The New York TimesDec 27, 2019 11:14:37 IST
It’s not easy to say that any particular space or astronomy development was the most important in a given year. But if we had to choose some highlights, we’d opt for these unforgettable events and findings.
We saw the unseeable
You’ve seen black holes in science fiction movies and in illustrator’s impressions. But until the morning of 10 April, you never saw what a black hole really looks like. And then there it was, the monstrous void at the middle of the galaxy Messier 87, staring back at you like the eye of Sauron.
The first ever image of a black hole. Image: EHT/NSF
Astronomer Katie Bouman posing with the 5 petabytes of data needed for the black hole photo. Image: BBC
The story of how one astronomer, Katie Bouman, became the face of the quest to visualize the singularity was a good yarn, too.
(Also read: Meet Katie Bouman, the scientist whose algorithm helped capture a black hole photograph)
Landing on the moon is difficult
The year started with China’s successful landing of Chang’e-4 on the moon’s far side. No country had done that before. That success, along with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, made it seem like a year ripe for new lunar accomplishments.
(Also read: Why is China’s Chang’e-4 lunar mission to the far side of the moon such a big deal?)
China’s Jade Rabbit-2 rover making its first wheel tracks on the far side of the moon on 3 January, 2019, after rolling down from the Chang’e 4 lander. Image courtesy: CNSA
But in April, Beresheet, a lander built by an Israeli nonprofit, crashed on the moon’s surface. Early in September, India’s space agency lost contact with the Vikram lander during its attempt to touch down near the lunar south pole. Only with the volunteer labor of an Indian hobbyist was NASA finally able to show the world where it had crashed.
(Also read: Israel’s Beresheet: Everything you should know about the first private moon landing that (almost) made it)
Chandrayaan 2 composite orbiting the moon before the lander’s separation. Image: ISRO
The Trump administration pledged that the first US woman and next man would walk on the moon’s surface by the end of 2024. But whatever technical challenges must be overcome for the Artemis program to succeed, political, budgetary and bureaucratic hurdles might prove greater obstacles to an American lunar return.
(Also read: NASA unveils timeline for Artemis manned and unmanned moon mission starting 2020)
Artist’s concept of a future moon landing carried out under NASA’s newly named Artemis program. Image: NASA
Women need more than an all-female spacewalk
First NASA scheduled the first spacewalk with two female astronauts. Then they canceled it because the space station lacked the right spacesuits for the two women. Then they got the right suits, and history was made.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch will embark on the first all-female spacewalk, planned for 18 October 2019. Image: NASA
It was a reminder that the space program was designed by men, for men, as science fiction novelist Mary Robinette Kowal wrote. NASA, she noted, is at its best when it is learning from mistakes, and it is highly capable of making improvements as it prepares to put the first woman on the moon.
A year in orbit changes a person
NASA scientists compared Scott Kelly, the astronaut who spent 340 days on the space station, with his twin brother, Mark, on Earth. In orbit, Scott Kelly’s body experienced a vast number of changes, including mutations in DNA and declines in some cognitive tests.
Retired twin astronauts, Scott and Mark Kelly, were subjects of NASA’s Twins Study. While Scott (right) spent a year in space while Mark (left) stayed on Earth as a control subject. ImageL NASA
Many of the changes reverted once he returned to Earth, although some did not. Some scientists deemed the risks manageable; others saw the findings as a cautionary tale — a warning over whether long trips in space will ever be safe for humans.
(Also read: NASA’s Twins Study reveals genetic implications of long-term space travel)
The first allegation of a space crime was made
Summer Worden filed for divorce in 2018 from Anne McClain, a NASA astronaut. This year while McClain was aboard the International Space Station, Worden accused her of identity theft and improper access of private financial records. McClain admitted to accessing Worden’s bank account but said she had always been responsible for keeping the couple’s finances in order.
ISS astronaut Anne McClain was accused of identity theft. Image courtesy: NASA
The case is not yet decided. However it turns out, more criminal allegations and other legal disputes are bound to emerge as more humans and their economic activity move to low Earth orbit and beyond.
Space will become a battlefield
Congress granted President Donald Trump the authority and some budget to begin creating a Space Force. It’s unclear what exactly that force will look like. But in March, when India demonstrated an anti-satellite weapon, it was a reminder that nation-states are looking beyond the bubble of Earth’s atmosphere as they make their defense plans for the future.
(Also read: All you need to know about India’s Mission Shakti anti-satellite demonstration)
The Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV), which was modified for used in the March anti-satellite demonstration, is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in the ex-atmosphere area, which is 50 km above the atmosphere. Image: AP
An asteroid was bombed; another shot back
Humans have collected samples from asteroids, but until this year had never bombed one. In March, Japan’s Hayabusa2 dropped an explosive on the surface of Ryugu, a near-Earth asteroid, and later scooped a sample from the scattered debris.
An illustration of Hayabusa-2 attempting a touchdown on Ryugu. Image credit: DLR
A second spacecraft, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, is preparing to land and collect a sample from Bennu, another asteroid. Bennu was found to be ejecting rocks into space. The spacecraft was deemed safe despite the projectiles.
(Also read: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission finds asteroid Bennu is spinning faster and faster with time)
Gassy mysteries were detected on Mars
As NASA said goodbye to the Opportunity rover this year, its other rover, Curiosity, detected unusual signals on the red planet’s surface. A large spike of methane, a gas usually produced by living things on Earth, was detected in June. But just as scientists on Earth wondered if the signal was evidence of potential microbial life on the red planet, the gas was gone.
A selfie taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars Sol 2291 (15 January) at the “Rock Hall” drill site on Vera Rubin Ridge. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
If that wasn’t puzzling enough, scientists said in November that they had detected varying amounts of oxygen, which was “confusing, but it’s exciting,” one said. While four new spacecraft could arrive at Mars next year, none will have instruments to study these gases.
(Also read: NASA’s Curiosity rover finds seasonal changes in oxygen levels in the Mars’ atmosphere)
The business of space is messy
Want to buy a trip to the space station? Soon, you might be able to — for at least $35,000 a night. You can also buy a $2,50,000 seat aboard a Virgin Galactic space plane that comes with a snazzy flightsuit.
The super-neat and snazzy blue commercial spaceflight suit by Virgin Galactic, worn by CEO Richard Branson and Jennifer Rallison, a Virgin Galactic customer from Calgary, Canada. Image credit: Virgin Galactic
The target customer is obvious – only the wealthiest travelers will be able to afford the privilege of private spaceflight. Who gets to decide what happens in the commons beyond our planet is still an open question.
The long train of Starlink satellites visible in the night sky seen in this video captured by satellite tracker Marco Langbroek in the Netherlands. The photo was taken on 24 May, a day after SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket. Image credit: Marco Langbroek/SatTrackBlog
One private company, SpaceX, launched 120 satellites all by itself this year, the first nodes in one of several proposed orbiting mega-constellations that would beam internet service back to Earth.
Astronomers fear that the night sky might never be the same.
Our first close-ups from beyond Pluto
On New Year’s Eve, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft passed an object in the distant Kuiper belt beyond Pluto, and took the first close-up pictures of an object that far from Earth.
The most high-res image New Horizons has captured and beamed back of the tumbling snowman-looking Kuiper belt object, Ultima Thule. Image credit: NASA
New 📸! Around and around: This gif shows the propeller-like rotation of #UltimaThule as seen by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard @NASANewHorizons as the spacecraft sped toward its close encounter. @nasa https://t.co/lBM4L8EctG pic.twitter.com/8PhJHsvVFa
— Johns Hopkins APL (@JHUAPL) January 15, 2019
In the following weeks, new, clearer images of the object, recently renamed Arrokoth, were beamed back to Earth, as scientists made new discoveries about the solar system’s furthest reaches.
(Also read: NASA’s faraway space snowman Ultima Thule has a flat, not a round, behind)
Get ready for visitors from beyond our solar system
Some people want to believe the moon landing was a hoax. Others are certain the truth is being kept from us. Here’s what we do know: A comet from beyond the bubble that contains you, me and everyone we know is hurtling through our solar system right now. In the days ahead, it will pass closer to Earth than it will ever come.
Then it will leave our solar system. If you miss it, don’t worry. More interstellar tourists will be passing through our neighborhood, which is just one tiny corner of one spiral arm full of stars that juts out from a supermassive black hole.
All that’s left to do now is enjoy the New Year, and wait for them to fly-by.
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