Looking Back at Big NASA Missions in 2022
2023-01-02
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1The American space agency NASA announced several major mission successes in 2022.
2Today, we look back at some of the agency's biggest developments in the past year.
3NASA announced in October that its experiment to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid had successfully changed the path of the orbiting object.
4Officials said it was the first time in history that a human action had changed the motion of a space object.
5NASA's DART spacecraft crashed in September into an asteroid called Dimorphos about 11 million kilometers from Earth.
6Dimorphos is a small "moonlet" that orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos.
7The goal of the crash was to see how it might redirect the asteroid's path and speed.
8The crash reduced the object's orbital period by 32 minutes.
9NASA scientists had predicted a reduction of 10 minutes.
10So, they were pleased with the test results.
11NASA described the crash as the world's first planetary defense test.
12The targeted asteroid did not present an actual threat to Earth.
13In July, NASA began releasing the first images captured by its James Webb Space Telescope.
14Officials described the Webb as "the largest and most powerful" science telescope ever built.
15The orbiting observatory is a large infrared telescope that builds on the work of earlier telescopes, such as the Hubble and Spitzer.
16But the Webb is designed to gather more data and explore parts of space never observed before.
17NASA praised the work of the Webb development team and said the telescope had begun "a new era in astronomy."
18In November, scientists said the Webb had also identified bright, early galaxies for the first time.
19One of the galaxies might have formed only 350 million years after the Big Bang, the event that explains the beginning of the universe.
20In November, NASA launched its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which U.S. officials have called the most powerful rocket ever built.
21The SLS rocket carried the Orion spacecraft, or capsule, into space.
22The goal was to carry out an uncrewed test mission to fly around the moon.
23The mission was part of the space agency's Artemis program, which aims to land Americans on the moon by the mid-2020s.
24During a news conference earlier this month, NASA officials said they were pleased with how Orion and its systems had performed during the mission. No major problems were reported.
25NASA said Orion had traveled more than 2.2 million kilometers during the test mission.
26The capsule parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California on December 11 and was safely recovered.
27The goal of Artemis I was to prepare for Artemis II, which will include astronauts.
28That is to be followed by Artemis III, which will aim to land astronauts on the moon's surface.
29If that goal is reached, it would be the first moon landing by astronauts since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
30After a summer trip, NASA announced in October its Curiosity explorer vehicle had reached its next exploration target on Mars.
31The explorer, or rover, reached an area known as Mount Sharp.
32The area sits within the planet's Gale Crater, which Curiosity has been exploring since landing on Mars in 2012.
33Mount Sharp contains a mix of rocky material and many large hills.
34Researchers have found past evidence that Mount Sharp contained many water systems billions of years ago.
35But scientists believe at some point, the Martian climate grew more extreme and caused the water to dry up.
36Any minerals still existing in the area might provide additional evidence of severe changes to the Martian climate.
37Shortly after arriving in the area, Curiosity's instruments discovered many different kinds and sizes.
38Among the discoveries were several different salt compounds that suggest the presence of water in the past.
39I'm Bryan Lynn.
1The American space agency NASA announced several major mission successes in 2022. Today, we look back at some of the agency's biggest developments in the past year. 2DART mission crashes spacecraft into asteroid 3NASA announced in October that its experiment to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid had successfully changed the path of the orbiting object. Officials said it was the first time in history that a human action had changed the motion of a space object. 4NASA's DART spacecraft crashed in September into an asteroid called Dimorphos about 11 million kilometers from Earth. Dimorphos is a small "moonlet" that orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos. 5The goal of the crash was to see how it might redirect the asteroid's path and speed. The crash reduced the object's orbital period by 32 minutes. NASA scientists had predicted a reduction of 10 minutes. So, they were pleased with the test results. 6NASA described the crash as the world's first planetary defense test. The targeted asteroid did not present an actual threat to Earth. 7Webb Space Telescope releases first images 8In July, NASA began releasing the first images captured by its James Webb Space Telescope. Officials described the Webb as "the largest and most powerful" science telescope ever built. 9The orbiting observatory is a large infrared telescope that builds on the work of earlier telescopes, such as the Hubble and Spitzer. But the Webb is designed to gather more data and explore parts of space never observed before. 10NASA praised the work of the Webb development team and said the telescope had begun "a new era in astronomy." 11In November, scientists said the Webb had also identified bright, early galaxies for the first time. One of the galaxies might have formed only 350 million years after the Big Bang, the event that explains the beginning of the universe. 12Artemis I test mission around the moon 13In November, NASA launched its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which U.S. officials have called the most powerful rocket ever built. 14The SLS rocket carried the Orion spacecraft, or capsule, into space. The goal was to carry out an uncrewed test mission to fly around the moon. The mission was part of the space agency's Artemis program, which aims to land Americans on the moon by the mid-2020s. 15During a news conference earlier this month, NASA officials said they were pleased with how Orion and its systems had performed during the mission. No major problems were reported. 16NASA said Orion had traveled more than 2.2 million kilometers during the test mission. The capsule parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California on December 11 and was safely recovered. 17The goal of Artemis I was to prepare for Artemis II, which will include astronauts. That is to be followed by Artemis III, which will aim to land astronauts on the moon's surface. If that goal is reached, it would be the first moon landing by astronauts since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972. 18Curiosity reaches new target area on Mars 19After a summer trip, NASA announced in October its Curiosity explorer vehicle had reached its next exploration target on Mars. 20The explorer, or rover, reached an area known as Mount Sharp. The area sits within the planet's Gale Crater, which Curiosity has been exploring since landing on Mars in 2012. Mount Sharp contains a mix of rocky material and many large hills. 21Researchers have found past evidence that Mount Sharp contained many water systems billions of years ago. But scientists believe at some point, the Martian climate grew more extreme and caused the water to dry up. 22Any minerals still existing in the area might provide additional evidence of severe changes to the Martian climate. Shortly after arriving in the area, Curiosity's instruments discovered many different kinds and sizes. Among the discoveries were several different salt compounds that suggest the presence of water in the past. 23I'm Bryan Lynn. 24Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. 25____________________________________________________________ 26Words in This Story 27asteroid - n. a rocky object that goes around the sun like a planet 28era - n. a period in history that is special for a particular reason 29_____________________________________________________________ 30What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 31Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.