Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
NASA is preparing for a series of bold missions poised to unravel the enigmatic realms of our solar system and beyond. These missions promise to delve into the secrets of neighbouring moons, chart the lunar frontier, and probe the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Let’s take a closer look at these upcoming endeavours of NASA.
The Europa Clipper mission, poised for launch in October 2024, is engineered to go into orbit around Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys of its moon, Europa. The primary scientific objectives encompass characterising the moon's ice shell, evaluating habitability, and understanding the formation of surface features. The data gathered will provide valuable insights into the potential for life beyond Earth.
The Blue Ghost Mission 1, designated as TO 19D, is a lunar lander set to embark on an extraordinary journey to our Moon in 2024. Its mission is to deliver ten essential payloads to the lunar surface, aiming to unveil a range of lunar secrets. The primary objectives of this mission is to investigate the heat flow from the lunar interior, plume-surface interactions, and the study of crustal electric and magnetic fields.
The Artemis program is a multifaceted moon exploration initiative, led by NASA in collaboration with six major partner agencies. Its components include the Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, Lunar Gateway, and commercial Human Landing Systems. The program's grand objective is to land humans on Moon, establish a permanent lunar base and setting the stage for future missions to Mars. The recent launch of the Artemis 1 mission marked the program's onset, with further milestones in the years to come.
The Lunar Gateway, a revolutionary space station, is set to orbit the Moon and function as a solar-powered communication hub, scientific laboratory, and temporary living quarters for astronauts. A multinational endeavour involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Lunar Gateway plays a pivotal role in NASA's Artemis program after 2024.
In an exciting mission scheduled for 2025, the Draper Lunar Lander is set to touch down in the Schrödinger basin on the lunar far side. Its primary objective is to conduct geophysical measurements in a region that bears intriguing evidence of recent volcanic activity. Sponsored by NASA, this mission forms a part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a collaboration between NASA and Draper Laboratories.
Scheduled for a June 2027 launch, NASA's Dragonfly mission is an extraordinary venture, aiming to send a robotic rotorcraft to Saturn's moon, Titan. With the prospect of making the first powered atmospheric flight on a moon, Dragonfly seeks to shed light on prebiotic chemistry and the potential for extraterrestrial habitability. The craft's unique vertical takeoff and landing capability will facilitate mobility between exploration sites, offering a glimpse into a world shrouded in mystery.
In collaboration with the European Space Agency, NASA is orchestrating a mission to return the first samples of Mars material for comprehensive study. At the forefront of this interplanetary relay team is the Mars Perseverance rover, assigned to collect and cache samples on the Martian surface. A Sample Retrieval Lander and ingenious helicopters will be integral in retrieving these samples, which, once captured in Mars orbit, are destined to be transported to Earth in the early to mid-2030s.
The Veritas mission, scheduled for 2031, will further humanity's understanding of the Moon. Like the Draper Lunar Lander, this mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, and it will employ the expertise of Draper Laboratories. While still in the early planning stages, the Veritas mission will leverage the ispace technologies SERIES-2 lander and relay satellites for Earth communication from the lunar far side.