February 5-11, 2018 / Vol 37, No 6 / Hawai`i Island, USA

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Debut and a Multi World Civilization

Falcon Heavy maiden launch is set for February 6 at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A, Cape Canaveral FL, which hosted Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. With 3 cores, 27 Merlin engines in the first stage generating 22,819 kilonewtons thrust, Falcon Heavy is considered the most powerful rocket since NASA Saturn V. It will be capable of carrying 63,900 kg for ~US$90M, twice as much mass as its nearest competitor, Delta IV Heavy, which launches for $400M. SpaceX plans to land the center core on “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in Atlantic Ocean. The other 2 cores will attempt to simultaneously touch down on ground in a first-of-its-kind engineering feat. Falcon Heavy will endeavor to loft a dummy payload, one of founder and CEO Elon Musk personal Tesla Roadsters, to a Hohmann transfer orbit that could take it near Mars. Falcon Heavy could potentially send NASA Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter or launch James Webb Space Telescope compared to SLS at ~$1B per launch. Falcon Heavy could also launch 16 metric-ton payloads to Mars and smaller payloads to Pluto. Future plans include commercial launch in mid 2018, U.S. government payload in June, a trip for 2 around the Moon possibly 2019 with the capability of seating of 7 humans, and other commercial launches as well as cargo and crew ships to Mars in 2024. (Image Credit: SpaceX, NASA)

MONDAY

Juno to Perform 11th Jupiter Flyby; ESA Advancing JUICE Mission for 2022

The most massive planet in the Solar System, Jupiter, is set to have NASA Juno craft speed by at 209,000 km/h during its 11th perijove and 10th science flyby February 7. It will pass within 3,500 km of swirling cloud tops with all 9 of its instruments collecting data and images. The US$1.1B mission aims to determine the mass of the unseen core of Jupiter, measure the abundance of water, study auroras, and map gravity and magnetic fields, as well as variations in atmospheric composition. Scott Bolton is the Principal Investigator for Juno and Ed Hirst recently took over as Project Manager. Juno 53-day orbit and science investigation is set to continue at least until 2020. In May of 2022 European Space Agency is planning to launch Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) with 10 science instruments and an experimental payload, reaching Jupiter October 2029 for at least 3.5 years of study on Jupiter atmosphere and magnetosphere, and Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The JUICE Industrial Consortium Workshop is being held Feb 8 at ESTEC featuring prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space. With multiple core teams, subgroups, equipment and services to develop JUICE, this meeting will present current mission status, near and far future critical activities and allow participants to learn how they fit into the large-scale JUICE development while producing high-quality, fast-paced work. to maintain the launch date on 20th of May 2022. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS, Kevin Gill, Aubrey Gemignani)

Feb 5-8 — SSL, AIAA, Virgin Orbit, SSPI, Space Foundation, Boeing, Ball Aerospace, et al, Mountain View CA: 2018 SmallSat Symposium.

Feb 5-8 — Applied Technology Institute, Albuquerque NM: ATI Course: Space Systems Fundamentals; instructor Mike Gruntman, Professor of Astronautics at University of Southern California.

Feb 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 BP6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU).

Continued from…

Jan 15 – Feb 16 — International Space University, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia: 2018 Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program; intensive, five week, live-in experience built around an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary educational philosophy.

Jan 16 – Feb 16 — NASA, Online / Chico CA: Kickstarter Campaign: First to the Moon – The Journey of Apollo 8; to create a feature documentary film about Apollo 8 mission that brought back ‘Earthrise’ photo and the three astronauts that crewed it – Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders.

Jan 29 – Feb 9 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Vienna, Austria: 55th UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPOUS) Scientific and Technical Subcommittee.

Feb 3 – Mar 19 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston TX: Campaign 4: Mission 4 – Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA 2017); 45 day analog spaceflight / Moon / Mars mission.