Space History
Historical Timeline
1952: Russia: First artificial satellite Sputnik 1 (10/4/1957)
1957: USSR: Sputnik 2: Laika
1958: USA: Explorer 1: Discovered the Van Allen Belts
1958: Flight data recorder: David Warren
1959: USSR: Luna 2: First spacecraft to reach the Moon
1959: USSR: Luna 3: First circumnavigation of Moon
1962: USA: Mariner 2: First interplanetary mission – Venus flyby
1962: USSR: Ranger 7: Impact with the Moon
1964: USA: Mariner 4: First close up pictures of Mars
1964: USA: Mariner 5: Venus flyby
1966: USSR: Luna 9: First successful lunar soft landing
1966: USSR: Luna 10: First spacecraft in lunar orbit
1966: USA: Surveyor 1: First US soft landing on the Moon
1966: USA: Lunar Orbiter 1: First lunar orbiting survey vehicle
1967: USSR: Venera 4: Frist data back from inside atmosphere of Venus
1969 - Moon - Space Age and UN
1970: USSR: Venera 7: First data back from surface of Venus
1970: USSR: Luna 16: Soft landing on Moon with return of samples to Earth
1971: USSR: Mars 2: Mars orbiter and landers, only orbiter successful
1971: USA: Mariner 9: Mars orbiter, first global mapping of planet
1972: Pioneer 10: First Jupiter flyby
1972: Venera 8: First chemical analysis of Venus
1973: USA: Pioneer 11: Second Jupiter flyby and first Saturn flyby
1973: USA: Mariner 10: First flyby of Mercury, obtained Venus data en route
1975: USSR: Venera 9: Data from surface of Venus and from orbiter
1975: USSR: Venera 10: Data from surface of Venus and from orbiter
1975: USA: Viking 1: First soft landing on Mars, also Mars orbiter
1975: USA: Viking 2: Second soft landing on Mars, also Mars orbiter
1977: USA: Voyager 1: Flybys of Jupiter, Saturn , Titan
1977: USA: Voyager 2: Grand your flybys of Jupiter, Saturn , Uranus, Neptune
1978: USA: Pioneer Venus Orbiter: First radar mapping of Venus from orbit
1978: USA: Pioneer Venus Probe Carrier: Atmospheric composition, radiation balance, cloud particle characteristics from four entry probes
1978: USSR: Venera 11: Atmospheric and cloud composition of Venus, surface studies
1978: USSR: Venera 12: Atmospheric and cloud composition of Venus, surface studies
1981: USSR: Venera 13: Venus atmosphere and surface studies: detection of lightning discharges
1981: USSR : Venera 14: Venus atmosphere and surface studies: detection of lightning discharges
1983: USSR: Venera 15: Orbiting radar mapping of Venus surface topography
1983: USSR: Venera 16: Orbiting radar mapping of Venus surface topography
1984: USSR: VEGA 1: Venus flyby, descent probe landing, balloon deployment
1984: USSR: VEGA 2: Closest to Halley nucleus, imaging
1989: USA: Magellan: Orbital radar mapping of Venus
1989: USA: Galileo: Flybys of Moon, Venus, and asteroids Gaspra and Ida, jovian orbital tour
1990: Hubble Telescope
1997 - Mars Global Surveyor - Maps Mars
1997 - Mars rover Pathfinder and Sojourner
1998 - The International Space Station is an international effort bringing people from different countries together. Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011
February 12, 2001- First Landing on an Asteroid
February 14, 2001 - 100th U.S. Spacewalk
March 11, 2001 - New Space Walk Record
April 28, 2001 - First Tourist in Space
February 1, 2003 - Space Shuttle - Columbia Disaster
February 1, 2003 - President Bush's - Columbia Speech
October 15, 2003 - First Chinese Manned Spaceflight
January 3, 2004 - Spirit Rover Lands on Mars
January 25, 2004 - Opportunity Rover Lands on Mars
June 21, 2004 - First Manned Private Space Flight
2004 - Venture Star - Next generation reusable spacecraft - Fixed the tanks for spacecraft.
July 1, 2004 - Cassini Probe Arrives at Saturn
October 5, 2004 - X PRIZE Awarded
January 14, 2005 - First Landing on an Alien Moon
July 4, 2005 - First Impact With a Comet
July 26, 2005 - Space Shuttle Returns to Flight
January 15, 2006 - First Comet Samples Returned to Earth
2006 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
March 6, 2009 - The Hunt for Extrasolar Planets
December 8, 2010 - First Commercial Orbit and Return
March 18, 2011 - First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury
July 8, 2011 - Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program
July 18, 2011 - Largest Space Telescope Launched
July 16, 2011 - First Spacecraft to Orbit an Asteroid
May 22, 2012 - First ISS Commercial Supply Mission
August 6, 2012 - Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars
August 25, 2012 - First Man-made Spacecraft in Interstellar Space
October 14, 2012 - First Skydive Jump to Break the Sound Barrier
August 6, 2014 - First Spacecraft to Orbit a Comet
November 12, 2014 - First Spacecraft to Land on a Comet
March 6, 2015 - First Spacecraft to Orbit a Dwarf Planet
July 14, 2015 - First Spacecraft to Reach Pluto
August 10, 2015 - First Food Grown in Space and Eaten
December 21, 2015 - First Propulsive Landing of an Orbital Rocket
2015 - Detected gravitational waves
September 21, 2018 - First Operational Rover on an Asteroid
January 3, 2018 - First Soft Landing on the Far Side of the Moon
2018 - Mars Insight Lander
April 10, 2019 - First Image of a Black Hole
January 3, 2018 - First Seeds Germinated on Another Celestial Body
2019 - SpaceX Starlink
January 7, 2020 - First Food Baked in Space
May 30, 2020 - First Commercial Manned Space Mission
2021 - Mars rover and Ingenuity Helicopter
2021 - Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Space X space launches
2021 - James Web Telescope
2022 - SLS Artemis moon mission launch
2023 - Psyche mission to asteroid Pysche 16
2023 - Starship Launch
2023 - Siena Galaxy Atlas
Space Inc: 10,000 Companies, $4T Value ... And 52% American. The 10,000+ companies in space technology have a combined value of over $4 trillion, according to the report. The resulting market expansion will drive the total value of the sector to $10 trillion by 2030, the report says.
Launch costs plummeting
SpaceX Starship is targeting a launch in early March 2024. Starship will accelerate to nearly 17,000 mph. Speed Mach 22.157 speed of sound.
A Vasimr 123,000 MPH Nuclear Rocket Could Reach Mars in Only One Month. NASA estimates that current technologies will get humans to Mars in seven months. The Vasimr plasma rocket cuts six months off the journey. Speed Mach 160.309 speed of sound.
A Pulsar fusion rocket designed to travel 500,000 mph is under construction. Speed Mach 651.662 speed of sound.
Satellite boom: The satellite market makes up the largest slice of the space economy, at over 70%, and Citi says the sector "is undergoing a paradigm shift in demand."
Artemis moon mission - 2025
LunaNet: Empowering Artemis with Communications and Navigation Interoperability.
Solar System internet on Moon then Mars.
Earth Has Received Power Beamed From A Satellite In Space For The First Time. Using their Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (MAPLE), the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD) has showcased that transmitting power in space and from space to Earth is possible. This is the first time solar power has been transmitted from orbit and could be the first step toward a solar power station in space. First launched in January 2023, just two months later the device was able to transmit about 100 milliwatts worth of power through space and could easily be refocused to send the beam in any direction. The test sending power to Earth had about 1 milliwatt of power getting to the ground and was conducted three times over eight months.
Moon lunar gold rush: water, helium 3, rare earth minerals. Moon base, lunar net, lunar gateway. Blue Alchemist can make solar panels energy for the Moon.
How we can turn the cold of outer space into a renewable resource. The moon is in the cold of outer space. Night sky - cooling technology. The freezing temperature in space sets the stage for night sky cooling that could help boost energy efficiency and fight climate change. This New Device Can Make Renewable Energy from the Cold Night Sky. This thermoelectric generator harnesses temperature differences to generate renewable electricity. The secret is using a phenomenon known as radiative cooling, which happens when surfaces on the ground radiate heat into the atmosphere. This process can make a surface cooler than the air surrounding it, which explains why frost forms on grass even if the air temperature is above freezing. Solar Panels That Work at Night using radiative cooling. Blue Origin develops technology to make solar cells from moon dust.
Mars terraforming: moxie oxygen generator, fuel cells water generator, vertical farms. There are also plentiful mineral resources on Mars including iron, titanium, nickel, aluminum, sulfur, chlorine and calcium. Silicon dioxide is the most common material on Mars. Perchlorate (ClO4) salts, we have discovered, are common on Mars. These salts have an affinity for water molecules and can collect water vapor over time, turning into a brine with a very low freezing temperature. Researchers were surprised to find high concentrations of perchlorates in the soil — ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 percent. Martian soil, enables the production of hydrogen fuel and life-support oxygen on Mars through electrolysis of perchlorate brines. Our Martian brine electrolyzer radically changes the logistical calculus of missions to Mars. The device worked quite well, producing about 25 times as much oxygen as its MOXIE counterpart can manage. Plus, it also produces hydrogen that could be used in a fuel cell to generate electricity. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) will be producing oxygen only, from the carbon dioxide in the air. MOXIE requires about 300 watts of power to run, and this device matches that oxygen output on about 12 watts.
Mars has a water reservoir two-miles deep, enough to fill Earth's Red Sea. The ice within the Medusae Fossae Formation, if melted, could envelop Mars in a water layer measuring between 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep. This represents the largest water reservoir discovered in this region of Mars, holding enough water to rival the volume of Earth's Red Sea.
There's a metal asteroid out there worth $10,000 quadrillion. 16 Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.
Jupiter now has 92 moons after new discovery
Jupiter moons: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Jupiter's Moon Ganymede Has a Salty Ocean with More Water than Earth
Jupiter's moon Ganymede has 46%, and Europa has 16% liquid water by volume.
Europa, which has a balance of hydrogen and oxygen similar to Earth. These findings support the possibility that Europa could be hospitable to life. The ocean is frozen 10 miles deep, but future missions might try to discover if the body of water is warm enough beneath the surface to support life.
Scientists have discovered 62 new moons orbiting the sixth planet Saturn making a total of 145 moons.
Saturn Moons: Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Prometheus, Mimas, Rhea, Janus, Tethys and Titan.
Scientists believe several moons within our solar system have significant subsurface liquid water deposits. Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa are two examples. Both appear to have salty, liquid oceans covered with thick layers of ice at the surface.
Scientists have found evidence that Saturn's moon Mimas may have an ocean locked underneath a shell of ice.
Moon, Mars, Titan
Titan moon's colossal methane seas. Measurements of a big sea on Titan, a moon of Saturn, show that it contains about 9,000 cubic km of mostly liquid methane. This huge volume is equivalent, say scientists, to about 40 times the proven reserves of oil and gas on Earth.
Saturn moon Titan - has an atmosphere, water, methane lakes for rocket fuel.
For protection from radiation, Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere 50 percent thicker than Earth’s. Saturn’s magnetosphere also provides shelter. On the surface, vast quantities of hydrocarbons in solid and liquid form lie ready to be used for energy. Although the atmosphere lacks oxygen, water ice just below the surface could be used to provide oxygen for breathing and to combust hydrocarbons as fuel. Thanks to its thick atmosphere, residents wouldn’t need pressure suits—just warm clothing and respirators. Housing could be made of plastic produced from the unlimited resources harvested on the surface, and could consist of domes inflated by warm oxygen and nitrogen. The ease of construction would allow huge indoor spaces. Titanians (as we call them) wouldn’t have to spend all their time inside. The recreational opportunities on Titan are unique. For example, you could fly. The weak gravity—similar to the Moon’s—combined with the thick atmosphere would allow individuals to aviate with wings on their backs.
Charting the Milky Way From the Inside Out. The results support the four-arm model of our galaxy's spiral structure. For the last few years, various methods of charting the Milky Way have largely led to a picture of four spiral arms. The arms are where most stars in the galaxy are born. They are stuffed with gas and dust, the ingredients of stars. Two of the arms, called Perseus and Scutum-Centaurus, seem to be more prominent and jam-packed with stars, while the Sagittarius and Outer arms have as much gas as the other two arms but not as many stars.
We find that the distance from the sun to the galaxy’s center is 8,150 + 150 parsecs (or 26,600 light-years). This is smaller than the value of 8,500 parsecs recommended decades ago by the International Astronomical Union. Also, we find that the Milky Way is spinning at 236 kilometers per second, which is about eight times the speed at which Earth orbits the sun. Based on these parameter values, we find that the sun circles the Milky Way every 212 million years.
There are at least 300 million potentially habitable planets in our galaxy, NASA finds.
Siena Galaxy Altas: Astronomers have created a cosmic atlas of 400,000 galaxies found in the neighbourhood of our Milky Way galaxy to understand the universe better.
Map of physics - small particles to astrophysics
5% classic physics, general and special relativity, quantum
95% dark matter and dark energy, dark matter slows down the expansion of the universe, while dark energy speeds it up.
In the standard cosmological model (lambda-CDM), the universe’s mass-energy content is divided as follows:
Ordinary matter: Makes up only 0.5% of the total mass.
Dark matter: Constitutes 30.1% of the matter-energy composition.
Dark energy: Dominates with 69.4%, driving the universe’s accelerated expansion.
Together, dark matter and dark energy account for 95% of the total mass-energy content.
History of the universe
Dark Matter
Dark matter is a fascinating and mysterious component of our universe. Let’s delve into its enigmatic nature:
Definition and Presence:
Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or the electromagnetic field.
Its existence is inferred from gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relativity unless more matter is present than what we can directly observe.
Astronomers discovered that the mass of large astronomical objects, along with their gravitational effects, far exceeds the mass contributed by “luminous matter” (which includes stars, gas, and dust) 12.
Composition and Distribution:
Dark matter constitutes 30.1% of the total matter-energy composition of the universe.
The remaining components are dark energy (69.4%) and the familiar “ordinary” visible matter (0.5%) 3.
There are two varieties of dark matter:
Baryonic: This type would consist of subatomic particles similar to protons and neutrons, but it remains elusive.
Nonbaryonic: The prevailing explanation is that dark matter consists of yet-undiscovered subatomic particles, such as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) or axions.
An alternative possibility is that dark matter is composed of primordial black holes 1.
Velocity and Classification:
Dark matter can be classified as “cold,” “warm,” or “hot” based on its velocity (specifically, its free streaming length).
Recent models favor a cold dark matter scenario, where structures emerge gradually through particle accumulation.
However, recent observations, including gravitational waves and data from the James Webb Space Telescope, have strengthened the case for primordial and direct collapse black holes 1.
In summary, dark matter remains an intriguing puzzle—a cosmic enigma that continues to captivate scientists and stargazers alike.