Even if there are still no flying cars zipping through the cities – science and technology will make great progress again in 2022. It could be a year in which, in retrospect, the course is set for a new age of mankind: from nuclear fusion to the conquest of space. Here is an overview of the biggest breakthroughs and key milestones of the year.
Nuclear fusion: Energy is one of humanity’s greatest problems – it is urgently needed, but current methods are destroying the climate or are only available to a limited extent. But in 2022, the world will come a step further in its search for an almost inexhaustible and clean source of energy: On December 13, the US Department of Energy announced that researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have, for the first time, succeeded in nuclear fusion that released more energy than was consumed. Experts speak of a breakthrough. At the same time, they point out that the commercial exploitation of the technology is still a long way off.
Nevertheless, this success could change the world forever. Imperial College London nuclear expert Mark Wenman believes the breakthrough could herald “an era of green, safe and essentially inexhaustible energy in a compact form with no long-lived nuclear waste”. Because nuclear fusion does not release any greenhouse gases, and at the same time the required fuel – hydrogen – is available in sufficient quantities in the world’s oceans.
Departure to the moon: People have long dreamed of conquering space and developing its enormous resources. The foundation for this could have been laid in 2022: With the “Artemis 1” mission, the space organizations NASA and ESA successfully completed a test flight of the new “Orion” spacecraft to the moon and back. After several postponed attempts, the still unmanned lunar spacecraft took off on November 16 with the new “Space Launch System” rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Almost 26 days later, on December 11, the capsule landed back in the Pacific after a journey of 2.3 million kilometers through space. Now “Artemis 2” is to follow for the first time a manned flight to the moon, but without landing. It probably won’t happen before 2025 with the “Artemis 3” mission. The goal, however, is to establish a permanent station on the moon. There they not only want to better explore the moon and test technologies for a trip to Mars, but also raise a “lunar economy”. Eventually, humanity could establish a permanent presence on another celestial body for the first time.
Defense against asteroids: Space offers not only opportunities, but also dangers: A large asteroid could mean the end of mankind if it hits earth – just like the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. But in 2022 a way out will be shown: At the end of September, NASA will have the cube-shaped “Dart” probe the size of a vending machine hit the asteroid Dimorphos, which in turn is about the size of a football stadium.
Two weeks later it is clear that, for the first time, an asteroid has been diverted from its course by means of a targeted collision. “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be prepared for whatever the universe throws at us,” said NASA CEO Bill Nelson. But there were a number of other scientific successes and breakthroughs in 2022, here is a small selection: