2023 Will Witness The Launch Of New Space Missions To The Moon, Jupiter, And A Metal World
Launch of new space missions during this year is shaping up to be phenomenal. In 2023, NASA plans to begin its journey to a metal planet, an asteroid sampler will return to Earth for the first time, a crew will be sent to the moon for the first time in history, and many new commercial rockets may make their debut.
Author:Rhyley CarneyReviewer:Paula M. GrahamJan 05, 20236.9K Shares93K Views
Launch of new space missionsduring this year is shaping up to be phenomenal. In 2023, NASA plans to begin its journey to a metal planet, an asteroid sampler will return to Earth for the first time, a crew will be sent to the moon for the first time in history, and many new commercial rockets may make their debut.
“„More stunning discoveries from Webb telescope, climate missions that will tell us more about how our Earth is changing, continued science on the International Space Station, groundbreaking aeronautics developments with the X-59 and X-57 experimental aircraft, the selection of the first astronauts to go to the Moon in more than 50 years, and more.- Bill Nelson, NASA
At the same time, the European Space Agency will send a probe to Jupiter and its moons, launch a satellite to generate a 3D picture of the cosmos, and start training its newest group of astronauts, who will include a disabled astronaut. These are just a few of the space-related stories that will dominate headlines in 2018.
Artemis II Mission
An unmanned spacecraft was despatched on a historic trip around the moon as part of NASA's Artemis Program launch Task last year. The Artemis II mission, the program's first human trip, isn't scheduled to launch until spring 2024, but the public may soon find out the identities of the fortunate astronauts who will be on board.
The number of potential astronauts has been whittled down by the space agency to only 18 college students, who will be known as the Artemis Crew. Even more recently, NASA officials promised that the Artemis 2 crew will be revealed in early 2023.
Four individuals are scheduled to make the trip around the Moon and return to Earth as part of the Artemis II project. The Artemis III mission after that will attempt to put humans back on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo program in the 20th century.
Robotic Landers On The Moon
Even though there may not be any crewed Artemis flights this year, NASA still intends to put robotic landers on the moon as part of its effort to learn more about the lunar terrain and radiation environment and to look for resources that could be mined from the moon and used to power exploration deeper into space.
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative is dependent on collaboration with a group of over a dozen businesses who are building their own lunar rovers privately.
Astrobotic, headquartered out of Pennsylvania, is planning to launch its Peregrine lunar lander in the first few months of 2023 as the first lander to fly under the program. This lander will carry 11 research and exploration equipment to the lunar surface. It will touch down on the near side of the moon, in the bigger crater known as Lacus Mortis.
According to NASA's website, as many as three more CLPS program missions might launch the same year.
Top Five Space Exploration Missions in 2023
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission
JUICE, the much-anticipated Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, will launch between April 5 and 25. The European Space Agency's three-year mission from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana will study Jupiter and its ice moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.
Scientists aim to determine whether Ganymede's ocean is livable. The spacecraft and its 10 sensors will make 35 flybys of Jupiter and its moons in July 2031. The mission will investigate if life occurred in the Jupiter system, how the gas giant sculpted its moons, and how Jupiter originated.
Boeing Mission Of Carrying Astronauts To And From The ISS
It is expected that by 2023, these new space taxis, on which Boeing has been working for ten years, would be in regular use to transport personnel to and from the International Space Station.
Due to years of setbacks and building delays, the Starliner spacecraft finally performed an unmanned test voyage to the International Space Station in May of this year. Look at it as a triumph. The first manned launch from NASA is planned for April 2023.
Starliner is meant to assist NASA's plan to contract out the transportation of people to the ISS to commercial companies. SpaceX has already begun working on this trip with its Crew Dragon spacecraft, and next month it plans to fly its seventh normal astronaut flight.
SpaceX and Boeing plan to divide up duties when the Starliner goes into service, keeping as many astronauts as possible on the ISS until NASA finally retires the aging outpost sometime in the next decade.
Commercial Vehicle Launch
One of the most exciting developments in space travel in the 2020s is the prospect of the debut of brand-new launch vehicles owned and operated by private companies.
Soon, SpaceX will try to put its massive Starship spacecraft into orbit for the first time. Eventually, the company hopes to use the vehicle to land the first humans on Mars, and NASA is hoping to use it for the Artemis program.
The Vulcan Centaur, built by United Launch Alliance, and the New Glenn, created by billionaire Jeff Bezos's space company Blue Origin, are two other powerful commercial rockets currently in development. The launch of the Vulcan rocket is scheduled for the beginning of 2023, and the first flight of the New Glenn could occur at any point after that.
There is also the possibility of the introduction of a number of new, smaller rockets whose sole purpose is to launch relatively light satellites into geostationary transfer orbit. The year may begin with launches from Florida and Alaska by two US startups, Relativity and ABL Space Systems.
A Metal World
After unanticipated delays, the launch of the first NASA mission intended to explore a metallic asteroid is scheduled for October.
The Psyche expedition will go on a four-year trip to an uncharted potato-shaped planet in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The expedition will investigate a metal-rich asteroid dubbed Psyche that looks fuzzy to both ground-based and space-based observatories.
According to NASA, the strange item may be a planet's residual metal core or a chunk of primordial material that never melted. Astronomers might learn more about the creation of our solar system with the aid of Psyche. If Psyche has a core, then reading it would be similar to staring into the center of a planet like Earth.
Due to software and equipment testing delays, the mission missed its initial 2022 launch window. The mission crew has added personnel to complete testing before to launch.
NASA's First Asteroid Sample Return Mission
This year, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will deliver to Earth a collection of rocks and dirt extracted from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. In October of 2020, the spacecraft, which was NASA's first asteroid sample return mission, successfully gathered a sample from Bennu, making history.
OSIRIS-REx will drop the sample carrying 2.1 ounces of material from the surface of Bennu at the Utah Test and Training Range on September 24. If the spacecraft is still in excellent shape, it will begin a new mission to investigate additional asteroids.
The samples will disclose facts on the genesis and history of our solar system, as well as potential Earth-impacting asteroids.
Final Words
A number of additional missions are scheduled to launch in 2023. TEMPO will monitor North American pollution hourly. The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) will study cosmic X-ray objects with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.
On the Euclid mission, NASA and the European Space Agency will investigate dark energy, a mysterious and unseen force that accelerates the cosmos. The ASTHROS project will deploy a football field-sized balloon from Antarctica to examine why certain galaxies stop forming stars.
Rhyley Carney
Author
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
Latest Articles
Popular Articles