August 26 – September 1, 2024 / Vol 43, No 35 / Hawai`i Island, USA

SpaceX Polaris Dawn Trailblazing the Way for Humans in Space

The Polaris missions will test and develop new spaceflight technology that will benefit Artemis and beyond. The planned first of three, Polaris Dawn aims to visit the inner Van Allen radiation belt, typically between 6K and 12K km above Earth’s surface, most intense over equator and absent above the poles. This will be the highest spaceflight since Apollo. At height ~700 km, 2 of the crew will do a first-ever commercial EVA in newly designed spacesuits developed for future long-duration missions. The spacesuit construction includes the same material used on Falcon interstage and Dragon trunk, provides greater mobility / safety, a dial to access additional oxygen, helmet glass with indium tin oxide / copper and internal camera / readout of sensors during EVA. The suit allows scaling to different body types. SpaceX says they seek “to create greater accessibility to space for all of humanity.” A Starlink laser-based space communication system will be tested, needed for Moon, Mars and beyond. Dozens of tests and measurements devised by prestigious institutions will be done to further knowledge of human health in space, such as effects of radiation exposure. The crew has trained more than two years via centrifuge, skydiving, Zero-G flight training, classroom, medical testing and EVA simulation underwater. Spacesuit vacuum testing was done in the same facility used during Gemini and Apollo.(Pictured L-R: Anna Menon, Mission Specialist / Medical Officer; Scott Poteet, Mission Pilot; Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander; Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist. Image credit: SpaceX)

MONDAY 

☆ Aug 26 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Crew of nine from Expedition 71 and Boeing Starliner working with experiments for sleep performance, 3D printing, airflow, HAM radio, crystal growth, and auditing various tools for EVAs.

☆ Aug 26 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew maintaining botany research, along with 23 internal experiment racks; exposed / external experiments include 22 platforms on Wentian and 30 on Mengtian modules.

● Aug 26-28 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Irvine CA: Meeting: A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars.

☆ Aug 26 — Aten Asteroid (2020 RL): Near-Earth Flyby (0.02 AU)

☾ = Moon activity

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

Voyagers 1 and 2, Farthest Craft From Earth, Turn 47 During Interstellar Travel

Entering their 48th year in Space, the two Voyager spacecraft continue their missions while in Interstellar Space. Voyager 1 resumed sending readable data back to Earth from a distance of 162 AU with a one-way radio signal of ~22.5 hours, after engineers overcame a computer chip memory issue a few months ago. Currently the craft has 4 of 11 science instruments turned on and functioning. It entered Interstellar space in 2012 and launched September 5, 1977.  Voyager 2 is 136 AU from Earth, working with 5 instruments, and entered Interstellar Space in 2018. The Voyagers are the longest-running and most-distant spacecraft for NASA. They are expected to have enough electrical power and thruster fuel to operate until at least 2025. Though communications would be lost by that point, Voyager 1 should come within 1.7 LY of star AC+79 3888 (Gliese 445) in the year 42013, while Voyager 2 comes within 11.7 LY (9.7 trillion miles) of the star Ross 248 (also known as HH Andromedae or Gliese 905) around the same time. (Image credits: NASA, JPL, Caltech)

TUESDAY

★ NET Aug 27 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Polaris Dawn Crew Dragon, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon to reach apogee of 1,400 km, perform first commercial EVA, and test spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications with Starlink on 5-day mission, 03:38 EDT.

★ Aug 27 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink Group 8-10, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites; 03:13 EDT.

☾ Aug 27 — Moon: 5.6° N of Jupiter, 02:00; 5.3° N of Mars, 15:00.

☆ Aug 27 — Amor Asteroid (2024 MZ): Near-Earth Flyby (0.08 AU)

WEDNESDAY

☾ Aug 28 — Moon: 4.3° N of M35 cluster, 04:00.

☆ Aug 28 — Apollo Asteroid (2201 RA10): Near-Earth Flyby (0.01 AU)

THURSDAY 

☆ Aug 29 — Galactic Energy, Ceres-1S / Payload Unannounced, Sea Launch, Haiyang Spaceport, China; 05:20 UTC.

★ Aug 29 — Blue Origin, New Shepard / NS-26, Corn Ranch, Van Horn TX; 26th suborbital flight of New Shepard carrying 6 passengers, 13:00 UTC.

● Aug 29 — NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee (NAC-HEO), Washington DC: Meeting of NAC-HEO 2024.

☾ Aug 29 — Moon: 5.0° S of Castor, 14:00; 1.73° S of Pollux, 20:00.

☆ Aug 29 — Aten Asteroid (2012 SX49): Near-Earth Flyby (0.02 AU)