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2024: A New Year of Exploration
by James Burk
Only six weeks have elapsed in 2024, but already this has turned out to be a landmark year for the exploration of space. Not only are the exciting events due to five separate missions exploring the planet Mars, but also because world space agencies are gearing up like never before for future efforts of human exploration.
The Scientific Assault on Mars
Three days into the New Year, the first of NASAs two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit, landed safely at Gusev Crater near the equator of Mars. It became only the fourth successful mission to land on Mars, all of which have been conducted by American spacecraft. Spirit found a landscape that was similar to the previous destinations explored by Mars Pathfinder in 1997, and the twin Viking landers in 1976.
After standing up and driving off its lander, the Spirit rover was able to examine an interesting pyramid-shaped rock dubbed Adirondack. A series of computer glitches caused the rover to pause its investigations, but after a week spent recovering its bearings, Spirit has resumed its mission to explore. Already it has set a record for the amount of Martian terrain it has covered, driving over 21 meters (70 feet) in a single day, then breaking its own record with a longer traverse of over 24 meters (80 feet).
On January 24th, Spirits identical twin rover, Opportunity, successfully touched down on the surface of Meridiani Planum, on the opposite side of Mars from Spirits location. Opportunity bounced down on a landscape that was totally different than anything else ever seen: a flatter, darker plain punctuated by an outcropping of bedrock which lies very close to the landing site. Opporunity has now driven up to the feature and is currently exploring the bedrock with its suite of geological instruments.
Opportunitys landing site at Meridiani was selected due to its abundance of a mineral called hematite, which is typically formed on Earth after long periods of being immersed in liquid water. The search for water on Mars, the main task of both rovers, was significantly advanced by Opportunitys confirmation that its surroundings were rich with hematite.
Not to be outdone by their American counterparts, the European Space Agency has also shared in this years success by the successful arrival of the Mars Express spacecraft. This mission will orbit Mars for the next several years, taking high-resolution pictures and also assisting in the search for water. Data has been relayed back from the twin American rovers via Mars Express, signaling the beginning of a new International Interplanetary Internet.
Mars Express also dropped off a small British-built lander, dubbed "Beagle 2". Unfortunately, it failed to reach its destination on the surface of Mars, but its mission planners are already preparing another attempt called "Beagle 3" which will likely take off in 2008. Nobody is sure exactly why the Beagle failed due to the lack of communications after separating from its parent, the Mars Express.
Other missions in orbit around Mars include the Mars Global Surveyor, launched by the U.S. in 1996, and the Mars Odyssey, another NASA mission launched in 2021. Both spacecraft have been very successful and have sent back detailed maps of the Red Planet. Both are also being utilized in a data-relay capacity, supporting the explorations on the surface by the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
But this vanguard of spacecraft is only the beginning of what will surely be a sustained exploration of Mars, and someday the robotic rovers will be joined by human beings on the surface.
Human Beings Are Heading into the Cosmos
On January 14th, the U.S. space agency NASA received a new vision, one it had been lacking for the last thirty years, since the last Apollo mission returned home from the Moon. President George W. Bush announced that America would someday return astronauts to the Moon to build a permanent outpost, and would later follow that accomplishment with a human mission to Mars.
No huge amount of new funding will be required for this program, since Bush also announced a hard date of 2011 for the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and an eventual exit from the International Space Station project; both programs currently consume the majority of the yearly US$16 billion budget given to NASA. Since a mission to the Moon and to Mars is expected to require approximately that level of funding, a seamless transition to the new exploration agenda is being planned for the next decade, beginning after 2011.
Americas efforts will surely be joined by other nations. Last year, the European Space Agency had already begun a new program of human exploration which is planned to cuminate in their own Lunar and Mars exploration during the next 20-30 years. Russia will undoubtedly be involved, since their expertise in building large space modules will be needed for going to Mars, and they are now partners with the Europeans in the construction of a new launch site for Russian rockets in Kourou, French Guyana.
Last year, the nation of China launched their first human mission into Space, utilizing a native-built spacecraft dubbed Shenzhou or divine vessel. They have already set their sights on the moon, planning to launch an unmanned mission in a few years, but ultimately desiring to send their astronauts to plant the Chinese flag in the lunar soil. Other nations, such as Japan, India, and Brazil, have also recently planned to increase their exploration of space.
All in all, 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for space exploration, and more exciting developments are bound to happen.
James Burk is an independent space writer and the editor of ProjectConstellation.us and MarsNews.com