The year 2024 is set to further expand our knowledge of the cosmos, with an array of space exploration milestones on the horizon. The top 10 stories covering the year ahead include numerous celestial endeavors, from spacecraft launches and discoveries to new scientific findings. Among these, the Starship Europa Clipper mission stands out as one of the most notable.
Scheduled to be launched by NASA in 2024, the Starship Europa Clipper is an astrobiology mission aimed at researching Jupiter’s icy moons with the ultimate goal of understanding the possibility of life beyond Earth. This ambitious mission will gather detailed data on Europa, the most volcanic moon in our solar system, conducting more than 50 close flybys within just a few tenths of a mile from its surface.
Equipped with a suite of advanced tools, the spacecraft will investigate the moon’s habitability potential by studying its subsurface ocean, thermal energy, tides, and ice shell dynamics. In the process, scientists will seek to identify habitable environments and replenishment sources for Europa’s ocean, as well as discover potential biosignatures and past or present signs of life.
Additionally, we can expect to hear updates on the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, which is scheduled to deliver asteroid rubble to Earth in September 2023. This groundbreaking event will mark the first time that NASA has retrieved samples from an asteroid and brought them back for thorough laboratory analysis, allowing scientists to study the composition and history of a near-Earth asteroid to gain a better understanding of the formation of our solar system.
Furthermore, the year 2024 will witness the Mars Sample Return mission, which will attempt to retrieve samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars. This ambitious endeavor will help us uncover more information about the history of Mars and explore the possibility of past microbial life on the red planet.
The year will also see the continuation of the James Webb Space Telescope’s mission, offering unprecedented views of the universe and plunging deeper into the origins and evolution of galaxies, our solar system, and the cosmic web.
