IAA Symposium on Private Human Access to Space and Commercial Aerospace Forum Upcoming in Zhōngguó / China
The International Academy of Astronautics is holding the 3rd Symposium on Private Human Access to Space (PHAS) 27-29 May in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China. PHAS will be chaired by Christophe Bonnal (L), Launch Expert for France National Centre for Space Studies (CNES). Co-chairs include Weiren Wu (R), chief designer of the China National Space Administration Chang’e lunar exploration program, Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Chief Strategy Officer of the European Space Agency and Rock Jeng-Shing Chern, Editor-in-Chief of IAA science journal Acta Astronautica. Conference objectives involve solution-finding on technical, logistical, health, legal, regulatory and financial fronts of non-governmental space travel. Also occurring in Zhongguo and focusing on NewSpace development, the 5th annual China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum (CCAF) is to be held in Wuhan, Hubei province August 28-30. CCAF is sponsored by major actors in the China space exploration sphere: China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and Chinese Society of Astronautics, among others. CCAF is co-organized by CASIC Space Engineering Development Corporation, Rocket Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Systems Engineering Corporation. Exhibits on topics such as commercial launch service, satellite development, global cooperation, investment and financing are expected to cover approximately 5,000 square meters of Wuhan International Expo Center. (Image Credits: IAA, CCAF, CNES, ESA, Hubei.gov.cn)
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MONDAY
Highlights…
 May 27 — ISS, 405-km LEO: Expedition 59 six-member crew working with immunology experiment, DNA studies, time perception logs, space cardiology research; planning mid-week Russia EVA, transferring cargo from Progress 71P and Dragon CRS 17; JAXA to host student remote robotic competition on ISS in 2020.
 May 27 — NewSpace: Canadensys planning series of payloads to fly on Astrobotic lunar landers, starting 2021; 11 USA companies work to develop human lunar lander designs for USA; Axiom Space developing 3 modules for commercial space station to accommodate 8 astronauts.
May 27 — Solar System: Scientists show Jupiter magnetic field changes over time likely due to winds by comparing 4 past missions’ data with Juno; ices of carbon monoxide and nitrogen may exist on Neptune moon Triton; Pluto may have hidden liquid ocean under icy shell and layer of gas hydrate.
May 27 — Galaxy: Simulations indicate massive collision in Milky Way 6-10B years ago; Vatican Observatory astronomers find clues that Andromeda Galaxy, which is approaching Milky Way, has previously absorbed another galaxy; cosmological measurements continue to disagree on parameters like age of the universe.
May 27 — Global: ISRO Chair K Sivan discusses 7 ‘mega missions’ planned over next decade; Australia Space Agency developing civil space communications and ground infrastructure, launch / return strategies; China LandSpace works toward maiden flight of ZQ 2 rocket in 2022, performs 4th successful test of TQ-12 engine.
 May 27 — USA: Artemis Moon program outlines 37 launches, 5 human landings by 2028; NASA chooses Maxar to build PPE for Gateway, continues to explore ISS commercialization prospects; prototype Mars 2020 rover to be tested in Lambahraun lava field, Iceland; LPI produces Moon South Pole atlas, needs international data inputs.
May 27 — Hawai’i: Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce promotes astronomy as economic driver; Subaru telescope observes star formation in proto-cluster of galaxies in early universe; Subaru announces 20th Anniversary conference to be held in Nov.
 May 27 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Glonass M, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz-2.1b booster with Fregat upper stage to launch Glonass M navigation satellite.
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= All times
for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mars (W), Jupiter (SE), Saturn (S); Morning Planets: Venus (E).
Japan Advancing Earth Geosciences, Venus Studies and Lunar Exploration Initiatives
The 2019 Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) meeting is occurring May 26-30 in Makuhari, Messe, Chiba, Japan. Nearly 8,000 are expected to attend JpGU which covers 7 categories and further subcategories including Space, Planetary Sciences, Atmospheric, Hydrospheric and Solid Earth sciences. Meeting Chair Kaoru Takara (TL) from Kyoto University is discussing global collaborations with American Geophysical Union, Asia Oceania Geosciences Society and European Geosciences Union. The International Venus Conference 2019 in Niseko, Hokkaido on May 31 – June 3 will see international participation from USA, Germany, India, Russia, UK, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and France. The conference is intended to cover all areas of Venus science with special focus on new results from JAXA Venus Climate Orbiter ‘Akatsuki’. Around May 27, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and USA President Donald Trump could sign an agreement on joint lunar exploration and other space-related projects. Japan has declared it would support the international lunar Gateway by contributing life support systems to a habitation module and transport systems with proven technologies on ISS Kibo module and Kounotori cargo ship. Space debris and GPS are other areas the countries may collaborate. JAXA robotic lunar landing mission SLIM is planned to launch 2021 and Martian Moons Explorer early 2020s, while operations continue at asteroid Ryugu via Hayabusa2 and BepiColombo is en route to Mercury. Japan also hopes to land a person on the Moon by 2030. (Image Credits: JAXA, NASA, Prime Minister Office of Japan, Toyota) |
May 27 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Glonass M, Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz-2.1b booster with Fregat upper stage to launch Glonass M navigation satellite.
May 27 — Governments of Japan and USA, Tokyo, Japan: Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S.A President Donald Trump may sign agreement on joint lunar exploration and other space-related projects today.
May 27-28 — ESA, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, the Netherlands: 15th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation (ASTRA 2019).
May 27-29 — International Academy of Astronautics, Xi’an, China: 3rd IAA Private Human Access to Space (PHAS) Symposium.
May 27-31 — International Astronomical Union, Bologna, Italy: IAU Symposium 351: Star Clusters – From the Milky Way to the Early Universe.
May 27 — Moon: 3.5° SSE of Neptune, 10:00.
Continued from…
 Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data from spacecraft 7 instruments during KBO Ultima Thule flyby to be transmitted to Earth over this time period.
Mar 19 – Jul 19 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender crew of 6 to participate in 4-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).
May 15 – July 28 — Lāhainā Noon: As the Sun passes through the Zenith, directly overhead tropic locations, vertical objects cast no shadows; lā hainā means ‘cruel sun’; Hawaii Islands dates / times available.
May 20 – Aug 9 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 31st Annual Planetary Science Summer Seminar.
May 26-30 — Japan Geoscience Union, Chiba, Japan: Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2019 (JpGU2019). |
TUESDAY
May 28-29 — iCubeSat 2019 Organising Committee, Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, JA Initiative, Milan, Italy: iCubeSat 2019 – the 8th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop; addressing the technical challenges, opportunities, and practicalities of interplanetary space exploration using CubeSats.
May 28-29 — NASA, Washington DC: NASA Advisory Council Human Exploration and Operations Committee Meeting; dial-in to this meeting is available.
May 28-29 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: Afterschool Universe training workshop.
WEDNESDAY
May 29 — ISS, Russia EVA-46, 405-km LEO: Expedition 59 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin to perform 6-hour spacewalk to collect external experiments, sampling module surfaces, clean windows and jettison obsolete hardware; live coverage available.
May 29 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: Colloquium: The New Jupiter Revealed by Juno; by Scott Bolton of SwRI, 15:30.
May 29-30 — EuroSciCon Ltd, et al, Singapore: World Congress on Earth & Environmental Science: Predicting Human Future: Importance of monitoring the Planetary Evolution and Environmental Science.
May 29 — Aten Asteroid 2003 LH: Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
THURSDAY
May 30 — Juno, Perijove 20 / 19th Science Flyby, Jupiter Orbit: NASA craft in 53-day orbit to come within ~3,500 km of Jupiter cloud tops during Perijove 20, its 20th close flyby of Jupiter and 19th science flyby with instruments turned on.
May 30 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Proton / Yamal 601, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia Proton booster and Breeze M upper stage to launch Yamal 601 communications satellite for Gazprom Space Systems of Russia.
May 30 — Apollo Asteroid 2011 HP: Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)
FRIDAY
May 31 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: Lunch with an Astronaut, Mike Foreman, adult US$69.95, child $35.95.
May 31 – Jun 2 — International Venus Science Community, PLANET-C Project Team of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Center for Planetary Science, Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan: International Venus Conference 2019.
May 31 — Moon: 4.5° SSE of Uranus, 04:00.
SATURDAY
Jun 1 — Deep Space, Interstellar Space: Nearing 42 years in Space, Voyager 1 and 2 continue to collect science data; Project Scientist since 1972, Ed Stone to be awarded Shaw Prize in Astronomy in Hong Kong this August.
Jun 1 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech, Pasadena CA: Educators Workshop: Designing a Mission to Mars; for educators of grades 6-12.
Jun 1-2 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: 39th BIS Sino-Russian Technical Forum 2019.
Jun 1 — Moon: 3.1° SSE of Venus, 11:00.
SUNDAY
Jun 2 — Star Gaze Hawaii, Kamuela HI: Stargazing at Westin Hapuna Beach Resort; adults US$40, kids $20, 20:00.
Jun 2-7 — Humboldt University, Orsay University, CERN, et al, Blois, France: 31st Rencontres de Blois: Particle Physics and Cosmology.
Jun 2 — Moon: 7.9° SSE of Pleiades, 03:00; 2.27° N of Aldebaran, 20:00.