Friday, March 1, 2024

Solar System Missions update 2024-03

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of March 1st 2024.

The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lander has woken up after lunar night. Hang in there kiddo! The CLPS mission Intuitive Machines Odysseus has landed, maybe a bit sideways, but nevertheless successful, and now has the chance to show the same resilience as brother SLIM.

NASA's Parker Solar Prob has its 19th perihelion at 0.0528 AU, and Juno its 59th perijove at Jupiter.

Data, images and documentation are available on my space exploration history GitHub repository and the associated website.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Solar System Missions update 2024-02

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of February 1st 2024.

The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander hqw landed, went dead, came back, and now is likely gone forever, all in 2 weeks! Also gone are the first Mars helicopter Ingenuity, and the first NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) missions Astrobotic Peregrine. The next CLPS mission Intuitive Machines NOVA-C IM-1 is planned to launch early this month.

Indian ISROs Asitya L1 has arrived at the Earth-Sun Lagrange point L1. Juno has its 58th perijove at Jupiter, this month with the second of two close Io flybys at 1500 km distance.

Data, images and documentation are available on my space exploration history GitHub repository and the associated website.

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Moon phases 2024

This chart contains Moon phases for every day of the year 2024. The 2 lunar eclipses that happen this year are shaded in orange, light for the penumbral, darker for the partial one, and normal full moons in white.

Interactive sky map with planetary and lunar positions.

Monday, January 1, 2024

Solar System Missions update 2024-01

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of January 1st 2024.

The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander is in lunar orbit now, and will attempt landing later this month. The NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) missions Astrobotic Peregrine on the first flight of ULA's Vulcan rocket and Intuitive Machines NOVA-C IM-1 are both still planned to launch in January or next month.

Indian ISROs will arrive at the Earth-Sun Lagrange point L1. Juno has its 58th perijove at Jupiter, this month with the second of two close Io flybys at 1500 km distance.

Friday, December 1, 2023

Solar System Missions update 2023-12

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of December 1st 2023.

The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander mission will insertion into lunar orbit in december. The Astrobotic Peregrine mission is planned to launch on December 24 this year on the first flight of ULA's Vulcan rocket.

Juno has its 57th perijove at Jupiter, this month with the first of two close Io flybys at 1500 km distance, Parker Solar Probe its 18th perihelion at a distance of 0.0528 AU.

Data, images and documentation are available on my space exploration history GitHub repository and the associated website.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Solar System Missions update 2023-11

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of November 1st 2023.

One more mission has launched in October: The Psyche mission to the metal asteroid of the same name, to arrive in 2029. The Lucy asteroid mission has its first encounter this month with the main belt asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh with a closest approach of 425 km. Meanwhile, Juno has its 56th perijove at Jupiter.

Two missions are coasting to their destinations: The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander mission, toward orbit insertion in december; and the Indian Aditya-L1 solar observatory, arriving at the L1 Earth-Sun Langrange point in January next year.

The race for the first commercial lunar payload services mission (CLPS) is on between Intuitive Machines IM-1, currently scheduled to launch January 12 2024 on a Falcon 9, and the Astrobotic Peregrine mission with a planned launch December 24 this year on the first Vulcan launch.

Data, images and documentation are available on my space exploration history GitHub repository and the associated website.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Solar System Missions update 2023-10

Here's my map of all active and planned Solar System Missions and their destinations as of October 1st 2023.

Two new missions have launched in September: The Japanese SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander mission together with the XRISM X-ray telescope, and the Indian Aditya-L1 solar observatory. Both are cruising to their destinations and will arrive in December, or Janary next year.

OSIRIS-REx has delivered its sample probe to Earth and will continue as OSIRIS-APEx on to a flyby of Asteroid Apophis. Meanwhile, Juno has its 55th perijove at Jupiter.

Two more missions will likely launch this or next month: The Psyche mission to the metal asteroid of the same name, and the first commercial lunar payload services mission (CLPS) Intuitive Machines IM-1. Finally, Lucy willl make the first flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh, first destination of its tour around the asteroid belt.

Data, images and documentation are available on my space exploration history GitHub repository and the associated website.