habitability of one of Jupiter’s moons. The observation in 2012 of water

vapour near Europa’s south pole reignited interest among planetary scientists
in studying the big moons of Jupiter and Saturn, which seemingly harbour
subsurface oceans of water, and could be home to alien life. When it arrives at
Europa in 2030, Europa Clipper will perform 45 fly-bys of the moon, varying in
altitude from 2,700km to 25km, to study Europa’s magnetic field and icy shell,
and the nature of the water and rocks underneath.

In December the Indian Space Research Organisation aims to build on the

success of its Chandrayaan-3 mission in August 2023, which landed a
spacecraft near the Moon’s south pole, by launching Shukrayaan to Venus. This
will be the first dedicated mission to Earth’s “evil twin” since Japan’s Akatsuki
in 2010. Scientists hope to study everything from the chemistry of Venus’s
atmosphere to its lava flows—and find out whether or not the planet harbours
phosphine (a molecule suspected to be present, which is normally associated
with life).
Closer to home, private companies will be testing out new rockets. Blue Origin,
Jeff Bezos’s company, could test its New Glenn rocket for the first time in 2024.
It is a reusable heavy-lift vehicle, capable of placing 45 tonnes into low-Earth
orbit, compared with 64 metric tonnes for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, or 95 tonnes
for the expendable sls. Rocket Lab, a startup, plans to fly its reusable Neutron
This article appeared in the Science and technology section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the
rocket theup”first time. ArianeGroup’s Ariane 6, an expendable rocket, may
forlook
headline “Do
also make its maiden flight in 2024.
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All these rockets, though impressive, will eventually be dwarfed by SpaceX’s
reusable Starship which, when it works, will be capable of lofting 150 tonnes
into orbit. Expect to see more trials of that behemoth in 2024. ●
alok jha, Science editor, The Economist

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