ISS Expedition 53 Continues Legacy of Human Achievement in LEO
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MONDAY Ongoing…
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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 (SW), Saturn (SW), Uranus (SE), Neptune (S); Morning Planets: Mars (ESE), Jupiter (ESE).
Europe Exploring Extreme Habitable Worlds and Deep Space Gateway with Symposium and Workshop at ESTEC
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Continued from…
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TUESDAY
Dec 5 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Alteration History of Mars and Implications for Water Reservoirs; John Mustard, Professor at Brown University.
Dec 5-6 — ESA, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands: Workshop: Research Opportunities on the Deep Space Gateway.
Dec 5-7 — SpaceCom, Houston TX: Space Commerce Conference and Exposition (SpaceCom Expo 2017); with more than 250 NASA executives, at George R. Brown Convention Center.
Dec 5-8 — Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), St. Louis MO: 129th Annual Meeting ASP: Beyond the Eclipse: Engaging Diverse and Underserved Communities in Astronomy and STEM.
Dec 5 — Moon: 1.1° N of asteroid 8 Flora, 16:00; 12.3° S of Castor, 21:00.
Dec 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 WS13: Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Dec 6 — Secure World Foundation,Colorado Space Business Roundtable, Colorado Space Coalition, Denver CO: 2017 Colorado Space Round-up; an industry update and networking event for Colorado space community.
Dec 6-7 — Canadian Space Agency, Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada: Dream Chaser for Canada; firms and researchers will be able to propose technologies and science to Sierra Nevada Corp, potentially leading to Canada researchers performing experiments and demonstrations in LEO.
Dec 6-8 — University of Warsaw, University of Cambridge, Warsaw, Poland: 8th OPTICON Gaia Science Alerts workshop.
Dec 6 — Puppid Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina, up to 10 meteors per hour expected (some very bright) seen from southern hemisphere; followed closely by Monocerotid meteors which offer ~2 per hour at most.
Dec 6 — Moon: 8.7° S of Pollux, 01:00; 2.1° S of Beehive Cluster, 23:00.
Dec 6 — Mercury: 1.2° SSW of Saturn, 16:00.
Dec 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 WF28: Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU).
Dec 6 — Amor Asteroid 2017 WA13: Near-Earth Flyby (0.076 AU).
THURSDAY
Dec 7 — Akatsuki, Venus Orbit: JAXA first successful planetary orbiter imaging Venus atmosphere, monitoring weather changes begins 3rd year at Venus today.
Dec 7 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Lecture: Jupiter’s Deep Flows Revealed by Juno; by Yohai Kaspi from Weizmann Institute of Science, 16:00.
Dec 7 — Library of Congress – Science, Technology and Business Division, Washington DC: Lecture: Holiday Lights Show Culture from Space; Miguel Roman, 11:30.
Dec 7 — Stanford University, US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford CA: Space Communications Infrastructure and the Sharing Economy; featuring Naomi Kurahara, Co-Founder and CEO of Infostellar.
Dec 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 WP1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU).
FRIDAY
Dec 8 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron ‘Still Testing’, Launch Complex Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Rocket Lab to launch Electron rocket on second test flight, planned to deploy 1 satellite for Planet, 2 satellites for Spire; 10-day launch window opens today.
Dec 8 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / CRS 13, Cape Canaveral AFS FL: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch 15th Dragon spacecraft on 13th operational cargo delivery mission to ISS from Launch Complex 40; scheduled to arrive 2 days later.
Dec 8 — Royal Astronomical Society, London, United Kingdom: Royal Astronomical Society Ordinary Meeting; Meeting: Dynamic Coupling in the Terrestrial Atmosphere; Meeting: The link Between AGN and Galaxy Formation.
Dec 8 — Caltech, Pasadena CA: Brown Dwarfs: Too Small a Star, Too Massive a Planet; Kaew Tinyanont, 19:00.
Dec 8 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: Lunch with an Astronaut, Ken Cameron, adult US$69.95.
Dec 8 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Space educator and consultant Bruce Cordell.
Dec 8 — Moon: 0.70° NNE of Regulus, 13:00.
SATURDAY
Dec 9 — New Horizons, KBO 2014 MU69 Trajectory: Spacecraft to perform trajectory maneuver today for 1 Jan 2019 encounter.
Dec 9 — Tucson L5 Space Society – NSS Chapter, Tucson AZ: Tucson L5 Space Society monthly meeting.
Dec 9 — Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station, Mauna Kea HI (2,800 meters): Star Gazing program, 18:00-22:00, weather permitting, free.
Dec 9 — Venus: 5.0° N of Antares, 01:00; at last quarter, 21:52.
Dec 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 WV12: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU).
SUNDAY
Dec 10 — ISS, SpaceX Dragon CRS-13 Rendezvous and Capture, LEO: Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei set to facilitate capture of Dragon cargo ship using Canadarm2, live coverage available.
Dec 10 — XMM-Newton, Very Eccentric Elliptical LEO: ESA craft studying X-ray emissions, star-forming regions, galaxy clusters, environment of supermassive black holes, mapping dark matter, begins 19th year in space today, launched 1999.
Dec 10-16 — National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), National Institute of Nuclear Research (ININ), Punta Mita, Mexico: Meeting: VII Essential Cosmology for the Next Generation – Cosmology on the Beach.
Dec 10 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 WX: Near-Earth Flyby (0.090 AU).

ESA hosts 51st ESLAB Symposium December 4-8 at European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands to study Extreme Habitable Worlds. Scientific Organizing Committee Chair Bernard Foing welcomes contributions in the form of keynote talks, oral and poster presentations, interactive presentations and debates. Confirmed presenters include Pete Worden on Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, Olivier Witasse on JUICE, Emeline Bolmont on Habitability in the Trappist-1 System, Agata Kołodziejczyk on MoonMars Simulations, and Christophe Lasseur on Sustainable Life Support for the Moon and Mars. ESA is also holding a workshop for Research Opportunities on the Deep Space Gateway at ESTEC Erasmus Auditorium Dec 5-6. The draft program includes a welcome by Human and Robotic Exploration Strategy Officer James Carpenter, an overview on Deep Space Gateway in the European Exploration Envelope Program by Director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration David Parker, an outline of Deep Space Gateway enabled science by NASA Chief Exploration Scientist Ben Bussey and a highlight on Lunar Surface Access and Sample Retrieval by ESA Architecture Analyst Markus Landgraf. The European Space Agency comprises 22 member countries from across the continent, with a combined 2017 budget of US$ 6.8B and a worldwide staff of ~2,000 people. (Image Credit: ESA, NASA)