Outstanding Technological Breakthroughs of 2022
The world of technology is everchanging and progressive. All over the world new technology comes to life. Here are some of the most relevant this year:
Asteroid deflected
For thousands—or even millions—of years, a small moon named Dimorphos made turns around a larger asteroid, millions of kilometers away from Earth. On 26 September, NASA crashed into it with a spacecraft, forever changing its orbit—and showing a strategy that might one day save humanity. When Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) satellite charged into the 160-meter-wide Dimorphos at 6 kilometers per second, scientists celebrated the first mock trial of a planetary defense mission. NASA’s main goal was to force Dimorphos slightly closer to its partner, shortening its orbital period and displaying a strategy for thwarting real threats, should future Earth-bound asteroids be detected.
A new space telescope achieves the deepest view of the universe
During the first half of 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the giant infrared instrument now parked a million miles from Earth, prepared take its first images. In July, those images were finally shown, revealing an unprecedented detailed view of the cosmos. According to Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator at NASA, one image of distant galaxies magnified by the gravity of other galaxies in the foreground represents the deepest view of the universe ever. JWST’s other magnificent images include a now-iconic view of the Carina Nebula and a stunning picture of Neptune’s rings. Currently, the telescope is non-stop working through a long list of planned observations, exploring everything from the oldest galaxies to distant exoplanets’ atmospheres.
Perseverance rover explores the Martian landscape
NASA’s Perseverance rover continued its hunt for signs of ancient life on Mars, this year in Jezero crater—a 28-mile-wide impact basin that was probably once filled with water. The rover spotted a few unexpected features as it trudged across the crater’s floor, such as thin purple coatings on some rocks resemble a type of rock varnish formed on Earth by microbes. The rover has also been making steady progress on its rock collection, gathering 14 samples that will be stored on Mars’s surface for a future mission to collect. In September, the rover embarked on the much-anticipated ancient river delta’s exploration at the crater’s edge. NASA and the European Space Agency are continuing to develop plans for returning the samples, which will require multiple spacecraft, including a pair of helicopters.
Fusion technology is reaching a turning point that could change the energy game
Our society faces the grand difficulty of offering sustainable, secure, and affordable forms of generating energy while trying to reduce CO2 emissions to net 0 around 2050. To date, advancements in fusion power, which potentially ticks all these boxes, have been funded nearly exclusively by the public industry. However, something is changing. Private equity investment in the world fusion industry has more than doubled in just one year– from US$ 2.1 billion in 2021 to US$ 4.7 billion in 2022, according to a survey from the Fusion Industry Association.
Nuclear fusion produces net positive energy in breakthrough experiment
In December 2022, scientist produced a fusion reaction that led to a net energy gain for the first time. The results from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California marks a substantial step on the long path toward producing clean energy from nuclear fusion. At 1:03 AM GMT-5 on December 5th, the national laboratory used 192 powerful lasers to compress a target of hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) just around the size of a peppercorn. The target is confined in a carefully crafted diamond shell (hohlraum). The experiment generated 3.15 megajoule of energy, approximately 50% more than the 2.05 megajoule the lasers used to induce the reaction. By doing so, achieving a scientific energy breakeven, the scientists accomplished what’s referred to as “fusion ignition.”
Has a ‘photon ring’ been detected?
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope team presented a stunning first picture of a black hole. It showed the shadow of galaxy M87’s black hole on its swirling ring of hot matter. Astrophysicists announced this year that they had teased out a ring within a ring in M87, identifying the thin circle of light formed by the orbiting photons that are thrown around the black hole before they fly toward Earth. This “photon ring” would provide a new way to test what we think we know about gravity. However, some researchers are critical of the methods utilized to identify the ring. A clear detection of the photon ring might have to wait for space telescopes to join the black hole–imaging effort.
