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lunar exploration

Space Exploration Missions to the Moon in 2024: NASA, China, and Japan Unveil Plans

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com January 3, 2024

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

Wednesday, January 3 2024 – 13:03 WIB

Jakarta – Two thousand two four will be an extraordinary year for space missions – especially to the Moon – Earth’s closest neighbor, and this is a continuation of last year’s mission.

So, here is a list of space exploration missions that will launch this year, as reported LIVE Techno from the page Gree ReporterWednesday, January 3, 2024:

Illustration of space junk orbiting the Earth.

Space Exploration to the Moon: NASA’s CLPS Mission

Nasa’s series of Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) missions, most of which will launch in 2024, will carry a variety of instruments to the Moon. These missions were created and launched by various private companies under contract from Nasa.

CLPS-2 is scheduled for launch in early January 2024, and there are four other CLPS missions planned for launch throughout the year. That’s the great thing about the Moon – it’s so close that there’s not much worry about launch windows (no complicated orbits to calculate) or distance to cover.

Indeed, human exploration of the Moon is expected to take a small step forward, perhaps as early as November 2024, when Artemis II orbits the Moon for several days. One of the astronauts who will be on board will be a woman – a big leap in exploration that until now was only carried out by men.

Trailblazer

Continuing the lunar theme, Nasa’s Trailblazer mission travels to the Moon to understand where water is located. Is water locked in rocks as part of the mineral structure, or is it stored as ice on rocky surfaces?

The Trailblazer is currently scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2024. However, no exact date has been confirmed yet. This is a small mission, part of the Artemis human lunar exploration program.

Chang’e 6

Illustration of China’s rocket launch into space.

The launch of Chang’e 6, China’s latest mission to the Moon, is planned for May 2024 and is intended to bring material back to Earth. This is very important because this spacecraft will collect material from the far side of the Moon – the Aitkin Basin at the South Pole.

This basin is an area that is believed to have abundant frozen water. We don’t yet have samples of material from this part of the Moon – and although the ice will be long gone by the time the samples arrive on Earth, we will hopefully learn a lot about this unexplored region and its potential as a water source for visitors.

In September 2022, Nasa’s Dart mission encountered a system consisting of two asteroids called Didymos and Dimorphos, and crashed into Dimorphos (the junior partner). This impact had a purpose: to see whether such a collision could divert the asteroid from its path – an important goal if Earth were to be the target of a direct collision by an incoming asteroid.

Two years later, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission will be launched to visit the same pair of asteroids. This mission was not designed to hit either of these two objects, but rather to measure the effects of previous Dart impacts.

At the time of the impact, Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos was 33 minutes faster – a significant movement that suggests the asteroid’s path could have been deflected.

Europa Clipper

Illustration of the Chinese space station

Photo :

YouTube / Courtesy of CCTV

Launching almost simultaneously with Hera was Nasa’s flagship mission: the Europa Clipper to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. This mission has been long awaited, since the Galileo mission first provided views of Europa’s icy surface in the late 1990s. Since then, we have known about the ocean that hides under the shell of ice.

The Europa Clipper will fly by Europa between 40 and 50 times, taking detailed images of Europa’s surface, monitoring ice floes, and most importantly, finding out whether the moon has conditions suitable for supporting life. This mission will also investigate whether Europa’s oceans are salty, and whether life-forming elements (carbon, nitrogen and sulfur) are present.

Unfortunately, it won’t be until 2030 that the results of these observations will be sent back to us, so we will have to wait patiently until then.

MMX

Illustration of a satellite weapon in space.

I started this article by mentioning my excitement over the return of material from Bennu. I will end with my anticipation of the discoveries to come. I know I’ve mentioned the return of material from the Moon – but actually, I’m much more excited about the prospect of the return of material from other moons. The moon in question is Phobos, a satellite of Mars.

The launch of the Japanese Space Agency’s Mars Moon Exploration (MMX) mission to Phobos is currently scheduled for September 2024, and is designed to return material to Earth in 2029.

I will be 70 years old by the time the material returns – but, I hope, not too old to enjoy analyzing a unique sample of a mysterious object.

2024-01-03 06:03:02
#Flight #Schedule #Space

January 3, 2024 0 comments

Technology

The Origin of the Moon and Its Impact on Earth’s Mantle Revealed in New Study

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com November 6, 2023

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

Jakarta –

A study revealed that the remnants of the protoplanet that hit Earth and created the Moon may still be hiding deep in Earth’s mantle.

The scientists’ study shows that this impact, which hit the newly formed Earth 4.5 billion years ago, is still present in the Earth’s mantle as two mysterious ‘blobs’ that have long puzzled geoscientists.

These clumps, known as large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLVP), are where seismic waves move more slowly than the rest of the mantle, indicating differences in temperature, composition, or both.

Together, these clumps make up about 4% of the mantle, one under Africa and the other under the Pacific Ocean.

“The impact of the formation of the Moon is a very likely explanation for the origin of these two plumes,” said study first author Qian Yuan, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology, as quoted by Live Science.

In a new study published November 1, 2023 in the journal Nature Climate Change, Yuan collaborated with planetary scientists to simulate the impact of the Moon’s formation, its impact on Earth’s mantle, and how the remains of impacted objects circulated within the mantle over 4.5 billion years. forward.

They first discovered that a collision of Earth with an object the size of Mars, the size of the accepted impact, would not melt the entire mantle, but only the top half.

“The dense underlayer will cover more than 10% of the impact mantle. This impact chunk, in terms of mass and volume, is very comparable to the two mantle plumes we see today on Earth,” Yuan explained.

Modeling of mantle circulation suggests that the impact could gradually merge with Earth’s mantle. Because its density is about 2.5% that of the mantle, according to the model, it will sink and solidify, then eventually stabilize at the bottom of the mantle but not merge with the Earth’s core.

This is also consistent with what is seen in the mantle plume today, which is at a depth of more than 2,000 km and is about 3% denser than the surrounding environment.

“Because its density is higher, it will allow it to remain above the Earth’s core-mantle boundary for 4.5 billion years,” Yuan said.

Contains the beginning of Earth’s history

Other recent studies also suggest the possibility that giant impacts could explain the LLVP, although they do not specifically address the impact of the Moon’s formation.

The research, published last October in the journal PNAS, also modeled mantle circulation and found that precious metals brought to Earth by past impacts could remain in the LLVP today.

“It is possible that the LLVP contains material from multiple impacts that occurred early in Earth’s history,” Yuan and his colleagues wrote in their study.

“Mantle plumes are important, because their boundaries correlate with mantle plumes, where the magma is hotter than the surrounding region. Mantle plumes, in turn, correlate with hot spots of volcanism, including diamond-bearing eruptions called kimberlites,” Yuan said.

Volcanic activity provides the only glimpse into the geochemistry of mantle plumes, because volcanic rocks called basalt that erupt in the area may retain traces of magma from the plumes.

Most of the impacts that formed the Moon formed Earth’s natural satellite. So, comparing these rocks with Moon rocks can reveal whether they come from the same source.

But for that, researchers need samples from the Moon’s interior, something that might be possible with the planned Artemis crewed mission to the Moon.

“Future missions to the Moon could test this hypothesis,” Yuan said.

Watch Video “China Accelerates Fourth Phase of Lunar Exploration Project”

(rns/rns)

2023-11-03 23:15:45
#Embryo #Moon #Hidden #Deep #Earth

November 6, 2023 0 comments

Health

Moon Fragment Asteroid Kamo’oalewa: Evidence of Ancient Impacts and Origins

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com October 29, 2023

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

Jakarta –

Astronomers are finding more evidence that asteroid near Earth is a chunk of the Moon that was ejected.

Asteroid Kamo’oalewaderived from Hawaiian for oscillating fragment, is a chunk of rock that orbits within 14.4 million kilometers of Earth every April.

Since the discovery of the object in 2016, scientists have remained confused about the origin of the strange rock, and they were shocked when analysis in 2021 revealed that Kamo’oalewa’s composition was similar to that of the Moon.

Now, a new study published Oct. 23 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, sheds light on possible ancient asteroid impacts that could have pushed space rocks onto their current trajectories and suggests that there may be more chunks of the Moon floating around the Solar System.

“We have now established that the Moon is the most likely source of Kamo’oalewa,” said lead author Renu Malhotra, a planetary scientist at Arizona University as quoted by Live Science.

Keanehan Kamo’oalewa

Two unusual orbital properties attracted astronomers to investigate astroid Kamo’oalewa. First, as a ‘quasi-satellite’ of Earth, it is so close to our planet that it appears to orbit it, even though its actual orbital partner is the Sun.

Second, the asteroid is expected to stick closely to the side of Earth for millions of years, whereas many near-Earth objects only last for a few decades.

This anomaly prompted astronomers to conduct a spectrum analysis of the asteroid in 2021. They found that the light emitted and absorbed by Kamo’oalewa indicated that the asteroid was most likely made of lunar rock.

“We saw Kamo’oalewa’s spectrum only because it is in an unusual orbit. If it had been a near-Earth asteroid, no one would have thought to find its spectrum and we would not have known that Kamo’oalewa might be a fragment of the Moon,” Malhotra said.

By simulating an asteroid impact on the Moon and the gravitational forces that would be exerted on the chunks, the researchers found there was a small chance that some of the rocks would end up in near-Earth orbit.

Before doing the calculations, astronomers estimated that most of the launched lunar material would land back on the Moon or rain down on Earth, and not end up in distant orbit around the Sun.

The researchers say their findings may give them a better understanding of Dangerous asteroid near Earth. Their next step is to find out the conditions that might have pushed the rock into its orbit and find out exactly when the impact occurred.

Watch the Video “NASA Will Announce Update on Asteroid Bennu Samples”

(rns/agt)

2023-10-29 15:15:53
#Asteroid #Orbiting #Earth #Turns #Chunk #Moon

October 29, 2023 0 comments

Technology

Exploring the South Pole of the Moon: Potential Water Source and Future Missions

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com September 25, 2023

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

JAKARTA – The big ambitions of scientists and global space agencies regarding space missions are not only about looking for opportunities for life other than on Earth. They are also competing to explore all corners of Earth’s natural satellite, namely the Moon.

The first successful exploration of the Moon did not actually begin in 1969, when Neil Armstrong set foot there. Neil Armstrong’s mission was indeed marked as a major civilizational advance in the eyes of scientists or even mankind.

But actually the first successful exploration was achieved in 1959, by Russia or which was still part of the Soviet Union at that time, through an unmanned spacecraft as the first man-made object to successfully land on the Moon.

After that, there were more and more successful landing missions on the Moon, which really only became a record of ‘competition’ between America and Russia. Only in the 2000s, China and most recently India followed as countries that successfully landed their spacecraft there.

For decades, the space agency from the country mentioned above has indeed explored several points on the Moon. During that time, a number of research and discoveries have been obtained, one of which is the success of growing plants planted in the soil from the Moon.

But it’s still not enough, until now scientists and space agencies apparently have the ambition to explore another side that is still untouched, namely the south pole of the Moon.

Potential Water Source

Since the first exploration, there has actually been speculation that the moon could have water. This seems to be further strengthened by the discovery of hydrogen compounds in the form of small granules in samples taken from the satellite.

In 2009, NASA succeeded in detecting water content in a pocket of ancient water ice which was believed to be in a crater on the south pole of the Moon.

Since then, a number of space agencies have been competing to land their probes at least at the closest location to the Moon’s south pole. However, attempt after attempt continued to fail, because the surface at that point was mostly covered in craters and the surface of the ditch was rough for landing.

Until at least recently, on August 23, India became the first country to successfully land its spacecraft at the closest point to the south pole of the Moon.

There are several things that make exploration of the discovery of lunar water or so-called ‘lunar water’ This is such a big ambition.

First, the pockets of ancient water ice on the Moon are believed to have formed since the beginning of the solar system. So by studying the characteristics of the Moon’s water, it can help scientists learn more about the history of the solar system.

Second, it was discovered that the water on the moon was formed from collisions between various types of comets, ranging from ancient comets millions of years old to new comets that have fallen to the lunar surface.

From the discoveries above, scientists want to research what materials actually belong to comets, meteors or asteroids that have been heading towards Earth, but in reality never reached the surface because they had burned up when they entered the atmosphere.

More than that, scientists also project that the water on the Moon could have the potential to be a source of drinking water for future exploration, used to cool equipment, and its compounds could even be broken down to produce hydrogen as fuel and oxygen for breathing, in order to supporting missions to Mars or ‘mining’ on the Moon itself.

It still sounds like a ‘project’ that is too far away to be realized, but currently the attention of scientists and world space agencies is focused on the successful exploration carried out by India, and subsequent discoveries from their success in reaching the south pole of the Moon.

2023-09-25 10:45:33
#Global #Space #Agencys #Ambition #Explore #South #Pole #Moon

September 25, 2023 0 comments

Health

Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon Successfully Passes Critical Period in Earth Orbit

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com September 21, 2023

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

The Japanese lunar lander mission known as Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has successfully passed its first critical period in Earth orbit. Photo/JAXA/Space

TOKYO – Lunar lander mission Japan known as the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has successfully passed the first critical period in Earth orbit. In this phase, all SLIM features, such as solar panels, communications, propulsion, and other systems function properly.

SLIM Mission or Smart Lander for Investigation Moon launched on September 6, 2023 to demonstrate a highly accurate soft landing on the Moon. Teams on the ground have been working to verify the function of the spacecraft.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that on September 14 the SLIM mission had passed its first critical operational period. This means the solar panels, communications, propulsion, and other systems are working properly.

“SLIM is now in the Earth orbit phase and will spend approximately 20 days continuing to verify the function of the equipment on board. “Then prepare to be put into lunar transfer orbit,” JAXA said as quoted by SINDOnews from the Space page, Thursday (21/9/2023).

JAXA published SLIM optical observations on September 12, when the spacecraft was about 37,300 miles or 60,000 kilometers away from Earth. The XRISM X-ray observatory launched into low Earth orbit on the same H-2A rocket as SLIM is shown in a separate image.

The SLIM path to the moon requires a longer journey than usual so it will pass through the moon and circle back. This allows the spacecraft to perform smaller burns to enter lunar orbit, thereby saving fuel and spacecraft mass.

After entering orbit in a few months, the probe will be ready to demonstrate a “proper” lunar landing. It said the accuracy was much higher than that achieved by previous international missions.

In this case, SLIM aims to land within 330 feet or 100 meters from the target point in Shioli Crater. If successful, SLIM’s technology and architecture could lead to even bolder lunar and planetary exploration achievements in the future.

(wib)

2023-09-21 10:00:13
#Japans #Moon #Lander #Mission #Successfully #Passes #Critical #Phase #Earth #Orbit

September 21, 2023 0 comments

Health

Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ Mission: Precision Landing on the Moon’s Surface for Future Lunar Exploration

by Chief editor of world-today-news.com September 12, 2023

written by Chief editor of world-today-news.com

Jakarta –

Japan’s ‘Moon Sniper’ mission launches to land on the surface of the Moon with precision. While most Moon landings are designed to land within a few kilometers, this mission aims to land within just 100 meters of its target.

A rocket carrying the Smart Lander for Investigating (SLIM) probe was successfully launched on the morning of September 7 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwest Japan, according to Japan’s national space agency JAXA.

Just 14 minutes after liftoff, the rocket released the satellite, placing it into orbit around Earth where it will study the formation of structure in the universe and the evolution of galaxy clusters.

Meanwhile, the SLIM probe is on its long journey to the lunar surface, ready for a ‘precision landing’ sometime in early 2024. If it succeeds in doing this, Japan will become the fifth country to successfully land on the Moon.

The primary goal of the Moon Sniper mission is to demonstrate the use of high-precision landing technology for future lunar and planetary exploration.

Spread with rocky terrain and steep slopes, the Moon’s surface is not easy to traverse. To make observations in the field, rover robots often have to travel long distances across this unforgiving landscape.

JAXA explained that this mission is expected to demonstrate how precision landings will make lunar exploration more effective and easier in the future. This could prove crucial for sustainable water resource hunting missions, which are likely to be limited to very specific areas.

“SLIM’s big goal is to prove a high-accuracy landing to achieve the goal of ‘landing where we want’ on the lunar surface, not ‘landing where we can’,” said JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa as quoted by Reuters.

Japan made several moon landings but failed in recent times. In November 2022, JAXA launched the OMOTENASHI lander, but lost contact before reaching the Moon so the landing attempt was aborted.

In April this year, a Japanese startup attempted the first private landing mission on the Moon, but lost communication with its spacecraft and ultimately failed.

The moon is now an exploration destination for countries that have space technology. Competition has become increasingly fierce and busy since India, with its Chandrayaan-3 mission, became the first to successfully land on the south pole of the Moon.

A few days earlier, Russia had the same ambition to achieve this record before India, but failed. A Russian probe crashed into the Moon after entering an uncontrolled orbit, leaving a new crater on the Moon.

Watch Video “China Accelerates Fourth Phase of Lunar Exploration Project”

(rns/rns)

2023-09-12 06:30:05
#Japan #flies #moon #land #vehicle #precision

September 12, 2023 0 comments

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