Notable space science events in 2024

The Japanese ship successfully landed on the Moon

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) automated spacecraft SLIM landed on the lunar surface on January 19, making Japan the fifth country to make a soft landing on Japan’s natural satellite. Earth, after the Soviet Union, America, China, India. The probe flew a long and circling route, finally reaching lunar orbit on December 25. SLIM aims to land just within 100 meters of its target, at the rim of Shioli crater.

At a cost of 120 million USD and weighing only 200 kg, SLIM is designed to carry out a number of scientific activities including studying the surrounding environment, the area of ​​​​the Sea of ​​Nectar region, located at 15 degrees south latitude, by spectrometer. Data from the instrument can provide information about the composition of the region, shedding light on the formation and evolution history of the Moon.

Not long after landing, operations experts at JAXA discovered that the ship landed upside down, meaning that the solar panels used to collect energy on the ship could not face the Sun. SLIM’s first night on the Moon began on January 31 and ended on February 15. Then, SLIM experienced the second lunar night on February 29 and the operations team predicted a temperature drop from 100 degrees Celsius to -170 degrees Celsius would cause the lander to stop working.

The likelihood of malfunction will increase with repeated cycles of extreme temperatures. When trying to restore operations in mid-March, JAXA discovered that the main functions of the lander were still usable. The same thing happened when SLIM woke up for the third time after the long lunar night in mid-April, transmitting signals to Earth on April 23.

The last time JAXA contacted SLIM was on April 28. JAXA announced on August 26 that the mission of the SLIM lunar lander officially ended after many months of not being able to re-establish contact with the ship. However, the main goal of SLIM has been accomplished. It was to demonstrate the ability to land on a celestial body with incredible precision. Its elliptical landing zone surrounds a designated point at a distance of 100 m, much smaller than the usual distance of several kilometers.

China launched a ship to collect samples from the dark side of the Moon

The Chang’e 6 ship took off on a Long March 5 rocket from the Van Xuong Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island at 4:27 p.m. on May 3, Hanoi time. During the 53-day journey, the Chang’e 6 spacecraft headed to the South Pole – Aitken (SPA) basin in the dark side of the Moon, the side that cannot be observed from Earth. The Chang’e 6 spacecraft includes 4 modules: the lunar lander, the sample transport compartment, the orbiter and the orbital launch vehicle (small rocket accompanying the lander).

On June 1, the lander landed inside the Apollo crater located in the South Pole Aitken depression (SPA), a 2,500 km wide impact zone on the dark side of the Moon. The lander collected nearly 2 kg of lunar samples using shovels and drills. This precious specimen was transferred to the orbital launch vehicle on June 3 and docked with the orbiting spacecraft a few days later. The orbiting spacecraft carrying the sample capsule returned to Earth on June 21. The Chang’e 6 lunar sample capsule landed in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region on June 25.

Initial analysis results show that the dark area specimen has a loose structure and more voids. The new specimen advances understanding of a number of important aspects surrounding Earth’s natural satellite, including its early evolution, different volcanic activity between the near and far sides, and its history. impact in the inner solar system, traces of galactic activity are preserved in the lunar weathering, composition and structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

The Boeing spacecraft malfunctioned after carrying astronauts to the ISS

After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner successfully took off on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida, on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard. ISS station during a 25-hour flight. According to the schedule, Wilmore and Williams will spend a week in orbit and return to Earth on June 13. However, during the flight, Starliner encountered a series of problems, including five helium leaks and five thruster failures in the reaction control system. This forced engineers to solve the problem from the ground and extended the two astronauts’ stay on the ISS station, from one week to more than half a year.

During a press conference on August 24, NASA announced that after carefully evaluating the situation, NASA and Boeing engineers could not agree on whether it was safe for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to fly back by ship. The Starliner universe is malfunctioning or not. As a result, they decided that the crew would stay at the ISS until February 2025, when SpaceX’s Dragon ship would dock with the station and carry the crew home.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without a crew on September 6, 2024, landing at White Sands Spaceport in New Mexico, USA. The ship’s cabin gradually lowers using a deceleration parachute and is supported by airbags. The Starliner was then transferred to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for further analysis. NASA and Boeing will work collaboratively to determine the next steps in the program.

First private spacewalk mission

The Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Polaris Dawn mission, the first private spacewalk mission, took off on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 5:23 a.m. on September 10 (4:23 p.m. same time in Hanoi) from the launch complex. 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). 9.5 minutes later, the rocket’s booster returned to Earth, landing on a barge on the east coast of Florida.

Crew Dragon carrying four astronauts separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage about 12 minutes after launch. The spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit and after a few rounds, it gradually increased its altitude to 1,400 km, higher than any astronaut had flown since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

After reaching a record altitude, the spacecraft descended to an altitude of 737 km. There, the ship decompresses. The mission commander, billionaire Jared Isaacman, and SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis emerged from the capsule one after another. The spacewalk began at 5:12 p.m. on September 12 Hanoi time, lasting 1 hour and 46 minutes. During the trip, Isaacman and Gillis performed many tests to test the new communication system using lasers connected to Starlink satellites and the flexibility of the ultra-light spacesuit designed by SpaceX.

The Polaris Dawn crew landed in the Gulf of Mexico on September 15, ending a 5-day mission in orbit. This is one of SpaceX’s riskiest missions. The mission’s success marked the first commercial spacewalk and the highest orbital altitude ever reached by humans. In addition, data from the Starlink communications system test can help develop space communications for future missions.

SpaceX successfully tested the rocket pick-up ‘chopsticks’ system

The Starship rocket system is gradually proving the ambition of billionaire Elon Musk – CEO of aerospace company SpaceX, to send people to Mars. This is the tallest (about 120 m) and most powerful rocket ever built, able to generate nearly 8,000 tons of thrust when launched.

During the 5th Starship test launch from Starbase facility, Texas, at 8:25 a.m. on October 13 (8:25 p.m. same date and time in Hanoi), SpaceX reached an important milestone when successfully recovering the Super Heavy booster stage using “” new chopsticks. Specifically, about 7 minutes after launch, this thruster landed exactly near the Mechazilla launch tower and was captured by the robot arm. Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage lands in the Indian Ocean.

“This is a historic day for engineering. It’s unbelievable! On the first try, we successfully caught the Super Heavy booster back into the launch tower,” said Kate Tice, quality systems manager of SpaceX, shared.

Starship must rely on the launch tower with robotic arms like chopsticks to return to the ground because it has no landing legs. Removing the landing leg helps the rocket shorten its rotation time and significantly reduce weight. Every kilogram of mass saved will allow the rocket to carry more cargo into orbit.

Musk’s vision is that in the future, the wand arm could quickly return a rocket to the launch pad – allowing it to take off again as soon as it’s refueled – possibly within just 30 minutes of landing. With improved space travel, Musk hopes to build a residential community on Mars, turning humans into a multi-planetary species.

Efforts to exploit solar power in space

Harnessing the giant energy of the Sun in outer space is not an impossible idea. This is a constantly available source of energy, not affected by bad weather, cloud cover, night time or seasons.

There are many ideas for doing this, but a common method of operation is as follows. Satellites fitted with solar batteries will be launched into high-altitude orbit. The solar battery collects solar energy, converts it into microwaves and then wirelessly transmits it to Earth through a large signal transmitter, which can transmit to specific locations on the ground with high accuracy. Microwaves can easily penetrate clouds and bad weather and reach receiving antennas on Earth. The microwaves are then converted back into electricity and fed into the grid.

For example, last year, a satellite built by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) engineers on the Space Solar Power Demonstrator mission transmitted solar power from space for the first time. This mission ends in January 2024.

Iceland’s Transition Labs sustainability initiative is also collaborating with domestic energy company Reykjavik Energyt and UK-based Space Solar to develop solar power plants outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Space Solar in April announced a breakthrough in wireless power transmission technology, an important step to help realize the idea of ​​producing solar power in space.

Japan is also preparing to transmit solar energy from space to Earth by 2025. In April, Koichi Ijichi, an advisor at the Japan Space Systems research institute, outlined a roadmap for testing a large-scale solar power plant. small in space, transmitting energy wirelessly from low orbit to Earth. Accordingly, a small satellite weighing about 180 kg will transmit about 1 kW of electricity from an altitude of 400 km. If successful, this technology will contribute to solving the world’s huge energy needs.