Articles by: SPC

August 26 – September 1, 2019 / Vol 38, No 34 / Hawai’i Island, USA

Artemis Human Lunar Lander Planned to Send First Woman to Moon Assisted by Commercial Space

At 6th meeting of USA National Space Council, VP Mike Pence continues plans for next man and first woman on lunar South Pole in 2024. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, headed by Jody Singer (L), will be in charge of Artemis lunar lander with substantial work done at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA Chief Bridenstine points to Artemis crew ascent stage, Gateway, spacesuits, and other projects assigned to JSC. Artemis lander will be managed by Lisa Watson-Morgan (R) from Alabama. Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, managed by Marshall, is assembling the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System. Astrobotic, a Commercial Lunar Payload Services Provider, selects ULA Vulcan Centaur also chosen by Sierra Nevada Corporation for the Dream Chaser. The ULA facility in Alabama will transition from Atlas and Delta production. Vulcan Centaur will launch Astrobotic Peregrine lander (LL) on the first mission for both in 2021, first USA lunar landing since 1972. Houston CLPS provider Intuitive Machines (LR) also plans landing in 2021 using SpaceX booster. NASA solicitation is due Aug 22 for companies to land larger payloads with contract awards expected Oct 15. NASA is also issuing a Request for Proposals up to US$7B for carrying supplies to Gateway. Simultaneously former House Speaker Newt Gingrich advocates a competition among US companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to land on Moon for less cost. (Image Credits: NASA, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines)

MONDAY

Highlights…
 Aug 26 — ISS, 405-km LEO: Expedition 60 crew member Christina Koch monitoring SPHERES robots and activates BioFabrication Facility; 20 astro-mice from Rodent Research-17 habitat prepared for live return to Earth in SpaceX Dragon; Russia Soyuz MS-14 resupply, delivering Skybot F-850, to return to Earth Sep 6.

Aug 26 — NewSpace: ispace Japan aims to land on Moon 2021; Sierra Nevada Corporation unveils prototype of inflatable space habitat; Rocket Lab Electron launcher gearing up for next flight after successfully placing 4 satellites in orbit; SpaceX “Starman” and Tesla roadster begin 2nd orbit of Sun.

Aug 26 — Solar System: Chandrayaan-2 in lunar orbit preparing for landing near Moon South Pole; new study reaffirms early Mars liquid water; historic Late Heavy Bombardment of asteroids in Solar System may have occurred earlier than thought.

Aug 26 — Galaxy: Laboratory test seeking hypothetical dark energy finds zero sign of new forces; Spitzer Space Telescope finds exoplanet LHS 3844b 48.6 LY away may be covered in dark lava rock; gravitational waves appear to show black hole swallowing neutron star.

Aug 26 — Global: China commercial Jielong-1 / Smart Dragon-1 planned for 5 more launches by end of 2020; Australian Space Agency hopes to create 20,000 jobs, signs agreement with ESA, and looks to work with JAXA; Russia assembling team of Cosmonauts for deep space missions.

Aug 26 — USA: Boeing Starliner planning orbital flight test in Oct, adopts mission patches; SpaceX Crew Dragon accident investigation nearly complete; Northrop Grumman OmegA booster assembly moving to Vertical Assembly Building at KSC.

Aug 26 — Hawai’i: Keck Telescope observations aid in understanding remnants of Type Ia supernovae; Subaru Telescope helps pin down properties of “impossible” white dwarf KIC 8155411; Gemini North makes observations of supernova 2016iet.

Aug 26-29 — Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Trinity College Dublin, RadioNet, Dublin, Ireland: 49th Young European Radio Astronomers Conference.

= 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: Jupiter (SW), Saturn (SE); Morning Planets: Mercury (ENE), Uranus (S), Neptune (SE).

Thailand Space Week Begins August 27 as SEA Space Capability Grows

Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) is hosting Thailand Space Week August 27-29 at Impact Convention Center in Muang Thong Thani, near Bangkok. Founded in 2000, GISTDA owns and operates an Earth observing satellite, Theos, which was developed by Airbus and launched in 2008 on a DNEPR rocket. Theos 2 is anticipated to launch in 2021. Thailand also has a long history of commercial satellite operation dating to 1993 with THAICOM 1-8 communication satellites, 5 of which are operational. With theme ‘Space for Sustainable Society’, Thailand Space Week will feature opening remarks by (R) A.S. Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and keynote speeches by industrial magnate Vikrom Kromadit and Narongsak Osatanakorn, governor of Phayao Province. Four conferences will be held in tandem: GEOINFOTECH, including seminars on Career Paths, Space Economics and Climate Change; the 11th Multi-Global Navigation Satellite Systems Asia Conference, which features a demo day at Space Krenovation Park, Thailand premier technology park and space entrepreneur incubator; Thai Space Consortium – a collaboration between GISTDA, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) and Siam Photon Laboratory – will report on its efforts to produce domestic microsatellites from the Aerospace Industry Forum, and a Space Youth Forum will announce ‘Discover Thailand’s Astronauts Scholarship Program 2019’. (Also Pictured: (L) Kanda Sri Limpakom, Deputy Director of GISDTA; Image Credits: GISTDA, Airbus, United Nations)

 

 Aug 26-31 — Center for Direct Scientific Communication (CCSD), Paris Observatory, Paris, France: Summer School: Natural Space Risks; discussing space weather, space debris, near-Earth objects, and their societal impacts.

Aug 26 — Amor Asteroid 2016 PD1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)

Aug 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 TY237: Near-Earth Flyby (0.086 AU)

Aug 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2005 QQ87: Near-Earth Flyby (0.091 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.

Aug 24-27 — Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China: 5th Beijing Earth and Planetary Interiors Symposium; understanding origin, structure, variations of Earth planetary magnetic fields.

TUESDAY

Aug 27 — ISS, Dragon CRS-18 Return to Earth: Dragon capsule with cargo, research specimens and a spacesuit that requires refurbishment – to return to Earth today, splashing down in Pacific Ocean.

Aug 27 — International Astronautical Federation, Roscosmos State Corporation, Zhukovskiy, Russia: Announcement of IAF / Roscosmos holding 2020 Global Space Exploration Conference #GLEX2020 in St. Petersburg; featuring Dmitry Rogozin, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Sergey Krikalev, Christian Feichtinger; at Moscow Airshow MAKS 2019, 17:15-17:45.

Aug 27-29 — Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), Bangkok, Thailand: Thailand Space Week: Space for Sustainable Society; at Impact Muang Thong Thani.

Aug 27 — Moon: 6.1° S of Pollux, 04:00.

Aug 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 QR: Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU)

Aug 27 — Aten Asteroid 2002 JR100: Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU)

Aug 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2001 WN5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.098 AU)

WEDNESDAY

Aug 28 — Chandrayaan-2 Lunar Boundary Maneuver #3, Lunar Orbit: India Moon mission to attempt maneuver today to achieve 178 x 1,411 km orbit toward planned ~Sep 7 landing at 70° S latitude ~600 km from lunar South Pole.

Aug 28-30 — CASIC Space Engineering Development Co. Ltd, Wuhan, China: 5th China International Commercial Aerospace Forum.

Aug 28-30 — University of Michigan, Portland State University, Ann Arbor MI: 1st Annual Meeting on Imaging for Life Detection; will discuss innovative concepts for imaging extant microbial life in extreme environments on Earth and on Icy Worlds.

Aug 28 — Mercury: 1.28° NNE of Regulus, 20:00.

Aug 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 OU1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU)

THURSDAY

Aug 29 – Sep 3 — Union of Radio Science (URSI), SIEM, Rome, Italy: 33rd URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium.

Aug 29 — Moon: 3.1° NNE of Regulus, 14:00; 1.86° NNE of Mercury, 17:00.

Aug 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2008 SJ82: Near-Earth Flyby (0.068 AU)

FRIDAY

Aug 30 — Van Allen Probes, LEO: Spacecraft reach 7full years / begin 8th year in space today, launched 2012; adding to the understanding of Earth radiation belt environment and its variability.

Aug 30 — Chandrayaan-2 Lunar Boundary Maneuver #4, Lunar Orbit: India Moon mission to attempt maneuver today to achieve 126 X 164 km orbit toward planned Sep 7 landing at 70° S latitude ~600 km from lunar South Pole.

Aug 30-31 — Islamic New Year 1441 AH, Worldwide: Islamic New Year 1 Muharram (1st day) to begin at sunset on 30 Aug; if young New Moon is not visible the beginning of the month and year may be delayed.

Aug 30 — Moon: New Moon, 00:37; 2.91° NNE of Mars, 03:00; at perigee (distance 357,176 km), 05:58; 2.79° NNE of Venus, 09:00.

SATURDAY

Aug 31 — Arches National Park Service, Moab UT: Lecture: Exploring the Hidden Universe with James Webb Space Telescope; featuring Alex Lockwood of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, 20:30.

SUNDAY

NET Sep — ISS, LEO: Russia EVA scheduled to facilitate deorbit of PIRS module in preparation for launch / arrival of new Russia Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka “Science”.

NET Sep — SpaceX, Boca Chica TX or Cape Canaveral FL: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will present update of first orbital Starship prior to launch attempt.

Sep 1 — Parker Solar Probe, Heliocentric Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 3rd perihelion today.

Sep 1 — Chandrayaan-2 Lunar Boundary Maneuver #5, Lunar Orbit: India Moon mission to attempt maneuver today to achieve 114 X 128 km orbit toward planned Sep 7 landing at 70° S latitude ~600 km from lunar South Pole.