After a year 2022 that more than once made us roll our eyes as it saw major milestones in our expansion into space, the coming year will have to promise a lot to keep up the pace. This is all the more the case since 2024 will also be a year full of symbolic moments, with the second flight of the Artemis program, the first with a crew on board the Orion spacecraft.
However, the year to come will not miss great space moments for our species, even if it is not yet that of the great manned voyages. Here’s what to expect from the stars.
1. JUICE and the Secrets of the Jovian Moons
European mission, the JUICE probe (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) will be launched in April 2023. It will leave for a very long journey which will bring it, in 2031, around Jupiter for a first exploration of the gas giant for the ESA. The mission will enter orbit around Jupiter and will carry out numerous flybys of its large icy moons: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, some of which are suspected of harboring large quantities of liquid water, or even an environment conducive to the appearance of the life.
2. A first flight for the SpaceX Starship
The first orbital test flight of the superheavy Starship spacecraft is expected to take place in early 2023, although the company has yet to release a more specific timeline. It must be said that it took a lot of delay, whereas last October, Elon Musk still assured that it would be for 2022. This vessel, which ultimately aims to take us to Mars, is in fact made up of two distinct but complementary machines. The Super Heavy launch vehicle which must overcome the gravity of the earth up to 65 km altitude, and the Starship spacecraft itself, which carries the crew and the cargo. It could carry up to 100 tonnes of freight, which would be an unprecedented quantity.
3. The return of space tourism
This subject, which makes some teeth cringe, was rather on hiatus in 2022, after some great moments the previous year such as the short passage in orbit of Jeff Bezos and consorts. At most we attended the presentation of the lucky winners of DearMoon, invited by the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, and who will participate in a 6-day flight around the Moon, but probably not before 2025. However, the coming year has other adventures in store for the very rich. Polaris Dawn first, the first mission of the private Polaris program of Jared Isaacman and SpaceX, with 4 people who will go “as far as possible” aboard a Crew Dragon. And then Axiom Space’s second tourist mission aboard the International Space Station, again under the supervision of a professional astronaut. This time it’s Peggy Whitsonthe first woman to have commanded the ISS, which is back in service.
4. The Return to Earth of King Osiris
Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer is better known as OSIRIS-REx; launched in 2020 by NASA bound for the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, it has begun its return to our planet. It should reach Earth next September, with about 1 kg of samples taken directly from the asteroid on board. This is only the second time that this kind of mission has come to an end, if it is carried out.