As the decade draws to a close, we reflect on humanity's notable moments as it tried to make inroads in space.
Thanks to advancements in technology and the ingenuity of researchers, great discoveries were made. On top of that, glass ceilings were broken as more and more women became front and center in our quest to understand the universe.
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Below is a compilation of the groundbreaking discoveries that brought the far-reaches of space closer than ever.
10. The Parker probe to the sun
There have been numerous missions to the moon, but what about the sun? NASA launched the Parker Probe to the sun in 2018, and it provided the public with surprising images of the sun's corona – the outer halo that is only properly seen during an eclipse. The probe measured intense magnetic fields, harsh solar winds, and revealed that the sun actually emits materials and gases into space. Parker became the first artificial object to ever be in such proximity to our sun and is scheduled to reach the closest-ever distance in 2024.
9. Voyager probes
Although the Voyager 2 Probe was sent into space in 1977, it was the first object to venture beyond our Solar System, and reach interstellar space in 2012. Voyager 2 is the only probe to have flown past both ice giants Uranus and Neptune. It measured magnetic fields, provided photographs, and chartered everything from Jupiter's storm patterns to Saturn's rings, along with the moons of Uranus and Neptune. So far, it's been traveling through space for over 40 years and is currently floating somewhere past the Solar System, some 11 billion miles away from us right now.
8. New Horizons Pluto
The New Horizons spacecraft was sent into space in 2006, but reached Pluto in 2015, photographing fine-detailed pictures of Pluto, and its moons, Charon, Nix and providing two blurrier shots of its moons, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos. The probe even revealed that icy volcanoes and sharp mountain peaks exist on the icy dwarf planet's surface!
7. The Martian rovers: Curiosity and Opportunity
Both rovers landed on the red planet, the former in 2006, but the latter reached it only in 2016. Not only did the probes grace the worldwide public with depictions of the highly contrasted deserts and mountains, they also collected samples of red dust and other geological rock features for future analysis. Curiosity – a truck-sized rover – even has its own Instagram page, where it updates people of its travels.
6. Exoplanets
While once, many thought that planets solely existed within our Solar System, as research expanded, the discovery of exoplanets was made possible. Soon, the presence of such planets provided proof that perhaps life may exist outside of the Kuiper Belt. However, the possibility of extraterrestrial life was not exclusive to the far-reaches of space. In fact, within our Solar System, scientists have postulated that perhaps life may already exist in several locations, from Saturn's moon, Titan to Jupiter moon, Io, on Mars, and even on the icy bodies of Neptune and Pluto.
5. China and India's lunar missions
While Israel made headlines this past year with its launch of Beresheet into space in February 2019, other countries have made similar headlines this decade in their attempts to carry out lunar landings. Most notably was India's Chandrayyaan mission, which the Indian teams eventually lost contact with prior to its landing, and China's mission in 2018 to the far side of the moon.
4. Katie Bouman – the first image of a black hole
A young female scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Katie Bouman smashed headlines this year by writing algorithms that helped create the first computer-generated image of a black hole. Earlier last year, as well, researchers at Tel Aviv University were the first to calculate, discover, and spot a supermassive black hole, located hundreds of thousands of light-years away from our small blue planet.
3. All-female spacewalk
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conducted the first all-female spacewalk aboard the International Space Station in September 2019. Not only did the duo fix a battery charging unit aboard the station, they spent some six hours floating above our Earth – taking pictures, and even receiving a phone call from US President Donald Trump.
2. NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir
The first female astronaut of Israeli and Mizrahi descent was sent into space this year. Jessica Meir, who recently posted an image of herself wearing Hanukkah-themed socks aboard the International Space Station, made history in September. Meir is a biologist by trade, and pursued numerous research studies the world over. She is the fourth Jewish female astronaut to ever fly in space, and is due to return sometime around April 2020.
1. Beresheet
Israel's first lunar mission blasted off into space this past February in an attempt to make Israel the fourth nation to land upon the lunar surface. Unfortunately, there was a technical malfunction that led to its crash upon the moon, but it still left a large crater in its midst. Either way, the Israeli blue-and-white flag made it to the moon, and that is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Who knows what the 2020s have in store for us humans in this potentially endless universe?
Landing humans on Mars? Clearer images of black holes? The discovery of new habitable planets?
And after that?
Only time will tell.
