This 2022, the special agencies registered important milestones in space matters that left beautiful images to reflections on how geopolitics will determine the conquest beyond the atmosphere of our planet.
Although NASA is the most media astronomical efferent, China was not far behind this year, renewing the crew of tiangonghis own space station, which he had to erect since the use of the International Space Station is prohibited by decree of the US government.
In the case of Mexico, it had a relevant participation in the process to obtain the first real image of the center of the Milky Way. And this year was the spearhead for the country in terms of collaboration with the program Artemisan international treaty on the exploration and exploitation of resources of the Moon, Mars and any object in the solar system, to which Mexico joined at the end of 2021.
These are some of the astronomical events that laid the foundation for upcoming space missions.
1. Alignment of the James Webb Telescope
Released on December 25, 2021the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was able to start operations until completing a series of steps, from move 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth to, already in the indicated place, unfold its mirrors and calibrate all the instruments, a task that it completed until the April 29.
The JWST became the main space observatory that, due to its ability to capture infrared light, can observe the youngest galaxies and, possibly, the light shed by the first stars, functioning as a kind of lens to the past.
The Webb is part of an international program led by NASA with its partners, the THAT (European Space Agency) and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
2. First real image of the center of the Milky Way
The first photograph of the supermassive black hole was released on May 12. Sagittarius A*located in the center of our galaxy at 27,000 light years away.
Mexican researchers participated with the Alfonso Serrano Large Millimeter Telescopein Pueblawhich together with other telescopes located in different parts of the world, forms a network known as Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), whose power is equivalent to having a radio telescope with the diameter of the earth.
The EHT works with an interferometry technique that consists of observing a celestial object simultaneously by a set of radio telescopes located at different points on the planet, the information from each telescope is gathered and processed until the image is obtained. In 2019 the EHT was also used to achieve the first real image of a black hole.
4. Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican woman to visit space
On June 4, the engineer from the POT participated in a 10-minute crewed flight aboard the spacecraft New Shepard from blue origincompany founded by Jeff Bezoswhich is committed to marketing aerospace transport for different sectors.
Katya was selected, out of 7,000 applicants, by the organization Space for Humanity (Space for Humanity) which sponsors space travel for leading citizens.
The young woman, who is now 27 years old, was born in Guadalajara but also has citizenship in the United States for which she achieved two achievements, being the youngest American to go into space and also the first Mexican woman.
5. The universe seen as never before
On July 12, at an international conference, NASA published the first color images and spectroscopic data from the James Webb telescope, which revealed a set of features of the stars that had not been captured before.
The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 was captured by JWST making it the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe to date, and in just 12.5 hours. The light from these galaxies traveled billions of years to reach us, so when we see the youngest galaxies we are looking back in time to a billion years after the Big Bang.
6. First Planetary Defense Demonstration
On September 27, NASA announced that after 10 months of flight in space, the Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) successfully impacted the asteroid Dimorphos. This was NASA’s first attempt to deflect an asteroid in space; verifying the viability of this technique to protect the planet from an asteroid or comet that could represent a danger.
DART targeted a satellite of the Dimorphos asteroid, a small body just 160 meters in diameter. This moon orbits a 780 meter asteroid called Didymos. None of the asteroids threaten Earth.
7. China sends the last module of its space station into space
On October 31, China sent into space, in an unmanned spacecraft, the third and final module to complete your Tiangong space station which at that time was made up of modules,Tianhe and Wentian.
The laboratory mengtian It was designed for Chinese astronauts to carry out work and sports activities. Once docked, the infrastructure of the Chinese space station would be complete with an estimated 10 to 15 years of useful life and in a few years the space telescope will also be docked. xuntian.
8. Chinese astronauts performed the first rotation on the Tiangong space station
On December 2, at the Chinese Space Station, 6 astronauts held the official job transfer ceremony of the spacecraft crew shenzhou-14 made up of Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang, to their relief, the astronauts to their colleagues Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, who arrived in the spacecraft from shenzhou-15.
The new crew will remain in orbit until May 2023 and will be in charge of the final phase of Tiangong’s construction.
The predecessor astronauts also spent six months in space and returned to earth aboard Shenzhou-14 on December 5.
9. From the Moon to Mars: Artemis I
Artemis I was the first uncrewed flight test of an ambitious program to explore and exploit the resources of the Moon, Mars, and the solar system.
The Orion spacecraft launched on November 16, from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, did not land on the moon, but when it reached the satellite it was incorporated into its orbit to fly over it, traveling a distance farther than any spacecraft designed to fly over it. humans.
Once leaving lunar orbit, the Orion spacecraft returned to Earth, splashing down on December 11. His journey was 434,523 kilometers and lasted 25 days.
The data collected will be used for the next mission of the Artemis program, whose objective is for humanity to set foot on the Moon again and, eventually, reach Mars.
10. UNAM robots will go to the Moon
At the beginning of this year the UNAMthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the Mexican Space Agency and the state of Gentleman presented the project Hive. Mission that will soon land on the moon and consists of five small robots that will explore an area of the lunar surface.
These robots, built by university students, will travel aboard the ship peregrinefrom the American company astrobotic, which offers private transportation services. The mission is part of the country’s efforts to become part of the Artemis program and is also an example of how private companies are also entering the space race.
This year the world witnessed the great feats of humanity in terms of space exploration, some of them laid the foundations to obtain greater knowledge and that in the future humanity can visit other stars.
