2024 in spaceflight

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2024 in spaceflight
Highlights from spaceflight in 2024[a]
Orbital launches
First1 January
Last11 March
Total46
Successes46
Failures0
Catalogued39
National firsts
Space traveller Turkey
Rockets
Maiden flights
Crewed flights
Orbital2
Orbital travellers8
Suborbital1
Suborbital travellers6
Total travellers14

This article documents notable spaceflight events that have happened or are going to happen during the year 2024. Upcoming astronomical and space events for 2024 have been presented in The New York Times.[1]

Overview[edit]

Astronomy and Astrophysics[edit]

On New Year's Day at 3:40 UTC marking the first launch of the new year , ISRO launched their XPoSat for studying X-ray polarization. It will serve as a complement to the present IXPE probe of NASA.[2][3][4] Later the ISRO's Aditya-L1 spacecraft launched 5 months previously was inserted into a halo orbit around the Earth-Sun L1 point on January 6. It will study the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms, and their impact on the environment around Earth.

Einstein Probe, X-ray space telescope mission by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in partnership with ESA and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics, was launched on 9 January 2024.[5]

European Space Agency will launch their PROBA-3 dual satellites for solar coronagraphy.

Exploration of the Solar System[edit]

Mars helicopter Ingenuity flew its 72nd and last flight, when all four of its rotor blades were damaged, causing NASA to retire the craft.[6][7]

NASA plans to launch the Europa Clipper in October, which will study the Jovian moon Europa while in orbit around Jupiter.

Hera will launch to Didymos asteroid to study the after effects of Double Asteroid Redirection Test.

NASA's EscaPADE mission to Mars is also planned to launch this year.

Lunar exploration[edit]

Peregrine lunar lander was successfully launched on 8 January, but after the launch a propellant leak was detected that precluded any attempt to perform a lunar landing. In the end, the Peregrine spacecraft never left the (highly elliptical) Earth orbit it was injected into by the carrier rocket, and the mission ended ten days later (after one orbit) on 18 January when the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere (under control of the mission team) and was destroyed.

SLIM achieved the first-ever lunar soft landing for a Japanese spacecraft.[8] It landed on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC, making Japan the 5th country to soft land on the Moon.[9] Although it landed successfully, its in wrong attitude, because the solar panels are oriented westwards facing opposite the Sun at the start of lunar day, thereby failing to generate enough power.[10] The lander operated on internal battery power, which was fully drained that day. The mission's operators hope that the lander will wake up after a few days when sunlight should hit the solar panels.[11]

Irrespective of this solar array issue on lander, the two LEV 1 and 2 rovers, deployed during hovering just before final landing are working as expected and LEV-1 communicating independently to the ground stations.[11] LEV-1 conducted seven hops over 107 minutes on lunar surface. Images taken by LEV-2 show the wrong attitude landing with loss of an engine nozzle during descent and even possible sustained damage to lander's Earth bound antenna, that is not pointed towards Earth.[12] Irrespective of wrong attitude and loss of communication with the lander, the mission is already fully successful after confirmation of its primary goal landing within 100 m (330 ft) of its landing spot was already achieved.[13][14][15]

On 29 January, the lander resumed operations after being shut for a week. JAXA said it re-established contact with the lander and its solar cells were working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight.[16] After that, SLIM was put in sleep mode for impending harsh lunar night. SLIM was expected to operate only for one lunar daylight period, or 14 Earth days, and the on-board electronics were not designed to withstand the −120 °C (−184 °F) nighttime temperatures on the Moon. On 25 February 2024, JAXA sent wake-up calls and found SLIM had successfully survived the night on the lunar surface while maintaining communication capabilities. Since it was midday of the lunar day on the moon on 25 February 2024, the temperature of the communications payload was extremely high, so communication was terminated after only a short period of time. JAXA is now preparing for resumed operations, once the temperature has fallen sufficiently. This feat of surviving lunar night without a radioisotope heater unit was only previously achieved by some landers in the Surveyor program.[17]

IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus launched on 15 February 2024 towards the Moon via Falcon 9 on a direct intercept trajectory and later landed in the south polar region of the Moon on 22 February 2024 and became the first successful private lander and the first to do so using cryogenic propellants. Though it landed successfully, one of the lander's legs broke upon landing and it tilted up on other side, 18° due to landing on a slope, but the lander survived and payloads are functioning as expected.[18] EagleCam was not ejected prior to landing.

Just before landing, at approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the lunar surface, the Odysseus lander was planned to eject the EagleCam camera-equipped CubeSat, which would have been dropped onto the lunar surface near the lander, with an impact velocity of about 10 m/s (22 mph). However, due to complications arising from the software patch, it was decided that EagleCam would not be ejected upon landing. It was later ejected on 28 February but was partially failure as it returned all types of data, except post IM-1 landing images that were the main aim of its mission.[19][20][21][22]

China plans to send Chang'e 6 in May, which will conduct the first lunar sample return from the far side of the Moon.[23] This will be China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side 4 years ago. Pakistan will send a lunar orbiter called ICECUBE-Q along with Chang'e 6.

Nova-C 2 and 3, VIPER and Blue Ghost are all planned to launch to the Moon this year.

Human spaceflight[edit]

On 4 February, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko broke the world record for the most time spent in space, when he surpassed the previous record of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 48 seconds held by retired cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. Kononenko is expected to return in late September, at which point he will have spent a total of 1110 days in space.[24]

ISRO will launch their Gaganyaan uncrewed missions and SPADEX docking experiment this year.

Private human spaceflight and space tourism[edit]

Polaris Dawn, featuring the first commercial spacewalk, is planned to launch this year.

SpaceX launched Axiom Mission 3 aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) on 18 January 2024. The successful mission ended with a splashdown on 9 February 2024. SpaceX plans to launch Axiom Mission 4 to the ISS later in the year 2024.

On 26 January[25] Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity was successfully launched from Spaceport America on Galactic 06 suborbital space tourism mission.

Rocket innovation[edit]

The maiden flight of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur took place on 8 January 2024. Vulcan is the first methane fueled rocket to reach orbit on its first attempt, and the first methane fueled rocket to reach orbit from the US.[26]

China's Orienspace's Gravity-1 rocket completed its successful maiden flight on January 11, 2024, debuting on a new mobile sea platform in the Yellow Sea while breaking records as both the world's largest solid-fuel carrier rocket and China's most powerful commercial launch vehicle to date (as of 2024).

For the first time due to their fast turnaround of 1 hour 51 minutes between launches, SpaceX launch operations for a mission (in this case, Starlink Group 6-41) coincided with that of a preceding launch (in this case, payload deployment of Transporter-10:(53 payloads SmallSat Rideshare).[27]

Space Pioneer (aka Tianbing) of China plans to launch its Falcon 9 class kerolox rocket Tianlong-3 in June.

The maiden flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn is planned for August 2024.[28]

Satellite technology[edit]

NISAR, the most expensive and largest radar imaging satellite will be launched from India onboard GSLV Mk-II by late February 2024.[29]

Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem or PACE, a NASA Earth observing satellite, launched on 8 February 2024.

NASA's Dream Chaser spaceplane, developed by Sierra Space, is scheduled to have its first flight in June.[30] It will visit the International Space Station.[31]

Orbital launches[edit]

Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2024 and List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2024
List of orbital launches
Month Num. of successes Num. of failures Num. of partial failures
January 22 0 0
February 19 0 0
March 5 0 0
April TBD TBD TBD
May TBD TBD TBD
June TBD TBD TBD
July TBD TBD TBD
August TBD TBD TBD
September TBD TBD TBD
October TBD TBD TBD
November TBD TBD TBD
December TBD TBD TBD
Total 46 0 0

Deep-space rendezvous[edit]

Date (UTC) Spacecraft Event Remarks
19 January SLIM Lunar landing Success[32]
Late January Peregrine Lunar orbit insertion Precluded due to propellant leak developing shortly after launch.[33]
3 February Juno 58th perijove On the day of this perijove, Juno flew by Io at a distance of 1,500 km. Orbital period around Jupiter reduced to 33 days.[34][35]
21 February Nova-C (IM-1 Odysseus) Lunar orbit insertion Success[36]
22 February Nova-C (IM-1) Lunar landing Partial success; lander touched down successfully, but one of the footpads came to rest on a rock, and the lander leaned over, then toppled on its side. The lander survived the fall, with instrumentation and solar panels oriented upward.[37]
23 August JUICE Gravity assist at Earth and Moon
5 September BepiColombo Fourth gravity assist at Mercury
6 November Parker Solar Probe Seventh gravity assist at Venus
2 December BepiColombo Fifth gravity assist at Mercury
13 December Lucy Second gravity assist at Earth Target altitude 350 km
24 December Parker Solar Probe 22nd perihelion, closest approach to the Sun

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)[edit]

See also: List of spacewalks since 2015
Start Date/Time Duration End Time Spacecraft Crew Remarks
1 March 2024
21:40 		7 hours 52 minutes 05:32 (next day) Shenzhou 17
TSS Wentian airlock 		China Tang Hongbo
China Jiang Xinlin 		Fourteenth EVA from the Tiangong space station. Tasks included maintenance of the solar panels of the Tianhe core module, which have sustained minor damage caused by impacts of space debris and micrometeoroids; evaluation and analysis of the performance status of the solar panel power generation and also inspection of the status of the space station modules.[38]

Orbital launch statistics[edit]

By country[edit]

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Electron rockets launched from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand are counted under the United States because Electron is an American rocket.

China: 10Europe: 0Germany: 0India: 2Iran: 2Israel: 0Japan: 2North Korea: 0Russia: 3South Korea: 0USA: 27
Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures 		Remarks
 China 10 10 0 0
 India 2 2 0 0
 Iran 2 2 0 0
 Japan 2 2 0 0
 Russia 3 3 0 0
 United States 27 27 0 0 Includes Electron launches from Mahia
World 46 46 0 0

By rocket[edit]

By family[edit]

By type[edit]

By configuration[edit]

By spaceport[edit]

5
10
15
20
25
30
China
France
India
Iran
Japan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
Russia
South Korea
United Kingdom
United States
Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks
Baikonur  Kazakhstan 1 1 0 0
Cape Canaveral  United States 12 12 0 0
Jiuquan  China 3 3 0 0
Kennedy  United States 4 4 0 0
Mahia  New Zealand 2 2 0 0
Plesetsk  Russia 1 1 0 0
Satish Dhawan  India 2 2 0 0
Semnan  Iran 1 1 0 0
Shahroud  Iran 1 1 0 0
South China Sea  China 1 1 0 0
Tanegashima  Japan 2 2 0 0
Vandenberg  United States 9 9 0 0
Vostochny  Russia 1 1 0 0
Wenchang  China 2 2 0 0
Xichang  China 3 3 0 0
Yellow Sea  China 1 1 0 0
Total 46 46 0 0

By orbit[edit]

  •   Transatmospheric
  •   Low Earth
  •   Low Earth (ISS)
  •   Low Earth (CSS)
  •   Low Earth (SSO)
  •   Low Earth (polar)
  •   Low Earth (retrograde)
  •   Medium Earth
  •   Molniya
  •   Geosynchronous
  •   Tundra
  •   High Earth
  •   Lunar transfer
  •   Heliocentric
Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved 		Remarks
Transatmospheric 0 0 0 0
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous 39 39 0 0 Including flights to ISS and Tiangong (CSS)
Geosynchronous / Tundra / GTO 5 5 0 0
Medium Earth / Molniya 0 0 0 0
High Earth / Lunar transfer 2 2 0 0
Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer 0 0 0 0
Total 46 46 0 0

Suborbital launch statistics[edit]

By country[edit]

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of suborbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. Flights intended to fly below 80 km (50 mi) are omitted.

Spain: 0Brazil: 1Canada: 0China: 0France: 0Germany: 1India: 0Iran: 0Israel: 0Japan: 0The Netherlands: 1North Korea: 0Pakistan: 0Russia: 1Slovenia: 0South Korea: 0Taiwan: 0Turkey: 0United Kingdom: 0USA: 4Ukraine: 0Yemen: 0
Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures 		Remarks
 Brazil 1 1 0 0
 Germany 1 1 0 0
 Netherlands 1 0 0 1
 Russia 1 1 0 0
 United States 4 3 1 0
World 8 6 1 1

Planned maiden flights[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Clockwise from top left:
    • NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will be launched on a mission to study the Jovian moon Europa in 2024.
    • Maiden flight of Gravity-1, the world's largest solid-fuel powered carrier rocket as of 2024.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Staff (1 January 2024). "Sync Your Calendar With the Solar System - Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other astronomical and space event that's out of this world". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  2. ^ Majkowska, Iwona (26 September 2023). "ISRO Plans Mars Lander Mission After Successful Lunar Mission". Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  3. ^ "ISRO set to launch Shukrayaan and XPoSat missions to exploring the universe's mysteries". Hindustan Times. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Halo-Orbit Insertion of Aditya-L1 Successfully Accomplished". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Einstein Probe lifts off on a mission to monitor the X-ray sky". www.esa.int.
  6. ^ "After Three Years on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends". Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  7. ^ NASA Science Live: Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Tribute & Legacy, retrieved 1 February 2024
  8. ^ "Japan makes contact with 'Moon Sniper' on lunar surface". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  9. ^ Chang, Kenneth (19 January 2024). "Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Land on the Moon". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "According to the telemetry data, SLIM's solar cells are facing west. So if sunlight begins to shine on the lunar surface from the west, there is a possibility of generating power, and we are preparing for recovery. #SLIM can operate with power only from the solar cells. #JAXA". X (Formerly Twitter).
  11. ^ a b Sample, Ian (19 January 2024). "Japan's Slim spacecraft lands on moon but struggles to generate power". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  12. ^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等 の記者会見, retrieved 25 January 2024
  13. ^ Jones, Andrew (22 January 2024). "Japan's moon lander forced to power down but may yet be revived". SpaceNews. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  14. ^ "SLIM Project Press Kit" (PDF). JAXA.
  15. ^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等 の記者会見, retrieved 25 January 2024
  16. ^ "Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission". 29 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024 – via www.bbc.com.
  17. ^ "Last night I sent a command and got a response from SLIM. SLIM successfully survived the night on the lunar surface while maintaining communication capabilities! Last night, as it was still midday on the moon, the temperature of the communication equipment was extremely high, so communication was terminated after only a short period of time. From now on, preparations will be made so that observations can be resumed once the temperature has fallen sufficiently". X ( Formerly Twitter).
  18. ^ "NASA, Intuitive Machines Share Images from the Moon, Provide Science Updates – Artemis". blogs.nasa.gov. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  19. ^ "2/3 mission plans and procedures in order to deploy its CubeSat camera system. Despite the team's strong effort, the technical complications ultimately resulted in an inability to capture images of the Odysseus lander".
  20. ^ Foust, Jeff. "Intuitive Machines ready for launch of its first lunar lander". SpaceNews. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  21. ^ Second Private U.S. Moon Lander Readies for Launch Scientific American. By Michael Greshko. Feb. 9, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  22. ^ "EagleCam update statement". Twitter. 23 February 2024.
  23. ^ Andrew Jones [@AJ_FI] (25 April 2023). "China's Chang'e-6 sample return mission (a first ever lunar far side sample-return) is scheduled to launch in May 2024, and expected to take 53 days from launch to return module touchdown. Targeting southern area of Apollo basin (~43º S, 154º W)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Kassam, Ashifa (4 February 2024). "Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko sets world record for most time spent in space". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  25. ^ Jonathan McDowell [@planet4589] (26 January 2024). "The @VirginGalactic Galactic 06 mission was launched from the WK02 carrier plane at 1742:05 UTC Jan 26 following takeoff around 1700 UTC. After a one minute rocket burn, SS2 reached an apogee of 88.8 km and landed after an approximately 14 minute free flight. (1/2)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  26. ^ Belam, Martin (8 January 2024). "Nasa Peregrine 1 launch: Vulcan Centaur rocket carrying Nasa moon lander lifts off in Florida – live updates". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  27. ^ "Liftoff of 23 @Starlink satellites from Florida while Transporter-10's second stage coasts through space ahead of its final payload deploys". X (Formerly Twitter).
  28. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (21 November 2023). "NASA Mars smallsat mission to be on first New Glenn launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  29. ^ Pillai, Soumya (22 December 2023). "Three launches in Q1: ISRO's upcoming missions in 2024". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  30. ^ "Vulcan Centaur VC4 - CRS SNC-1". Next Spaceflight. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  31. ^ Klotz, Irene; Reim, Garrett (25 October 2023). "ULA Sets Dec. 24 As Target Date For Vulcan's Debut". Aviation Week. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  32. ^ Jones, Andrew (19 January 2024). "Japan makes history with tense, successful moon landing". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  33. ^ Fisher, Jackie Wattles, Kristin (8 January 2024). "Peregrine mission abandons Moon landing attempt after suffering 'critical' fuel loss". CNN. Retrieved 9 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ "Juno gets second close look at Jupiter's volcanic moon Io". 3 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  35. ^ Talbert, Tricia (8 January 2021). "NASA Extends Exploration for Two Planetary Science Missions". NASA. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  36. ^ Intuitive Machines [@Int_Machines] (21 February 2024). "Odysseus completed its scheduled 408-second main engine lunar orbit insertion burn and is currently in a 92 km circular lunar orbit. Initial data indicates the 800 m/s burn was completed within 2 m/s accuracy. 🧵1/4 (21FEB2024 0920 CST)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  37. ^ "Intuitive Machines: Odysseus Moon lander 'tipped over on touchdown'". 23 February 2024. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024 – via www.bbc.com.
  38. ^ "Shenzhou-17 crew completes in-orbit repairs during 2nd extravehicular mission". Xinhua. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  39. ^ https://twitter.com/AgnikulCosmos/status/1766183608837144714
  40. ^ "Ariane 6 joint update report, 30 November 2023". ESA. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  41. ^ @Reactiondyn (12 January 2024). "We're gearing up for qualification testing and preparing for our inaugural flight in the last quarter of 2024 as part of the Aurora test program" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 January 2024 – via Twitter.
  42. ^ "An Australian-made rocket will be launched in Queensland in a historic first". ABC News. 26 December 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  43. ^ Hyeong-woo, Kan (20 March 2023). "Innospace launches world's 1st hybrid rocket with electric pump". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  44. ^ "Announcement of the KAIROS Rocket's First Launch Schedule" (PDF). Space One Co., Ltd. 26 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  45. ^ China N' Asia Spaceflight [@CNSpaceflight] (3 January 2023). "CASC had a planning meeting today of 2023 missions, affirming Long March 6C to debut in 2023, and 50+ launches are planned in the year" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  46. ^ Jones, Andrew (26 February 2024). "China's 2024 space plans include 100 launches and moon sample return mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  47. ^ @CNSpaceflight (19 April 2022). "Deepblue Aerospace, the Chinese company completed 2 hop tests in 2021, closed a series A+ round funding led by MINYIN International, after a series A in January. The company also mentioned in the press release the 1st orbital launch of reusable Nebula-1 is targeted by end of 2024" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 January 2024 – via Twitter.
  48. ^ "Neutron". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  49. ^ @CNSpaceflight (25 January 2024). "GALACTIC-ENERGY's CEO says Pallas-1 will be ready to launch this November" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 January 2024 – via Twitter.
  50. ^ Jones, Andrew (15 November 2023). "Rocket Factory Augsburg perceives historic moment for European launch industry". SpaceNews. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  51. ^ Pooran, Neil; Picksley, Dominic (24 June 2023). "Shetland's SaxaVord spaceport will soon be launching satellites into orbit". Express. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  52. ^ "Quarter 4, 2022 in review". Skyrora (Press release). 12 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  53. ^ @CNSpaceflight (30 November 2023). "A leaked photo shows SPACE-PIONEER is targeting next June for the maiden launch of Tianlong-3, 14t to 500km SSO, from Wenchang commercial launch pad#2, which is still under construction. 2 more launches are planned for September & November from Wenchang & Jiuquan, 11t to 800km" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 January 2024 – via Twitter.
  54. ^ "Skyroot gears up for Vikram-1 launch in Q1 2024, opens India's 1st integrated private sector rocket facility in Hyderabad". The Times of India. 25 October 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 14 January 2024.

External links[edit]

Generic references:

 Spaceflight portal
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