November 19-25, 2018 / Vol 37, No 47 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Spaceflight SSO-A Launching 71 Satellites via Falcon 9 Booster on its 3rd Reuse

Multinational launch of the Spaceflight SSO-A SmallSat Express mission on SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg AFB CA is scheduled at 10:32 PST on November 19. This will be the 19th launch this year for SpaceX, and the largest single rideshare mission from a USA-based launch vehicle to date deploying 71 payloads. India holds the world record for 104 payloads launched. SSO-A is intended to reach Sun-Synchronous circular orbit with an altitude of 575 km. The Integrated Payload Stack consists of two major elements – the Upper Free Flyer and Lower Free Flyer – which will autonomously deploy a satellite at an interval of ~5 minutes, with some separations set as short as 15 seconds. The mission payloads are 75% commercial / 25% government from customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom and USA. The primary payloads on the craft are two 100-kg SkySats owned by Planet. With this launch, SpaceX is aiming for another first by successfully reusing Falcon 9 core B1046 for a third time. It completed a launch in May, and another in August. Mr. Steven vessel will attempt fairing recovery, and booster landing attempt will most likely occur on Just Read The Instructions drone ship, though it could be planned to land at pad LZ-4. (Image Credits: Spaceflight Industries, SpaceX)

MONDAY

British Interplanetary Society Turns Imagination to Reality

The British Interplanetary Society features NASA authority David Baker on “Apollo 8: Getting to the Moon” at BIS Headquarters in London November 21. Presentation observes Apollo 8 orbiting the Moon in 1968, first venture by humans outside low Earth orbit. Return to lunar orbit is the goal of NASA’s Space Launch System Exploration Mission 1 and crewed EM-2 missions. Founded by Arthur C. Clarke and Eric Burgess in 1933, BIS publishes the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and the popular magazine Spaceflight. BIS, which has completed the first serious study of a human lunar landing in 1938, sponsors ongoing space studies. Project TOKNEP studies a fusion reactor for space. The Icarus Project, continuing since 2009 as a successor to the 1970s Project Daedalus, studies a probe to another solar system. Barnard’s Star, goal of the Daedalus study, is found today by European Southern Observatory to host an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth. Project Tsiolkovski studies a landing on the lunar farside, the goal taken by the upcoming China Chang’e 4 mission. BIS Midland Branch in Droitwich Nov 17 hosts updated presentations on Starship Engineering and concepts for a UK Moon landing. With a philosophy of Imagination to Reality, British Interplanetary Society continues to inspire new space missions. (Image Credits: British Interplanetary Society)

Nov 19 — CNSA, Launch Long March 3B / Beidou, Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, Sichuan, China: Long March 3B rocket to launch two satellites China Beidou navigation network into Medium Earth Orbit.

Nov 19 — NASA, Online: Request for Proposals due: Step One: Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads.

Nov 19 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Lecture: Mars 20/20: Science, Engineering and Landing Sites for the Next Mars Rover.

Nov 19-21 — JAXA, ISAS, Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan: Workshop: New Eyes on X-ray Astrophysical Objects with Japanese and Chinese Observatories.

Nov 19 — Apollo Asteroid 518735 (2009 JL1): Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU)

Continued from…

Nov 18-20 — CNSA, Belt & Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance, Northwestern Polytechnical University, IFA, et al., Xi’an, China: 1st China Microsatellite Symposium; focusing on design, theory, technology, communication, payloads, space debris.

Nov 18-23 — University of Concepcion, Antofagasta Minerals, Codelco, et al., Concepcion, Chile: 15th Chilean Geological Congress.

TUESDAY

Nov 20 — International Space Station, 405-km LEO: Celebrations and events occur today to mark the 20th Observation of the beginning of construction of ISS with 15 partner countries.