Articles by: SPC

March 22-28, 2021 / Vol 40, No 12 / Hawai`i Island, USA

First 2021 Launch from Vostochny and Second for India Set to Liftoff

Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia is planned to see its 6th launch on March 26 with Arianespace Soyuz 2.1b flight ST30 carrying OneWeb 5 mission for commercial broadband communications. This will be Arianespace first commercial Soyuz mission from Vostochny managed through its subsidiary Starsem. After using ion thrusters to raise altitude to ~1,200 km, these 36 satellites, each weighing 147.5 kg, will join 110 others already in a near-circular polar orbit. There are 15 additional Soyuz OneWeb launches planned to complete fleet at 648. Considering space debris mitigation, OneWeb sats are designed for minimum 5-year lifetime with post-mission disposal operation taking less than one year. India first GEO Imaging Satellite GISAT 1 with a 7-year lifetime is slated to launch Mar 28 on ISRO GSLV-F10 Mk 2 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India. This will be the 14th overall launch of a GSLV. Its identical twin GISAT 2 (launching late 2021) will also image in multi-spectral and hyper-spectral bands, feature electronically steerable, phased array antenna and 700 mm Ritchey–Chrétien telescope based on the design of Cartosat-2A, have launch masses of 2,268 kg and orbit in GTO at 170 x 35,975 km. With 13 other missions scheduled to launch this year, next up could be ISRO demonstration of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle in April. (Image Credits: Arianespace, OneWeb, ISRO, Roscosmos)

MONDAY

Highlights…
Mar 22 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 64 seven-member crew again utilizing tea leaves to follow intractable air leak, preparing for Soyuz 64S arrival, working with ribosome profiling experiment, performing in-flight interviews with JAXA & Discovery Channel; newly discovered novel bacteria strains on ISS may house useful genetics.

Mar 22 — NewSpace: SpaceX bid on NASA smallsat contract prompts speculation on Starship SSTO possibility; Altius Space Machines, Honeybee Robotics & Orbit Fab satellite grappling fixture technology to undergo testing at GSFC; Mission Control Space Services of Ottawa developing flight computer for lunar craft with US$931,850 CSA award.

Mar 22 — Solar System: Hypothetical vast quantity of water trapped in Mars crust may be target of future investigation; 27 asteroids in Main Belt now known by names honoring Black, Hispanic & Native American space figures per IAU; analysis of polar aurorae on Jupiter shows similarity to terrestrial storm systems.

Mar 22 — Galaxy: VLA radio imaging of galaxy 300x smaller than MWG displays promise of galactic-scale gravitational lensing technique; Alan Stern reports on possible prevalence of life-supporting interior water ocean extrasolar planets; researchers seeking to verify theories on cause of super massive black hole moving at 177,028 km/h.

Mar 22 — Global: Paraguay conducting 1st space mission tracking triatomine parasite with Guaranisat-1; commercial spaceport and 13,000 satellite internet constellation in 14th 5-year plan of China; NASA seeking SIRIUS long-duration spaceflight analog participants for Russia 8-12 month study.

Mar 22 — USA: Bill Nelson, Pamela Melroy may become NASA Administrator, Deputy Admin; industry organizations urging continuity for Office of Space Commerce; Astronaut Mark Vande Hei may spend ~1 year on ISS.

Mar 22 — Hawai’i: ~7 interstellar objects such as ‘Oumuamua (discovered by Pan-STARRS) traverse Solar System annually, study suggests; IfA URFT on Mauna Kea to track asteroid 2001 FO32 to analyze size and composition; Particle Cosmologist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein reflects on Maunakea in new book.

= 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), Uranus (W); Morning Planets: Jupiter (ESE), Saturn (ESE).

Women in Space, Space Commerce, Space Security Are Subjects of Meetings Around World This Week

Secure World Foundation and partners to host a roundtable discussion March 23 in conjunction with launch of War and Peace in Outer Space, a new book by Cassandra Steer (Australian National University) and Matthew Hersch (Harvard) on moral implications of space diplomacy and weaponization. SPACETIDE 2021: The Evolution of Commercial Space is to feature 60 speakers from 10 countries over 2-day conference to be held virtually on Day 1 (Mar 24) and in-person / online hybrid Day 2 from Mori Tower in Tokyo (Mar 25). Sessions on Beginning of the Human Space Flight Era (moderated by Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki), Formation of Lunar Society Accelerated by Global Public-Private Partnership and New Rocket Trends will be held on day 1, while the following day focuses on domestic Japan space industry, government and academia, with sessions on Social Issues, Newspace and 3 ‘Fireside Chats’. Edinburgh Women in Space Conference is being held online from Scotland Mar 26-28, featuring keynote speakers Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration at UK Space Agency; Sarah Gallagher, Chief Science Advisor at Canadian Space Agency and Yvette Hopkins, Executive of Shetland Space Centre. Essay, Art and Video competitions will run concurrently with the conference, with student entries on topics such as Space Sustainability, Interstellar Travel, Commercialization of the Space Sector, New Worlds and Human Exploration. Additionally, International Astronautical Federation is holding spring 2021 meetings March 15 – April 1. (Image Credits: SWF, Edinburgh Women in Space Conference, SPACETIDE Foundation, NASA)

 Mar 22 — NASA, Online: Applications Due: PI Launchpad – Developing Your First Flight Mission Proposal.

Mar 22-26 — University of Lyon, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research, Online: Virtual Meeting: Galactic and Extragalactic Universe in the Era of New-generation Radio (SKA and Pathfinders) and Optical/IR Facilities.

Mar 22 – Apr 1 — International Astronautical Federation, Online / Paris, France: IAF Spring Meetings 2021.

Mar 22 — Moon: 7.0° S of Castor, 20:00.

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.

TUESDAY

Mar 23 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink V1.0-L22, LC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of ~60 satellites for SpaceX Starlink broadband network; 17.58 EDT.

Mar 23 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Online / Washington DC: Mars 2020 and the Importance of Planetary Protection; by Moogega “Moo” Cooper of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 20:00 EDT.

Mar 23 — Secure World Foundation, Australian National University Centre for International and Public Law, Harvard University Dept of the History of Science, University of Pennsylvania Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, Online / Washington DC: Roundtable on “War and Peace in Outer Space”.

Mar 23 — Space Tech Expo, Online / Long Beach CA: Webinar: Striking a Balance Between Commercial Off the Shelf and Custom-Made Space Grade Components; 09:00 PDT.

Mar 23 — NASA, Online / Washington DC: Briefing Briefing to Preview First Mars Helicopter Flights; 13:30 EDT.

Mar 23-25 — National Academies Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Online / Washington DC: Space Science Week Spring Meeting 2021.

Mar 23-26 — Sofia Science Center, Online / Mountain View CA: Workshop: Rock, Ice and Dust – Interpreting Planetary Data.

Mar 23 — Moon: 3.4° S of Pollux, 01:00.

WEDNESDAY

Mar 24 — SETI Institute, Online / Mountain View CA: SETI Talks: The Search for Life on Mars with Perseverance; 19:00 PDT.

Mar 24 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 – Panel on Venus Meeting #13.

Mar 24-25 — SPACETIDE, Kyocera Corporation, SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, Sakura internet Inc., Mitsubishi, Shimizu Corporation, SMBC Nikko Securities, et al, Online / Tokyo, Japan: SPACETIDE 2021: The Evolution of Commercial Space; featuring Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, Ariane Cornell from Blue Origin, Steve Lindsey from Sierra Nevada, Akihide Manabe of Space Walker, Takeshi Hakamada from ispace, Lisa May from Lockheed Martin, others.

Mar 24 — Moon: 2.81° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 02:00.

THURSDAY

Mar 25 — NASA Marshall Space Flight Center History Office, University of Alabama in Huntsville, ISS U.S. National Laboratory, Online / Huntsville AL: NASA and the Rise of Commercial Space Symposium; featuring keynote talk by Steve Lee of Astrosat.

Mar 25 — Institute of Physics Yorkshire Branch, Online / United Kingdom: Lecture: Ripples from the Dark Side of the Universe; by Professor Sir James Hough, University of Glasgow.

Mar 25 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 Meeting #11.

Mar 25 — Moon: 4.5° NNE of Regulus, 18:00.

Mar 25 — Venus: At superior conjunction with Sun, 20:00.

Mar 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 EV3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)

FRIDAY

Mar 26 — Roscosmos, Launch Soyuz / OneWeb 5, Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz rocket to launch 36 satellites to orbit for OneWeb; 21:26 local time.

Mar 26 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 – Panel on Giant Planet Systems – Meeting #7; Panel on Mercury and the Moon Meeting #13; and Panel on Ocean Worlds and Dwarf Planets Meeting #18.

Mar 26-28 — AstroSat, University of Edinburgh, Institute of Physics, ROOM Space Journal, Online / Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh Women in Space Conference.

SATURDAY

Mar 27 — Earth Hour: Occurring 20:30 in every time zone, Earth Hour raises awareness of issues of our environment and planet.

Mar 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 CX5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)

Mar 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 GE: Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)

SUNDAY

Mar 28 — ISRO, Launch GSLV Mk. 2 / GISAT 1, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk. 2, designated GSLV-F10, to launch India first GEO Imaging Satellite GISAT 1.

Mar 28 — Daylight Saving Time (Europe): Change clocks forward 1 hour, from Standard Time to Summer Time.

Mar 28 — Moon: Full Worm Moon, 08:49.

Mar 28 — Venus: Venus brightest, magnitude -3.91°, 16:00.