6 space and astonomy events to look out for in 2022

Analysis: From telescopes and moon missions to the first Irish space probe, here's what's some of what's happening in deep-space this year

We are in a golden era of astronomical discovery and space exploration. Strange dark matter and energy dominating our universe and Earth-like conditions on Mars billions of years ago are just two of recent discoveries that point to an enthralling universe we are just now beginning know. We have rediscovered our zest for deep-space exploration, with plans afoot to send people back to the moon, and potentially to Mars.

The coming decade promises much excitemen. The 40-meter European Southern Observatory "Extremely Large Telescope" and the James Webb Space Telescope are just two of many telescopes being built that will revolutionise our view of the universe. There is also NASA's Artemis Program to the moon and Rovers on Mars now and to return samples by 2030.

Private companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and others are already bringing civilians to space and promising low cost access to orbit Earth. All of these herald an enthralling future in space, which will hopefully include Ireland’s budding scientists, engineers and civilians too. Here are six things to watch out for in 2022.

(1) A telescope with a mission

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, and transformed our perception of the universe, through discovering the age of the universe to detecting planets around other stars. For some time, we’ve realised the need for an even larger space telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched on Christmas Day last.

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From BBC News, how will the James Webb Space Telescope work?

Named after the NASA administrator who oversaw the Apollo moon landings and who secured the Voyager and Hubble programs, this tennis-court sized telescope dwarfs even Hubble. Coming in at over $11 billion dollars, it is the most sophisticated object ever put into space. It has just completed its full deployment in space – a significant feat – and will begin enthralling us with spectacular discoveries within six months.

It will not reside in earth's orbit, but instead in a gravitationally stable location 1.5 million km away known as L2. For the next decade, it will pick up the challenges laid down by Hubble: to look back to the beginning of time and image the first stars in the universe; to see the births of stars and planets; to look for life-signs on planets around other stars and to monitor the planets, moons, asteroids and comets of our own solar system.

Seeing the first stars in the universe will be an enormous challenge even for JWST. The instrument to be used, called MIRI, was in part designed by Prof Tom Ray and Dr Patrick Kavanagh of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.

(2) Heading back to the moon

The last person to step onto the moon was Eugene Cernan on December 12th 1972. While the Apollo program was unsustainable, several false-dawns have left our deep-space ambitions unfulfilled until recently. Now, NASA, with partners ESA and others, are on the cusp of a new era of deep-space human exploration. The first milestone will occur in March this year with the launch of Artemis 1 with goals to build a lunar orbiting space station, human landings on the Moon and expeditions to Mars.

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From NASA, priming Artemis 1 for launch to the moon

Central to all plans has been the development of a new rocket capable of carrying large cargos and people into space. Despite setbacks, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is a rocket even more powerful that Saturn-V. It will roll out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Centre in February, with launch scheduled for March 12th.

The program to return people to the Moon is titled Artemis after Apollo's twin sister and is apt as NASA have announced that the next person to set foot on the moon will be a woman, something scheduled for 2025. Before then, the SLS rocket must be tested. On March 12th, Artemis 1 will launch into space, travel to just 100km of the surface of the moon and return the Orion capsule (the part that carries the astronauts) to splash down off the west coast of the USA 25 days later.

(3) A look around Mars

Since the 1990s, planetary scientists have known that Mars was once Earth-like and a new era of Mars exploration began in 1997 with the landing of the Pathfinder rover. Since then, 21 orbiters, landers and rovers have gone to Mars, revolutionising our understanding of the red planet. Not only was Mars clement in its early history, but it was also habitable and retains vast reserves of water-ice today.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Kevin Nolan discusses NASA's 2020 Mars rover mission

We have some way to go to determine if there was life on Mars. ESA will send the Rosalind Franklin Rover (named in honour of English scientist Rosalind Franklin, who played a pivotal role in discovering the structure of DNA) to Mars in September. It will land on June 10th 2023 at a location called Oxia Planum and use a powerful drill to acquire underground soil samples for analysis for their biological potential. There's plenty of Ireland involvement, through Ireland’s membership of the ESA and Irish scientist Dr. Leo Metcalf, who is Operations Manager of the ExoMars program.

(4) SpaceX's Starship launch

Space exploration is now characterised by the engagement of a range of players across society. In what is termed Space 4.0, private companies, academia and ordinary citizens are increasingly engaging space and defining what space exploration and enterprise are.

One of the major players is SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk. Already revolutionising low cost, reusable access to earth orbit, SpaceX’s long-term goals include building a powerful reusable rocket called Starship. When complete, Starship may bring people to Mars, while NASA has already contracted SpaceX to modify Starship as the Lander for the Artemis program. Starship developments have commenced at their base in Texas; with the first Starship launch into orbit anticipated in 2022.

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From SpaceX, live stream of SpaceX's Starship high-altitude flight test in May 2021

(5) Planetary alignments

There are two noteworthy planetary alignment events in 2022. On April 5th at around 4.30am low in the southeast sky, you’ll see Venus, Mars and Saturn very close to one another. Indeed, Mars and Saturn will be less than the diameter of the Moon in the sky apart, just 0.4 degrees apart. If you have binoculars, you may just make out the oval shape of Saturn’s rings and the phase of Venus. This will be a breath-taking sight.

On June 24th, again at 4.30am, you will see the rare appearance of the planet Mercury just above the horizon as you look south from where the Sun rises. It will be followed by Venus, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, all stretched across the sky in an almost perfect straight line. It too will be a spectacle to behold.

(6) Ireland's first space probe?

Ireland has a long legacy of participation in space projects with significant contributions by Prof. Denis O'Sullivan, Prof. Susan McKenna-Lawlor and Prof. Brian McBreen. Their legacy continues with Prof Lorraine Hanlon and Prof Sheila McBreen at C-Space, the UCD Centre for Space Research.

It's here that EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first indigenous space probe, is currently being built. Designed by students at UCD, this exciting mission will carry three innovative experiments into Earth orbit: a new kind of Gamma-ray detector to study the most energetic objects in the Universe, a specialised space probe coating developed by Cork company ENBIO and a novel spacecraft attitude-control-system designed by UCD mechanical engineers.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ