Space Exploration and The Universe

The DOE and its predecessors have long supported NASA missions to space. DOE maintains the infrastructure to develop, manufacture, test, analyze, and deliver radioisotope power systems for space exploration and national security missions. These systems can produce heat and electricity under the harsh conditions in deep space for decades. NASA has used them for missions to study the moon and all of the planets in the solar system except for Mercury. These missions include the New Horizons craft that has gone beyond Pluto and the Perseverance Rover on Mars.   

Astrophysics explores the evolution and properties of the universe.   

The ordinary matter that we see and can detect on Earth makes up only 5 percent of the mass-energy of the universe. The rest of the matter is known as dark matter, a mysterious substance that only interacts with ordinary matter via gravity. We know that it exists because of measurements of gravity and its influence on how galaxies rotate, among other evidence. DOE supports a number of experiments and studies to detect and measure dark matter, including huge particle detectors deep underground.   

Another major question in physics is “Why is the universe expanding ever more quickly?” In 1998, researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that this cosmic acceleration is driven by a mysterious force that has come to be known as dark energy. They won the Nobel Prize in physics for it in 2011. Now, scientists supported by DOE are working to understand what dark energy is and why it behaves the way it does.   

Tiny particle called neutrinos could be the key to answering other unsolved questions about our universe. Physicists think that studying neutrinos may help us answer some of the biggest questions in the universe, such as why there is matter at all.   

Scientists and projects supported by DOE also use the unique environment of space as a location for experiments. To collect cosmic rays to detect dark matter, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is installed on the International Space Station. The Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment – Night (LuSEE-Night) is an instrument DOE is developing with NASA. From its future location on the moon, LuSEE-Night will collect data about the so-called dark ages of the universe.