Articles by: SPC

Jul 10-16, 2017 / Vol 36, No 28 / Hawai`i Island, USA

First Women / Americans at the Moon South Pole 2020-2021

American Space Enterprise Community Update

Landing of the First Women on the Moon will be as epochal an advancement as the First Men on the Moon, especially if it occurs at the Moon South Pole New Frontier. The transcending and transforming evolution of Humanity from a Multi World Species to a Multi World Civilization is no doubt a worthwhile cause for good, and for all. Much more than just a return to the Moon is the promising prospect and pressing imperative of creating a sustainable system to support the continual presence of Humans on the Moon. An outpost for the future, stepping stone for Solar System Complete endeavor in the 21st Century. American Space Enterprise community celebrating July Space Month 2017 should keep an eye toward the revolutionary accomplishment that Women on the Moon will be. ShareSpace foundation is hosting an Apollo 11 Anniversary Gala with Buzz Aldrin on July 15 at Kennedy Space Center. The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute is holding 4th NASA Exploration Science Forum July 18-20 in Moffett Field CA. The Moon Society et al celebrate Moon Day 2017 July 22 in Dallas TX. International Astronautical Federation convenes the annual IAC September 25-29 in Adelaide, Australia. An International Moonbase Summit is taking place Oct 1-5 in on the Kohala Coast HI and the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group annual meeting is Oct 10-13 in Greenbelt MD. (Image Credit: NASA, SPC, ILOA, Moon Express, Astrobotic, Bigleow, Blue Origin)

MONDAY

Ongoing…
Jul 10 — ISS, 330-435-km LEO: Expedition 52 three member crew Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer working on Fine Motor Skills study, maintaining space plumbing and air purification systems, using bone densitometer on mice in Rodent Research habitat, photographing mold and bacteria samples, swabbing station for microbes.

Jul 10 — Solar System: Juno 9,000-km altitude flyby of Jupiter Great Red Spot at 21:55 EDT today as part of 6th science flyby; Cassini 248,000-km altitude flyby of Titan today, craft is ~2 months from controlled atmosphere impact; perchlorates similar to those found on Mars being studied for potential toxicity to organisms, hospitable environment on Mars may lie 2-3 meters below surface.

Jul 10 — Galaxy: Massive blue hypervelocity stars in Milky Way may have been ejected from Large Magellanic Cloud which circles MW at 400 km per second; Richard Muller from UC Berkeley discusses Milky Way Galaxy and evolution of life; researchers suggest there could be 100 billion brown dwarfs in MWG – thousands have been observed within 1,500 LY; astronomers studying galaxy 6B LY away obtain images 10 times sharper than Hubble can achieve on its own.

Jul 10 — Global: DLR testing 92-cm tall lunar robots on dry, windy slopes of Mount Etna volcano in Sicily to prepare for Moon, Mars missions; CNSA analyzing recent Long March 5 rocket failure, future launch schedule TBD; USA Vice President Pence discusses reinstating National Space Council, returning to Moon, getting Humans to Mars; Japan announces goal to put Humans on Moon by 2030s with international mission.

Jul 10 — NewSpace: Moon 1966-67: Lunar Photographs Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project campaign headed by Dennis Wingo; Virgin Galactic new timeline for SpaceShipTwo powered flights may start Q2 2018; Moon Express expecting to make press announcement at Washington DC Jul 12; New Worlds 2nd Space Policy Summit Jul 20; XCOR lets go of more employees; SpaceX 1st ever reused Dragon cargo ship returns to Earth.

Jul 10 — NASA, ESA, “KBO Chasers” Observing Teams, Multiple Locations: Using Hubble, Gaia, Sofia, and observatories in South Africa & Argentina, science teams will attempt to observe stellar occultations by Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 to aid New Horizons flyby encounter Jan 1, 2019.

= 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;’ Greenwich, England).


Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mercury (WNW), Jupiter (SW), Saturn (S); Morning Planets: Venus (E), Uranus (SE), Neptune (SE).

Juno Begins 2nd Year at Jupiter, Plans Great Red Spot 9,000 km Altitude Flyby

The Juno spacecraft will be zooming by the Great Red Spot at 209,215 kph with eight instruments turned on July 10 – just six days after reaching its first full year at Jupiter July 4. In a 53.5-day science orbit, this will be the 6th close flyby of the ‘almost protostar’ planet and Juno will capture the most detailed images ever of the 40,000 km wide x 16,000 km tall, 645 kph anticyclonic storm that has been raging for more than 350 years. Juno data is filling in knowledge gaps of Jupiter and Solar System history and evolution: new observations of how Jupiter auroras get energy suggest it is fundamentally different from those of Earth; Jupiter may have a surprisingly large, partially dissolved core; detailed images show surprising amounts of blue color and cyclones near poles; unique analyses of radio emissions recorded from close vantage point; infrared views of north and south poles reveal warm and hot spots; the variability and mobility of the atmosphere, magnetic field, and gravity field are different than previously theorized. Data from Juno will aid global scientists and mission planners for decades to come, especially as international, NewSpace, academic and human exploration missions become more frequent. (Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS, Betsy Asher Hall, Gervasio Robles, Michael Carroll)

Jul 10 — Secure World Foundation, Washington DC: Trash in the Skies II: Industry Perspectives on Dealing with Space Debris; Rayburn House, 12:00-14:00.

Jul 10 — International Space Elevator Consortium, Online / Seattle WA: Abstracts Due: ISEC Space Elevator Conference 2017; occurring Aug 25-27.

Jul 10-12 — AIAA, Atlanta GA: AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition (Propulsion and Energy 2017); at Hyatt Regency.

Jul 10-12 — Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA, ESA, CSA, Baltimore MD: Meeting: Planning Transiting Exoplanet Science with JWST.

Jul 10-14 — International Astronomical Union, Potsdam, Germany: IAU Symposium 334: Rediscovering Our Galaxy.

Jul 10-14 — The Pedagogical University of Krakow, Krakow, Poland: 8th Meeting on Hot Subdwarfs and Related Objects.

Jul 10-14 — Leiden University, Lorentz Center, Space Telescope Science Institute, Leiden, The Netherlands: Workshop: Large Surveys of the Great Andromeda Galaxy.

Continued from…

Jun 26 – Jul 21 — Other Worlds Laboratory at University of California – Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA: 2017 Exoplanet Summer Program.

Jun 30 – Jul 29 — Space Media Ventures, National Space Society, Online: Kickstarter Campaign: Space Odyssey Game; presented by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, for people of all ages to experience new Worlds and add to them as real science & their collective imagination allows.

Jul 9-14 — Astronomical Society of Australia, Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at Australian National University, Canberra, Australia: Astronomical Society of Australia 2017 Annual Meeting; includes Annual General Meeting of ASA and the public Harley Wood Lecture.

TUESDAY

Jul 11-13 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, California Institute of Technology, The National Academies, Pasadena CA: Space Science Opportunities Augmented by Exploration Telepresence – Part II; Committee on the Review of Progress toward Implementing the Decadal Survey Vision and Voyages for Planetary Sciences.

Jul 11 – Aug 11 — Mars Spacecraft, Mars Orbit: Superior Solar Conjunction to prevent normal operations for international Mars missions, craft will undergo critical operations stand-down during this time frame and most will rely on automated systems.

Jul 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 MC4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU).

WEDNESDAY

Jul 12 — Moon Express, Washington DC: Moon Express is expected to make press announcement.

Jul 12 — SETI Institute, Palo Alto CA: Lecture: Making Contact – Jill Tarter and the Search for ET; at Cubberley Community Center, 19:00.

Jul 12-14 — Langley Research Center, NASA, Hampton VA: NASA Langley 100th Anniversary Centennial Symposium; LRC 100th observation since creation July 13, 1917.

Jul 12-20 — Korean Physical Society, International Cosmic Ray Conference Committee, Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), Bexco, Busan, South Korea: 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2017).

THURSDAY

Jul 13 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: Seminar: MESSENGER Observations of Mercury’s Dynamic Magnetosphere; James Slavin, University of Michigan, 15:30.

Jul 13 — Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center, NASA, Assateague Island National Seashore, Delmarva Space Sciences Foundation, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Wallops Island VA: Astronomy & Night Sky Summer Series.

Jul 13, 14 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA, Pasadena CA: von Kármán Lecture Series 2017: Five Years of Exploring Gale Crater with the Curiosity Mars Rover; James Erickson and Ashwin Vasavada , Mars Science Laboratory Project Managers at JPL.

Jul 13 — Venus: 3.1° N of Aldebaran, 08:03.

FRIDAY

Jul 14 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Kanopus-V-IK, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia government Soyuz rocket to launch Kanopus-V-IK infrared Earth observation satellite for Roscosmos, Russia Zond solar research satellite, multiple small spacecraft from U.S. companies.

Jul 14 — Space Foundation, Colorado Springs CO: Next Generation Space Leaders Program; at Space Foundation World Headquarters and Discovery Center, 14:00 – 20:00.

Jul 14 — Peninsula Astronomical Society, Los Altos Hills CA: Lecture: Surviving Space Radiation – Lessons from Microorganisms; by Ivan Paulino-Lima of NASA Ames Research Center and USRA, 19:30.

Jul 14 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: Lunch with an Astronaut, Brian Duffy, adult US$69.95.

Jul 14 — Chinese Academy of Sciences National Space Science Center, Space Studies Board of US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Online / Pasadena CA: Applications Due for 7th and 8th Forum for New Leaders in Space Science; to be held Jan and Jul 2018.

Jul 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2014 UV115: Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU).

SATURDAY

Jul 15 — ShareSpace Foundation, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, KSC FL: Apollo 11 Anniversary Gala with Buzz Aldrin; also featuring Star Trek’s George Takei and Nichelle Nichols.

Jul 15 — International Observe the Moon Night Organization, Global: 8th International Observe the Moon Night; encouraging observation, appreciation, understanding of the Moon with a special focus on eclipse-related lunar science supporting the upcoming Great American Eclipse.

Jul 15 — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Pasadena CA: Engineering on a Budget – Educator Workshop.

Jul 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 MR8: Near-Earth Flyby (0.008 AU).

Jul 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 BS6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.055 AU).

Jul 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 XZ378: Near-Earth Flyby (0.080 AU).

SUNDAY

Jul 16-20 — International Conference on Environmental Systems Steering Committee, Charleston SC: 47th International Conference on Environmental Systems.

Jul 16-21 — International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), San Diego CA: 18th International Conference on the Origin of Life.

Jul16-22 — Rencontres du Vietnam, Quy Nhon, Vietnam: 13th Rencontres du Vietnam: Neutrinos.

Jul 16 — Moon: At last quarter, 09:26.

Jul 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2007 MB4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU).