Top 10 space events in 2020 in pictures
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, space exploration does not stop. The year 2020 has been rich in events for the space sector with, in particular, the development of SpaceX and the emergence of China in the space sector.
10)Perseverance on its way
NASA has launched the Perseverance rover, which integrates the Mars 2020 mission to pursue the exploration of the Red Planet. After Curiosity and Insight, Perseverance is in charge of studying the surface of the planet and bringing back Martian samples to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft is equipped with cameras, spectrometers of various types and should arrive on Mars in February 2021.
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| Perserverance launch |
9)The light launcher developed by the Virgin Orbit company made its first flight on the 25th but failed shortly after the ignition of the first stage.
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| Launcher one Virgin Orbit |
8)The failure of the prototype Starship
During a test on December 9, the prototype crashed after taking off from Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket destroyed in the accident is a self-guided prototype designed to launch the heavy transport vehicle being developed by SpaceX to take humans and up to 100 tons of cargo to the moon and Mars on future missions.
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| Starship launch (credits:SpaceX) |
7)Astronauts of Artemis mission
The 18 astronauts for the Artemis mission have been announced. The goal of the mission is to send astronauts, including the first woman, on the Moon by 2024. The spacecraft #Orion was equipped with 2 of its solar panels. Orion integrates the #Artemis mission, marking the return of Man to the Moon. NASA's calendar of lunar missions is as follows:
- Artemis I (November 2021): first flight of the SLS and the Orion spacecraft (unmanned flight)
- Artemis II (2023): first manned flight, which will take a crew into orbit around the Moon.
- Artemis III (2024): second manned flight, moon landing. A man and a woman must stay seven days to collect samples and conduct experiments.
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| Artemis mission’s crew (credits:NASA) |
6)Water on the Moon
On October 26, NASA revealed that it had found water molecules on the surface of the Moon near the South Pole. Two Nature Astronomy studies reveal the existence of a multitude of micro-craters holding solid water at the bottom. This probably comes from the fall of asteroids that hit the Moon billions of years ago. This announcement is important because the water from the Moon could be directly used by manned missions on the satellite.
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| Moon and Mars (tiny red dot on the left) (Helio C.) |
5)Asteroid samples
The Hayabusa 2 probe of the Japanese space agency JAXA allowed the collection of asteroid samples. A capsule containing dust from the asteroid Ryugu returned to Earth after being released on December 5, 2020. The capsule landed in the Australian desert.
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| Samples in Australia (credits:BBC) |
4)Chng’e 5 on the Moon
On December 16, the Chinese probe Chang'e 5 brought back to Earth 1.7 kilos of lunar rocks, making China the third power after the United States and the Soviet Union to carry out such a mission.
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| Chang’e view on the Moon, collecting rocks |
3)ISS: 20 years
On November 2, 2020, the ISS celebrated 20 years of service. It has been two decades that astronauts have been taking turns to ensure the operation of this space laboratory. In low Earth orbit, the ISS is the largest structure ever assembled in space.
It is 110 m long, 74 m wide and 30 m high and has a mass of approximately 420 tons in 2019. It is operated by NASA, Roscomos, ESA, JAXA and CSA.
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| The International Space Station seen in 2016 (credits:Wikipedia) |
2) SpaceX and Crew Dragon
2020 has been very important for SpaceX as it marks its entry into manned space flight.
Crew Dragon made its first manned flight on May 30. Aboard the capsule were two American astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a test mission. It is the return of the United States in the astronaut launch after several years of dependence on the Soyuz spacecraft.
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| The two astronauts during the Demo-2 mission (credits:NASA) |
1) Crew Dragon enters service
The first commercial flight with astronauts to the ISS took place on November 16, 2020. Named C207 Resilience, Crew Dragon carried Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor J. Glover, and Japan's Soichi Noguchi. SpaceX is also continuing the development of its Starlink satellite constellation, a telecommunications mega-project.
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