This year, 2023, has illustrated how scientists around the world are advancing knowledge. At a time when some governments – such as those in India, Mexico and Argentina – would like to regulate research, or even ban certain fields of study and reduce the public budgets devoted to them, this anthology concocted by Le Monde's Science & Medicine editorial team opens up promising perspectives.

Space & Astronomy

Osiris-REx brought asteroid samples back to Earth.

If it weren't for their element of unpredictability, space exploration missions wouldn't inspire the same fascination. Three months after recovering the capsule containing samples of the asteroid Bennu from the Utah desert (USA), NASA has still not managed to open it. That's quite a shame after the success that was Osiris-REx mission! After a seven-year, 6-billion-kilometer journey, it had collected over 250 grams of material from a small near-Earth asteroid, so that scientists could examine these elements, which date back to the formation of the Solar System. At the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the team in charge of extraterrestrial materials is currently trying to build tools, inside a specialized glovebox, that would be capable of unlocking this treasure trove. NASA expects to achieve this in the first quarter of 2024. A few grams of dust recovered from the capsule's lid have already been examined, revealing the presence of water and carbon on Bennu.

Twice, SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket, took off and exploded

Two test flights, two explosions. Designed by SpaceX, the Starship – the most powerful rocket in history – got off to a turbulent start, to say the least. This giant 120-meter high launch vehicle lifted off from the ground for the first time on April 20, but then spun out of control after less than four minutes of flight, before disintegrating. The test was marked by several problems, including the failures of six of the 33 first-stage engines and the destruction of part of the launch pad. Elon Musk's company revised its plans and carried out a second test on November 18. This time, all of the engines worked, and the two stages separated, but then they exploded. As a result, the launcher has yet to make a real orbital flight, which is hampering NASA's program to return to the moon – which has planned to use a habitable version of the Starship to land astronauts on our planet's satellite.

India landed on the Moon

On August 23, India made space exploration history by becoming the fourth country (after the Soviet Union, the USA and China) to safely land a spacecraft on the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 thus made up for the failure of Chandrayaan-2, which crash-landed on the moon in 2019. The Vikram lander touched down in the lunar South Pole region – a first for lunar exploration – before releasing a small rover. Although the two vehicles only operated for a few days, and the scientific objectives of the mission were modest, the success of Chandrayaan-3 – which cost no more than $75 million (around €68 million) – is a shining symbol of India's current space boom. The country has also set its sights on sending its first manned mission into space in the near future.

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