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To the moon, asteroids and past, robotic explorers racked up the mileage in 2023. Right here’s the most recent standing of area missions that made headlines this yr.
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
April 14: The European Area Company launched the Juice mission.
Replace: There’s not a lot progress to report but; it’ll take about eight years for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, to achieve its vacation spot. However as soon as there, the spacecraft will fly by the Jovian moons Callisto, Europe and Ganymede quite a few occasions earlier than settling into orbit round Ganymede. Carefully scrutinizing these moons will assist confirm whether or not they host liquid oceans beneath their icy outer shells and gauge whether or not these underground seas might host life.
Euclid area telescope
July 1: The ESA launched the Euclid area telescope.
Replace: Euclid’s purpose is to create a 3-D map of the universe to assist astronomers higher perceive darkish matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for many matter within the universe, and darkish power, the unknown drive that’s accelerating the universe’s growth. In November, the telescope confirmed off what it’s able to when it despatched again its first full-color photos, dazzling magnificence pictures of far-off galaxies.
Chandrayaan-3
August 23: India grew to become solely the fourth nation to efficiently land on the moon when the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram lander touched down close to the lunar south pole, the primary spacecraft to take action (SN: 9/23/23, p. 7).
Replace: Excessive on the mission’s to-do record was testing the capabilities of the lander and its rover, named Pragyan, to prep for future lunar missions. The duo additionally collected measurements, such because the temperature and chemical make-up of the floor. The info might show helpful to area companies like NASA that intend to ship astronauts to the south pole, a tantalizing area that seems to harbor water ice in shadowed craters (SN: 12/3/22, p. 14). The mission led to early September when Vikram and Pragyan entered sleep mode.
OSIRIS-REx
September 24: After accumulating rock from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flew by Earth to drop off its treasured cargo (SN: 9/22/23).
Replace: About 250 grams of Bennu safely parachuted to Earth in a protecting capsule. Thus far, scientists have analyzed some bonus materials that caught to the skin of OSIRIS-REx’s pattern canister earlier than the outer capsule closed. These bits of Bennu principally include water-bearing clay minerals — maybe the identical type of minerals that made Earth a watery world (SN: 11/4/23, p. 6). As of early December, investigations of the majority of the pattern hadn’t begun; NASA employees have been unable to take away two of the fasteners that sealed the canister shut. In the meantime, the mission continues underneath a brand new title, OSIRIS-APEX, because the spacecraft travels to the asteroid Apophis with an arrival date of 2029.
Psyche
October 13: NASA’s Psyche mission took off.
Replace: The spacecraft has an extended technique to go earlier than arriving at asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029. It’s well worth the wait, although, as a result of the principally metallic area rock might be the uncovered core of an early planet that misplaced its outer layers (SN: 12/18/21 & 1/1/22, p. 34). Learning 16 Psyche might be the closest scientists get to straight analyzing a planet’s usually inaccessible coronary heart.
Lucy
November 1: After two years in area, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by its first asteroid.
Replace: Lucy’s objective was to have shut encounters with 10 asteroids over a roughly 10-year interval. But it surely seems that its first goal, known as Dinkinesh, is definitely two asteroids — a big one with a smaller one in orbit round it. Dinkinesh and its tagalong reside in the principle asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. However most of Lucy’s targets are Trojan asteroids, which share a path across the solar with Jupiter. Learning these area rocks might supply new clues to the origins of the large planets in our photo voltaic system (SN: 10/15/21).
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