SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch 24 Payloads to 3 Orbits

The third flight of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy is set to launch June 24 at 23:30 from KSC LC 39A. The side boosters are reused from April Arabsat 6A mission, while the brand-new core stage is planned to land at drone recovery ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean. The USAF Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission, the first nighttime launch of Falcon Heavy, will carry 24 payloads to 3 different orbits: 865 x 300 km, a circular 720 km orbit, and a final orbit of 6,000 x 12,000 km. Deep Space Atomic Clock built at JPL is a testbed for future atomic clocks in space to improve navigation. Green Propellant Infusion Mission tests a new Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate fuel/oxidizer as a high-performance alternative to toxic propellants like hydrazine. Lightsail 2 is climax of a 10-year project by the Planetary Society, financed through crowdfunding, the first spacecraft in Earth orbit propelled solely by a solar sail. Tether Electrodynamic Propulsion CubeSat Experiment (TEPCE) will demonstrate propulsion using Earth magnetic field. Enhanced Tandem Beacon Experiment will consist of two cubesats in low orbit to study the effects of Earth ionosphere on communications. The PSAT-2 Parkinson Satellite will support amateur radio relays around the world. STP-2 will be the eighth SpaceX launch of 2019, and the seventh launch this year from KSC. (Image Credits: Planetary Society, SpaceX, NASA)

MONDAY

Jun 24 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon Heavy / STP-2, LC-39A, KSC FL: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch US Air Force Space Test Program-2 mission with military and scientific satellites including Surrey Orbital Test Bed-1, and Celestis Earth Orbit #7 Heritage Flight.

Interstellar Travel and Search for Life Are Focus of UK FISW and USA AbSciCon 2019

Initiative for Interstellar Studies and British Interplanetary Society will co-host 2nd Foundations of Interstellar Studies Workshop (FISW) June 27-30 in Charfield, United Kingdom. FISW promotes academic rigor and dissemination of current interstellar advances to scholars. Kelvin Long (L-R) is co-chair on the program which includes 6 posters, and 22 presentations within 3 main themes: Living in Deep Space; Advanced Propulsion Technology, Missions and foundational physics; and Building Architectural Megastructures. Gregory Matloff of CUNY will present on possible Kuiper Belt habitation and Philip Lubin of UC Santa Barbara is speaking on “Directed Energy – The Path to Interstellar Flight”. Long, Matloff and Lubin are advisors for Breakthrough Starshot, headed by Pete Worden and Avi Loeb, to develop a fleet of light sail StarChips to travel with beam-steerable lasers to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri (A&B at 4.367 LY, Proxima Centauri 4.244 LY). 2019 NASA Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) ‘Understanding and Enabling the Search for Life on Worlds Near and Far’ is being held June 24-28 in Bellevue WA. Communities researching origins / evolution of life of Earth come together with those looking to understand habitability and find signs of life in Solar System and Beyond. The 1-hour session on Alpha Centauri emphasizes the high potential for a habitable world to be characterized in the next decade. Habitable zones around A and B are estimated to be ~3x larger in angle than around any other Sun-like star. (Image Credits: FISW, NASA, et al)

Jun 24-25 — NASA SBAG, College Park MD: Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) meeting.

Jun 24-28 — NASA Astrobiology Group, SETI Institute, University of Arizona, Bellevue WA: 2019 Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon): Understanding and Enabling the Search for Life on Worlds Near and Far.

Jun 24-28 — ESA, National Remote Sensing Center of China, Solvenia Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Ljubljana, Slovenia: 2019 Dragon 4 Symposium.

Jun 24-29 — Starmus, QCS, Kaspersky Lab, Omega, Zurich, Switzerland: Starmus V: A Giant Leap; featuring Bill Anders, Charlie Duke, Rusty Schweickart, Al Worden, Walt Cunningham, Helen Sharman, Gennady Padalka, Tim Peake, Nicole Stott, many more.

Jun 24 – Aug 23 — International Space University, ESA, Strasbourg, France: ISU 32nd Space Studies Program (SSP 2019).

Jun 24 — Moon: At last quarter, 23:47.

Jun 24 — Aten Asteroid 441987: Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)

Continued from…

Mar 19 – Jul 19 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender crew of 6 to participate in 4-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).

Apr 13 – Sep 2 — Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Flight, Multiple Locations: Destination Moon, traveling exhibition of historic Apollo 11 artifacts.

May 20 – Aug 9 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 31st Annual Planetary Science Summer Seminar.

Jun 23-28 — Gordon Research Center, South Hadley MA: Gordon Research Seminar: Origins of Solar Systems – Meteoritical, Spacecraft and Astrophysical Perspectives on the Assembly and Composition of Planets.