November 12-18, 2018 / Vol 37, No 46 / Hawai`i Island, USA

International Space Station Exp. 57 to Welcome “S.S. John Young” and Progress 71P Resupply Ships

Northrop Grumman is set to launch Cygnus NG-10 atop Antares 230 rocket from Wallops Island VA Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport pad 0A on November 15. Dubbed ‘S.S. John Young’, it will be the 10th operational flight of a Cygnus craft and the first for NG since it acquired Orbital ATK in June. The craft is planned to arrive 3 days later on the early morning of Nov 18 and bring 3,450 kg of cargo to Expedition 57 crew members Serena Aunon-Chancellor, Alexander Gerst and Sergey Prokopyev. On Nov 16, Roscosmos is set to launch a Soyuz rocket with Progress 71P resupply ship carrying 2,450 kg of food, fuel and supplies. Progress is also scheduled to arrive on Nov 18 about 10 hours after Cygnus. The 3-member crew will be busy with cargo transfers, experiments and maintenance duties; and they will help celebrate the 20th observation of the start to ISS construction on Nov 20 — the first element was launched on that day in 1998. The next crew members, Oleg Kononenko of Russia, David Saint-Jacques of Canada, and Anne McClain of USA (to become the 62nd Woman in Space), could launch to ISS December 3, allowing Expedition 57 members to return to Earth Dec 20 on Soyuz MS-09. (Image Credits: NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, NG)

MONDAY

Innovative China Meetings on Galaxy and Astronautics

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and NAOC / CAS will host ‘The Life and Times of the Milky Way’ November 12-16. This international conference will address the birth, evolution and status of our galaxy. It happens at crucial time in astronomy, 6 months after 2nd data release from the Gaia space mission. Gaia, which is producing a three-dimensional map of the galaxy, finds that our Milky Way has suffered a collision with another galaxy 10 billion years past. Gaia’s value for the changing Hubble-Lemaitre constant is incompatible with the value found with the Hubble Space Telescope, causing need for new universe theories. The International Academy of Astronautics hosts Academy Day in Beijing Nov 16. Astronautics topics will include space propellant depots and human Mars missions. The IAA, a non-governmental entity founded by Theodore von Karman, is an organization affiliated with the International Astronautical Federation and has been operating since 1960. The first China Microsatellite Symposium opens at Northwestern Polytechnical University Chang’an Campus in Xi’an Nov 18-20. China’s growing space industry includes multiple builders of small satellites and launchers. OneSpace, which has launched China’s first private rocket into suborbital flight, will target the launch market for microsatellites. The LandSpace Zhuque-1 rocket, which so far has not reached orbit, is intended to send 300 kg into orbit. International conferences from astronautics to astronomy show innovation in China. (Image Credits: ESA, NASA, NPU)

Nov 12-15 — National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT)

Nov 12-16 — Europlanet, International Space Science Institute Workshop, Bern, Switzerland: Workshop: Understanding the Diversity of Planetary Atmospheres.

Nov 12-16 — Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China: Conference: The Life And Times Of The Milky Way – The Symbiosis Between Gaia And Ground-Based Spectroscopic Surveys.

Nov 12 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 QN1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.055 AU)

Nov 12 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 QN1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU)

Continued from…

NET Nov 11 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / “It’s Business Time” Multi-Payload, Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Nine-day launch window opens for first fully commercial launch dubbed ‘It’s Business Time’ with two Spire Lemur 2 CubeSats and one GeoOptics CICERO satellite; live coverage available.

TUESDAY

Nov 13 — NASA, SSERVI, USRA, Columbia MD: Surviving and Operating Through the Lunar Night; in conjunction with LEAG Annual Meeting.

Nov 13 — SETI Institute, SRI International, Menlo Park CA: Lecture: The Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway: an Outpost to Live and Work in Deep Space? by John Guidi of NASA.

Nov 13 — Oshman Family JCC, Palo Alto CA: Lecture: Cassini’s Spectacular Final Year at Saturn; by Matthew Tiscareno of SETI.

Nov 13-15 — International Academy of Astronautics, Academy of Engineering of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), American Astronautical Society, Moscow, Russia: IAA SciTech Forum on Space Flight Mechanics and Space Structures and Materials.