The year 2021 was a big year for new space exploration. But next year also promises major new developments.
Here is a look at some of the biggest space missions expected to launch in 2022.
NASA’s Space Launch System
The American Space Agency NASA is planning to launch the first test of its Space Launch System, or SLS, in March. NASA has called SLS “the world’s most powerful rocket.” It is expected to begin a new generation of human space exploration.
SLS is the first rocket designed to carry both astronauts and supplies in a single mission to the moon. It is scheduled to launch Americans back to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. Artemis aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon.
This August 2019 photo released by NASA, shows the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Eric Bordelon/NASA via AP)
NASA’s goal for landing on the moon’s surface was to do so by 2024. But NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters in November the target date is now 2025 at the soonest. It would be America’s first visit to the moon since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
The SLS flight in March will not include astronauts. During the test mission, NASA’s Orion spacecraft will launch from the SLS rocket and travel 450,600 kilometers from Earth. NASA says this is farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever traveled. The mission is expected to last four to six weeks.
International moon missions
Several nations will aim to send spacecraft to the moon in 2022.
India will seek to land a robot explorer, or rover, on the moon’s surface, India Todayreports. The Chandrayaan-3 mission follows an attempt in 2020 that ended with the country’s lander and rover crash landing on the moon. India has said its new rover will seek to confirm the presence of water in the form of lunar ice.
The Japanese Space Agency plans to launch its Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM, in April 2022. The agency says the mission is designed to demonstrate lunar landing methods involving a small exploration vehicle.
This artist’s illustration depicts the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) spacecraft called the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM). (Image Credit: JAXA)
Japanese space exploration company iSpace announced last April that it would transport a rover belonging to the United Arab Emirates to the moon in 2022. Japan’s iSpace will provide the lander to carry the rover. The lander will launch from a Falcon 9 rocket built by American company SpaceX.
Russia is planning to launch a lunar lander in July, Russia’s TASS news agency reported. The Luna 25 mission aims to land an explorer on the south polar area of the moon. The spacecraft will study materials on the lunar surface, as well as in the outermost part of the moon’s atmosphere.
SpaceX Starship
In November, SpaceX chief Elon Musk said his company would attempt in 2022 to launch its reusable spacecraft, Starship, into orbit. It will be the first orbital test flight for the spacecraft. Musk said SpaceX will carry out several test flights before beginning to launch satellites and other missions on Starship rockets in 2023.
This is an illustration provided by SpaceX shows the SpaceX Starship human lander design that will carry the first NASA astronauts to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program. (SpaceX/NASA via AP)
NASA has an agreement with SpaceX to use Starship for transporting astronauts to the moon. Musk has said he also plans to use the rockets to land people on Mars.
ExoMars mission
A joint Russian-European mission to send a rover to Mars is expected to launch between August and October 2022. The ExoMars mission will put the rover, called Rosalind Franklin, on the surface of Mars to search for signs of possible past life. It was set to launch in 2020, but got delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Asteroid exploration
A NASA mission called Psyche is expected to launch in August. The Psyche spacecraft will travel three-and-a-half years to a metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche’s science instruments will gather information on the asteroid. Scientists believe it could have separated during violent crashes during the solar system’s formation.
And, NASA’s DART spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid system Didymos between September 26 and October 1. The spacecraft will attempt to strike a non-threatening asteroid as a test to see how the crash affects the space object’s path.
This artist’s illustration depicts NASA’s DART spacecraft, which will be launched to crash into an asteroid to see how the crash affects the space object’s path. (Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL)
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story based on reports from NASA, The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Mario Ritter Jr. was the editor.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
