The European Space Agency has a broad calendar of activities for 2024, which includes the recovery of autonomous access to space with the inaugural flight of Ariane 6 and the resumption of Vega-C activities, in addition to the launch of the Hera planetary defense mission.
The graduation of the new class of ESA astronauts, including the Spanish Pablo Álvarez, the launch of the Earth observation satellite EarthCare or the inauguration of the LUNA facility, a simulator of a mission on our satellite, are other notable events. .
The year will begin with a press conference by the general director of the THATJosef Aschbacher, on January 12, focusing on Europe’s ambitions for a green and sustainable future in space, access to space, space exploration, scientific activity, space security and space commercialization.
The big moment of the year for ESA will be, after several delays, the inaugural flight of Ariane 6 which is scheduled between June 15 and July 31, a new rocket that will give Europe independent access to space again.
With this new rocket, which is now undergoing final tests, it will be possible to reach Earth orbit and deep space, which facilitates European navigation, Earth observation, scientific and security programs.
In addition, flights will resume in the autumn of Vega-C, a medium-sized launcher that will expand Europe’s autonomy in space by facilitating new mission possibilities, including return operations to Earth with the Space re-entry vehicle. ESA Rider.
Another highlight will be the launch of Hera, a planetary defense mission and second part of another called DART of the POTwhich in September 2022 crashed into an asteroid to deflect it.
The launch of Hera is scheduled for October from Cape Canaveral (USA) aboard a rocket from SpaceX. Its final destination will be the binary asteroid Didymos, to carry out studies of both it and Dimorphos, which was diverted by DART.
Hera will provide valuable information for future asteroid deflection missions and for science, as well as for investigating the geophysics of asteroids, the formation of the solar system and their evolutionary processes. A mission whose archive and scientific support is located at the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid.
More than a decade has passed since ESA graduated its last astronauts, but this year, in April, the new class will leave after more than a year of training, made up of five starters, including the Spanish Pablo Álvarez.
The graduation ceremony for the Class of 2022 not only marks the successful completion of rigorous training, but also serves as a platform to announce the selections chosen for upcoming space missions.
ESA’s activity will continue on the International Space Station. In mid-January, Marcus Wandtm will travel, who during his first stay there will be a mission specialist for Axiom-3, with whom he will participate in microgravity research and dissemination activities for 14 days.
In addition, the first Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who has been on the Space Station since last August for the Muninn mission, with more than 20 European scientific experiments, plans to return to Earth at the end of February. Several satellites are also planned to be launched this year.
In May it will be the turn of Tierra EarthCare, a joint initiative between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The satellite will investigate the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation back into space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface to better understand the evolution of temperature on our planet.
In summer, the Proba-3 mission will be launched aboard a vehicle from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), with two small satellites which will study the faint solar corona and the surrounding atmosphere, as well as using innovative technologies to measure the precise position of the two spacecraft.
In October, the LUNA facility will be inaugurated at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne (Germany), designed to recreate the lunar surface, provide a training ground for astronauts and a technology testing center to continue advancing towards our satellite.
This year there will be two launches of the Galileo satellite navigation system, the first in April and the second between July and September.
The Space Summit It will be held in May in Brussels, where ESA and its member states will undertake the preparation of the ‘ESA 2040’ strategy, something that represents an important step towards the Council meeting at ministerial level that will be held in 2025.
Source: Gestion
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