October 9-15, 2017 / Vol 36, No 41 / Hawai`i Island, USA

First Woman on the Moon Next Steps at LEAG and SOM

Significant organizations, visionaries and space agencies are focusing on the historic and inspiring event to send the First Woman to the Moon. Lunar Exploration Analysis Group with Chair Clive Neal is hosting its Annual Meeting Oct 10-12 in Columbia MD themed Activities Enabled by Getting to the Lunar Surface and community Workshop Back to the Moon Oct 12-13 with a welcome reception sponsored by Moon Express. LEAG findings will lay out a practical roadmap for enabling a cost-effective Human lunar return while maximizing science and commercial opportunities. A proposal including the First Woman to the Moon could inspire a multinational effort to accelerate a Multi World Civilization and fulfill the spirit of Apollo 11 pledge ‘In Peace For All’. The Stanford on the Moon Conference Oct 13 will feature Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, Stanford alumna and co-founder of Yuri’s Night and Space Generation Advisory Council, talking on the importance for Women to reach the Moon and if the 1st Woman might be from Stanford. So far 21 NASA Astronauts are from Stanford, 8 are women. NASA has chosen 5 female Astronauts for 2017 candidates: Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Kayla Barron, Loral O’Hara and Jessica Watkins. Canada has chosen Jennifer Sidey as its new female candidate, and Astronaut Julie Payette is now the 29th Governor General of Canada. The 68th Astronautical Congress invited Jean-Yves Le Gall, Steve Durst, Jan Woerner, Danielle Richey, Sandy Magnus and Mary Snitch to present during the “First Woman On The Moon” IDEA 3G Breakfast. (Image Credit: LEAG, NASA, Notre Dame, ILOA, SPC)

MONDAY

Oct 9 — CNSA, Launch Long March 2D / VRSS 2, Jiuquan, China: Long March 2D rocket to launch 2nd Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite VRSS 2 built by China to collect imagery of Earth for Venezuela for scientific research, national security, disaster response applications; 12:00 local time.

Oct 9 — JAXA, Launch H-2A / Michibiki 4, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan: Japan H-2A rocket to launch Michibiki 4 navigation spacecraft, the fourth in Quasi-Zenith Satellite System.

Outer Space Treaty Celebrates Golden Jubilee As Many See New Era of Commercial Opportunities Rising

Entering its 51st year in effect, the United Nations Outer Space Treaty continues to shape the rights, responsibilities and evolving best practices for peaceful and mutually beneficial exploration and development in space. Coming into force on Oct 10, 1967 and currently with 107 countries as parties (green) and another 23 signatories yet to ratify (yellow), the document is a basic legal framework of international space law enshrining universal access to space and restricting to peaceful purposes all activity in space, on the Moon and on other celestial bodies. It also forbids governments from laying claim to any celestial resource. Commercial activities and in situ resource utilization are points of apparent ambiguity that many would like to clear up, so that the ongoing NewSpace revolution can continue to expand the limits of the human econosphere to include the Moon, Asteroids, Mars and more. British Interplanetary Society hosts a symposium Oct 10 in London titled ’50 Years of the UN Space Treaty: Looking Back, Looking Forward’. It includes 6 presentations and dedicated time for discussion. Mukesh Bhatt, University of London Researcher and Guest Lecturer, presents on ‘Extraterrestrial Recidivism — Dispute, dissent and non-compliance in the Outer Space treaties’ and Raphael Costa (pictured), Executive Secretary of the French Institute for Space and Telecommunications Law, asks ‘How would the Outer Space Treaty be different if drafted in 2017?’. (Image Credit: UN, BIS, Wikipedia, NASA, R. Costa)

Oct 9-11 — Multi-GNSS Asia (MGA), JAXA, ICG, Jakarta, Indonesia: 9th Multi-GNSS Asia (MGA) Conference: Next Generation Multi-GNSS Resilient Solutions for Sustainable Development.

Oct 9-12 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Caltech, W. M. Keck Foundation, Pasadena CA: Accessing the Subsurface Oceans of Icy Worlds.

Oct 9-12 — NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech, Pasadena CA: Conference: Know Thy Star – Know Thy Planet – Assessing the Relevance of Ground-based High Resolution Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanet Host Stars.

Oct 9-13 — Russia Space Research Institute – IKI, Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), Moscow, Russia: 8th Moscow Solar System Symposium; focusing on Moon, Mars and Venus research and missions Mars Express, Venus Express, Luna-Glob, Luna-Resource, ExoMars 2016, ExoMars 2020.

Oct 9 — Southern Taurids Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Taurus, Taurids are associated with Comet Encke and offer about 7 meteors per hour and travel at ~28 km/s.

Oct 9 — Moon: 0.60° N of Aldebaran, 08:00.

Oct 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 SZ11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU).

Continued from…

NET Oct — Boeing Company, TBD: Boeing CST-100 Starliner to undergo pad abort test this month.

Oct 3-31 — National Geographic, Multiple Locations USA: NASA Astronaut Terry Virts tour from NY to CA for book signing “View from Above” featuring foreword by Buzz Aldrin and 300 photographs.

Oct 4-10 — World Space Week Association, Global: World Space Week 2017; to celebrate international contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition; Oct 4 is 60th observation of 1st Space mission Sputnik One launched by Soviet Union 1957; Oct 10 is 50th observation of Outer Space Treaty going into effect 1967.