Outstanding space science events in 2023

The first spacecraft to orbit another planet's moon

The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) took off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:14 p.m. on April 14 (Hanoi time). JUICE, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), focuses on studying Jupiter's three moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. The spacecraft's mission is to confirm the presence of underground oceans containing liquid water on these moons, and to search for the conditions and ingredients necessary for life.

JUICE, which carries 10 scientific instruments, is expected to take around eight years to reach Jupiter. Between 500 and 1,000 scientists will be on the mission, along with colleagues from the US and Japan. This is ESA’s first trip to the outer reaches of the Solar System, marking a milestone in European space exploration. The spacecraft will also help inform future lunar missions.

World's first methane rocket launched into orbit

The Zhuque-2 rocket of the Chinese company Landspace took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 8:00 a.m. on July 12 (Hanoi time). China's announcement that the Zhuque-2 methane-fueled rocket reached orbit has been confirmed by the US Space Force.

Zhuque-2 also went on to become the world's first methane rocket to launch three satellites, Honghu, Honghu 2 and TY-33, into orbit as planned.

Although it is a greenhouse gas, methane is cleaner and more environmentally friendly than the standard RP-1 (kerosene) fuel used by many rockets. Methane burns cleaner than carbon-based fuels, which helps extend the life of engines, making it more suitable for reusable rockets. Several US companies are also working on methane-fueled rockets, including SpaceX with its Starship launch system and Blue Origin with its New Glenn rocket.

Zhuque-2 is 49.5 m long, has a diameter of 3.35 m and a take-off weight of 220 tons excluding cargo. The success of this rocket model opens a new era for methane in the field of commercial satellite/spacecraft launches.

Indian spacecraft lands near the moon's south pole

The Vikram lander of India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed near the lunar south pole at 7:34 p.m. on August 23 (Hanoi time). This success made India the fourth country in the world to land on the lunar surface, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China, marking India's emergence as a new space power.

A few hours after Vikram landed on the Moon, the robot Pragyan also began to leave the station. The robot had completed its mission, which included walking on the Moon, confirming the existence of sulfur, and discovering several other elements. It went into sleep mode for nearly two weeks after its dramatic landing.

India also made history by becoming the first country to land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole. India’s success is all the more remarkable given that Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft also aimed to land near the lunar south pole in August, but failed.

The Moon’s south pole is extremely difficult to land on, but is thought to contain the most water. Water ice in the dark craters there could be turned into drinking water for future astronauts. Nations are also eyeing this resource because water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used to fuel rockets and produce breathable oxygen.

NASA spacecraft successfully brings asteroid sample back to Earth

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016, and arrived at the asteroid Bennu in December 2018. At the time, Bennu was the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft. On September 24, 2023, after a 6.2 billion km journey through space, OSIRIS-REx landed in the Utah desert, USA. NASA and US Air Force personnel successfully retrieved the asteroid sample capsule that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected in 2020. The mission marked the first time NASA had collected an asteroid sample.

OSIRIS-Rex’s sample capsule contains 250 grams of rock and other material from Bennu. The samples will be distributed to institutions and space agencies around the world. Studying this material could help answer some of scientists’ essential questions about the origins of life on Earth and the early solar system.

NASA launches spacecraft to 10 trillion dollar asteroid

NASA's Psyche spacecraft lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center on October 13, bound for the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche. The spacecraft is scheduled to reach 16 Psyche in July 2029. This is the Falcon Heavy's first official interplanetary mission and the first NASA mission launched on this rocket.

Of the nine metal-rich asteroids known to exist in the Solar System, 16 Psyche is the largest, measuring 280 km (175 mi) wide and 232 km (144 mi) long. Discovered in 1852, it is considered one of the most interesting objects in the main asteroid belt, and has only been studied from a distance. The asteroid has attracted great interest because its surface is composed mainly of nickel and iron, which is estimated to be worth up to $10 trillion.

16 Psyche is believed to be the core of an ancient protoplanet. Researchers hope that a closer examination of the metallic object can help us better understand the formation of the terrestrial planets in our solar system, including Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Jupiter. Even if it is not the core of a protoplanet, 16 Psyche is still interesting to researchers because it belongs to the group of primitive celestial bodies in the solar system.