me, walking into 2017 with my eyes closed: im one with the force and the force is with me im one with the force and the force is with me im one with the force and the force is with me im one with the force and the force is
As 2016 comes to a close and prospects of the new year loom before us, we take a moment to look back at what we’ve accomplished and how it will set us ahead in the year to come.
2016 marked record-breaking progress in our exploration activities. We advanced the capabilities needed to travel farther into the solar system while increasing observations of our home and the universe, learning more about how to continuously live and work in space and, or course, inspiring the next generation of leaders to take up our journey to Mars and make their own discoveries.
Here are a few of the top NASA stories of 2016…
International Space Station
One Year Mission…completed!
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth after spending a year in space. Testing the limits of human research, findings from their One Year Mission will help send humans farther into space than ever before.
Commercial Resupply
Commercial partners Orbital ATK and SpaceX delivered tons (yes literally tons) of cargo to the International Space Station. This cargo supported hundreds of science experiments and technology demonstrations crucial to our journey to Mars.
Mars
Expandable Habitats
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was one of the technology demonstrations delivered to the space station in April. Expandable habitats greatly decrease the amount of transport volume for future space missions.
Booster Test Firing
In June, a booster for our Space Launch System (SLS) rocket successfully fired up. It will be used on the first un-crewed test flight of SLS with the Orion spacecraft in 2018. Eventually, this rocket and capsule will carry humans into deep space and one day…Mars!
InSight
This year we updated the milestones for our InSight mission with a new target launch window beginning in May 2018. This mission will place a fixed science outpost on Mars to study its deep interior. Findings and research from this project will address one of the most fundamental questions we have about the planetary and solar system science…how in the world did these rocky planets form?
Solar System and Beyond
Juno
On July 4, our Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter. This mission is working to improve our understanding of the solar system’s beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter.
OSIRIS-REx
In September, we launched our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…which is America’s first-ever asteroid sample return mission. This spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu, where it will collect a sample to bring back to Earth for study.
James Webb Space Telescope
In February, the final primary mirror segment of our James Webb Space Telescope was installed. This will be the world’s most powerful space telescope ever, and is scheduled to launch in 2018. Webb will look back in time, studying the very first galaxies ever formed.
Kepler
In May, our Kepler mission verified the discovery of 1,284 new planets. Kepler is the first NASA mission to find potentially habitably Earth-sized planets.
Earth Right Now
Earth Expeditions
Our efforts to improve life on Earth included an announcement in March of a collection of Earth Science field campaigns to study how our planet is changing. These Earth Expeditions sent scientists to places like the edge of the Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific to delve into challenging questions about how our planet is changing…and what impacts humans are having on it.
Small Satellites
In November, we announced plans to launch six next-generation Earth-observing small satellite missions. One uses GPS signals to measure wind in hurricanes and tropical systems in greater detail than ever before.
Aeronautics Research
Our efforts in 2016 to make air travel cleaner, safer and quieter included new technology to improve safety and efficiency of aircraft arrivals, departures and service operations.
X-Plane
In June, we highlighted our first designation of an experimental airplane, or X-plane, in a decade. It will test new electric propulsion technology.
Drone Technolgy
In October, we evaluated a system being developed for the Federal Aviation Administration to safely manage drone air traffic.
Our technology transfer program continued to share the agency’s technology with industry, academia and other government agencies at an unprecedented rate.
Centennial Challenges
Our Centennial Challenges program conducted four competition events in 2016 to spark innovation and enable solutions in important technology focus areas.
Watch the full video recap of ‘This Year @NASA’ here:
Vera Rubin, the astrophysicist responsible for confirming the first existence of dark matter, died on Sunday night at the age of 88.
Carnegie Institution president Matthew Scott called Rubin “a national treasure as an accomplished astronomer and a wonderful role model for young scientist.”
Rubin and her colleagues observed galaxies in the 1970s, they learned the motion of stars is a result of a “material that does not emit light and extends beyond the optical galaxy” — also known as dark matter.
Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky proposed the idea of dark matter in 1933, but Rubin’s groundbreaking work subsequently led to the confirmation of the material.
This finding is what led to the discovery that 90% of the universe is made up of dark matter, a finding some colleagues felt was overlooked and deserving of a Nobel Prize. Read more
Michael was found dead in his home on Christmas Day, and it was later confirmed that he suffered heart failure.
But many have now opened up about donations the star secretly made to countless good causes while insisting that he remained anonymous.
Dame Esther Rantzen said Michael “gave millions” to Childline, of which she is the founder a president, but that he donated the money on the condition of anonymity while he was alive.
“For years now he has been the most extraordinarily generous philanthropist, giving money to Childline, but he was determined not to make his generosity public so no-one outside the charity knew how much he gave to the nation’s most vulnerable children,” sad Dame Esther.
Richard Osman, who co-hosts Pointless, also opened up saying he had given £15,000 to a contestant on Deal or No Deal who needed the money for IVF.
Others included the Terrence Higgins Trust, which said Michael had given “experiences and gifts” to the charity over the years.
““His donations contributed to a vision of a world where people living with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice and discrimination,” said Jane Barron of THT.
“Thanks to George’s legacy, we are a step closer to that world and we are so grateful for his support and friendship over the years.”
Other stories included that Michael had given a £25,000 cheque to a woman who he heard crying over debt in a cafe, asking the waitress to hand it over once he had left.
Another came from radio DJ Mick Brown, who opened up about an annual £100,000 donation made by Michael to Capital FM’s Christmas charity drive.
Journalist Sali Hughes took to Twitter to say she had written a story about a celebrity who had given £5,000 to a barmaid who was a student nurse in debt, revealing that it was Michael.
Many more stories including offering a free concert to NHS nurses who cared for his late mother, and volunteering at a homeless shelter, poured out as thousands mourned the death of the Wham! star.
This is in addition to his performances on charity singles like ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, donating royalties from his Elton John duet ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me’ to an AIDS hospice, and much other public charity work.
Wow. That’s what it’s all about.
And that is how you’re supposed to give to charity. Not for publicity but for real.
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