New Destinations in Space: Exploring Venus, Asteroid Ryugu, Earth Poles
Japan is hosting the 7th Symposium on Polar Science with the Hayabusa 2016 Symposium and 39th Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites in Tokyo November 29 to December 2 at the National Institute of Polar Research, Institute of Statistical Mathematics and National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. Presenters include Hisayoshi Yurimoto (JAXA, ISAS), Vicky Hamilton (SWRI), Kevin Righter (NASA), Daisuke Goto (NIPR) and Akinori Takahashi (NIPR). The symposia will focus on the 6-year Japan Antarctic Research Project, ice core research, space / upper atmospheric science, polar meteorology and glaciology. It will also highlight NASA OSIRIS-Rex expected to arrive at asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2018 with sample return 2023, and ESA Rosetta mission which studied comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. JAXA Hayabusa 2 will enter its 3rd full year in space on Dec 3. It is heading toward asteroid 162173 Ryugu for a June / July 2018 rendezvous and planned return to Earth 2020. The 1st Hayabusa successfully completed its mission June 13, 2010 returning samples from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. NASA is holding the 14th Meeting of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group on Nov 29 – Dec 1 in Washington DC. The most recent NASA mission to the inner Solar System was MESSENGER which flew by Venus in 2006 and 2007 before completing its mission at Merucry April 30, 2015. JAXA Akatsuki, the only active Venus craft, is set to enter its 2nd year at Venus Dec 7, and operate until at least May 15, 2018. (Image Credit: JAXA, NIPR, Ohara Corp) |
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MONDAY
Ongoing…
 Nov 28 — ISS, 330-435-km LEO: Expedition 50 crew (3 Russia, 2 USA, 1 France) expecting arrival of Progress 65P by end of this week, conducting inflight interviews with ESA, three newly arrived members reviewing emergency procedures; Station nearing 6,600 days in space, more than 250 research experiments are ongoing.
 Nov 28 — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Highly Elliptical Polar Moon Orbit: Studying Moon North & South Poles, craft findings continue to shed light on craters, Solar System evolution; NASA planning US$20M / year to operate flagship lunar mission through FY2018 which may be affected by incoming 2017 US Administration.
Nov 28 — Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission), Mars Orbit: India 1st mission at Red Planet being featured on new Rs 2,000 currency note and a picture taken by craft is on cover of National Geographic; technology demonstrator mission carries 5 science instruments.
Nov 28 — ISRO, Launch PSLV / Resourcesat 2A, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: India Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, flying on the PSLV-C36 mission, to launch India Resourcesat 2A Earth observation satellite along with secondary payloads from India, Italy and Latvia.
 Nov 28 — Rocket Lab, Auckland, New Zealand & Los Angeles CA: NewSpace company media spokesperson Catherine Moreau-Hammond announces first test flights of Electron rocket to begin early 2017 from commercial orbital Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula.
 Nov 28 — Bigelow Aerospace LLC, Las Vegas NV: Proceeding toward contract negotiations with NASA to develop full-size ground prototypes of cislunar habitats; 16-cubic meter Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) being tested at ISS, crew members enter the module 3-4 times a year for a few hours at a time to collect sensor data & check general conditions.
Nov 28 — Canadensys Aerospace Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Participating in International 2016 Mars Sample Return Simulation, advancing ILOA Moon South Pole flagship mission ILO-1, developing Pyxis Polar Broadband Satellite Constellation, is prime contractor for Mars Aeolian Research for Exploration and Science (ARES) instrument through CSA.
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= 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: Venus (SW), Mars (SSW), Saturn (SW), Uranus (SE), Neptune (S); Morning Planets: Jupiter (ESE).
NASA Commercial Crew May See First Test Flights in 2017
With the price of seats for USA astronauts to fly aboard the Russian Soyuz continuing to rise, 384% over 10 years, there is urgent need for new 21st Century American enterprise to rise. SpaceX and Boeing are both in the running to become the new go-to supplier for NASA’s low Earth orbit human transportation needs, including commutes to International Space Station. The Dragon 2 capsule flying on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is slated for an uncrewed test flight to the ISS in August 2017, with possibility of a crewed test flight before the end of 2017. Although it remains to be seen how quickly SpaceX will bounce back after the pre-flight failure of F9-029 destroyed a payload and launch pad on September 1. Boeing is projecting an uncrewed orbital test flight of its CST-100 Starliner in December 2017, with a crewed test flight by February 2018. Both companies are committed to launching astronauts from the Space Coast in Florida USA, which will restore the independent human access to space that America has been lacking since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011. Meanwhile, USA continues to pay over US$81M per seat to Russia through 2018. (Image Credit: NASA, SpaceX, Boeing)
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Nov 28 – Dec 2 — NAOJ, Subaru Telescope, Hiroshima, Japan: 6th Subaru International Conference: Panoramas of the Evolving Cosmos; at Hiroshima International Conference Center.
Nov 28 – Dec 2 — International Astronomical Union, Auckland, New Zealand: IAU Symposium 329: The Lives and Death-Throes of Massive Stars.
Nov 28 – Dec 2 — International Astronomical Union, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: Conference: Wide-Field Variability Surveys – A 21st-Century Perspective.
Nov 28 — Mars Winter Solstice: Shortest day and longest night of the year; Mars solar days (Sols) are 39 minutes & 35 seconds longer than Earth days, 668 sols (684 Earth days) in a Mars year.
Nov 28 — Amor Asteroid 2016 WH1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU).
Continued from…
Oct 15 – Sep 4, 2017 — Peabody Essex Museum, Salem MA: Lunar Attraction Exhibit; featuring 60 Apollo memorabilia, paintings, sculptures, photographs, books, movies, jewelry that illustrate our profound connection to the Moon.
TUESDAY
Nov 29-30 — EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA), Turksat, GVF, SSPI, Istanbul, Turkey: 2nd Global Satshow: Smart Connections.
Nov 29 – Dec 1 — VEXAG, NASA, Washington DC: 14th Meeting of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG).
Nov 29 – Dec 2 — Nexus for Exoplanet Systems Science (NExSS), NASA, New Orleans LA: Workshop Without Walls: Exoplanetary Space Weather, Climate and Habitability.
Nov 29 – Dec 2 — JAXA, Astromaterials Science Research Group, Extraterrestrial Sample Curation Center, Tokyo, Japan: Hayabusa 2016 Symposium; held jointly with 39th Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites, and 7th Symposium on Polar Science. |
Nov 29 – Dec 2 — National Institute of Polar Research, Institute of Statistical Mathematics, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan: 7th Symposium on Polar Science.
Nov 29 — Moon: New Moon, 02:18; 9.6° N of Antares, 07:00; 3.6° N of Saturn, 22:00.
WEDNESDAY
Nov 30 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft to begin orbits bringing it closer to Saturn starting with F ring, the outermost ring.
Nov 30 — Moon: 7.1° N of Mercury, 19:00.
Nov 30 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 WQ: Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU).
Nov 30 — Apollo Asteroid 369264 (2009 MS): Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU).
THURSDAY
Dec 1 — Deep Space, KBO 2014 MU69 Trajectory: New Horizons craft heading toward Kuiper Belt is operating nominally and communicating with Earth, successfully traveled more than 5.5B km so far, all data from Pluto / Charon flyby July 2015 downloaded.
Dec 1 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft to perform close flyby (4,100-km altitude) of Jupiter at 12:03 EST, all instruments will be turned on to collect data.
Dec 1 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Progress 65P, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia Soyuz rocket to launch Progress 65P resupply ship to ISS.
Dec 1 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Lecture: Fingerprints of Other Worlds – Exoplanet Atmospheres at High Spectral Resolution; Jayne Birkby, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 16:00.
NET Dec — ISRO, Launch PSLV / SAARC (South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation), Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Proposed meteorology SAARC satellite to launch this month, will cover 7 countries in South Asia region: Pakistan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan.
NET Dec — International Launch Services, Launch Proton / EchoStar 21, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: ILS Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage to launch EchoStar 21 communications satellite, formerly known as TerreStar 2.
Dec 1 — Aten Asteroid 2016 LO1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU).
Dec 1 — Amor Asteroid 2016 VP4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU).
FRIDAY
Dec 2 — Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), LEO: ESA / NASA craft studying sun, enters 22nd year of operations today, launched 1995; has discovered more than 3,000 comets.
Dec 2 — Caltech, Pasadena CA: Caltech Astronomy Public Lectures: ALMA: A Revolutionary New View of the Cosmos; Nick Scoville of Caltech, 19:00.
Dec 2 — Phoenicid Meteor Shower Peak: Meteor shower may produce 2-5 per hour, slow moving (18 km/sec) meteors from debris of comet 289P Blanpain.
Dec 2 — Moon: 2.8° N of Pluto, 07:00.
SATURDAY
Dec 3 — Hayabusa 2, Asteroid 162173 Ryugu Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa 2 enters 3rd full year in space today, launched Dec 3, 2014; expected to reach asteroid June / July 2018.
Dec 3 — Moon: 5.8° N of Venus, 01:00.
Dec 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2007 VM184: Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU).
SUNDAY
Dec 4 — Cassini OTM-467, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #467 today.
Dec 4-7 — Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Gemini Observatory, Sejong University, Chilean Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Las Campanas Observatory, La Serena, Chile: 1st Chile-Korea-Gemini Workshop no Stellar Astrophysics: Accretion Processes in Symbiotic Stars and Related Objects.
Dec 4 — Moon: 2.9° NNW of Mars, 23:00.
Dec 4 — Aten Asteroid 2005 WS3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU).