The Week Junior - Science + Nature
A cosmic year ahead
022 is a big year for the exploration of our solar system, as several new robot space probes set off to explore other worlds.
Perhaps the most ambitious mission of the year will begin in September, when the European Space Agency (ESA)’S Rosalind Franklin rover blasts off on its journey to Mars. Rosalind Franklin aims to make the first successful European landing on Mars. The mission will be launched on a Russian rocket and descend through the Martian atmosphere inside a Russian lander called Kazachok, which will unfold to allow the rover to roll onto the sandy surface.
The Rosalind Franklin rover carries instruments that are specially designed to search for signs of past Martian life. It will map the structure of the ground below it to a depth of more than two metres by firing pulses of radio waves and detecting their reflections, before drilling down to take samples of ancient buried rock in areas that look interesting. This rock will be studied in the rover’s on-board lab for any signs of ancient living things.
In August, a NASA mission called Psyche will blast off on another journey to explore the solar system’s ancient past. This probe is designed to explore a 143-mile-wide asteroid – also called Psyche – in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid Psyche has an unusually bright surface, so astronomers are keen to get a close-up look. The space rock seems to be made up mostly of the metals nickel and iron, which makes scientists wonder if it was once part of an early planet. Earth also has a nickel-iron core. Exploring Psyche will help scientists learn more about our own planet and how it formed billions of years ago.
Closer to home, there’s a fleet of robot missions bound for the Moon in 2022. These include Russia’s Luna 25 and South Korea’s first lunar orbiter. A cluster of 10 tiny “cubesats”, each with individual missions, will also travel to the Moon on an uncrewed Orion spacecraft as part of NASA ’s Artemis 1 mission in February. Have a look at Cool Stuff on page 44 to find out more about Artemis 1.