Looking back at the 2009 space science events

Over the past year, astronomers have found water on the moon and discovered the most distant target, at the same time the amount of cosmic radiation reached a record high and the Spirit probe struggled to survive.

Liquid water on Mars?

Mars has no shortage of water - the ice covered its poles and was buried deep beneath the surface. Currently, according to photographs taken by NASA's Phoenix landing ship, this red planet also has liquid water.

Photos of the landing ship's footprint showed that the ship must have splashed water droplets as it landed on Mars in 2008 (blue added to the drop to emphasize)

A chemical called perchlorate (perchloric acid or ester salt) detected at the landing site may have acted as an antifreeze and kept liquid in liquid. But it also makes these droplets so salty that they cannot create life. Less salty water bags can hide under ice and snow, heating up by a form of greenhouse effect.

Water on the moon

The campaign to hunt water on the moon has lasted for decades. This year, three spacecraft have found water evidence that can be very common, sticking to the moon gravel.

Scientists think that hydrogen in the solar wind creates water when it collides with oxygen-rich materials on the moon's surface. Although water exists in very small amounts, some scientists think that it can be obtained by heating moon pebbles with microwaves.

The place to store the most water on the moon may be at the poles. The material was released in October, when NASA's LCROSS satellite launched a missile rig crashed into the crater at the southern tip of the moon.

Questions about NASA's future

Whether it is water or not, the moon may no longer be NASA's first choice for human discovery. In May, President Barack Obama set up a special committee to consider NASA's plans for human space missions. By October, the Commission had released its final report, listing some possible points including gravity gaps in the universe and Mars orbit.

The committee found that NASA needed at least $ 3 billion a year to bring astronauts into space. They also expressed doubts about the practicality of NASA's Ares I rocket. The missile was designed to send astronauts into orbit after the shuttle retired in 2010, but it was not ready until 2017. NASA is still waiting for Obama's decision in the future. my hybrid.

Satellite collision

The problem of cosmic garbage was made urgent this year when the collision of two satellites first occurred. More than 1,500 debris larger than 10cm of cosmic trash appeared after the collision in February of Russian Cosmos 2251 and Iridium 33 US satellites.

Things floating in space are an increasingly serious problem. Approximately 19,000 objects of minimum size 10cm suspended in orbit are being sought by the US Air Force. The United Nations and a number of national space agencies have agreed on measures to limit the rise of cosmic garbage, but future satellite launches or collisions are expected to cause cosmic waste. soaring.

Herschel new telescope

In a bet of 2 billion euros, the European Space Agency successfully launched two telescopes in May. Proud of the mirror (a photo) several times larger than the Spitzer telescope's mirror (NASA), the Herschel Observatory, which specializes in infrared light, becomes the largest telescope ever put into orbit. It will study cold targets in the sky, from small comets and planets in the solar system to some of the most distant galaxies of the universe.

The agency that launched Herschel, Planck will map the background of the ultra-short waves of the universe, the radiation traces from the big bang explosion with 10 times more sensitivity than NASA's WMAP satellite. Planck could provide the first evidence of gravitational waves that scientists thought were formed during the period immediately after the big bang and ripple throughout the universe's time frame.

Spirit struggles to survive

After five years of wandering around Mars, the probe stopped operating in April when its rudders were sunk in soft sand. Worried that trying to move the probe would make the situation worse, NASA used two prototype probes to test the possibility of escape in a sand mold in California. In November, Spirit made the first attempt to leave the region, after about seven months of being trapped.

The manager of the mission acknowledges Spirit may not escape. Winter is approaching and may cause the ship's solar energy level to fall to dangerous levels before it can escape. Spirit also faces a new technical problem. Spirit failed one of the rudders since 2006. A second steering wheel stopped running in November. If Spirit is not restored, it will be permanently stuck.

The farthest goal

A gamma ray of light was discovered by NASA's Swift satellite in April as the farthest target in the universe ever known. The sudden arrival came from a booming star just 630 million years ago after the big bang. With the distance, this dead star became the first target discovered since the period called reionization, which occurred in the first billion years after the big bang explosion. At that time, a layer of fog of neutral hydrogen atoms was burned by radiation from the first stars and galaxies. Finding more of these goals will shed light on this process.

Strange worlds

Super-Earths, planets 10 times larger than Earth have been discovered this year than in previous years. But the planet the size of Earth, the potential for the best environment for life, is still hard to find. The brightest planet discovered around a normal star is a world called MOA-2007-BLG-192-Lb. Previously it was considered three times heavier than Earth but now, scientists believe it is only 1.4 times heavier than Earth.

This year marks many other landmarks in the study of exoplanet (the planets orbiting stars not belonging to the solar system). Two planets were discovered that rotated around their star. A research team also discovered what could be the first exoplanet discovered in another galaxy. In March, NASA's Kepler telescope was launched to hunt Earth-sized planets orbiting their star at a distance that could support life.

NASA awards

The competition in NASA's 100-year Anniversary Challenge aims to promote the development of new technologies that took place in 2009. The debate broke out in October after the organization of a meeting. The model of the lunar lander model allowed a team more time to try to win the first prize of $ 1 million, resulting in the favored team having left with the second prize.

Also in October, a robot that exploited and brought over 440kg of fake moon dust became a winner in the Challenge of NASA weathering excavation held 3 times in 2009. In November, two designers brought home $ 350,000 thanks to easier-to-use protective gloves than current NASA models

Killed from a distance

Cosmic radiation reached a record in 2009. According to the measurement of NASA's Explorer Composition Advanced spacecraft, intense cosmic rays from outside the solar system with charged particles increased by more than 19% during the year. 2009. The culprit is the solar magnetic field, which protects the solar system from cosmic rays. Solar magnetic activity is currently at its lowest level in the 11-year cycle, and the usual lowdown has become unprecedented for nearly a century.

Suggestions about dark matter

In December, a dark matter research organization running banned iron mine detectors in Minnesota reported something that could be dark matter, a mysterious material considered heavier than ordinary matter. from 1 to 6 times.

The LHC large particle accelerator launched in November after a year of delay will also participate in dark matter research this year.