Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2024

48 MARCH-APRIL 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING by NOIRLab − Josie Fenske W e live in a very exciting time for Solar System ex- ploration, with recent headlines announcing new results from space missions like NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, Lucy, and Psyche, and ESA’s Juice. These uncrewed space- craft have been visiting our cosmic neighbors and returning close-up images, detailed information, and even extraterrestrial rocks and dust to Earth. But space missions are only possible with extensive research, preparation, and guidance by scien- tists here on Earth — and observa- tions from ground-based astronom- Rubin Observatory will provide a gold mine of data