NASA has multiplied the feats this year. On the occasion of a retrospective video published on December 23, the American space agency thus returned to the main moments of its year 2022, whether in terms of observation or space exploration.
On July 11, NASA, for example, released the first photograph taken with the new James-Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has come to continue the work of Hubble thanks to more advanced technologies. His first shot was “the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date,” NASA said at the time.
A first test of planetary security
One of James-Webb’s main objectives is to observe the first stars and galaxies born shortly after the Big Bang. It also has the role of learning more about exoplanets.
2022 was also the year of the first planetary defense test. On October 11, the DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) succeeded in diverting the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos, located eleven million kilometers from Earth, by the crash of a probe. “For the first time, humans have changed the motion of a celestial object,” NASA announced at the time.
To the Moon and Mars
Finally, the year 2022 was that of the beginnings of the Artemis program which aims to bring Man back to the Moon by 2025, before considering a possible mission to Mars. First step, the Artemis I mission was successfully launched on November 16th. It made it possible to test the giant rocket Space Launch System (SLS) and to place the Orion capsule in lunar orbit, which then returned to Earth on December 11.
Thus, while waiting for Artemis II, which should bring a crew into orbit around the Moon in 2024, space missions will continue to follow one another in 2023, such as Psyche from NASA’s Discovery program, JUICE, from the European Space Agency or again Polaris Dawn, by SpaceX. SpaceX’s Starship rocket should finally be inaugurated, as should the Ariane 6 launcher.