Year Ender 2022: The launch of Artemis I, one of the most anticipated missions ever, and the publication of the first full-color photos taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most powerful telescope in the world, made 2022 a significant year for NASA. As part of Artemis I, NASA launched the Space Launch System (SLS), the most potent rocket in existence. At a distance of roughly 128 kilometres from the lunar surface, NASA’s Orion spacecraft—which took off atop the SLS rocket—made its closest approach to the moon.
In the first ever planetary defence test, the space agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft created history by colliding with an asteroid. As part of the Crew-4 and Crew-5 missions, NASA sent a number of astronauts into space this year. It also successfully returned Crew-3 and Crew-4 personnel to Earth. Among other things, astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) have studied space archaeology, the negative effects of microgravity on astronaut hearing, and cotton cultivars that may benefit drought-resistant plants.
Inflatable heat shield technology was shown by NASA’s LOFTID, or Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, which may prove valuable for future human spaceflight trips to Mars.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson predicted that the year 2022 would rank among the most successful in terms of all of NASA’s programmes.
Here are a few of this year’s most fascinating NASA missions and achievements.
The first samples were deposited on Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover on December 21, 2022.
The “Three Forks” area is where the rover deposited these materials. Over the following two months, Perseverance will drop a total of 10 tubes at “Three Forks.”
The rover picks out rock targets to collect duplicate samples from. With 17 samples already inside of it, Perseverance will transport samples to a future robotic lander that will be launched as part of the Mars Sample Return effort. The lander will use a robotic arm to transfer the samples from Perseverance into a containment capsule before launching the capsule into Mars orbit with a little rocket. The sample container will be captured and safely returned to Earth by a spacecraft that will be launched atop the rocket.
The sample depot, where the rover is putting samples, will act as a fallback in the event that Perseverance is unable to deliver its samples. To retrieve the samples from the depot, two Sample Recovery Helicopters will be flown to Mars.
On January 31, 2022, Perseverance removed an igneous rock core the size of a chalk from the Jezero Crater of Mars and gave it the informal moniker “Malay.” This sample was deposited on the Martian surface by the rover on December 21.
The lengthy process of retrieving the metal tube containing the sample from the rover’s stomach required by Perseverance’s intricate Sampling and Caching System took close to an hour. Perseverance dropped the sample about three feet onto a portion of the Martian surface after taking one final look at it with its onboard CacheCam.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory placed the WATSON camera at the end of Perseverance’s robotic arm after the sample was released to make sure the tube hadn’t rolled into the path of the rover’s wheels. Additionally, they needed to make sure that the tube had not landed on Mars’ surface so that it was standing on end, as this would make it more challenging to retrieve the sample in the future.
If this occurs on Mars, a series of commands will instruct Perseverance to use its robotic arm to carefully knock the tube over.
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Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft
A satellite that would survey almost all of Earth’s water will be launched by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) on December 16, 2022. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft, with a primary mission of three years, will measure the height of water in freshwater bodies and the ocean on more than 90% of Earth’s surface. This information will help communities better prepare for disasters like floods and understand how a warming world affects lakes, rivers, and reservoirs.
From Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, SWOT was launched on a SpaceX rocket.
Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has its first Webb photographs been made public by NASA. NASA released the images in December even though they were taken in November. Titan is the only planetary body other than Earth that currently has rivers, lakes, and seas. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere. But unlike Earth, the liquid on Titan’s surface is made of hydrocarbons like methane and ethane rather than water.
Titan’s atmosphere is also densely covered with haze, which blocks visible light reflecting off the surface.
According to NASA, a group of scientists concluded that a bright spot seen in Titan’s northern hemisphere was in fact a sizable cloud by comparing various photos taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). A second cloud was also spotted by the researchers.
Bright spots on Titan, which are prominent clouds in the moon’s northern hemisphere, were discovered by researchers. Kraken Mare, Belet, and Adiri are three major surface features seen. Kraken Mare is supposed to be a methane sea, Adiri is a colourful feature, and Belet is made up of dark sand dunes.
Artemis I mission
NASA fired the world’s most powerful rocket as part of the Artemis I mission on November 16, 2022. Artemis I, the first uncrewed flight of NASA’s Artemis Program, lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 1:47 a.m. EST (12:17 p.m. IST). The unmanned Orion spacecraft was launched into space atop the SLS rocket. Artemis I was delayed several times owing to technical issues with the SLS rocket and hurricanes Ian and Nicole.
As part of Artemis I, the Orion spacecraft performed a record-breaking mission, circumnavigating the Moon for more over 2.25 million kilometres. The goal of Artemis I was to put Orion through its paces in deep space before launching people on Artemis II.
Artemis I’s “crowning achievement,” according to Bill Nelson, was the splashdown of Orion, which occurred 50 years to the day after the Apollo 17 Moon landing.
During Artemis I, Orion made two lunar flybys, coming within 128 kilometres of the lunar surface. Orion’s greatest distance from Earth was about 2,70,000 miles (over 4,34,522 kilometres).
Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft to land humans on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, and Apollo 17 was the last on December 11, 1972.
Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Moon, after whom NASA’s future Moon mission has been named, was Apollo’s twin sister.
The Artemis Mission’s goal is to allow NASA to demonstrate innovative technologies on the Moon, which would pave the path for future Mars exploration.
The Artemis Mission is divided into three stages: Artemis I, II, and III.
The huge SLS rocket and Orion Space Capsule from NASA will transport astronauts into lunar orbit. The astronauts will next be transported to the Moon’s frozen south pole by SpaceX’s Human Lander System (HLS).
Artemis I tested NASA’s ability to orbit the Moon and return to Earth by demonstrating the performance of both Orion and SLS. The first uncrewed test flight of the Artemis Program will prepare the way for future trips to the lunar vicinity, including the first landing of a woman and a person of colour on the Moon’s surface.
The goal of Artemis I was to lay the groundwork for human travel into deep space, where astronauts will design and test the systems required for lunar exploration missions as well as journeys to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
Using Webb’s findings, researchers discovered two of the universe’s furthest and earliest galaxies in November.
According to the University of California, Santa Cruz, the “unexpectedly rich region of early galaxies” has been mainly concealed until now, beyond the reach of other telescopes. Webb spotted two exceptionally bright galaxies at 350 and 450 million years after the Big Bang. These and other findings lead astronomers to assume that an unusually large proportion of galaxies in the early universe were substantially brighter than predicted.
Webb unveiled the first molecular and chemical analysis of an exoplanet, gas giant WASP-39 b, in November. Webb’s observations include atoms, molecules, and even evidence of active chemistry and clouds in the extraterrestrial atmosphere.
Webb discovered sulphur dioxide in WASP-39 b. This is the first time sulphur dioxide has been identified in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. This molecule is formed as a result of chemical reactions induced by high-energy light emitted by the planet’s parent star. The formation of the protective ozone layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere is analogous to the formation of sulphur dioxide in WASP-39 b.
Webb resolved weak stars in the neighbouring dwarf galaxy Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte in November.
The galaxy is close to the Milky Way. Our galactic neighbour, WLM, is three million light-years away from Earth.
Furthermore, the dwarf galaxy is antisocial, which implies it has had no interactions with nearby galaxies. WLM is ‘old school,’ which implies it has a chemical makeup akin to early universe galaxies, according to NASA. As a result, WLM is an excellent option for studying how stars began and evolved in the early universe.
Webb captured some eerie photographs of the universe, which NASA presented in October, the month of Halloween. One of these is a ‘haunting depiction’ of the Creation Pillars. The image appears to be an otherworldly landscape of long-forgotten graves with soot-tinged fingers stretching out. Gas and dust pillars envelop stars that have been slowly developing over millennia.
Webb’s artwork depicts the Pillars of Creation in mid-infrared light in an unsettling, exceedingly dusty manner.
The Pillars of Creation are located 6,500 light years from Earth in the enormous Eagle Nebula.
The image, acquired by Webb’s MIRI, depicts interstellar dust, creating a gloomy, cold atmosphere. Mid-infrared light excels at detailing where dust accumulates. Stars do not appear at these wavelengths because they are not luminous enough. Instead, leaden-hued gas and dust pillars flare brightly at their edges, hinting at the action within. Thousands of stars have formed the Pillars of Creation.
Webb made an unexpected discovery about cosmic objects from the early cosmos in October. The telescope discovered a cluster of huge galaxies developing around an incredibly hot quasar.
The discovery is significant because it will help researchers better understand how galaxy clusters in the early cosmos came together to form the cosmic web or knot, a network of filaments believed to constitute the foundation of the universe.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on October 5, 2022.
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and John Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina launched into space on October 5 at 9:30 p.m. IST for a six-month mission to the orbiting laboratory.
They took off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Scientific studies in cardiovascular health, fluid behaviour in microgravity, and bioprinting are among the experiments they are focusing on. These studies will assist mankind prepare for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and will benefit life on Earth.
After nearly six months in orbit, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 members returned to Earth on October 14, 2022. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins joined European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on Crew-4.
Crew-4 conducted various research experiments and technology demos during their six-month stay on the orbital outpost, which are helping to prepare people for future space travel trips.
Crew-4 conducted space nutrition tests, investigated the potential negative effects of microgravity on astronaut hearing, and investigated whether additives increase or decrease emulsion stability.
Webb photographed the “tree rings” from a unique sort of star system in October, a first in astronomy.
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