- Email: [email protected]
Reaching for the moon once more
Review of the year Trends of 2019
Reaching for the moon once more Five decades after Apollo 11, 2019 was the year we got serious about walking on the lunar surface again, writes Leah Crane
A
S THE 50th anniversary of the first human on the moon, and Neil Armstrong’s “one giant leap”, 2019 was always going to be an important year for the moon. It turned out to be even bigger than expected – and perhaps the start of a new era of exploration of our natural satellite. The year started with China making history by putting the first lunar lander on the moon’s far side. On 3 January, the Chang’e 4 lander successfully touched down, providing the first glimpses we have had from the surface there. It even brought a small biosphere containing cotton seeds, which sprouted there before being plunged into darkness. These plants weren’t the moon’s only victims. Two small landers crashed on the surface: Israeli start-up SpaceIL’s Beresheet in April and India’s Vikram in September. The nations narrowly missed out on becoming the fourth country to land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the US and China. Beresheet would have also been the first privately funded lander to do so.
07
Arrokoth is the most distant space rock we have ever visited, some 6.6 billion kilometres away. It is shaped a bit like a flattened snowman
Quantum supremacy Efforts to develop quantum computers gradually ramped up this decade, culminating with Google’s announcement of quantum supremacy in 2019. The firm developed the first quantum computer capable of performing a calculation that no classical supercomputer on Earth can match.
24 | New Scientist | 21/28 December 2019
08
Proxima Centauri b When the decade began, we knew of about 450 planets beyond our solar system. Now, that number has bloomed to more than 4000. Most significant of all was the discovery of Proxima Centauri b in 2016, the closest known exoplanet, at a distance of 4.2 light years from Earth.
2019 through a lens
Exploring the solar system
Clockwise from left: Photographer Loren Elliott Agency Getty Images Agency Chongqing University/ CLEP Agency CLEP/CNSA
09 Agency JAXA
Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX revealed its Starship, designed to carry people to the moon and Mars, in September. The stainless steel prototype pictured (far left) is the Mk1 in Texas. The project had a setback in November when a tank on the Mk1 exploded during testing, destroying part of the craft. SpaceX is working on another version, the Mk2, in Florida and has started on its third prototype. An orbital flight is expected next year. In January, China’s lunar lander, Chang’e 4, raised a little garden of cotton plants on the far side of the moon (above left) – hinting that humans could grow food on its surface in the future. But soon
after the cotton seeds sprouted, night fell and the temperature plummeted, killing off the plants. The lander is the first to touch down successfully on the far side of the moon. Its lunar rover is pictured above. Japan’s spacecraft Hayabusa2 bombed an asteroid in April. Hovering 500 metres above the surface of Ryugu, it shot a copper projectile packed with explosives towards the rocky landscape. This sent debris into orbit (left) and made a crater. Hayabusa2 then landed on Ryugu to collect a sample from this crater. The spacecraft is now on its way back to Earth and should reach us at the end of 2020.
Face transplants The first full transplant took place in 2010. In a 24-hour operation, a Spanish farmer who had accidentally shot himself had the remains of his face removed, leaving just his eyeballs and tongue. The rest was replaced by the entire face of a dead donor.
Neither mission was a complete failure. Vikram rode with the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft, which is still in orbit and has its own scientific instruments to map the moon’s surface and study its atmosphere. Beresheet made Israel just the seventh nation to orbit the moon. One major goal of both landers was to learn more about the lunar surface, particularly the water ice near the moon’s south pole that makes it a promising target for human exploration. In fact, in 2019, US vice president Mike Pence announced a directive to send American astronauts, including the first woman on the moon, to its south pole by 2024 in what has been named the Artemis programme. That marked an acceleration in NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon, and the agency has already started work, selecting three landers to carry scientific instruments to the surface in preparation for eventually sending people again. One of those landers, built by Astrobotic, is also contracted to carry the UK’s first rover to the moon – it is being built by UK start-up SpaceBit, as announced at New Scientist Live in October. The same month, it was revealed that three of space flight’s biggest private players, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, are teaming up to build a lander to get humans to the lunar surface. There are obstacles, both technical and political, between now and putting people on the moon for the first time in half a century. But the Artemis programme has spurred the space industry to action, and even if it is a long journey to make the return, the odyssey has already begun. ❚ Leah Crane is New Scientist’s space and physics reporter and is based in Chicago
10
Richard III A car park in Leicester, UK, hosted a scene worthy of Shakespeare. In 2012, a team of geneticists and historians announced they had excavated the remains of Richard III, former king of England. The skeleton showed signs of spinal curvature and DNA evidence from his descendants supported the find.
21/28 December 2019 | New Scientist | 25
Reaching for the moon once more Five decades after Apollo 11, 2019 was the year we got serious about walking on the lunar surface again, writes Leah Crane
A
S THE 50th anniversary of the first human on the moon, and Neil Armstrong’s “one giant leap”, 2019 was always going to be an important year for the moon. It turned out to be even bigger than expected – and perhaps the start of a new era of exploration of our natural satellite. The year started with China making history by putting the first lunar lander on the moon’s far side. On 3 January, the Chang’e 4 lander successfully touched down, providing the first glimpses we have had from the surface there. It even brought a small biosphere containing cotton seeds, which sprouted there before being plunged into darkness. These plants weren’t the moon’s only victims. Two small landers crashed on the surface: Israeli start-up SpaceIL’s Beresheet in April and India’s Vikram in September. The nations narrowly missed out on becoming the fourth country to land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the US and China. Beresheet would have also been the first privately funded lander to do so.
07
Arrokoth is the most distant space rock we have ever visited, some 6.6 billion kilometres away. It is shaped a bit like a flattened snowman
Quantum supremacy Efforts to develop quantum computers gradually ramped up this decade, culminating with Google’s announcement of quantum supremacy in 2019. The firm developed the first quantum computer capable of performing a calculation that no classical supercomputer on Earth can match.
24 | New Scientist | 21/28 December 2019
08
Proxima Centauri b When the decade began, we knew of about 450 planets beyond our solar system. Now, that number has bloomed to more than 4000. Most significant of all was the discovery of Proxima Centauri b in 2016, the closest known exoplanet, at a distance of 4.2 light years from Earth.
2019 through a lens
Exploring the solar system
Clockwise from left: Photographer Loren Elliott Agency Getty Images Agency Chongqing University/ CLEP Agency CLEP/CNSA
09 Agency JAXA
Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX revealed its Starship, designed to carry people to the moon and Mars, in September. The stainless steel prototype pictured (far left) is the Mk1 in Texas. The project had a setback in November when a tank on the Mk1 exploded during testing, destroying part of the craft. SpaceX is working on another version, the Mk2, in Florida and has started on its third prototype. An orbital flight is expected next year. In January, China’s lunar lander, Chang’e 4, raised a little garden of cotton plants on the far side of the moon (above left) – hinting that humans could grow food on its surface in the future. But soon
after the cotton seeds sprouted, night fell and the temperature plummeted, killing off the plants. The lander is the first to touch down successfully on the far side of the moon. Its lunar rover is pictured above. Japan’s spacecraft Hayabusa2 bombed an asteroid in April. Hovering 500 metres above the surface of Ryugu, it shot a copper projectile packed with explosives towards the rocky landscape. This sent debris into orbit (left) and made a crater. Hayabusa2 then landed on Ryugu to collect a sample from this crater. The spacecraft is now on its way back to Earth and should reach us at the end of 2020.
Face transplants The first full transplant took place in 2010. In a 24-hour operation, a Spanish farmer who had accidentally shot himself had the remains of his face removed, leaving just his eyeballs and tongue. The rest was replaced by the entire face of a dead donor.
Neither mission was a complete failure. Vikram rode with the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft, which is still in orbit and has its own scientific instruments to map the moon’s surface and study its atmosphere. Beresheet made Israel just the seventh nation to orbit the moon. One major goal of both landers was to learn more about the lunar surface, particularly the water ice near the moon’s south pole that makes it a promising target for human exploration. In fact, in 2019, US vice president Mike Pence announced a directive to send American astronauts, including the first woman on the moon, to its south pole by 2024 in what has been named the Artemis programme. That marked an acceleration in NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon, and the agency has already started work, selecting three landers to carry scientific instruments to the surface in preparation for eventually sending people again. One of those landers, built by Astrobotic, is also contracted to carry the UK’s first rover to the moon – it is being built by UK start-up SpaceBit, as announced at New Scientist Live in October. The same month, it was revealed that three of space flight’s biggest private players, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, are teaming up to build a lander to get humans to the lunar surface. There are obstacles, both technical and political, between now and putting people on the moon for the first time in half a century. But the Artemis programme has spurred the space industry to action, and even if it is a long journey to make the return, the odyssey has already begun. ❚ Leah Crane is New Scientist’s space and physics reporter and is based in Chicago
10
Richard III A car park in Leicester, UK, hosted a scene worthy of Shakespeare. In 2012, a team of geneticists and historians announced they had excavated the remains of Richard III, former king of England. The skeleton showed signs of spinal curvature and DNA evidence from his descendants supported the find.
21/28 December 2019 | New Scientist | 25