Discovering many cosmic mysteries, people yearn to find new worlds

For the past 10 years, scientists have observed gravitational waves and captured images of black holes. These technological advances have strongly motivated the desire to search for new worlds.

According to CNET, by 2029, humans can set foot on Mars, set up a base or space station on the Moon, and even find planets outside the Solar System that are eligible for life. exist.

At this point, all of those goals are still quite remote. But looking back on what scientists have achieved in the past 10 years, it can be affirmed that humanity's dream of conquering the universe can become a reality.

On 4 January 2010, less than a year after being launched into space, the Kepler Space Telescope of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) discovered the first planets in the Milky Way.

Humans have made great strides in cosmology over the past 10 years.(Photo: CNET).

The mystery is gradually revealed

All are not eligible for life, but it is a great start to the 10-year space revolution and laid the foundation for the plan to "emigrate" from Earth in the distant future.

From 2010 to the end of 2018, Kepler discovered more than 2,700 planets outside the Solar System. Kepler also receives support from other space telescope systems such as NASA's Spitzer, Hubble, TESS and advanced ground observation platforms such as ALMA in Chile.

These systems of telescopes and many other studies enable astronomers to observe and explore exoplanets lurking in the vast darkness of the universe.

Two decades earlier, humans have stumbled across some exoplanets, but in the 2010s, the number of worlds outside the Solar System was skyrocketing. Some have quite similar characteristics to the Earth.

In 2019, for the first time, people photographed a black hole.(Photo: Event Horizon).

In 2014, Kepler 186-f, a planet the size of Earth and located in the " habitable zone " was found. Three years later, scientists also observed Trappist-1, a star with several similar Earth planets orbiting it.

In 2016, researchers confirmed there was much evidence that a planet "cousin of the Earth" revolves around Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Solar System.

Also in 2016, scientists first observed gravitational waves, predicted by scientific genius Albert Einstein. These are ripples in the structure of space-time throughout the universe.

Observing space in a new way has contributed to the creation of multi-messenger astronomy . This is a new tool that can help mankind decipher more secrets of the universe.

Multi-messenger astronomy is a study based on the observation and interpretation of various "messenger messengers" of signals. Interplanetary probes can visit celestial bodies, but in addition information must rely on "messages" from outside the Solar System.

The four "messengers" outside the Solar System are electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves, neutrinos and cosmic rays . They are created by different astrophysical processes, thus revealing different information about the origin of the universe.

In addition, astronomers continue to investigate some long-standing space mysteries, such as radio waves. New evidence suggests that there may be a ninth planet in the Solar System, located at the edge. In addition, humanity has also understood the nature of the "most powerful" monster in the universe. It was a black hole.

In 2011, primitive black holes from the early universe were discovered. By 2019, the first photograph of a black hole has been published. The image, taken with the Event Horizon telescope with the aid of eight other telescopes, once again confirms the accuracy of Einstein's theory.

Elon Musk and the dream of interplanetary empire

To get to the planet closest to the Solar System, mankind needs to make a breakthrough in space travel technology to ensure spacecraft reach the speed of light asymptotic. Even if they do, it will take astronauts decades to reach the planet about 39,000 billion km from Earth.

The past decade has seen big bumps for the ambition to make fiction films like Star Trek and Star Wars a reality. One of the "media experts" that stimulates the desire to conquer the universe is Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX Company. Musk once said he wanted to turn humanity into a "multi-planet creature".

SpaceX is a privately held rocket and spacecraft company based in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX has developed Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters with the aim of becoming reusable rockets.

The company is also developing the Dragon and Crew Dragon spacecraft launched into orbit with the Falcon 9. To control quality and cost, SpaceX performs the design, assembly and commissioning of components. The main focus of the rocket and the spaceship in the factory, including the Merlin, Kestrel and Draco rocket engines used on the Falcon and the Dragon.

Simulation of the city Elon Musk built on Mars.(Photo: SpaceX).

In 2006, NASA signed an orbit commercial transport service (COTS) for the company to design, build and launch a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS).

On December 9, 2010, SpaceX successfully launched its first test flight in COTS, becoming the first private company to successfully launch a spacecraft into orbit, then safely return to the ground.

NASA also awarded SpaceX a contract to develop a commercial fleet development program using the Dragon ship to bring astronauts' groups to ISS. SpaceX will also send astronauts into orbit with Crew Dragon / Falcon9 in early 2019 when the company is recognized as capable of sending people into orbit.

"Iron Man of real life" Elon Musk also caused a stir by using three rocket clusters and Falcon Heavy lifting system to launch his Tesla electric car into orbit in 2018.

SpaceX helps astronauts reduce costs when space ships are reusable.(Photo: SpaceX).

But more importantly, the new launch and landing system makes Musk and many others daydream about new extraterrestrial life. Elon Musk wants to build a metropolis on Mars, open a super-fast international flight service between destinations on Earth.

In addition, CEO SpaceX also plans to launch Starlink. This is a giant 'belt' with 42,000 small satellites in the low orbit of the Earth, expected to create a new breakthrough in the field of communication.

Other universal missions

It can be said that no space exploration mission has captivated the global public in this decade as much as the science lab combo, the "monster" truck called Curiosity.

Curiosity is a self-propelled vehicle and is also the third NASA robot to carry out missions on Mars after Opportunity and Spirit."Curious" landed on the red planet on 6/8/2012. Since then, it has sent back both high-resolution images and data about an unfamiliar world we may visit someday.

At the same time, NASA also announced that Opportunity was retired and ended its mission in 2019, after 14 years of good operation on Mars.

In addition to NASA, China, India and several other countries also have their own space exploration missions. In 2013, the Chinese Ngoc Tho self-propelled vehicle successfully landed on the Moon.

Not only the United States, other great powers are also racing into space.(Photo: NASA).

Beijing will do even better in 2019, when Ngoc Tho 2 self-driving car lands in the dark moon. This is the result that Jim Bridenstine, NASA leader, hailed as "an impressive achievement".

The main task of Ngoc Tho 2 is to research and explore areas that have never been touched by humanity, answering the question of whether the craters of the Moon have water or other resources.

The unfortunate failures

In early April 2019, Israel's Beresheet went into orbit to prepare for landfall. Everything went smoothly. Before preparing to touch the surface of "Hang" , Beresheet also sent a photo of the Israeli flag to Earth.

Unfortunately, this is also the last photo of it. The engine stopped working 7 km from the Moon. As a result, the ship could not decelerate, but rushed towards the lunar surface.

India's Chandrayaan-2 Moon lander seems to suffer the same fate, though its current status has yet to be confirmed. Hope to have one more country successfully land on the Moon.

Movement speed will be the core problem that space travel industry must solve in the future.(Photo: NASA).

The past 10 years have brought amazing new discoveries. Half a century after the arrival of Apollo 11, many new promises have appeared in the journey to explore the universe of man.

The first woman to go to the Moon in 2024 according to NASA's plan, an Elon Musk base on Mars or a breakthrough engine with the speed of moving at the speed of light?

Who knows, humanity's journey to conquer the universe has always been from surprise to surprise.