American planetary scientists from Purdue University in Indiana highlighted the most anticipated space exploration missions planned for 2024, sharing their insights in a public briefing. The year promises a series of ambitious endeavors across the solar system, driven by major space agencies and a push to expand humanity’s understanding of distant worlds.
Among the standout projects is NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon and is wrapped in a thick ice shell. Scientists believe a salty ocean lies beneath that crust, potentially containing more water than all Earth’s oceans combined. The Europa Clipper aims to determine if the ocean world could harbor conditions suitable for life, or at least the ingredients needed for life as we know it.
The spacecraft will undertake roughly 50 flybys of Europa, gathering high-resolution data on its surface and subsurface structure. The mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024, with an expected arrival at the Jovian system around 2030. This sequence of flybys is designed to map the moon’s ice, assess its geology, and search for clues about the ocean’s depth and dynamics.
Another major objective for 2024 involves the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a sustainable presence there. Artemis II will mark a significant milestone by sending a four-person NASA crew around the Moon aboard a capable spacecraft. The ten-day mission will loop around the satellite and return to Earth, marking the first crewed lunar flyby since the Apollo era. The crewed lunar flight is planned for November 2024.
During late 2024, NASA also plans to deploy the VIPER rover to the Moon’s South Pole. The rover, roughly the size of a golf cart, is designed to search for water ice and carbon dioxide, key resources for future exploration. The mission spans about 100 days and will subject the rover to extreme temperature swings, from scorching heat to bitter cold, testing its endurance in the lunar environment.
Alongside VIPER, Lunar Trailblazer is slated for deployment in 2024. This orbital module will sweep the Moon to detect traces of water by measuring surface temperatures, contributing to a clearer picture of where volatiles are stored on the lunar surface.
In September 2024, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is scheduled to launch the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission. MMX will study Phobos and Deimos, Mars’s two tiny moons, with the goal of uncovering how they formed. The data could reveal whether these moons originated from captured asteroids or other material surrounding Mars, shedding light on the broader history of the Red Planet’s system.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to send the Hera probe to the Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid binary system in 2024. Hera is designed to accompany the DART spacecraft in a coordinated effort to study the physical properties and behavior of these small bodies. The mission aims to improve our understanding of asteroid structure and impact dynamics as a safeguard for planetary defense strategies. Hera is expected to reach its target by 2026, enabling detailed measurements and analysis of the asteroid pair.
Beyond these missions, preparations for the Einstein Space Telescope are continuing, focusing on how this next-generation observatory will probe black holes and supernovae. The project represents a leap in observational capabilities, opening new windows into some of the universe’s most energetic phenomena. These ambitious plans reflect a sustained momentum in planetary science and astrophysics, driven by collaboration across nations and a shared curiosity about the cosmos (Attribution: Purdue University briefing; NASA program notes; JAXA and ESA mission outlines).