While preparing for a robotic return to the lunar surface, NASA advanced its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative closer to home. Meanwhile, farther in the solar system, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope deployed and captured new images, Hubble continued to make new discoveries, the agency conducted two Venus flybys, and more:
- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope successfully unfolded into its final configuration in space, including the unprecedented deployment of its tennis court-sized sunshield. In July, NASA and its partners unveiled Webb's first full-color images and spectroscopic data. Since then, Webb has drawn back the curtain on some of the earliest galaxies ever observed; studied the atmospheres of exoplanets in more detail than ever before; and offered new views of planets in our own solar system, capturing the clearest look at Neptune's rings in decades. The U.S. Postal Service celebrated Webb's successes by issuing a new stamp featuring an illustration of the telescope.
- NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully impacted its target asteroid in the world's first-ever test for planetary defense. Since then, the mission's Investigation Team confirmed DART's kinetic impact successfully moved its target asteroid into a new orbit, marking the first-time humanity has ever altered a celestial body's motion in space.
Through CLPS, NASA selected two new science instrument suites – including one that will study the mysterious Gruithuisen Domes for the first time – for priority Artemis science on the Moon through the agency's Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon ( PRISM) call for proposals. NASA also awarded Draper a contract to deliver Artemis science investigations to the Moon in 2025. The experiments riding on Draper's SERIES-2 lander are headed to Schrödinger Basin, a large lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon, close to the lunar South Pole.
- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope spotted the farthest individual star ever seen, whose light took 12.9 billion years to reach Earth – a huge leap further back in time from the previous record holder. For the first time, Hubble also provided direct evidence for a lone black hole drifting through interstellar space by a precise mass measurement of the phantom object.
- In a cosmic milestone, the total number of confirmed exoplanets in NASA's Exoplanet Archive reached 5,000, representing a 30-year journey of discovery led by NASA space telescopes.
- NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) began its science mission in space. Since then, IXPE has revealed the shape and orientation of matter around black holes, surprised astronomers with unexpected findings on the magnetic field orientations of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, and helped solve the mystery surrounding a black hole jet.
- Solar Cycle 25 is nearing solar maximum in 2025 and the Sun's activity is already exceeding expectations.
- Smothered in thick clouds, Venus' surface is usually shrouded from sight. But in two flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager, or WISPR, to capture its first images of Venus in visible light.
- When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted in January, it sent atmospheric shock waves, sonic booms, and tsunami waves around the world. Scientists analyzed data from NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission and ESA's Swarm satellites to find that the volcano's effects also reached space.
- As Voyager, NASA's longest-lived mission, logs 45 years in space and studies the very nature of space far beyond the planets, NASA selected Geospace Dynamics Constellation to help improve our understanding of the dynamics of the Sun, the Sun-Earth connection, and the constantly changing space environment. Multi-slit Solar Explorer and HelioSwarm missions to help improve our understanding of the dynamics of the Sun, the Sun-Earth connection, and the constantly changing space environment.
- Researchers continued to pioneer scientific discovery using NASA's Cold Atom Lab, the first quantum physics facility aboard the International Space Station.
- Supporting future Artemis missions and lunar science with Biological Experiment-01. Four investigations aboard Artemis I helped pave the way for future missions to the Moon and beyond.
- Celebrated 25 years of continuous robotic exploration of Mars, with at least one spacecraft operating at all times, either on the surface or in orbit around the planet.
- The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter now is scouting for a possible landing spot for a future Mars Sample Return campaign.
- NASA and ESA entered into a formal agreement on the next step in their campaign to return scientifically selected samples from Mars and are proceeding with the creation of a sample tube depot on the Red Planet.
- After eight successful years of science operations, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) completed its final science flight. This now-retired mission leaves behind a legacy of scientific accomplishments and engineering ingenuity.
Developing New Technologies for Benefit of All
NASA advances capabilities for space exploration, tapping entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators across the country for solutions that will enable missions for decades to come. From launching space missions to demonstrating advanced technologies to supporting the development of early-stage concepts, 2022 highlights include:
- CAPSTONE – short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment – launched and entered a unique orbit at the Moon, beginning its mission to test the orbit planned for Artemis' Gateway outpost and demonstrate new technologies.
- LOFTID, or the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, successfully demonstrated an inflatable heat shield technology that could be used for human missions to Mars.
- The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) began its in-orbit experiments to test a new way to send data from space.
- Launched Lunar Flashlight to the Moon, where the small satellite will use lasers to hunt for ice in permanently shadowed regions at the Moon's South Pole.
- An instrument on the Perseverance rover, MOXIE – short for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment – completed more runs on the Red Planet, producing a total of 140 minutes to date of breathable oxygen from Mars' carbon dioxide rich atmosphere.
- NASA and the Department of Energy announced fission surface power concept awards to three companies.
- Awarded a contract for the development of a next-generation spaceflight computing processor to enable future exploration missions.
- Selected three companies to further advance work on deployable vertical solar array systems that will help power the agency's human and robotic exploration of the Moon under Artemis.
- More than 700 organizations from all 50 U.S. states and 46 countries joined NASA in fostering lunar technology development through the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium.
- Winners of the inaugural NASA TechLeap Prize – Autonomous Observation Challenge No. 1 tested their technologies on high-altitude balloon flights less than a year after the competition was launched.
- NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fostered early-stage, futuristic ideas , such as custom, 3D-printed spacesuits, swimming micro-robots to explore ocean worlds, and a new kind of solar sail.
- NASA's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs supported the investment of approximately $230 million to hundreds of U.S. small businesses to foster technology development supporting the agency's goals.
- NASA transferred technologies and software to industry and entrepreneurs, executing 164 licensing agreements and 4,772 software usage agreements.
- Agency investments in the development of novel roll-out solar arrays (ROSAs) were used to power the DART mission and enable a sufficient future power supply for the International Space Station.
- Early career researchers advanced agency capabilities in areas including nanosensor technologies, dynamic visual displays for spacesuit helmets, and modular, reconfigurable robotic arms for in-space assembly through new and continuing projects under the Early Career Initiative.
- In partnership with multiple agencies, NASA issued a joint solicitation to extend the lifespan of 3D tissue chips.
