In the past 10 years, what have been done in space science?

Let's take a look back at the most outstanding achievements of space science in the period 2010 - 2019, to see how far we have come in exploring the vast vast universe out there.

Hubble Space Telescope offers beautiful images of the universe

In astronomy, the Hubble space telescope can be considered a big monument, and also a source of huge amounts of images and data about the vast universe. In 2009, the installation of the Wide Field Camera 3 for Hubble brought a lot of valuable data to researchers. Over the past decade, with the help of Hubble, scientists have been able to calculate the rate of expansion of the universe, calculate the age of the constellations, as well as discover new things about dark matter. At the same time, Hubble also aroused a passion for astronomy for many people, through beautiful photos of the vast universe out there.

Discover more about planets in the Solar System

The past decade is also the time when we have made many expeditions to the planets of the solar system. These include the Juno visit Jupiter in 2016, the Dawn to visit the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015, or the New Horizons space mission to send the probe to Pluto.

The end of the Cassini space mission

Cassini's space mission to Saturn in 1997 ended successfully after 20 years in 2017, at a time when the probe ran out of fuel and plunged into the star's surface. But even when the fuel runs out, Cassani continues to devote herself to science by constantly sending data back to researchers while rushing down to Jupiter to self-destruct, avoiding leaving behind rubbish. in outer space.

The Hayabusa 1 spacecraft brings the first meteorite samples to Earth

The Hayabusa 1 spacecraft of Japan was the first spacecraft to succeed in bringing a rock sample on the meteorite back to Earth in 2010. The goal of the Hayabusa 1 was a small meteorite flying near the Left. The land is named 25143 Itokawa. This specimen has become a valuable research resource for scientists when studying the properties of extraterrestrial meteorites.

Voyager 1 probe transits the boundaries of the Solar System

In the late 1970s, scientists launched an ambitious project: taking the Voyager 1 probe beyond the solar system. And it takes a journey longer than 40 years, until 2012, the Voyager 1 can complete the mission out of the solar system and go further into outer space. The probe will continue its mission for several more years, before ending the voyage in 2025.

Physicists successfully detect gravitational waves

Physicists have known the existence of gravitational waves for a long time, but there have not been any actual observations to prove it. In 2002, a laser interferometer gravitational wave (LIGO) was built to detect gravitational waves, but it took 13 years before the first results were obtained. Specifically, in 2015, LIGO detected gravitational waves generated when two black holes collided. Thanks to these efforts, the scientists behind the LIGO project received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.

SpaceX successfully landed a thrust of the Falcon 9 rocket

The past decade has also seen an explosion in the achievement of private space companies, led by Elon Musk's SpaceX. In 2015, SpaceX successfully landed the first floor of the Falcon 9 rocket, thereby opening a new page for the space rocket industry when proving that rocket reuse is workable. In fact, this idea was thought by NASA from the 1960s of the last century, but it took more than 50 years for SpaceX to turn this idea into reality.

Take the first photo of the cosmic black hole

In April this year, not only the world of science, but the whole world was amazed at how a group of astronomers did what was once thought impossible: taking pictures of the black hole. They do this by using the EHT Event Telescope to capture halos around the black hole crater (also known as the event horizon). The gas at the event horizon heats up to billions of degrees, creating a halo called the "shadow of a black hole".

Landing Curiosity self-propelled robot to Mars

Since the first successful launch of the Sojourner spacecraft to the surface of Mars in 1997, mankind has made great strides in discovering the red planet. However, 2012 marked another big achievement when we successfully landed the Curiosity - the self-propelled ship with the most advanced technology at the time - on the surface of Mars.

Since arriving on Mars, the Curiosity has sent scientists valuable research images, as well as discovered supposed traces of life on Mars. In addition, the space mission of the Curiosity is also widely known to the public, because NASA has set up a separate Twitter page for this spacecraft.

Completing the International Space Station ISS

In 2011, we completed the International Space Station, which has maintained the presence of outer space for the past decade. The success of this space station has also become a symbol of scientific cooperation among nations, of cooperation regardless of color and voice for a great purpose of mankind. In addition, the completion of the International Space Station is not only a great achievement of the last decade, but also probably one of the most important scientific achievements of the 21st century.