July Space Month 2019 Begins with ARTEMIS Craft Observation, Orion Test, Galaxy Forum USA
Apollo 11 semicentennial observations are accelerating at the start of July ‘Space Month’ with hundreds of events and billions of people looking to the next 50 years of human accomplishment in Space, on the Moon and toward the Stars. NASA twin ARTEMIS spacecraft will begin their 9th year in lunar orbit on July 2 and July 17, having launched as part of THEMIS constellation in 2007. USA is now planning its Artemis program science payloads, robotic missions, cislunar gateway and landing women and men at the Moon South Pole ~2024. Vital for the development of Artemis, the Orion capsule Critical Ascent Abort AA-2 test is scheduled for July 2 at Cape Canaveral SLC 46. Participants include (L-R) Orion program manager Mark Kirasich, test conductor Jenny Devolites, and Astronaut Randy Bresnik. The 3-minute test will boost ~10,000 kg test version of Orion craft to 9.6 km at which point the abort sequence will be triggered to carry it away from the Northrop Grumman rocket. On July 4, Galaxy Forum USA 2019 in Silicon Valley CA themed “The 7th and 8th Continents: Antarctica, the Moon and Beyond” will host Michelle Hanlon of For All Moonkind, NASA Scientist Chris McKay, KIPAC Researcher Edward Young and ILOA Director Steve Durst. Kennedy Space Center is hosting events throughout the month, including July 20 ‘One Giant Leap Celebration’ with Astronauts Rusty Schweickart, Jim Lovell, and a surprise guest. (Image Credits: NASA, ILOA, Galaxy Forum)
|
|
MONDAY
Highlights…
 Jul 1 — ISS, 405-km LEO: Expedition 60 crew of three to be joined by NASA, Russia, ESA Astronauts on July 20; nearly 300 experiments conducted at any given time; Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser may be ready for Sep 2021 ISS cargo flights.
 Jul 1 — NewSpace: Houston spaceport development underway as 1st tenant Intuitive Machines builds Nova-C lunar lander; SpaceX achieves 1st nose fairing recovery success with vessel now named ‘GO Ms. Tree’; Israel SpaceIL building Beresheet 2 for next ‘challenging objective’; asteroid mining market projected to reach US$3.8B by 2025.
Jul 1 — Solar System: Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover awaken for 7th lunar day, continuing science operations from Milky Way Base on far side; Curiosity rover finds signs of methane on Mars; Uranus rings observed glowing from heat; proposed Dragonfly mission could study Titan.
Jul 1 — Galaxy: Winner proposals now online for Milky Way “10th Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition” to model settlement of 100,000 star systems within 10,000 years; Breakthrough listen publishes data set for SETI; Subaru Telescope identifies outer edge of Milky Way; DDO 44 dwarf galaxy tidal tails detected.
Jul 1 — Global: ISRO integration of Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander, rover, orbiter into GSLV Mk-3 to occur this week for July 15 launch; Russia agrees to guidelines from UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space; for the 1st time, South Korea astronomers detect a potentially hazardous asteroid dubbed 2019 PP29.
 Jul 1 — USA: First Woman on the Moon might be 1 of the active veteran NASA Astronauts; Final Frontier Design to receive SBIR award worth up to US$125K for lunar space suit boot; Boeing planning Starliner uncrewed test Sep 17, crewed flight Nov 30; SpaceX Crew Dragon aiming for Nov 15 crewed flight.
Jul 1 — Hawai’i: Pan-STARRS 2 on Maui and ATLAS atop Mauna Loa contribute to observations of asteroid 2019 MO harmlessly entering Earth atmosphere; Gemini South, Keck and ESO work to create ‘3D identification’ of intense radio burst; HI-SEAS continuing data integration of 5 missions / 36-months.
|
= 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: Mercury (WNW), Mars (WNW), Jupiter (SE), Saturn (S); Morning Planets: Venus (ENE), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE).
Upcoming Russia Launch from Vostochny Cosmodrome to Carry Polar Orbiting Meteorological Satellite
Meteor-M 2-2 is scheduled to launch via Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M rocket from the recently constructed Vostochny Cosmodrome on July 5. Strategically located in Russia’s expansive Far East region along 51°N, Vostochny and the adjacent servicing community of Tsiolkovsky, Amur Oblast are touted by Roscomos as ‘spaceport of the 21st century’ and ‘technocenter of the future space cluster’, respectively. Just 110 km from Russia / China border, spacecraft need only traverse a sparsely populated 600–800 km (dependent on trajectory) to reach open ocean, as opposed to the landlocked Baikonur Cosmodrome, historic launch site of Soviet and Russian rockets currently leased from Kazakhstan for ~ US$115M annually. Of the first 4 launches from Vostochny, 3 have been successful – the exception being Meteor-M 2-1, the second launch ever from the new Cosmodrome and the first mission in the Meteor-M series, which failed due to a programming oversight (Baikonur coordinates were inadvertently entered). GK Launch Services, a commercial arm of Roscosmos, organized over 40 international payloads on a rideshare basis. Russia intends to migrate the majority of its commercial launches away from Baikonur in favor of Vostochny’s Site 1A, planned launchpad for the anticipated Angara rocket. Four additional Meteor satellites are scheduled for launch annually. Co-payloads consist of collaborative missions including Finland, Germany, USA, Israel, Czech Republic, Sweden, France, Estonia and Ecuador. (Image Credits: Roscosmos) |
Jul 1 — Deep Space: New Horizons Kuiper Belt explorer, 6.6B km away, sending data back to Earth until at least Sep 2020 from 1st KBO flyby, mission team planning next science target(s).
Jul 1-4 — International Astronautical Federation, Technical University of Madrid (ETSIAE UPM), Madrid, Spain: 8th European Conference for Aeronautics and Space Sciences (EUCASS).
Jul 1-12 — Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Dolgoprudny, Russia: 15th School of Modern Astrophysics (Astrosoma 2019).
Jul 1 — Moon: 1.64° SSE of Venus, 13:00.
Jul 1 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 MT: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
Jul 1 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 XC352: Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)
Continued from…
Mar 19 – Jul 19 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender crew of 6 to participate in 4-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).
Apr 13 – Sep 2 — Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Flight, Multiple Locations: Destination Moon, traveling exhibition of historic Apollo 11 artifacts.
May 20 – Aug 9 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 31st Annual Planetary Science Summer Seminar.
Jun 24 – Aug 23 — International Space University, ESA, Strasbourg, France: ISU 32nd Space Studies Program (SSP 2019).
Jun 30 – Jul 4 — Royal Astronomical Society, Lancaster, United Kingdom: Royal Astronomical Society’s (RAS) 2019 National Astronomy Meeting. |
TUESDAY
Jul 2 — Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) P1, Moon Orbit: Craft reaches 8 full years / enters 9th year in Moon orbit today; originally launched with constellation of 5 satellites in 2007 to study Earth magnetosphere, NASA craft collecting data on Moon interaction with Sun; reached Moon 2011.
Jul 2 — Air and Space Academy, Académie Royale de Belgique (Royal Academy of Belgium), Brussels, Belgium: The European Union: A Key Player in Space; lecture by Dr. Paul Weissenberg, Former Deputy General Director of the European Commission, Correspondent of Air & Space Academy.
Jul 2 — NASA, Cape Canaveral AFS FL: Orion flight test article (FTA) Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) test to occur today at Launch Complex 46.
Jul 2 — Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD: Lecture: Our Colorful Universe: Translating Cosmic Light; by Joseph DePasquale of STSI.
Jul 2-4 — ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: Space Engineering and Technology Final Presentation Days.
Jul 2-5 — Osaka University, Kyoto University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Tokyo, Kyoto, Japan: 15th International Symposium on Origin of Matter and Evolution of Galaxies (OMEG15).
Jul 2 — Moon: New Moon, 09:16.
Jul 2 — Sun: Total Solar Eclipse, visible from Central Chile, Central Argentina; maximum eclipse at 19:22:57 UTC.
Jul 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 MD1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)
WEDNESDAY
Jul 3 — ATNF, CISRO, Sydney, Australia: Colloquium: Energetics and Lifecycles of Radio Galaxies – What Can Models Tell Us? by Stas Shabala from University of Tasmania.
Jul 3-5 — European Commission, Lisbon, Portugal: 2019 EuroGEOSS Workshop.
Jul 3 — Moon: 6.1° S of Pollux, 08:00; 0.19° ENE of Mars, 20:00.
THURSDAY
Jul 4 — 1065th Anniversary of Crab Nebula Supernova: This year marks the 1065th Anniversary of July 4, 1054 supernova explosion observation witnessed across Northern Hemisphere, and possibly Australia.
Jul 4 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 3 full years / enters 4th year at Jupiter today, planned to continue operations at least until July 2021 before controlled impact to ensure Juno does not impact Jovian moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto; one-way transmission signal to Earth is 48 minutes.
Jul 4 — Space Age Publishing Company, Santa Clara CA: Galaxy Forum USA 2019 – Silicon Valley: The 7th and 8th Continents: Antarctica, The Moon and Beyond; featuring Michelle Hanlon of ‘For All Moonkind’, Chris Mckay of NASA, Steve Durst of SPC and Edward Young of Kavli Institute; 09:30-11:30, Embassy Suites Santa Clara, free.
Jul 4 — Earth: at aphelion, 1.0167 AU from Sun.
Jul 4 — Moon: 3.3° NNE of Mercury, 00:00; at perigee (distance 363,746 km), 18:60.
FRIDAY
Jul 5 — Roscosmos, Launch Soyuz / Meteor M2-2, Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz booster to launch Meteor M2-2 polar orbiting weather satellite and more than 40 rideshare satellites.
Jul 5 — Arianespace, Launch Vega / Falcon Eye 1, Kourou, French Guiana: Arianespace Vega rocket, designated VV15, will launch with the Falcon Eye 1 high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates; launch 21:53:03.
Jul 5-7 — South Dakota National Park Service, Badlands National Park SD: 2019 Badlands Astronomy Festival; activities, nightly telescope viewing and presentations with space science professionals, amateur astronomers, educators, youth groups.
Jul 5 — Moon: 3.1° NNE of Regulus, 19:00.
Jul 5 — Mercury: 3.8° SSE of Mars, 13:00.
SATURDAY
Jul 6-12 — Perimeter Institute, ICTP, NSF, et al, Sao Paulo, Brazil: School: 2019 IFT-Perimeter-SAIFR Journeys into Theoretical Physics.
Jul 6 — Apollo Asteroid 10145 (1994 CK1): Near-Earth Flyby (0.099 AU)
SUNDAY
Jul 7 — ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, Subaru Telescope, Hilo HI: Tanabata Festival of the Stars; observing Subaru Telescope 20 years in Hawai’i with astronomy presentations, Kimono fashion show and other activities, 10:00-15:00, free.
Jul 7-12 — Astronomical Society of Australia, St. Lucia, Australia: Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) Annual Scientific Meeting and General Meeting.
Jul 7-12 — Hokkaido University, National Institute of Polar Research, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of JAXA., Sapporo, Japan: 82nd Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society.
Jul 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 NO56: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)
Jul 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 OF: Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)