September 21-27, 2015 / Vol 34, No 38 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ASE 28th Planetary Congress Invites Astronauts to Share Experiences and Expertise

The Association of Space Explorers 28th Planetary Congress with the theme Inspired by Space is planned for September 20-27 in Stockholm, Sweden. More than 100 out of the total 545 Astronauts who have traveled to space will participate in private and public technical sessions including Next Human Destinations, Future Space Vehicles, Space Research, Advances in European Space Exploration, Inspired by Space and EVA: 50 Years and the Future. Some of the esteemed guests include (counterclockwise from TL) Rusty Schweickart (USA), Chris Hadfield (Canada), Zhang Xiaoguang (China), Koichi Wakata (Japan), Yelena Serova (Russia), Sultan bin Salman (Saudi Arabia) and Helen Sharman (UK). The ISS typically hosts ~6 month missions for an international 6-member crew which currently launches via Roscosmos at Kazakhstan. The next human space mission for China may not occur until after Tiangong-2 is in LEO. Golden Spike Company hopes to be the first commercial enterprise to offer human Moon missions in 2020. India is working on human-rated CARE capsule and planning its first crewed mission 2021. NASA is developing SLS with a new target of 2023 for first crewed flight from American soil since July 2011 STS-135 and JAXA is developing a human-rated HTV Return Vehicle to launch 2025. (Image Credit: NASA, China Daily, Xinhua, Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de, ESA, ISRO)

MONDAY

Sep 21 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 45 preparing HTV-5 for robotic release scheduled Sep 28; one-year crew members Kelly & Kornienko will remain in Space for another 157 days, performing Fine Motor Skills tests, providing blood samples & saliva swabs, transferring data from centrifuge & downlinking to ground stations, maintaining Water Recovery System & Waste and Hygiene Compartment.

Sep 21 — MAVEN, Mars Orbit: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft enters 2nd year of operations in Mars orbit; will continue to study upper atmosphere; launched Nov 18, 2013.

Sep 21 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Data confirms that Enceladus has a liquid, global ocean below icy surface encircling its entire rocky core; in revolution 222 of Saturn, craft will perform short engine burn OTM-421 on Thursday, preparing to take protective measures for travel through area of increased ring particle concentration at end of Sep.

Sep 21 — Juno, Jupiter Trajectory: More than 5 AU from the Sun, Juno is 287 days from reaching Jupiter orbit, will become farthest spacecraft to solely rely on solar power; will power itself & 8 instruments using 3 ten-meter long solar panels.

Sep 21 — Blue Origin LLC, Kent WA & KSC FL: NewSpace company planning to use Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 36 for testing & launching orbital vehicles; may invest ~US$200M for upgrades and infrastructure.

Sep 21 — FireFly Space Systems, Austin TX: Testing Firefly Rocket Engine Research 1 (FRE-R1), developing small-sat launcher “Firefly Alpha”; planning for FRE-2 aerospike engine hot-fire tests in early 2016.

Sep 21 — Spaceport Sweden, Kiruna, Sweden: Working to establish a commercial human suborbital spaceflight site for Europe, recently held Press conference with Sweden’s only Astronaut Christer Fuglesang titled “Destination Space – a national innovation agenda.”

Sep 21 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: New Horizons at Pluto: Results, Preliminary Interpretations and Discussion; presented by Jason Hofgartner.

International Fleet of Mars Missions Piques Public Interest for Space Exploration and Considerations for Multi World Expansion

Two innovative missions at the Red Planet are set to begin year 2 of operations in orbit this week. The MAVEN mission, part of the Mars Scout program at NASA, is exploring the upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the Sun and solar wind. Analysis of the data is providing insights into how the loss of volatiles from the atmosphere over time, has impacted climate, liquid water and planetary habitability. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) aka Mangalyaan, India’s first venture into interplanetary space, is studying surface features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere, as well as hosting a dedicated effort to identify methane levels, a possible indicator of present or past existence of life. Making a total of 7, there are 5 other Mars missions currently operating, 3 orbiters – Mars Odyssey, MRO (NASA) and Mars Express (ESA) – as well as 2 NASA rovers, Curiosity and Opportunity. Russia has attempted 35 missions with limited success. Japan attempted the Nozomi mission in 1998 but ran out of fuel before entering orbit. Overall, Mars missions have a success rate of just 53%. Getting to Mars is not easy, but is a goal that has inspired much action and thought. Future planned missions include the InSight lander (NASA, projected for launch in March 2016), ExoMars orbiter/lander/rover (ESA/Roscosmos, 2016-2018), Mars 2020 rover (NASA, 2020) and Mars Hope orbiter (UAE, 2020). There are also a variety of other national, independent and commercial enterprises considering robotic and human exploration and development of our planetary neighbor. Of course there is no need to make it all the way to Mars in order to reclaim Human Multi World status, the Moon, Luna, is a whole new world, only half the size but almost 600 times closer. (Image Credit: NASA, GSFC)

Sep 21 — Silicon Valley Space Center, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Lightsail-A – Lessons Learned; presented by Lightsail team member Barbara Plante.

Sep 21-26 — University of Freiburg, Universities Space Research Association, NASA, Freiburg, Germany: Bridging the Gap III: Impact Cratering in Nature, Experiments and Modeling.

Sep 21 — Moon: 3.4° N of Pluto, 02:00.

Sep 21 — Aten Asteroid 2007 TD: Near-Earth flyby (0.077 AU).

Continued from…

Aug 28 – Aug 28, 2016 — NASA, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 4; at 2,440-meter altitude.

Sep 1-30 — Flexure Engineering LLC, LunarCubes, Online / Pasadena CA: Flash Art Competition; writing and 2D art contest which focuses on lunar and space exploration; US$3,500 grand prize.

Sep 14 – Dec 7 — SSERVI, NASA, Online: SSERVI teams at University of Central FL (CLASS) and Brown University/MIT (SEEED) give 13 lectures on Planetary Evolution: Phobos and Deimos, every Monday; live coverage available.

Sep 20-27 — Association of Space Explorers, Kronoberg’s County Administrative Board, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Swedish National Space Board, Saab, Stockholm, Sweden: 28th Planetary Congress of the ASE: Inspired by Space.

TUESDAY

Sep 22 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Completing the Census of Exoplanetary Systems with Microlensing; presented by Scott Gaudi from Ohio State University.

Sep 22-23 — SMi Ltd., Maceio, Brazil: MilSatCom Latin America Conference.

Sep 22-24 — Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council, Seoul, South Korea: Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC) Satellite Conference; at COEX Mall.

Sep 22 — Fall / Autumn Equinox: Sun rises exactly in east traveling through sky for 12 hours, sets exactly in west; every place on Earth experiences a 12-hour day; 22:21.