A Stellar Year in Space: Highlights of 2022
Yosmos - Exploring the Universe, One Fact at a Time
In just 365 days, we witnessed the genesis of trailblazing achievements such as the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, SpaceX's Inspiration 4—which remarkably sent civilians into outer space—and the applause-filled sendoff of NASA's planetary defense prototype, DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test).
Let's take a look at the amazing accomplishments humanity has made.
Chapter: NASA
From the first image of our very own black hole to deflecting an asteroid, 2022 was a monumental year in space.
Supermassive Black Hole, Sagittarius A*
One of my absolute favorite milestones was when we received the first image of our very own supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. Now let's be clear, it does kind of look just like a little blob of orange light, but it is so much more than that! The black hole is 27,000 light-years away from us, and because it's so far away, it appears to us to have about the same size in the sky as a donut on the Moon! By linking together eight radio observatories across the planet, they were able to form essentially a single earth-sized telescope. Then, after hours of tedious data processing, they were able to create the first image of our black hole, confirming its existence.
James Webb Space Telescope
How can we talk about 2022 without mentioning the James Webb Space Telescope? This extraordinary telescope broke countless records and fundamentally changed our understanding of some areas in astronomy within just a few months of operation. A crowd favorite has to be the beautiful image of the Carina Nebula, with orange clouds of gas and dust being shaped into magnificent cliffs by these stars. We even got to see a few planets a little closer to home; both Neptune and Jupiter were imaged, revealing their rings. We are seeing galaxies as they were just 450 million years after the Big Bang.
DART
DART, meaning Double Asteroid Redirection Test, was a mission that aimed to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid in an attempt to redirect it. Up until now, we hadn't really begun testing any defense technology, leaving us vulnerable to potential planet-killing asteroids. The spacecraft reached its target, the asteroid Dimorphos, a small moonlet that orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos. By smashing the 500kg spacecraft into the 5 billion kg asteroid, they were able to shorten the orbit by 32 minutes, which is more than 25 times greater than the satisfactory result. This is a huge first step for humanity towards creating a future where we can worry less about being dealt the same fate as the dinosaurs.
Mars (InSight)
Over on the red planet, NASA's Mars Rover Perseverance continued to make some groundbreaking discoveries throughout the year, sending home beautiful footage of Mars' moon Phobos eclipsing the Sun. Percy is still hunting hard for evidence of past or potentially current life on Mars, collecting samples in preparation for when we eventually launch the sample return mission. On a slightly more depressing note, right at the end of 2022, NASA had to declare the Mars InSight Lander officially dead. The lander had its solar panels covered in dust, which caused it to lose communication capability. In a heartfelt final message, InSight sent home: "My power is really low so this may be the last image I can send. Don't worry about me though. My time here has been both productive and serene."
Exoplanets
In 2022, we officially confirmed the discovery of over 5,000 exoplanets and made great strides in our ability to detect and categorize them. From finding planets with multiple suns to planets with oceans of lava where it rains glass, to strange worlds you'd never even dream of, this is just the beginning.
The Closest Black Hole
A black hole about 10 times more massive than our sun was found just 1600 light-years away from Earth in 2022. This makes it the closest black hole that we've ever discovered, and on a cosmic scale, this thing is really just next door. Current estimates show that the Milky Way should have around 100 million black holes of this size wandering the galaxy.
Gamma-Ray Burst
The Earth was struck by the most powerful gamma-ray burst ever observed. The source of this GRB was around 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth, but even at this insane range, it was powerful enough to affect the atmosphere here on Earth! GRBs are literally the most energetic explosions in the universe apart from The Big Bang.
Artemis
Artemis 1 was our journey back to the Moon. This was the first mission in the Artemis program, tasked with taking humanity back to the Moon to establish a permanent moon base there. The SLS rocket launched Orion into space to complete a test run of what we will see in the first manned flight.
Chapter: SpaceX
Inspiration4 marked the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit, representing a new era for human spaceflight and exploration. SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket for the first American space tourist mission to the International Space Station, known as Axiom Mission 1. This was the first wholly commercially operated crewed mission to the ISS. In 2022, SpaceX also achieved the highest number of launches of a single rocket type in a calendar year (Falcon 9, 48 launches).
Chapter: ISRO
2022 was a year of many firsts for both India's government-run space agency, ISRO, and the fledgling private space sector. It marked the full-fledged resumption of rocket launch activity by ISRO, with five rocket launches carried out.
Maiden Flight of ISRO SSLV
India launched its newest rocket, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), on its maiden flight. The rocket is meant to enable launch-on-demand services. The rocket ejected the satellites into space and proved the workability of most of its crucial systems.
LVM3's First Commercial Mission
India's heaviest rocket, LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark III), performed its first-ever commercial mission. It carried 36 satellites of the UK-based firm OneWeb, all weighing a total of six tons, into orbit. This further established the capability of the LVM3 as it was the rocket's fifth consecutive successful flight.
Vikram-S
India's first private rocket, Vikram-S, was successfully launched by Skyroot Aerospace. The sub-orbital launch aimed at testing most systems and processes for the upcoming launch of Vikram-1.
PSLV 9 Rockets
India's workhorse rocket, the PSLV, placed into orbit 9 satellites. Among them was a satellite jointly developed by India and Bhutan to help the neighboring nation with mapping needs. This was also the first time that satellites built by Indian startups were launched by an Indian rocket.
Agnikul - Agnilet
An Indian startup, Agnikul Cosmos, announced India's first-ever private rocket launch pad and mission control, established within the premises of India's Spaceport, Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Throwback to Unusual Space Moments of 2022
- A Heartbeat in Space: A mysterious radio burst with a pattern similar to a heartbeat was heard, and astronomers also detected a powerful radio wave laser.
- Unusual Black Holes: Astronomers captured an image of the supermassive black hole lurking at the center of the galaxy, and a lone black hole wandering the Milky Way.
- A Crash of Spacecraft and Asteroid: A NASA spacecraft intentionally slammed into Dimorphos (DART mission).
- A Hook-Wielding Copter: Rocket Lab tried to recapture its rocket boosters as they tumbled down toward Earth after launch.
- Mysterious Space Rings: A new leap has been taken forward in understanding odd radio circles (ORCs) that have puzzled scientists.