Artemis Generation Plans Lunar Return as ISS Reaches 20 Years of Continuous Human OccupationExpedition 64 with Sergey Ryzhikov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Kate Rubins will celebrate ISS passing its 20th full year / entering the 21st of continuous human occupation November 2. Victor Glover is set to become the 242nd person to visit ISS as part of SpaceX Crew-1 mission mid-Nov and would be the 1st Black Astronaut to join a long-term ISS crew. From an average altitude of ~400 km, ISS orbits Earth 16 times a day – nearly the same distance to the Moon and back. Capable of docking 8 ships at once, there are 4 craft which deliver cargo (Progress, HTV, Cygnus, Dragon) and soon to be 3 qualified for humans (Soyuz, Dragon, Starliner). More than 3,000 research investigations have been conducted from 108 countries, with ~200 ongoing any given day. 20 payloads can be hosted externally including Earth sensing equipment, materials science payloads and particle physics experiments such as Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02. A total of 231 spacewalks (equaling 1,439 hours and 49 minutes) have been performed, the longest of which was March 2001 by STS-102 crew Susan Helms and James Voss at 8 hours 56 mins. There are >50 computers and 350,000 sensors monitoring crew and station health. While only 19 countries have sent people to ISS, perhaps the Artemis Program will represent more of the nearly 8 Billion people / 250+ countries and territories on Earth. (Image Credits: NASA) |
MONDAY Highlights… Oct 26 — NewSpace: Intuitive Machines awarded US$47M to deliver Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment Moon South Pole 2022; Astrobotic new 4,366-sq meter HQ will function as ‘mission control’ for 2021 Moon landing; Starship next test with nose cone integrated ahead of 17.7 km test flight. Oct 26 — Solar System: Mars InSight heat probe, now fully buried, can begin taking temperature readings to 3-meter depth; OSIRIS-REx 1st Bennu sample mass to be determined; Univ of Leiden study of ALMA Venus data contradicts previous claim of phosphine detection. Oct 26 — Galaxy: Analysis shows 1,004 main-sequence Star systems which could view Earth as a transiting exoplanet; HaloSat providing data indicating MWG halo is comprised of clumpy hot gases; study reveals ~3B year old shell structures in MW from Virgo Radial Merger. Oct 26 — Global: CNSA shares details on future of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, releases Chang’e-7 payload RFP; Brazil joins in signing Artemis Accords; Australia to begin federal launch regulatory charges July 2021. Oct 26 — USA: TransPartisan support needed to land first women and next man on Moon 2024-26; Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy discovery about Moon to be announced today; NASA and ESA preorder 11 ‘Bishop’ airlocks for ISS made by Nanoracks. Oct 26 — Hawai’i: Search for IfA Director narrows to 3 candidates – Doug Simons of CFHT, Laura Ferrarese of Gemini, Kenneth Chambers of Pan STARRS; globular star cluster with unusually low metallic content in Andromeda identified via Keck and CFHT; ILOA to host free, online / hybrid Galaxy Forum Hawai’i Nov 12. |
= 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’).
Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mars (SE), Jupiter (WSW), Saturn (WSW), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE); Morning Planets: Venus (E).
India Approaches Major National Space Program and NewSpace Milestones
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Oct 26 — STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) A & B, Heliocentric Orbit: NASA craft imaging Sun and solar phenomena reach 14 full years / enter 15th year in space today, launched 2006.
Oct 26-28 — American Astronautical Society, Online / Huntsville AL: 13th Annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium: Space Exploration: Turning Visions Into Reality; 12:00-16:45 EDT daily. Oct 26-30 — American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences, Online / Spokane WA: 52nd Annual DPS Meeting 2020. Oct 26-30 — Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, IAU, Marseille, France and Online: Dust & Metals 2020 Conference; focusing on the rise of metals and dust in the Universe over a wide range of cosmic times; hosting 100 people on site and virtual participation. Oct 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 QD5: Near Earth Flyby (0.025 AU) Continued From… Nov 2019 – Nov 2020 — Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 with two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu on trajectory for Earth return. NET Oct 22 — Virgin Galactic, Launch SpaceShipTwo, Spaceport America, Las Cruces NM: Launch window opens for SpaceShip Two ‘VSS Unity’ with 2 test pilots to perform 1st of 2 suborbital test flights. Oct 19-29 — SpaceCom, NASA, Department of Commerce Office of Space Commerce, Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions, et al, Online: Global Commercial Space Conference and Exposition (SpaceCom 2020). TUESDAYOct 27 — Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Online: OSIRIS-Rex Public Engagement Series. Oct 27-29 — Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Online / Laurel MD: Cislunar Security Space Conference. |
Oct 27-30 — APRSAF, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam: 27th Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-27); reset to one day event on Nov 19.
Oct 27 — Moon: 4.0° SE of Neptune, 00:00.
Oct 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TD8: Near Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)
Oct 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TQ2: Near Earth Flyby (0.042 AU)
Oct 27 — Aten Asteroid 2005 UV64: Near Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)
WEDNESDAY
Oct 28 — LPI, USRA, NASA, Online / Houston TX: Lunar Surface Science Workshop 5: Science Enabled by Mobility.
Oct 28 — JAXA, IAF Global Networking Forum, Online: Global Exploration Roadmap – Supplement August 2020, Lunar Surface Exploration Scenario Update; 14:00-14:30 CET.
Oct 28 — Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Online / New York NY: Online Seminar: The New Space Race – International Space Law in the Public and Private Sector; 13:30-15:00 EDT.
Oct 28-29 — Secure World Foundation, Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS), Online: 2020 Global Satellite Servicing Forum.
Oct 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TR5: Near Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)
Oct 28 — Aten Asteroid 2020 UN1: Near Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
Oct 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TM7: Near Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)
Oct 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TS5: Near Earth Flyby (0.024 AU)
THURSDAY
Oct 29 — Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Online / Laurel MD: Lecture: The Extra-Galactic Background Light: Opening a Window to Early Galaxy and Star Formation.
Oct 29 — Moon: 2.72° SE of Mars, 09:00.
Oct 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 OK5: Near Earth Flyby (0.016 AU)
Oct 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TR2: Near Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
FRIDAY
Oct 30 — Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, NYC NY: Astronomy Nights: Deep Field – Views from the Hubble Telescope; film featuring Hubble Space Telescope.
Oct 30 — Brazilian Space Agency (Agência Espacial Brasileira / AEB), Online / Brasilia, Brazil: Final proposals for launch license applications due from companies and agencies interested in utilizing Alcantara Spaceport, Brazil.
Oct 30 — Moon Village Association, Online: Final Presentation Due: 1st Online Global International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium; with a special focus involving African and Middle-Eastern countries; being held Nov 9-10.
Oct 30-31 — Space Generation Advisory Council, Madrid, Spain: 5th European Space Generation Workshop: Space for Earth and Humanity; reset to May 28-29, 2021.
Oct 30 — Moon: At apogee (distance 406,416 km), 09:00.
Oct 30 — Venus: At perihelion, 0.7184 AU from Sun, 13:00.
SATURDAY
Oct 31 — CNSA, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Online / Beijing, China: Last day for students to submit ideas for payloads for Chang’e-7 lunar south pole craft, and ZhengHe mission that will return samples from Asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016HO3) and visit Comet Elst–Pizarro (133P).
Oct 31 – Nov 3 — Space Foundation, Colorado Springs CO: 36th Space Symposium; reset to Aug 22-26, 2021.
Oct 31 — Moon: Full / Hunter’s / Blue Moon, 04:50 – next Halloween Full Moon to occur 2039; 2.98° SE of Uranus, 06:00.
Oct 31 — Uranus: At opposition, magnitude 5.7, 06:00.
SUNDAY
NET Nov — InSight, Mars Surface: Scheduled end to planned Mars surface operations mission; future plans / goals / extension to be determined.
NET Nov 1 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / NROL-108, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral AFS: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch classified spacecraft payload for U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
Nov 1 — Deep Space, Very Local Interstellar Medium: Voyager 2 confirms increased plasma density outside of heliosphere as first observed via Voyager 1, future readings will aid data.
Nov 1 — Standard Time (USA): Change clocks back 1 hour from Daylight Saving to Standard Time; does not include Hawai’i, American Samoa or Arizona (except the Navajo Reservation).
Nov 1 — Mercury: 4.0° NE of Spica, 10:00; at perihelion, 0.3075 AU from Sun, 17:00.