It’s not new information that the past year has been pretty wild in terms of, well, almost everything – but with a pandemic on either side, the space industry has made a big discovery. in 2020.
From SpaceX sending humans to the International Space Station to Nokia getting a contract to put 4G on the Moon, the likes of NASA and co are always amazing us.
So with this in mind, UNILAD they decided to compile a list of some of the most unusual objects discovered or named by scientists, researchers and astronauts over the past 12 months.
1) Many ‘bodies of water’ have been found on Mars
A study using Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) backed by the European Space Agency (ESA) supported previous findings fr0m 2018, which saw researchers announcing that they were on a large lake found beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
The MARSIS used methods borrowed from Earth satellites to study the lakes beneath the Antarctic glaciers, which then allowed researchers to confirm that Mars was liquefied. The 2018 study found one pool of water, and by 2020 confirmed several ponds in addition to several other ‘wetlands’. This has been cited as a key part of ongoing studies of possible life on Mars.
2) Scientists discovered breathable oxygen in another galaxy for the first time ever
Back in February, breathable oxygen was discovered in another galaxy for the first time in history. The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
In the last two decades, molecular oxygen has been discovered only twice: once in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, and once again in the Orion Nebula, respectively 350 and 1,344 light-years from Earth. Although thought to have contained very little oxygen, it was still a major setback.
3) A study found that there could be 30 ‘active’ alien civilizations in our galaxy
A study by the University of Nottingham found that researchers accepted that life evolves on other planets in a similar way to how it evolves on Earth. With the team saying that they believe it took five billion years for intelligent life to develop on Earth, they concluded that intelligent life on other planets will have taken the same amount of time.
With this in mind, they estimated the possibility that ‘our Galaxy should have at least a few dozen active civilizations’.
4) Scientists have discovered a new way to create oxygen on Mars
People have long been trying to find a way to make Mars suitable for humans, and perhaps this discovery is just possible. Scientists at the University of Washington in St. Louis a way to create oxygen on the Red Planet last month by dividing frozen salts into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis.
This contributed to NASA’s Mars Oxygen plans in an ongoing Situ Resource Use Test (MOXIE), which was attempting to convert CO2 to oxygen.
5) A new planet has been discovered that will leak iron
A Different View of The Weather Girls’ They are water men, scientists discovered a planet called Wasp-76b, which has ‘weird’ environmental conditions and wet iron. Making the planet even alien, one side of it permanently during the day, and the other permanently overnight. There is also a 1,000 ° C difference between the two sides.
Explaining how the iron rain occurs, Dr David Ehrenreich from the University of Geneva said, ‘What we think of is the condensation of the iron on the night side, which yes, although still hot at 1,400 ° C, cold enough that iron can condense clouds, like rain, perhaps like droplets. ‘
6) Uranus has been reported to smell like farts
Not only does the planet have a name that deserves a joke, it also smells really bad too, with scientists referring to the atmosphere as smelling like… rotten… nice eggs. A study of the planet was published in October, where Patrick Irwin established the nature of the planet’s clouds and what they would look like.
The professor of planetary physics at Oxford University explained, ‘If [a person] they could survive the fall down to Uranus, there would be a horrible smell of rotten eggs. ‘I don’t think Uranus is going to be a holiday destination anytime soon.
7) A study found that the Moon is much younger than originally thought
85 million years in total younger, to be precise. It was previously believed that the Moon was created at the same time as the Earth, but it is now thought to have been made right at the end of the Earth’s creation. The discovery was made by scientists at the German Aerospace Center, who determined how long it took for the lunar magma ocean to cool, as it is widely believed that the lunar surface melted.
Their findings estimated that the Moon was created 100 million years later than previously thought, leaving it 85 million years younger. They added that they believed that the Moon was created after the Earth was hit by a protoplanet Theia while they were still evolving. Who would have thought?
Other notable space-related events that took place in 2020 saw the launch of the crews into space. Jonny Kim was the first Korean-American to become a NASA astronaut, and Victor Glover was the first Black astronaut to go into space. We hope that this trend will continue throughout 2021.