January 30 – February 5, 2023 / Vol 42, No 5 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ISS Activities Honor 1st EVA by 1st Native American Woman in Space, Looks Toward 1st Woman on the Moon

In its 23rd year of permanent occupation, International Space Station partners are celebrating the first EVA from Nicole Mann (the first Native American woman in space) by hosting a number of in-flight activities with Indigenous groups in USA. On January 31, she will connect with House Indian Affairs Committee and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee, followed by February 7 discussion with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, having already spoken with the Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County in Ronan, Montana on Jan 26. Currently Mann and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos are the only women aboard ISS Expedition 68 with 5 other international crew members: Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, Francisco Rubio, Josh Cassada and Koichi Wakata – while Tiangong Space Station houses Shenzhou 15 Taikonauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. NASA Astronaut corps has 41 active Astronauts available for flight assignments – 16 of which are women. One, or more, of these 16 will be chosen to be part of Artemis 2 crew flying to the Moon NET May 2024, and Artemis 3 mission touching down on the surface. With NASA striving to be more inclusive, the Artemis program has committed to also landing the first Person of Color on the Moon no later than July 4, 2026, as Japan, China, and Russia aspire for human Moon landings before 2030. (Image Credits: NASA, ISS Partners, CMSA)

MONDAY

☆ Jan 30 — ISS, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 68 seven-member crew working with experiments including ‘Suture in Space’ skin / vein samples, bone health, passive cooling techniques, flame growth and extinction, Plant Habitat-03 (arabidopsis) and Veg-05 (tomatoes).

☆ Jan 30 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 15 three-member crew continue Earth imaging along with robotic arm cameras viewing sky and Earth in high resolution.

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

Inner Solar System Exploration is Subject of Mercury Exploration Assessment Group and LPI Venus Planetary Science Gatherings This Week

Terrestrial (rocky) planets, being similar in composition to Earth, are a major focus of planetary scientists. Venus, known as ‘Earth’s Twin’ at 12,104-km diameter, has been the world targeted by the most missions, with 23 successes (47 attempts) between USSR, USA, EU and JAXA. 6 new missions are in the works, with Rocket Lab’s Venus probe (a partnership between Rocket Lab and MIT) slated to launch NET May 2023, ISRO Shukrayaan-1 NET Dec 2024, NASA DAVINCI NET 2029, Roscosmos Venera-D NET 2029, ESA EnVision NET 2031, and NASA VERITAS NET 2031. Research relevant to these undertakings will be discussed at Venus Surface and Atmosphere Conference in Houston TX Jan 30 – Feb 1, hosted by Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Venus Science Institute. Mercury has been less studied, perhaps due to the long-held notion that Mercury lacks volatiles (now disproven). Just 2 missions have reached the smallest (4,879-km diameter) planet in the Solar System, both from NASA: Mariner 10 (1974) and MESSENGER (2008). BepiColombo, a collaborative mission of ESA and JAXA, consists of 3 modules launches together in 2018 which will separate upon Mercury orbital insertion, currently slated December 2025. Roscosmos is also in early planning stages of Mercury-P, tentatively scheduled for launch in 2031. NASA Mercury Exploration Assessment Group will consider these efforts at MExAG 2023 Meeting in Washington DC Feb 1-3. (Image Credits: LPI, NASA)

● Jan 30 – Feb 1 — LPI Venus Science Institute, Houston, TX: Venus Surface and Atmosphere Conference.

● Jan 30 – Feb 2 — AIAA, Online / Reston VA: Space Mission Operations – Online Short Course; with Jerry Jon Sellers, Peter Van Wirt and Bruce Chesley; US$494-$1,195.

● Jan 30 – Feb 2 — Space Technology Series, Online / Colorado Springs CO: Space Domain Awareness Course; with Pamela Magee, Moriba Jah, and Wiley Larson; US$1,400.

o Jan 30 – Feb 3 — United Nations Open-Ended Working Group, Geneva, Switzerland: OEWG Reducing Space Threats.

☆ Jan 30 — Moon: 2.21° SE of Pleiades, 00:00; 0.28° E of Mars, 19:00.

Continued From…

● Oct 15 – Jun 15, 2023 — International Space Elevator Consortium, Online: Space Elevator Academic Challenge: Improving Humanity’s Future; for students 17-25.

● Dec 1 – Jan 31, 2023 — JPL, NASA, Online / Pasadena CA: Prepare for the Science Fair; video series for students in grades 3-12, teachers and parents.

☾ Dec 11 – Apr 25, 2023 — Hakuto-R / ispace Mission 1, Lunar Landing Trajectory: Carrying UAE Rashid 10-kg rover, 0.25-kg JAXA rover, Hakuto-R performing orbital control maneuvers to reach Lunar Orbital Insertion, followed by Moon touchdown nominally ~4.5 months after launch.

● Jan 18 – May 11 — Wichita State University, Wichita KS and Online: 2023 Interstellar Seminar ‘LASI 150G’; 1-credit hour seminar begins today; every Wednesday 14:30-15:20, led by Prof. Mark Schneegurt.

TUESDAY

☆ Jan 31 — ISS, In-Flight Education Event, ~415-km LEO and Online: Expedition 68 In-Flight Event with the House Indian Affairs Committee and the Senate Native American Affairs Committee and NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann; starts 10:20, live coverage available.

★ Jan 31 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 5-3, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink internet satellites for SpaceX, 03:27 EST.

● Jan 31 — Explorer 1 65th Observation, Nationwide USA: American Artemis Return to the Moon For Good is underway, Mars attention and planning advancing, Outer Solar System search for life ongoing, and Interstellar craft on outgoing trajectories while first USA satellite launch on this day in 1958 ‘Explorer 1’ is celebrated and remembered.