Year ending 2018 science news that you should know

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New Delhi : The year 2018 has come across several ups and downs in the field of science. From passing away of renowned scientist Stephen Hawking to Martian dreams and satellite launches in India, the year has been full of twists and turns. It witnessed the beginning for the Indian Space sector in the light of Gaganyaan mission, major satellite launches. To inform, a Chinese researchers claiming gene edited babies also fails to fade from our memory. Here are snippets of top science events of 2018

Stephen Hawking passed away: This year, the world lost one of its gems, Stephen Hawking on March 14. Renowned British physicist professor Stephen Hawking, who shaped modern cosmology and inspired millions despite suffering from a life-threatening condition. At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neuro-degenerative disease in 1963. Hawking's doctors gave him nearly two years to live but he defied medical history and survived for decades. For the rest of his life, the physicist used a wheelchair to move around and a speech synthesizer that allowed him to speak in a computerised voice with an American accent.

Stephen Hawking was known for his acclaimed book "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes." The physicist's inspiring story gave birth to the 2014 movie "The Theory of Everything," which was based on a memoir by Hawking's first wife Wilde. Actor Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of Hawking in the film won him an Oscar for Best Actor.

In November this year, a Chinese researcher shocked everybody with claims that he helped make the world's first genetically edited babies, referring to twin girls born in the month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have -- an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus.

Beginnings for Indian space sector: In 2018, the world saw the new rise of the Indian space agency. The agency got the the political sanction for a manned Gaganyaan mission, operationalisation of the heaviest rocket GSLV Mk III, steps to licence lithium ion battery technology, introduction of new technologies in rockets and satellites and the decision to go ahead with the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) among others. ISRO completed the NAVIC satellite constellation ISRO completed the NAVIC satellite constellation.

Martian dream gets bigger. Tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said there is "70 per cent chance that he will go to Mars". But his "Starship" (formerly known as the BFR), a fully reusable vehicle designed to take humans and supplies to Mars and also to dramatically cut travel time within Earth, got its first reservation from a private passenger this year, a Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who is scheduled to start a journey to the Moon in 2023. This year, the US space agency NASA also firmed up its plans to return humans to the Moon and use its lunar experience to prepare to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. 

SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket carrying 64 small satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission, dubbed SSO-A, or "SmallSat Express", set a US launch record for most satellites put into space at a single time.  The Falcon 9 carried to orbit 64 spacecraft, in particular 15 Micro satellites and 49 cubesats, from 34 different organisations from 17 countries. The mission from previously scheduled for three times, but was postponed to December 4 for additional inspections prior to the launch. 

On June 29, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft loaded with about 2,600 kgs of research and supplies, including experiments investigating cellular biology, Earth science and Artifician Intelligence (AI) lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Blood Moon, Solar eclipse that took place on August 11, wherein a part of the sun appeared to be covered by the moon's shadow. The rare celestial event resulted in the sun being visible as a crescent or as a disk with a hollow centre. On July 28, stargazers also were witness to Chandragrahan or Blood Moon, a spectacular celestial phenomenon. Blood Moon 2018 was the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. It lasted beyond 100 minutes. 

Voyager 2 is now also in interstellar space behind its Voyager 1 twin: Forty-one years after it left Earth, NASAs Voyager 2 probe has now become only the second human-made object to enter interstellar space after its twin Voyager 1 did in 2012. Since November 5, the instrument on Voyager 2 that detects plasma from the Sun, also called solar wind, has not observed solar wind, indicating that it has left the heliosphere, "the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun." Voyager 2 is now some 18 billion kilometers away compared to Voyager 1 at 21.6 billion kilometers, both offering a measure of how far the empire of the Sun stretches.

NASA's InSight lander places first instrument on Mars. NASA's InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface of Mars, marking the first time a seismometer had ever been placed onto the surface of another planet. 

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope shuts down: In October, NASA decided to retire its Kepler space telescope that discovered more than 2,600 planets and ran out of fuel needed for further science operations. Launched on March 6 in 2009, the Kepler space telescope combined cutting-edge techniques in measuring stellar brightness with the largest digital camera outfitted for outer space observations at that time.