Inspired by some a section in my recent email newsletter (sign up here if you’re not on that), I wanted to compile a list of all the things I’m excited for in 2022.
Ok, not ALL the things… I’m not including the fact that I’m gaga to obtain some new bath towels I’ve had my eye on, but all the things that relate to real-world science, space, science-fiction, and of course my own writing.
I know it’s probably a little weird that I combined space and science fiction into one list, but that’s how I roll. I start with the real space and science stuff, then get into the fiction. I hope that you’ll follow along with at least one or more of these items as the year progresses. We’re a month into 2022 already, and I know for many people it’s already been rough. (Not to mention the fact that having New Year in the middle of winter — for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere at least — is, like, the worst time to have a New Year. Why can’t we celebrate New Year’s on June 1st or July 1st instead?)
I digress… let’s get on with the list, shall we?
Unless you absolutely do not participate in social media, or read any news, I find it nearly impossible that you wouldn’t have at least heard of JWST. JWST is the next-gen space telescope. If you’re my generation or older, you might remember when the Hubble space telescope launched, was activated, and took its first few pictures (after getting its vision corrected). Everything about Hubble at the time was amazing. JWST is that level of amazing… times 100!
The internet has been following JWST’s journey all the way to its final orbit at the Earth-Moon L2 point and has been following along as all the deployments and checkouts happen. There’s still a lot of work to get JWST ready to take pictures, including cooling down and testing the instruments and calibrating its mirrors. Neat stuff, but when I say I’m excited about JWST, its that I’ll be anxiously awaiting are the first pics it’ll take later this summer.
Have you watched the Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up?” If so, you might be filled with some existential dread about our planet getting destroyed by a comet or asteroid. It was such a great movie…! (If you haven’t watched it, definitely add this one to your queue. It’s worth the nearly two and a half hours of your time to imagine how people and governments may or may not react to the possibility of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.)
The movie referenced a Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Here in the real world, that office really does exist (since 2016) and last fall, they were responsible for launching the DART spacecraft, which will test our ability to deflect an asteroid with a satellite. That test is going to happen in late September this year, and I can’t wait!
More DART news: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart/dart-news/
Like many people (most people alive these days?) I was born after the Apollo missions. I’ve been waiting my whole life for people to return to the moon. Well, NASA’s Artemis missions are all about that. But not just putting boots on the ground, the plan is to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.
The overall plan is pretty extensive, including a new space station (which my colleagues are working on and which I worked on the prototype for a few years ago) and a new lunar lander (which my colleagues are also working on).
But the piece to be excited about in 2022 is the Artemis-1 mission. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft (uncrewed) to test the whole mission profile. Orion will leave Earth, fly around the moon, and return and re-enter, landing off the coast of Baja, California.
As of right now, this launch is planned to take place in late March.
I love solar sail technology — capturing the light from the Sun with large, unfurlable sails that propel a spacecraft through space. NEA Scout will use this technology to make a deep space encounter with a small asteroid. Being able to do deep space missions and produce useful science at a lower cost than is typical is pretty important to our continued exploration and understanding of the solar system.
I should probably be excited that the whole purpose of NEA Scout is to study a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) that is less than 60 feet in size and that asteroids smaller than 330 feet across have never been explored up close like this before. Okay, that’s exciting, too, but I’m much more excited about the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System that it’s gonna use to get there.
As a side note, I am a Planetary Society member and one reason I love to support them is because of their LightSail 2 mission. (Not to mention their Planetary Radio podcast — note that you don’t have to be a member to listen and if you have any interest in real world space, this is one to queue up and listen to.)
- My own company’s launches – Cygnus
Of course, I’m excited about what my company does, especially since I have many close colleagues that developed the Cygnus vehicle, one of the International Space Station’s resupply missions. I spent a little time for a while indirectly supporting these missions via the ground control software, which I managed for a couple of years.
But that’s irrelevant. What is relevant is that we’re still helping to support the ISS mission by safely transporting a couple of tons of crew supplies, new science investigations, and more to the ISS.
We’ve got two of these launches happening this year: NG-17 in February and NG-18 in late summer/early fall.
I just love the missions to Jupiter and Saturn. I mean, anything in space is exciting, but I’m more interested in exploring further into our solar system.
“But Adeena, Juno launched in 2011… what’s so exciting about that? It’s prime mission completed last year?”
That’s all true! But now Juno’s mission was extended, and it’s going to start exploring Jupiter’s rings and moons, starting with its next encounter with the Jovian moon Europa. This encounter begins in February and in late September, Juno will be just 221 miles over Europa’s surface!
If you’re into image processing at all, Juno’s raw image data is available here: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing
If you just want to see cool images, look at the featured gallery here: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?featured=1
I get excited about this every year… and then get a little disappointed as local weather prevents me from seeing the streaks of light created each time a small bit of rock or dust hits our atmosphere. But, the nice thing about meteor showers is that they are yearly occurrences so I can get excited about them all over again this year!
While the Perseids are pretty well known as a spectacular shower, the sky where I live in Maryland in the summertime is almost always hazy. So I try to get outside when either the Orionids or Leonids are active – unless it’s too cold, or the shower coincides with the bright Moon in the sky.
Unfortunately, the Moon will be 100% full on the peak of the Perseids so yeah, I don’t think I’m catching that particular shower this year again. I’ll prepare to bundle up for one or both of the others…
Here’s a calendar for all the meteor showers happening in 2022: https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/
- Picard, Discovery, Lower Decks… all the new Star Trek
Time to steer this list to my favorite science fiction in 2022. And not just any science fiction, but my favorite: Star Trek. There is going to be so much new Trek in 2022 that I might as well quit my job and plant myself in front of the TV. (Just kidding… if my boss is reading this, really… I’m just kidding.)
But I’m not kidding when I say that this Trekkie is crazy excited about all the new Trek coming out this year. First and foremost… that’s Season 2 of Picard, which is just over a month away from airing. I think I’ve watched the trailer 10 times already. Next, we’re in the middle of DISCO season 4. And I’m also excited for Lower Decks, Season 3, which is going to air starting in May of this year… which is a relief. I don’t think I was going to be able to wait until the summer for that!
- Sci-fi Movies
If I had to pick one sci-fi movie to be excited about… it’s hard… but I’m going to go with the one that is supposed to be a comedy. Well, a rom-com. But that’s different and refreshing. “Moonshot” will be on HBOMax at the end of March and I’m intrigued. (By the way… Do not confuse Moonshot with Moonfall, which also looks amazing, but is NOT a comedy.)
But darn it… I can’t just pick one. The other sci-fi movie I’m crazy excited for is “Everything Everywhere All at One.” I love Michelle Yeoh, and not just because she was in DISCO. I’ve loved her since “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” one of my favorite non-sci-fi movies.
I had so much fun as a guest on various podcasts this past fall that I decided to join a few of my fellow sci-fi fans in a new podcast! The Big Sci-Fi Podcast premieres on Friday, Feb 4th 2022.
We’ll be talking about science fiction… including a lot of Trek. In episode 2, we’ll be covering my favorite topic: robots and AI in sci-fi!
This goes under the heading of “duh!” Of course I’m excited about my own book coming out! It’s available for pre-order on Amazon right now with a release date of early May. I’m hoping to get it out sooner so I can continue to work on Book 3 in the series!
The folks subscribed to my email newsletter have already been able to get a sneak peek of the first few chapters. That’s another reason to sign up. But either way, mark your calendar (and catch up on Book 1, Crazy Foolish Robots, in the meantime)!
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