Pathbreaking Space Events Of 2022

The year 2022 has witnessed some amazing activities taking place across the globe in the space domain

- Air Vice Marshal Sanjay Bhatnagar (RETD)

THE LIST IS SIGNIFICANT AND VAST. WE HAD SOME OF THE biggest and most exciting launches and lots of incredible science missions that have inspired the scientific community and the masses. International space arena seems to have been absolutely undeterred by the pandemic. We look back and reflect on some of the exciting things that happened in 2022.

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE COMMISSIONED

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a $10 billion NASA project, was launched into orbit on the Christmas of 2021 with an objective to give astronomers a glimpse at the universe in infrared format. The telescope made a long flight to its present position (L1 Lagrangian point, 1.5 million kms from Earth) and carried out some very complicated procedure of deploying the main honeycomb shaped mirror and sun shield.

In July 2022, it started sending some amazing pictures of highest resolution images ever seen of distant galaxies as they were billions of years ago, promising astronomers a glimpse into our beginning of creation. An image of Jupiter taken by JWST, showed the planet's weather patterns, tiny moons, altitude levels, cloud covers and auroras at the northern and southern poles. In November 2022, JWST found two more galaxies, one that may have been formed just 350 million years after the big bang.

The stunning clear color pictures of the unseen universe were hailed by the NASA Chief, Bill Nelson, as a new era in astronomy, showcasing JWST's ability to look back 13.5 billion years, close to the big bang.

ARTEMIS-I

The year 2022 ended with a significant event with the success of the most anticipated Artemis-I mission. NASA's Artemis-I mission is its first big step toward returning astronauts to the moon after a gap of nearly 50 years, since Apollo-17, when two astronauts became the last of only 12 moonwalkers in history.