2024: A pivotal year for Lunar exploration with NASA's Artemis program and global space missions

By Zeynep Katre Oran

The year 2024 is shaping up to be exciting for space exploration and research. After 55 years since Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon, missions to the lunar surface are once again in full swing.

In 2023, the world witnessed several major space missions, including the return of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Earth after collecting samples from the asteroid Bennu and India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, which conducted an exploration of the Moon's south pole.

In 2024, the focus will be on missions to explore the Moon's unknowns, such as the Artemis Program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.

- Artemis II

NASA's Artemis Program aims to return astronauts to the Moon following the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969 and the last crewed lunar flight with Apollo 17 in 1972.

The first phase, Artemis I, concluded in Dec. 2022, lasting 25 days, with the Orion spacecraft completing a lunar orbit and successfully landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The upcoming crewed mission, Artemis II, slated for Nov. 2024, plans to return astronauts to Earth without landing on the Moon.

The program's final stage, Artemis III, if successful, will mark the first human exploration of the Moon's south pole.

Additionally, NASA's VIPER project, set to investigate surface water ice and potential resources, is scheduled to land on the lunar surface later this year.

- CLPS

In addition to crewed lunar missions under the Artemis Program, NASA has comprehensive plans for lunar exploration using robots.

As part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program, which aims to investigate the use of lunar resources as fuel, NASA will send four vehicles to the Moon in 2024.

- SLIM

Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission, designed to test precise landing technologies on the lunar surface, was launched into space in Sept. 2023 as part of JAXA and NASA's X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) to study the speed and structure of galaxies.

Having successfully entered orbit in Dec. 2023, SLIM is expected to begin its descent toward the Moon on Jan. 20.

Manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric and weighing 700 kilograms, the lander can move on the lunar surface using the probe it carries. The data collected by Japan will be used in the Artemis program.

- Chang'e 6

As part of the China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), the China National Space Administration (CNSA) plans to send the Chang'e 6 exploration vehicle to space in May, aiming to collect rock and soil samples from the dark side of the Moon by 2030.

Chang'e 6 will carry research instruments, including negative ion and gas detectors, for France, Italy, Pakistan, and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Furthermore, the Queqiao-2 (Magpie Bridge-2) communication satellite, developed to establish communication with the far side of the Moon, is set to be launched into space in the first half of 2024.

In addition to the Chang'e missions, the China Manned Space Program Agency (CMSA) plans to send astronauts to the Moon before 2030.