Let’s take a look back at what happened in August 2023 beyond low earth orbit. We had anniversaries, a mission that failed but also a first in spaceflight.
Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter ‘Danuri’ reaches 1 year in space
On August, 4th, the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter also known as Danuri reached one full year in space. It is the first lunar orbiter of KARI the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. The spacecraft launched on August 4, 2022, and successfully entered into lunar orbit on December 16, 2022.
It is mainly a technology demonstrator, but will also be used for surveying the Moon for resources.
Find out more about the mission by visiting: https://www.kari.re.kr/eng/sub03_07.do
I also wrote about the mission in a previous post.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft reaches 12 full years in space
Only a day later, on August 5th, NASA’s Juno spacecraft reached 12 full years in space. It launched in 2011 and arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.
The Mission of Juno is to look below the clouds of Jupiter and deliver data, which helps us better understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter and our Solar System.
You can find out more about the mission on NASA’s websites: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html or https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/
Read more about active spacecraft at Jupiter or mission going there.
Curiosity reaches 11 full years on Mars
Also on August 5, the Curiosity rover, reached 11 full (Earth) years on the surface of Mars.
Curiosity is part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission. It launched on November 26, 2011, and landed on the surface of Mars on August 5, 2012. Its mission is to answer the question, “Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes?”
Read more about the mission and what it found so far on NASA’s website: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/
Find out more about active spacecraft on Mars.
Roscosmos Luna-25 fails to land on the Moon
On August 10, Roscosmos launched the Luna-25 mission to the Moon, with the goal of landing near the lunar South Pole. The name of the mission is inspired by the Luna program, a series of robotic spacecraft missions launched between 1959 and 1976 by the Soviet Union.
On 19 August, while firing thrusters to enter into a pre-landing orbit, something went wrong and the spacecraft crashed into the surface of the Moon instead of entering the planned orbit.
More about the mission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_programme
Article about the mission and the planned missions: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/08/luna-fails-to-land/
Parker Solar Probe reaches 4th full year in space and flies by Venus
On August 12, the Parker Solar Probe reached four years in space and nine days later, on August 21, made its sixth flyby of Venus.
The mission of Park Solar Probe is to study the Sun. It is doing so by flying closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before. In fact, its closest approach so far was 8,541,744 km from the distance of the Sun’s surface. It is planned to come within 6.16M km of the surface of the Sun before the end of the mission.
The mission is named for Dr. Eugene Parker, the scientist who theorized the existence of the solar wind.
Find out more about the mission and where the spacecraft currently is on http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu.
You can also find more about Parker Solar Probe here on the blog.
Voyager 2 begins 47th year in space
On August 20, the Voyager 2 spacecraft completed its 46th year in space. It launched on August 20, 1977!
After its launch, Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter (1979), Saturn (1981), Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989). On November 5, 2018, it left our Solar System and entered interstellar space.
In the last couple of weeks, it got some unwanted attention, as communication with the spacecraft was lost. On July 21, a series of planned commands inadvertently led the spacecraft to point its antenna 2 degrees away from Earth. Although this doesn’t sound like a lot, because of the distance between Voyager 2 and Earth, the spacecraft wasn’t able to receive commands from Earth or send data back to Earth anymore.
However, on August 1, engineers from NASA were able to detect a carrier signal of Voyager 2. On August 4, they were able to fully restore communication with the spacecraft again. Take a look at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-mission-update-voyager-2-communications-pause if you would like to know more.
Visit https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html for more about the Voyager program.
Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon
On August 23, the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully soft landed on the surface of the Moon.
With this successful landing, India became only the fourth nation to successfully soft land on the Moon. However, India also accomplished a first with it, as it’s the first soft landing near the South Pole of the Moon. Congratulation India!
The success came after the failed landing attempt of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.
Aside from the lander, the mission also includes a rover, which was successfully deployed to the surface and be now accomplished its mission.
In fact, the mission was only planned to last on lunar day (or 14 Earth days), as the lander and rover are powered by solar energy and not designed to withstand the -120 °C of a lunar night.
India is, however, hoping to reestablish contact with the lander and the rover after the sun rises again.
If you would like to know more or follow the mission, visit https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3.html.
Voyager 1 begins 12th year in interstellar space
And finally, we have Voyager again. Although this time it’s Voyager 1 which completed 11 years in interstellar space on August 25.
Voyager 1 launched 16 days after Voyager 2 on September 5, 1977. It flew past Jupiter (1979) and Saturn (1980). And, as mentioned before, entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012. So I’ll probably mention it again next month.
Visit https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html for more about the Voyager program.
Summary of August 2023 beyond low earth orbit
Although you might not have noticed so far, August 2023 was a pretty interesting month beyond low Earth orbit. Two missions aiming for a soft landing on the Moon, as well as vary old spacecraft still going on. Let’s see what the next month will bring.