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From rocket launches, to dazzling new images, and even planetary defense, 2022 was a big year for space discovery.

From rocket launches, to dazzling new images, and even planetary defense, 2022 was a big year for space discovery.

3 Major Space Stories of 2022

In 2023 the exploration continues.

Space & Flight

3 Major Space Stories of 2022Published December 15th, 2022Narrator: Let’s revisit three of this year’s biggest space stories. The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space telescope ever built, sent back stunning images of nebulas, galaxies, close ups of Neptune and Jupiter, and even chemical signatures in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. As the first images came in, scientists were blown away.Lee Feinberg: This is an engineering image that was really there just to say we focused it right? And there’s a lot of galaxies. You know, the engineers were like, what are all those galaxies doing there? We’re realizing, we’re the first people that have ever seen these galaxies.Jane Rigby: Everything about these images that I’ve seen so far tells us, absolutely, this thing is going to be fantastic.Lee Feinberg: We don’t know what we’re going to see, but we know we haven’t seen anything like this before.Jane Rigby: This is going to be transformative. This is looking amazing.Knicole Colón: I almost have no words, you know, in that sense, because it’s, it’s a feat of engineering, right. But it’s also, “Wow, our universe is beautiful.”Amber Straughn: The great thing is that, really, this is just the beginning. Today is just the beginning. We’ll be able to go much, much deeper. And this telescope is going to do what we designed it to do.Narrator: JWST’s infrared technology can peer through dense clouds of space dust that block visible light—revealing secrets of the universe.Antonella Nota: This is the biggest telescope that has been built in space, and because of the complexity of the design, this is no doubt the most complex machine and it is magnificent.Narrator: Scientists expect JWST to deliver years of discoveries—about the early universe and first galaxies, how stars and planets evolved, and the atmospheres of exoplanets.Louis Strolger: It's taken us a long time to get here. But man, we're so excited.Narrator: This year, NASA put Earth’s defense strategy against dangerous asteroids to the test.Paul Sanchez: We want to know whether or not we will be able to redirect an asteroid.Kelly Fast: We have a fantastic team of planetary defenders trying to find the near earth asteroids that perhaps pose an impact threat.Narrator: In the first mission of its kind, NASA’s DART spacecraft crashed into an asteroid in an attempt to change its trajectory. Scientists targeted Dimorphos, a 530-foot-diameter asteroid “moonlet” orbiting around a larger asteroid called Didymos. Neither one is considered a danger to Earth.Elena Adams: We are testing out a technique called kinetic impactor. About four hours out before the impact, the spacecraft becomes fully autonomous, point itself towards the Moon, make all the maneuvers necessary to slam itself into this really small object.Narrator: Future missions like these could potentially deflect asteroids headed towards Earth.Elena Adams: It is very impressive, and hard.Narrator: One of the most anticipated space events this year was finally launching Artemis 1. The first of NASA’s new Artemis program, Artemis 1 tested two deep space exploration systems, including the Orion spacecraft—which splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11th. This tech may be used in future missions meant to send humans back to the Moon.Michelle Hanlon: Who doesn't want to go back to the moon? I mean, come on. It's a stepping stone to the rest of our future.Narrator: NASA scientists hope to establish a more permanent presence on the Moon and use it as a stepping stone to explore deeper into space, including Mars.Bradley Jolliff: We need to go there, learn how to live and work sustainably off Earth. A lot of people would like to go on to Mars, but we have a lot of experience to get under the belt before we can do that journey to Mars.Narrator: In 2023, the space exploration continues! Spacex plans to launch the Polaris Dawn mission, which will include the first commercial spacewalk. And NASA plans to launch the Psyche spacecraft, an orbiter mission that will explore the asteroid Psyche.Néstor Espinoza: It sounds like living in a science fiction movie, but we are not living in that anymore. This is science. This is real.

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Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

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The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

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Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

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3 Major Space Stories of 2022

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