From Chandrayaan-3 to space tourism – A look at six significant space missions of this year – Science News

In 2023, India etched its name in space exploration history with the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s successful soft landing on the Moon, marking a significant achievement as the fourth nation to accomplish this feat. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) remarkable achievement in this mission stands as a monumental feat in space exploration. However, this triumph wasn’t the sole endeavor that expanded the horizons of what we believed to be achievable in space exploration.

Here are the biggest spaceflight milestones that happened in 2023:

Chandrayaan-3 Mission and Aditya L1 solar probe

Both the Chandrayaan-3 mission and the Aditya L1 solar probe marked significant milestones for India’s space exploration endeavors. Chandrayaan-3 positioned India as only the fourth nation globally to achieve soft-landing capabilities on the Moon. Simultaneously, the Aditya L1 mission represents India’s inaugural venture to examine the Sun and explore space weather phenomena.

Having validated its capacity for soft lunar landings, ISRO’s subsequent objective involves the retrieval of lunar samples. Chandrayaan-4, slated for launch in 2028, is ISRO’s strategic initiative aimed at accomplishing this goal.

First space tourists

On August 11, a Virgin Galactic rocket embarked on a journey to space before gracefully gliding back to the Spaceport America runway in the New Mexico desert. Amidst enthusiastic cheers from the passengers’ families and friends observing the rocket ship’s ascent, the flight lasted approximately 15 minutes, soaring to an altitude of 56 miles (88 km).

Among the passengers aboard the Virgin Galactic flight were 80-year-old former British Olympian Jon Goodwin, alongside a Caribbean mother-daughter pair—46-year-old health coach Keisha Schahaff from Antigua and her 18-year-old daughter, Anastatia Mayers. The duo secured their seats through a charity draw.

NASA’s asteroidal treasure trove

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission collected samples from the asteroid Bennu and left it in May 2021 on a two-year-long journey home. Then, in September 2023, it dropped a “parcel” containing the sample to Earth, with it landing in a desert in Utah as the space agency planned. The asteroid was chosen for the mission because it is thought to be a “time capsule” from the birth of our solar system.

An initial study of the samples found evidence of a high carbon content and the presence of water. This means that a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid has some of the same building blocks of life that started it on our planet.

Unraveling planetary origins via Psyche

Exploring celestial bodies within the solar system provides crucial insights into its formation. The name ‘Psyche’ denotes both the asteroid itself and the mission dedicated to investigating it. Positioned over 500 million kilometers away, the asteroid’s distance necessitates 31 minutes for light to traverse it, emphasizing its vast remoteness. NASA anticipates the mission’s arrival at the asteroid in six years.

Asteroid Psyche is presumed to possess a significant metal composition, suggesting its potential classification as a planetesimal — a fundamental constituent in the genesis of planetary systems. Analyzing this asteroid holds promise in unraveling the composition of rocky planets’ cores, akin to our own Earth. Although direct examination of Earth’s core remains unfeasible, scrutinizing planetesimals offers a valuable perspective into comprehending the formation of our planet and the broader solar system.

Hakuto: A new frontier for private spaceflight

The Hakuto mission, spearheaded by Tokyo-based space technology startup ispace, aimed to become the pioneering private lunar mission. However, moments preceding the spacecraft’s anticipated lunar touchdown, ground controllers lost communication with it. Subsequently, more than six hours later, the company acknowledged that there is a “high probability” that the lander had crashed on the Moon.

Despite this crash, Hakuto’s venture signifies a significant milestone for the spaceflight industry. A mere decade ago, envisioning a company like ispace undertaking a lunar mission would have seemed implausible. Yet, the recent evolution in space technology witnessed companies such as SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and others stepping into increasingly prominent roles within space exploration.

Russia’s Luna-25

Both the Hakuto mission and Russia’s Luna-25 starkly highlighted the immense challenges that space agencies faced in lunar landings before Chandrayaan-3’s successful touchdown. Luna-25 marked Russia’s return to lunar surface exploration after a hiatus of 46 years since the erstwhile Soviet Union’s previous landing. Unfortunately, the mission culminated in failure as the spacecraft crashed upon reaching the lunar terrain.

The complexity of lunar landings becomes evident considering the historical context. Over 20 successful lunar soft landings have occurred, including six with astronauts on the Moon. Notably, except for the three Chinese landings in the past decade, all successful landings transpired between 1966 and 1976.

2023’s space milestones exemplified a transformative period, highlighting nations’ and private entities’ forays into uncharted celestial territories. As the cosmos continues to captivate human imagination, the lessons gleaned from these missions are paving the way for the future of space exploration, fueling endeavors to push boundaries further into the unknown cosmos.