50th Observance of Apollo 17 Celebrates Orion Mission Success as ispace Launches, Danuri Nears Moon, CAPSTONE Maintains NRHO |
MONDAY☆ Dec 12 — ISS, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 68 seven-member crew working with oxygen generator & condensation experiment; to conduct Russia EVA #56 this week, followed by USA EVA #83. ☆ Dec 12 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 15 crew begin 6-month mission in space, planning for 3-4 EVAs, >100 science experiments, integrating modules and working with cargo transfers. ☾ Dec 12 — Orion, Pacific Ocean / Return to San Diego: Landing and Recovery Team to recover Orion, hardware jettisoned during splashdown including forward bay cover and 3 main parachutes, for inspection and transport to KSC. Highlights… o NewSpace: Dawn Aerospace raises NZ$20M (US$12.63M) to support development of Mk-3 orbital spaceplane, and higher-thrust propulsion hardware; Slingshot Aerospace to further develop orbital tracking and space safety systems with $40.85M funding round; Astroscale working with JAXA to study in-orbit satellite refueling. ☆ Solar System: BepiColombo now half-way through journey to Mercury orbit Dec 2025, using Monitoring Cameras during planet flybys; Plasma sensor data from Mars and Venus Express spacecraft suggest 11-year solar maximum shields high-energy cosmic rays. ☆ Galaxy: 15M year old gas giant exoplanet HD-114082b being investigated for its unusual density (2-3 times greater than expected); JWST detailed observations of 700 LY distant exoplanet atmosphere bodes well for TRAPPIST-1 system future analyses. o Global: UAE and Philippine space agencies to collaborate on space exploration, technology development, education under MoU; FCC approves 7,500 of 29,988 requested Gen2 SpaceX Starlink satellites for launch; Vyom Space Exploration to build human / cargo capsule with ISRO under deal brokered by In-Space. ● USA: Artemis 2 timeline optimistically set for May 2024, as Artemis 1 mission success makes history; Bill Nelson names 2 new Directorship leaders at Armstrong (Bradley Flick) and Goddard (Dave Mitchell); Contract for NASA Sustaining Lunar Development lander to be announced NET June 2023. ● Hawai’i: Keck Planet Finder in commissioning phase, full science operations expected Spring 2023; Royal Order of Kamehameha preparing site / conducting cultural ceremonies near Mauna Kea access road for arrival of Madame Pele from Mauna Loa volcano. |
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● = Terrestrial and… o = International terrestrial events
☾ = Moon activity ★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’). |
Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mercury (SW), Venus (SW), Mars (ENE), Jupiter (S), Saturn (SW), Uranus (SE), Neptune (SW).
Southeast Asia Astronomy, Astronautics, IAU and Public Outreach Pursuits 2022-23
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● Dec 12 — Secure World Foundation, Washington DC: The Artemis Accords: Past, Present, and Future; luncheon panel hosted at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ● Dec 12 — National Space Society – Sacramento L5 Chapter, Online / Sacramento CA: NSS Chapters Assembly Meeting; 17:00 PST. ● Dec 12 — AIAA Los Angeles – Las Vegas Section, Hybrid / Manhattan Beach CA and Online: DC-X/XA – The Genesis of Fully Reusable Access to Space; with Keynote by Dan Dumbacher, AIAA Executive Director. ● Dec 12-15 — Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD: First Science Results from JWST; focusing on contributed presentations and posters, with a limited number of invited talks. ● Dec 12-16 — American Geophysical Union (AGU), Chicago IL: AGU Fall Meeting 2022. ☆ Dec 12 — Moon: 3.9° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 02:00. ☆ Dec 12 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 XE1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU) Continued From… ☾ Aug 4 – Dec 16 — Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), Lunar Trajectory: South Korea ‘Danuri’ to search for lunar resources & test technologies; on ballistic lunar transfer to initiate a trans-lunar injection and arrive at 100-km lunar orbit. ● Oct 15 – Jun 15, 2023 — International Space Elevator Consortium, Online: Space Elevator Academic Challenge: Improving Humanity’s Future; for students 17-25. ● Oct 29 – Dec 31 — Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, W.M. Keck Observatory, Maunakea Observatories, Kamuela HI: Waimea Solar System Walk for 2022; combining in-person and self guided walks, along Ala ‘Ōhi’a Road. ● Nov 14 – Jan 17, 2023 — Wichita State University, Wichita KS and Online: Registration Open for 2023 Interstellar Seminar ‘LASI 150G’; 1-credit hour seminar which begins Jan 18, every Wednesday 14:30-15:20, led by Prof. Mark Schneegurt. ● Dec 1 – Jan 31, 2023 — JPL, NASA, Online / Pasadena CA: Prepare for the Science Fair; video series for students in grades 3-12, teachers and parents. ☆ NET Dec 16 — Virgin Orbit, Launch Cosmic Girl / LauncherOne / ‘Start Me Up’ mission, Spaceport Cornwall, United Kingdom: Cosmic girl aircraft to lift LauncherOne to launch 9 payloads to LEO in 1st launch from UK. |
TUESDAY
☆ Dec 13 — Arianespace, Launch Ariane 5 / MTG-I1, Galaxy 35 & 36, Kourou, French Guiana, ELA-3: First node of 3rd Generation Meteosat weather monitoring constellation, 2 Intelsat communications satellites to be placed in orbit.
★ Dec 13 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / HawkEye 360, Launch Complex 2, Wallops Island VA: Launch window opens for Rocket Lab first launch attempt from USA, mission dubbed ‘Virginia is for Launch Lovers’, carrying HawkEye 360 satellites.
★ Dec 13 — Lucy, Earth Flyby / Gravity Assist, Main Asteroid Belt Trajectory: NASA mission to encounter 8 different asteroids including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans to perform next Earth flyby / gravity assist today.
● Dec 13 — International Institute of Space Law, Washington DC: 2022 Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law.
o Dec 13-15 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, The Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), The Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs (BMEIA), Online / Vienna, Austria: United Nations / Austria World Space Forum 2022: Sustainability in Space for Sustainability on Earth.
o Dec 13-15 — U.S. Department of State, Hybrid / Washington DC and Online: 2nd USA-Africa Leaders Summit; President Biden hosts leaders from across Africa continent, events include USA-Africa Space Forum themed Strengthening the 21st Century U.S.-Africa Partnership in Space.
☆ Dec 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2003 YS70: Near-Earth Flyby (0.026 AU)
☆ Dec 13 — Aten Asteroid 2019 XQ1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU)
☆ Dec 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 XU3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU)
WEDNESDAY
☆ Dec 14 — ISS, Russian EVA #56, ~415-km LEO: Cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin to perform 7-hour Russia spacewalk 56 to relocate a radiator from Rassvet module to Nauka multipurpose laboratory; live coverage available, starts 21:20 EST.
★ Dec 14 — NEOWISE, LEO: NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft (redubbed Near-Earth Object WISE – NEOWISE) reaches 13 full years / begins 14th year in space; launched 2009.
☾ Dec 14 — Chang’e-3 Lander, Guang Han Gong, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon Surface: Spacecraft reaches 9 full years / enters 10th year on Moon surface, landed 2013.
o Dec 14 — 50th Observation of the Last Human on the Moon, Global: As NASA Artemis is planning to land the first woman and Person of Color on the Moon NLT July 2026, and international lunar base developments are underway, today marks the 50th observation of the last footprint placed on the Moon by Eugene A. Cernan – the “Last Man on the Moon” – with Apollo 17 lunar module leaving the surface on this day in 1972.
● Dec 14 — National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Hybrid / Washington DC and Online: 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17; with Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Astronaut Leland Melvin, Astronaut / NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and Marcia McNutt, Robert Lightfoot, Teasel Muir-Harmony; starts 18:30 EST.
o Dec 14 — British Interplanetary Society, Hybrid / London, United Kingdom and Online: Beyond the Moon Symposium; Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17.
o Dec 14 — Moon Village Association, JAXA, Online / Vienna, Austria: Moon Surface Mobility in the Decades to Come; featuring Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Toyota, Lockheed Martin, MDA and Lunar Outpost.
● Dec 14 — SETI Institute, Online / Pasadena CA: SETI Talks – JWST: Impressive First Science One Year After Launch; with Susan Mullally (STScI) and Chris Evans (ESA).
● Dec 14 — Space Transportation Association, Washington DC: Space Transportation Association Leadership Award; presentation and reception with NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen.
● Dec 14 — AIAA Orange County Section, Online: Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Curiosity Right Over; by Todd Barber, senior propulsion engineer at NASA JPL.
☆ Dec 14 — Geminids Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Gemini, shower can produce 80-130 meteors per hour; bright, medium-slow meteors (35 km/sec), few leave persistent trains; peak 03:00 HST.
☆ Dec 14 — Moon: 4.5° NNE of Regulus, 00:00.
☆ Dec 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 XU3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU)
☆ Dec 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 WK2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU)
THURSDAY
★ Dec 15 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 to launch SWOT mission developed by NASA and CNES to measure amount of water in oceans, lakes and rivers from LEO.
● Dec 15 — National Space Council, Online / Washington DC: Listening Session Part 3: In-Space Authorization and Supervision Policy: Approaches to Authorization & Supervision; 10:00-11:30 EST.
o Dec 15-24 — National Space Foundation, NOIRLab, International Dark-Sky Association, AURA, Online / Global: Globe at Night December Campaign; campaign to raise awareness of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit night sky brightness observations (goal 20,000 data points for 2022).
☆ Dec 15 — Moon: At last quarter, 22:58.
☆ Dec 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 RN35: Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)
FRIDAY
☾ Dec 16 — Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter ‘Danuri’, Moon Orbit: KARI first lunar spacecraft Danuri expected to enter Moon orbit today.
☆ Dec 16 — ISS, Progress 81P Undocking, ~415-km LEO: Russia Progress 81P (MS-20) resupply cargo ship filled with waste to undock from ISS and disintegrate in Earth atmosphere; live coverage of undocking available.
☆ Dec 16 — ISS, Expedition 68 In-Flight Event, ~415-km LEO: International Space Station event with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and JAXA Astronaut Koichi Wakata aboard the station; live coverage available, 07:40 EST.
o Dec 16 — National Space Foundation, NOIRLab, Tucson AZ: FLASH Talks; 13:00-14:00, at National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) HQ.
o Dec 16 — Starlight Education, Singapore: Scott Kelly & Friends – SpaceTalking with an Astronaut; featuring NASA Astronauts Scott Kelly, Steve Swanson and Tony Antonelli; at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.
SATURDAY
☾ Dec 17-31 — Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter ‘Danuri’, Lunar Orbit: Danuri to perform 5 trajectory correction maneuvers to achieve 100-km polar orbit.
☆ Dec 17 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 WU11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
☆ Dec 17 — Aten Asteroid 2019 LB1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU)
SUNDAY
★ NET Dec 18 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Transporter-6, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch dedicated smallsat rideshare mission to sun-synchronous orbit; may include MethaneSat.
☆ Dec 18 — Moon: 3.7° NNE of Spica, 08:00.
☆ Dec 18 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 YE: Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)
☆ Dec 18 — Amor Asteroid 2022 WX5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.051 AU)