August 12-18, 2019 / Vol 38, No 32 / Hawai’i Island, USA

Chandrayaan-2 Mission to Lunar South Pole Area Continues, ETA Sep 7

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) lunar exploration mission Chandrayaan-2, Hindi for ‘Moon-Craft’, is prepared to leave Earth orbit. The launch on a GSLV Mk-III from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on July 22 has created much interest and 7,500 members of the public have registered online with ISRO for a spot in the viewing gallery. Now a series of 5 propulsion-firing, orbit-raising maneuvers, the latest lasting 1,041 seconds, have brought the spacecraft to a highly elliptical Earth orbit with a perigee of 276 km and an apogee of 142,975 km. Stunning images of the Earth, taken by onboard L14 camera, have been returned from 5,000 km. The next phase of the Chandrayaan-2 mission is Trans-Lunar Injection, which will set the spacecraft on its way to orbit the Moon August 14 – the Eve of India’s Independence Day (1947) and anniversary of ISRO founding (1969). A week-long, curved trajectory is intended to lower fuel requirements in comparison to a more direct route. Landing of the 1,471-kg Vikram, containing 4 payloads, is expected September 7 at approximately 70° South on a near side plateau between the craters Simpelius N and Manzinus C. A successful lunar soft landing would make India the 4th nation to achieve this milestone, and would be the closest ever exploration of the Lunar South Pole – a destination long championed by leaders in Moon thought such as David Schrunk (L)  and organizations such as the International Lunar Observatory Association, and suggested to former ISRO chairman Udupi Ramachandra Rao (C). Current Chairman Sivan (R) has stated that Chandrayaan-3 is planned; JAXA collaboration is possible. (Image Credits:ISRO )

MONDAY

Aug 12 — Parker Solar Probe, Heliocentric Orbit: NASA craft to come within 6.16M km of the Sun, well within the orbit of Mercury and ~7 times closer than any spacecraft has before – reaches 1st full year in Space today; launched Aug 12, 2018.

Aug 12 — Institute for Science and Engineer Educators, UC Santa Cruz, Kahului HI: Akamai Workforce Initiative 2019 Internship Symposium Maui; featuring presentations by interns from Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, IfA, Maui High Performance Computing Center, others; 09:00-12:00.

Aug 12-14 — NASA Astrobiology Institute, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: Workshop Without Walls: Searching for Signs of Subsurface Life on Mars (Extinct and Extant).

International Space Elevator Consortium Meeting in Seattle Museum of Flight

International Space Elevator Consortium meets August 16-18 at Seattle Museum of Flight, where the Apollo 11 Columbia spacecraft is currently on display. An elevator to geosynchronous orbit is a subject of discussion since Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895, Yuri Artsutanov in 1959, and Arthur Clarke in 1979. ISEC, a global organization headed by Peter Swan (L) and affiliated with National Space Society, has been in operation since it’s first meeting in Redmond, Washington in 2008. With a mission to promote the development and construction of a space elevator, ISEC coordinates with the Japanese Space Elevator Association and the EuroSpaceward organization founded by Brad Edwards (R). ISEC organizes research presentations at the International Academy of Astronautics and International Astronautical Federation Congress, while stimulating STEM activities like a Family Science Fest. Elevators are seen as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for humanity. The tower will have to extend beyond the 35,786-km geostationary orbit to provide a counterweight.  Construction of an elevator to Earth orbit awaits development and mass production of high-tensile strength materials like carbon nanotubes. A 56,000-km elevator to the Moon’s L1 Lagrangian point could be built with existing materials in the low lunar gravity. A Mars elevator would be only 13,634 km high, but would coincide with the 9,376 km orbit of Phobos. In future decades several space elevators could be connected by a Ringworld, coincidentally linking Earth’s most populous nations in a giant peace symbol. (Image Credits: Obayashi Corporation, ISEC, IAF, Seattle Space Needle, EuroSpaceward, Museum of Flight)

Aug 12-15 — Merton College, Merton College, Jesus College, McGill University, Europlanet,

Aug 12-15 — Chiba Institute of Technology, Osaka Sangyo University, Nagoya University, Narashino, Japan: 12th Meeting on Cosmic Dust.

Aug 12 — Moon: 0.31° E of Saturn, 01:00.

Aug 12 — Jupiter: 6.9° NE of Antares; 05:00.

Aug 12 — Perseid Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Perseus, shower can produce up to 110 meteors per hour, which are fast, bright and frequently leave persistent trains.

Aug 12 — Apollo Asteroid 454094 (2013 BZ45): Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)

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.

Apr 13 – Sep 2 — Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Flight, Multiple Locations: Destination Moon, traveling exhibition of historic Apollo 11 artifacts.

Jun 24 – Aug 23 — International Space University, ESA, Strasbourg, France: ISU 32nd Space Studies Program (SSP 2019).

NET Aug – Nov — Hayabusa2, Asteroid 162173 Ryugu: JAXA Hayabusa2 with 2 sample returns planned to remain at Asteroid for observations during this time period, then return to Earth.

Aug 11-15 — AAS, AIAA, Portland ME: 2019 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference.

Aug 11-17 — Recontres du Vietnam, Quy Nhon University, International Center for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE), Quy Nhon, Vietnam: 15th Recontres du Vietnam: Cosmology.