2022: An Exciting Year in Science Fact and Fiction

As I discussed in my post in November, over the past year, we shared several topics related to the arts of science fiction:

April took us to the Thespian arts and robot actors, including a reprise of the Boston Dynamics robots

(Image Credit: https://media.comicbook.com/2015/11/c3po-r2d2-bb8-160206.jpg )

I hope my piece on Astrophotography in July inspired you to look up and admire the cosmos.

[Image Credit: @AJamesMcCarthy]

I shared my choices for an SF Playlist, and we closed out the arts section with SF Poetry.

But I think I’ve neglected science this year. My only post about science was in January when we looked at the Parker Solar Probe.

[Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory,  https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/R6B3mLDNuiAerSpArXjvKE-1024-80.jpg.webp]

Embracing that time-honored tradition of compiling “year in review” lists, I put together a short list of significant scientific achievements in 2022. The Smithsonian Magazine takes a broader view with their list (The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2022), which is just one of the reasons I subscribe to their publication and support their work through my annual giving.

But for a sci-fi space guy, below is my curated list of space-related events from 2022 that I probably should have posted about. In some respects, the theme of this post and the list is Missed Opportunities. I regaled my friends and family with the announcement of each new achievement but missed writing about it. So—Resolution 1 for 2023: pay attention and post about the really exciting stuff. That resolution should be a win-win: one I’ll keep, and it’ll be fun.

OK, enough pontificating; here’s the list:

Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter, completed flights 19 through 37 in 2022. This fantastic machine has been flying on Mars for twenty-one months. Check out the flight log

[Image Credit: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Overview]

Curiosity has now been on Mars and returning data for ten years.

James Webb Space Telescope arrived on station and has sent back some incredible pictures, including this ethereal image of Neptune.

[Image Credit: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sparkly-image-of-neptunes-rings-comes-into-view-from-jwst1/]

Artemis 1 lifted off, and the Orion spacecraft returned safely to Earth in November.

Various providers launched eight supply and four crew missions to the International Space Station, which has now been in orbit for over twenty-four years and home to humans for over twenty-two.

The Tiangong space station celebrated two first anniversaries this year: being in orbit and occupied in 2022. Homo sapiens now has two outposts outside of earth

[Image Credit: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00439-2]

DART successfully impacted its target and demonstrated an impactor can alter the orbit of an asteroid

It has been an exciting year, to say the least.

As I mentioned above and in keeping with year-end tradition, I’ll include this New Year’s Resolution: “I resolve to post more about space and science next year.”

Have a Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best for 2023: “Live long and prosper.”

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by.