Which space missions will start in 2023?

We live in the golden age of astronomy and space science. These are the times when technology allows us to maintain a permanent presence in space, in addition to opening never-before-seen windows in the Universe. However, “Is there life beyond Earth?”, “How did we get here?” We’ve come closer to finding new answers to fundamental questions such as and “what will be the future of our planet?”

In this scenario, humanity has continually taken its vehicles into space to deepen its knowledge of the Cosmos, and 2023 will be no different! Here we have selected the main space missions with launches planned for 2023!

Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)

The icy moons of the largest planets in the Solar System are considered by astronomers to be some of the most promising places to find life beyond Earth. In mid-2023, but still without a firm launch date, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is due to be launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on the eight-year Ariane 5 rocket to Jupiter.

As soon as the spacecraft orbits the planet in 2031, it will begin studying the gas giant’s three largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Each of these moons is a rocky body covered with a thick layer of ice believed to have liquid oceans underneath.

JUICE’s main scientific goal will be to map satellites at high resolution and characterize the various layers of the oceans beneath their surface.

psychic

During the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2023, with a deadline of October, the American space agency NASA plans to launch its Psyche spacecraft to explore 16 Psyche, an iron-rich asteroid of the same name as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

Located in the main asteroid belt of the Solar System, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, asteroid 16 Psyche is believed to be the remnant of a protoplanet from the earliest moments of our system’s formation. The PSYCHE probe aims to study the chemical composition, mass distribution, magnetic field and some other physical properties of this space rock.

With the probe’s data, scientists will be able to better understand the structures of the closest asteroid belt to Earth, as well as learn more about how planets might have formed.

OSIRIS-REx

Also on the theme of asteroids, on September 24, 2023, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) will partially return to Earth after an encounter to collect samples of the forming asteroid Bennu. in 2020

On that day, a capsule containing soil samples from Bennu will be launched to Earth to land at a US air force base in the state of Utah. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will then continue on its next mission, which is to locate the asteroid Apophis, one of the main near-Earth asteroids expected to occur in 2029.

Chandraayan 3

Chandrayaan 3 is an ISRO (Indian Space Research Establishment) mission whose main goal is to land a rover and land on the south pole of the Moon by 2023. It is scheduled to launch in June with the GSLV Mark 3 heavy launch vehicle Chandraayan 3. It is a sequel to the previous failed mission, Chandrayaan 2, and includes significant improvements to ensure a safe landing.

The spacecraft will also have a communications and data transfer satellite to transmit data from onboard devices: a seismometer, a heat flow experiment, and some spectrometers.