April 5-11, 2021 / Vol 40, No 14 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ISS Hosting 10 Expedition 64 Crewmembers with Planned Launch of Soyuz MS-18

Expedition 64 is set to become a 10-member crew as Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei in Soyuz MS-18 are launching and arriving April 9. Expedition 65 is planned to begin April 16 with the departure of MS-18 and Sergey Ryzhikov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Kathleen Rubins landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Before the ‘Dragon Riders’ Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Soichi Noguchi and Shannon Walker return to Earth April 28, they are expected to welcome Dragon Crew-2 April 22 (bringing tally back to 10). The Crew-1 Dragon Resilience craft will be relocated April 5 from Harmony Node to Zenith allowing for Crew-2 arrival. At its peak, the number of people at ISS reached 13 during Space Shuttle missions STS-127 / Exp 20 and STS-131 / Exp 23. The China Tianhe 1 core module is set to launch on Long March 5B from Wenchang, China April 29. Its first crew on Shenzhou 12 will fly after Tianzhou 1 cargo ship launches during Q2. NASA recently opened the Commercial LEO Destinations US$4M project to boost development of private space stations. Bigelow Expandable Activity Module is an expandable habitat technology demonstration at ISS since 2016, while Bigelow B330 module testing occurs on Earth. Axiom Space is working to begin attaching its privately developed space station modules to ISS as early as 2024. (Image Credits: NASA, Roscosmos, SpaceX)

MONDAY

Apr 5 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Committee on Planetary Protection – Meeting #2 on Mars Mission Bioburden Requirements.

Mars Ingenuity to Attempt First Flight on Another World April 11

A new era of exploration may be at hand as the 1.8-kg autonomous coaxial helicopter Ingenuity is readied for flight within Mars airspace. Just as drone technology revolutionized terrestrial applications such as surveying, search & rescue, and filmography in recent years, it is thought that these aerial robotic tools will greatly aid planetary exploration – providing invaluable reconnaissance for ground rovers, resolving structures / terrain features with far greater detail than orbit-based instruments, and allowing atmospheric sampling that would be otherwise impossible. While Ingenuity is a technology demonstration carrying no advanced scientific instruments, its 2-camera payload (Return to Earth Camera with 4208 x 3120-pixel RGB sensor and Navigation Camera with 640 x 480-pixel grayscale sensor) is expected to collect topographical information useful to Perseverance rover for route planning when traversing Jezero Crater from Octavia E. Butler Landing to areas of interest within Neretva Vallis delta. Mars possesses 1/3 Earth gravity with atmospheric density of just 1% relative to Earth, posing unique aerodynamic challenges and necessitating rotor speeds of 2,400 RPM during its 31 Earth / 30 Mars day operational window. Unlike previous interplanetary probes, Ingenuity is comprised of many “off the shelf” components (Sony lithium-ion batteries, Snapdragon 801 processor, mobile phone-grade IMU) and is the first to run open-source software, a version of Linux developed by JPL and freely available for download. (Pictured: Mars Helicopter Chief Engineer Bob Balaram, Perseverance Integration Lead for Ingenuity Farah Alibay; Image Credits: NASA, Library of Congress, Twitter)

Continued From…
NET Early 2021 — ISRO, Launch SSLV / Demonstration Launch, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: New Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to launch on first orbital test flight.

NET Mar — International Astronautical Federation, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Online: IAC 2021 Press Conference; providing updates for 72nd IAC being held Oct 25-29.

Mar 15 – Apr 15 — W. M. Keck Observatory, CFHT, Kamuela HI: 2021 Waimea Solar System Walk.

NET Apr — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt Object Trajectory: Spacecraft extended mission funding ends this month after reaching Pluto, Charon and KBO Arrokoth; future trajectory / plans to be determined; expected to operate until at least mid-2030s.

NET Apr — CNSA, Launch Long March 5 / Tianhe-1 Core Module for China Space Station, Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center, Hainan Island, China (19° N): Tianhe-1 (Harmony of the Heavens) core module for China Space Station to launch to LEO on Long March 5; station to orbit between 350 – 450 km, accommodate 3 crew members for 6 month stays, expected to operate until at least 2032.

NET Apr — Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Guizhou, China: International applications for international scientific community participation in FAST to be reviewed starting this month, becoming effective in August 2021.

TUESDAY

Apr 6-8 — AIAA, Online / Reston VA: AIAA SOSTC Improving Space Operations Workshop 2021.

Apr 6-9 — CNES, IAS, LPC2E, IRAP, Les Houches, France: Solar Orbiter School: The Multi-Instruments Space Mission to the Sun.

Apr 6 — Moon: 3.9° SE of Saturn, 01:00.

Apr 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 MB54: Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)