TSS Nears Completion with Mengtian Launch as ISS Marks 22 Years of Continuous Humans Occupation

Launch of Mengtian Experiment Module 2 aboard Long March 5 is scheduled October 31 at 15:30 Beijing Time. It will connect to Tiangong Space Station (TSS) Tianhe Core Module axial port and later be moved to a portside port on Tianhe via indexing robotic arm – completing the final 3-module, ~95,000-kg configuration of TSS. As a backup, a second Tianhe was built and could potentially be added later. Two of the Shenzhou-14 crew Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe are expected to perform their next EVA to check installation of Mengtian. Tianzhou 5 cargo ship is preparing to launch from Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan as early as November 6 via Long March 7, also carrying multiple secondary satellites. Tianzhou 4 is expected to depart the station and burn up in Earth atmosphere with waste, freeing up the docking port. Shenzhou 15 three-member crew are expected to launch Nov 26 and begin their 6-month mission. Shenzhou 14 launched June 5, 2022 starting TSS permanent human occupation, while International Space Station is set to reach 22 years of continuous occupation on November 2 with 7-member Expedition 68 aboard. The crew is set to receive Northrop Grumman Cygnus NG-18 after launch Nov 6 via Antares from Wallops Island, Virginia at 05:50 EST. NG-18 dubbed “S.S. Sally Ride” honors the first American woman in space, and will carry 3,700 kg to the station, joining Progress 81P, and newly arrived Progress 82P. (Image Credits: CGTN, CNSA, NASA)

MONDAY

☆ Oct 31 — ISS, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 68 seven-member crew working with ~3,000 kg of food, fuel and supplies from Progress 82P while expecting Cygnus NG-18 S.S. Sally Ride this week.

☆ Oct 31 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 14 three-member crew planning to enter Mengtian module after rendezvous and docking this week, will remain aboard TSS until at least December 5.

o = International terrestrial events in local time.

★ = Space events, and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

Moon Science Organizations LPI and LSIC Meet to Discuss Volatiles at Poles, Excavation and Construction

Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in association with Universities Space Research Association is holding hybrid online / in-person Lunar Polar Volatiles Conference at University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Nov 2-4. Convened by (TL-R) Lior Rubanenko (Stanford), Shuai Li (University of Hawaii), Paul Hayne (CU Boulder), Ariel Deutsch (NASA Ames) and Kathy Mandt (Johns Hopkins University APL), the conference emphasis will be on contemporary inventory of known volatiles concentrated around polar regions / permanently shadowed regions of Luna, Ceres, and Mercury as well as near term exploratory missions which may add to said inventory. ~900 km due south of Boulder, Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) is holding its 2022 Fall Meeting, also in hybrid online / in-person format, at the University of Texas Aerospace Center in El Paso Nov 2-3, supported by NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate, Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and Johns Hopkins University APL. Focus Areas of LSIC include: In-situ Resource Utilization, Surface Power, Dust Mitigation, Extreme Environments, Extreme Access and Excavation / Construction, which will be highlighted at the Autumn meeting. Keynote talks to be given by (BL-R) NASA Astronaut Stephen Robinson (Nov 2) and NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Jim Reuter (Nov 3). For in-person attendees, excursion tours of White Sands Test Facility and 353-km² 3D printed barracks at Fort Bliss are offered. (Image Credits: NASA, Stanford University, CU-Boulder, UH, JHAPL, LinkedIn)

Continued From…

★ Jun 28 – Nov 13 — CAPSTONE, Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit Trajectory: Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment heading to operating position at NRHO / cislunar space.

☆ Aug 4 – Dec 16 — Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), Lunar Trajectory: South Korea ‘Danuri’ to search for lunar resources & test technologies; performing 3 highly elliptical Earth orbits to initiate a trans-lunar injection and arrive at 100-km lunar orbit.

o Aug 8 – Nov 11 — IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach, NAOJ, NARIT, Online / Global: NameExoWorlds 2022; naming the first exoplanet targets of James Webb Space Telescope.

TUESDAY

☆ Nov 1 — Deep Space, Jupiter Orbit: Juno mission heading into 46th perijove – out of 75 planned; close approaches of moon Io to occur December 2023 while JUICE is expected to launch in April.