The Lunar Frontier: A Look into the Year 2024 and the Era of Lunar Exploration

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NASA is ambitiously planning to send astronauts on a lunar fly-by mission, surpassing the depths of the solar system ventured by anyone in over 50 years. The goal is to establish a permanent settlement, with other countries like Russia and China pursuing similar dreams. Additionally, some of the world's wealthiest individuals are also pursuing their extraterrestrial ambitions.

Meanwhile, science-focused missions are rapidly advancing our collective knowledge of the universe, marking an exciting era of academic research.

Upcoming missions will explore the possibility of life on ice-covered ocean worlds in our solar system, and will survey the aftermath of a spacecraft intentionally colliding with an asteroid. Additionally, a research team aims to test the use of biological materials in space exploration and launch a satellite made of wood.

Heres a look at the exciting moments ahead in 2024.

Return to the moon

This image, provided by NASA, depicts the crew of Artemis II. Pictured from left to right are NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

NASA is gearing up for its most challenging and risky mission in years with Artemis IIa, scheduled to launch in November. The mission will send four astronauts on a journey around the moon.

This upcoming mission will be a historic achievement, as no human has ventured beyond Earth's immediate orbit since the space race of the Cold War era in the 20th century. The mission will involve a lunar flyby, getting close to the moon's surface but not landing on it. Furthermore, it will expand on the previous successful uncrewed test flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in late 2022.

On board will be NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. Koch will make history as the first woman to join a lunar mission. A successful Artemis II mission will set the stage for Artemis III, which is geared towards landing humans on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Starship test launches

On November 18, 2023, SpaceX's Starship rocket and spacecraft system successfully launched from the company's Starbase facilities in South Texas. This marked the second test flight of the rocket, which is the largest ever built. The mission followed a failed attempt in April to fly the spaceship in its fully-stacked configuration, which resulted in a dramatic explosion over the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA is preparing for Artemis II, while SpaceX, the venture led by Elon Musk, is working to accelerate the development of Starship, the biggest rocket and spacecraft system ever created.

SpaceX has ambitious goals for Starship, which completed two test launches in 2023, both of which resulted in explosions over the ocean.

Despite Musk and SpaceX's ambitious plans for Starship, which include sending the first humans to Mars, NASA also intends to utilize the rocket system in conjunction with its own SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III mission, scheduled to launch as early as 2025.

In this mission, Starship will transport astronauts from the orbiting Orion spacecraft to the lunar surface. However, there are numerous challenges that need to be addressed beforehand. SpaceX must determine how to safely launch Starship into orbit, successfully land and reuse both the rocket booster and spacecraft, and develop a method to refuel the massive vehicle while it is orbiting.

SpaceX aims to make significant advancements in 2024 with more test flights, although the timing of these tests remains undisclosed. Additionally, SpaceX is exploring an ocean world.

NASA's Europa Clipper will investigate the potential habitability of one of Jupiter's ice-covered ocean world moons.

In October, NASA plans to launch the Europa Clipper, the largest spacecraft ever developed for a planetary mission. This orbiter will carry nine instruments to explore whether Jupiter's moon Europa could sustain life within its sub-surface ocean beneath the icy crust. Once its solar arrays are deployed, the Europa Clipper will span over 100 feet (30.5 meters) and stand 16 feet (5 meters) tall.

Europa, one of the oceanic moons in our solar system, is believed to be an ideal location to explore for extraterrestrial life. Upon reaching orbit in April 2030, the Europa Clipper mission will conduct around 50 flybys of Europa, eventually approaching within 16 miles (25.7 kilometers) of its thick ice crust to cover nearly the entire moon.

The mission will utilize cameras and spectrometers to collect high-resolution images and produce maps of the moon's surface and atmosphere. Additionally, it is equipped with an ice-penetrating radar to study the subsurface ocean and a thermal instrument to identify potential areas where water may be rising through cracks in the ice shell.

Clipper has the potential to fly through one of the moons plumes that release particles into space, providing an opportunity to analyze the composition of the internal ocean. The mission’s goal is to assist scientists in understanding the formation of the moon and determining the potential for life to exist on icy ocean worlds.

NASAs robots on the moon

Crewed trips to the moon aside, NASA and other countries also have extensive plans for the robotic exploration of our moon.

This past year saw several nations and companies racing to soft-land a spacecraft on the moon.

So far, only India has succeeded.

China is the only other country to accomplish this in the 21st century, as Russia failed in its attempt and the United States has not attempted to return a vehicle to the moon's surface in fifty years. However, American lunar ambitions may change in 2023.

NASA intends to deploy up to four spacecraft to the moon in 2024 through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Essentially, the space agency has awarded contracts to private companies to develop lunar landers. The initial mission will be led by Astrobotic Technology, a Pennsylvania-based company, which will launch its Peregrine lander using the new and powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket, a joint project of Boeing and Lockheed Martin's United Launch Alliance.

On board Peregrine, there will be multiple scientific payloads, including a radiation monitor designed to assess the potential health risks for astronauts on the lunar surface. The Peregrine mission is scheduled for launch in January, with three other lunar landers from companies like Firefly and Intuitive Machines expected to follow in 2024.

Japans moon landing

An artist's depiction shows what the "Moon Sniper" mission will look like after landing on the lunar surface.

JAXA

In January, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is anticipated to land on the lunar surface. The lander, known as the "Moon Sniper" for its advanced precision technology, was sent into space in September 2023 along with the XRISM satellite, also known as the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, a collaborative effort between JAXA and NASA. After the launch, SLIM utilized its own propulsion system to navigate towards the moon.

After entering lunar orbit on December 25, SLIM is scheduled to touch down on the moon's surface at 10:20 p.m. ET on January 19, or 12:20 a.m. Japan Standard Time on January 20. If SLIM misses this timeframe, it will have another chance to land on February 16.

The compact exploration lander is intended to showcase a precise landing at a designated spot within 100 meters (328 feet), instead of the usual kilometer range, using advanced high-precision landing technology.

Upon successful touchdown, the lander will conduct a brief study of the lunar surface just south of the Sea of Tranquility, the site of Apollo 11's historic landing in 1969. JAXA and other space agencies prioritize precise moon landings as they seek to explore volatile yet valuable areas of the moon. Additionally, SLIM's lightweight design is advantageous as agencies prepare for more frequent missions and consider exploring moons around other planets, like Mars.

Title: NASA's Successful Mission to Redirect an Asteroid

In September 2022, the world witnessed a groundbreaking event as NASA purposely directed the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft to collide with the asteroid Dimorphos. This collision effectively altered the path of the celestial body, which is in orbit around a larger asteroid named Didymos.

The mission was the initial test of asteroid deflection technology and the first time humanity intentionally altered the path of a celestial object in space, although neither asteroid is a danger to Earth.

In December 2026, the European Space Agency intends to launch the follow-up mission named Hera, arriving just over four years after the initial collision to survey the aftermath and capture details that ground-based observations could not detect. This will follow a flyby of the asteroid system in October 2024.

Accompanying Hera will be two CubeSats, known as APEX and Juventas, which will capture further details about the asteroids. Hera's mission includes studying the surfaces of both asteroids, measuring physical properties of Dimorphos, and examining the DART impact crater and moon's orbit. This data will be crucial in helping space agencies develop a more effective planetary defense strategy.

Polaris Dawn pushes to new heights

On February 2, 2021, Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments, poses for a photo in front of a recovered Falcon 9 rocket stage at SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Image Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Last year may have marked one of the first in which space tourismboth orbital and suborbitalkicked off with regularity.

But it could reach new heights in 2024. Literally.

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, founder of payment services company Shift4, has commissioned SpaceX for a series of private space missions. The inaugural mission, Polaris Dawn, is scheduled for launch in 2024 and aims to include the first spacewalk by a private citizen.

The Polaris Dawn is anticipated to journey to the Van Allen radiation belt, which includes an inner band spanning from approximately 400 to 6,000 miles above Earth. One of the objectives of this mission is to study the effects of space radiation on the human body. If Polaris Dawn launches before NASA's Artemis II flight, it will mark the farthest distance traveled by humans in space since the Apollo era.

Isaacman will be accompanied by a team consisting of retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel Scott Poteet, as well as two SpaceX employees: lead operations engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.

Space tourism forges ahead

On July 11, 2021, Richard Branson, the billionaire, launched into space aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Unity, achieving the edge of space. Subsequently, Virgin Galactic has started regular flights for affluent customers.

Polaris Dawn is working to break barriers, while NASA, SpaceX, and the Houston-based company Axiom plan to provide regular flights to the International Space Station for customers. Axiom-3, the third private mission to the orbiting outpost, is scheduled to launch in January at the earliest.

Previous Axiom missions catered to wealthy thrill seekers, but this upcoming trip will be exclusive to military professionals and former or active government astronauts. The team will consist of European Space Agency astronaut Marcus Wandt, former NASA astronaut and Axiom flight leader Michael López-Alegría, Turkish fighter pilot Alper Gezeravci, and Italian air force Col. Walter Villadei. They will spend approximately 14 days on the space station, collaborating with the official staff of government astronauts.

Closer to home, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are anticipated to keep offering suborbital space rides, giving passengers a taste of weightlessness for a few minutes. Virgin Galactic is set to launch its sixth customer mission in January, but may pause operations in 2024 to concentrate on developing a larger line of rocket-powered space planes.

Blue Origin successfully resumed New Shepard space tourism rocket flights following an uncrewed rocket failure during a science mission in 2022. The company plans to resume flying customers in 2024 after a successful uncrewed science mission on December 18. Additionally, there are plans for new ferries to the space station for cargo and crew.

In 2024, the International Space Station is scheduled to receive two new vehicles that can dock with the outpost: one for delivering supplies and another for ferrying astronauts. After years of delays due to software and hardware issues during testing, the Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft is expected to launch its first crew.

A flawless launch of four astronauts in a flight scheduled for no earlier than March 2024 could open the door for Starliner to start conducting regular astronaut flights. It is anticipated to work in conjunction with SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which has been in operation since 2020, to ensure the space station remains fully staffed.

In the meantime, Sierra Nevada Corp. is set to debut the Dream Chaser, a cargo ship resembling a miniature NASA space shuttle. Its first flight is scheduled to take place as early as April 2024.

Keeping an eye on Earth

An illustration depicts PACE in orbit above Earth after launch.

NASA

Monitoring Earth from space can offer important insights into the changes occurring on our planet due to the climate crisis. In 2024, NASA is planning to launch new Earth-monitoring missions that will track ocean, land, and ice activity.

One of these missions, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem mission (PACE), is scheduled to launch in February. PACE aims to assess air quality and the health of our oceans by mapping phytoplankton, which are tiny plants and algae that play a critical role in the marine food chain. Additionally, PACE will track aerosols, which are tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere. The mission's instruments will enable scientists to study the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean.

NASAs first collaborative Earth-observing mission with the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, is set to launch this year. The NISAR satellite, also known as the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, will track land and ice-based surfaces for the next three years after launching from India. The mission aims to provide valuable insights into Earth's crust and aid scientists in monitoring how ecosystems are responding to the climate crisis. NISAR will gather data on sea-level rise and other natural hazards, offering crucial information on the pace and impact of climate change.