China lands at the far side of the moon
On Jan 3, China’s Chang’e 4 mission had landed on the far side of the moon for the first time. This is a feat never before achieved by any other space agency. The Yutu 2 lander probed the region for 6 months. The lander had sent back pictures of the lunar surface on that side. This important mission can lead to future excavation of the lunar surface for resources or even a temporary or permanent lunar colony.
First Image of Black hole
In April, a team of scientists released the first picture of a black hole. Taken using the event horizon telescope they had managed to take a picture of the black hole at the center of M87. The team though had faced many troubles. First of all, black holes can not be observed using visible light because they absorb it so the team had to use radio waves.
Voyager 2 finds mysterious extra layer outside solar system
The voyager 2 spacecraft was launched in 2018 to gather crucial information that its sister aircraft, voyager 1 could not gather because of a malfunction in the plasma measuring instrument. In 2019, the spacecraft has sent some astonishing information that there is an extra layer outside the solar system that scientists were unaware of until then. This discovery could lead to the findings of exoplanets for human colonization.
Japanese lander collects samples from an asteroid
In July, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency had sent a spacecraft to collect samples from an asteroid. The Hayabusa 2 space-craft had collected samples from the Ryugu asteroid which obits our sun up to a distance of 131 million miles. Analyzation of space rocks from asteroids can tell a lot about our universe’s past.
NASA launches atomic space clock
In June, NASA launches DSAC(Deep Space Atomic Clock) which can keep time accurate up to one-tenth-millionth of a second over the time span of a year. NASA plans to use it for suture space missions so that automated and human propelled spacecrafts and rockets can get accurate time without aid from earth to calculate location and speed. Also, the spacecraft used to bring it into space was the first reusable rocket from SpaceX and can be used for commercial travel from earth to space.
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