Major breakthroughs in space science in recent time
Space's hottest images
Scientists have a thorough understanding of the sun's inner workings, but many questions remain about this star, including why its atmosphere is hotter than its surface and why the coronal mass ejection occurred.
Thanks to two astronomical observatories, scientists were able to get a closer look at some of the sun's most perplexing phenomena in 2020: NASA's high-resolution corona imager, which is a suborbital telescope, or Hi- for short; and NASA's solar orbiter, which is a space probe jointly run by the agency and the European Space Agency.
The Hi-C observation mission scientists published the clearest image of the sun ever this spring, showing the fine patterns of the superheated plasma that makes up the sun's outer layer. The researchers in charge of solar orbiter observations at NASA and the European Space Agency aren't far behind. So far, they've published images of the sun at its closest approach.
"These beautiful pictures will help scientists understand what the sun's atmosphere looks like," Holly Gilbert, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Center, said in a press release.
This is critical for understanding how it drives space weather near the Earth and in the solar system.
Mars has earthquakes
According to the survey, the first scientific paper based on data obtained by NASA's "Insight" probe was released in 2020. Hundreds of Martian earthquakes have been observed by the seismometer on the "Insight" since the launch of scientific research missions at the end of 2018. The "Insight" instrument often sensed seismic waves, suggesting that a large piece of sand lay a few feet under the surface of the land where it landed.
According to NASA and ETH Zurich researchers, the structure under Mars' sandy topsoil is very similar to that of the earth's crystalline crust, but with more cracks. Certain earthquakes have been related to certain diseases, according to researchers.
Asteroids must be captured
NASA succeeded in collecting rocks and dust from the surface of asteroids this year, making the US the second nation to do so.
During its orbit around the "Benu" asteroid in early October, NASA's "Pluto" probe performed a manoeuvre sampling immediately after landing (TAG).
The rock sample had been successfully sealed in a capsule and was ready to be returned to the laboratory. The return journey to Earth will begin next year, but the rock samples will not arrive until 2023.
Scientists hope that these samples will aid them in unravelling the mysteries of the solar system's early history and assisting "planetary defence" engineers in protecting the world from asteroids.
Sample from the Moon
China was the first nation to send a spacecraft to the far side of the moon last year. China became the first nation in decades to collect lunar rock and soil samples and return them to Earth this year.
China's Chang'e-5 lander landed on Mount Rumke in the north of the storm ocean on the front of the moon in early December this year. It has a 1.2 billion-year past. The lander lifted off the lunar surface after collecting 4.4 pounds (approximately 2 kilogrammes) of lunar rock and soil samples to rendezvous and dock with the spacecraft's orbiter. Around 3 kilometres from the main spacecraft, the Chang'e-5 return capsule was safely separated.