July 11-17, 2022 / Vol 41, No 28 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Who Will Claim Malapert Mountain, Most Valuable Point Near the Moon South Pole?

International Lunar Observatory Association ILO-1 flagship mission, destined for Malapert ‘Point E’ since its conception in 2006, continues to seek collaboration, enterprise, customers, partners in international space agencies, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and other pioneers. Mission and site characterization studies funded by ILOA and developed by Canadensys Aerospace Corp. (2015-current), Moon Express (2010-2019), MDA (2008-2010) and SpaceDev (2003-2008) conclude Malapert massif is a most valuable strategic, infrastructure platform. 5-kilometer Malapert mountain at 86°S towers above the Solar System’s largest impact crater, 2,500-km diameter South Pole-Aitken Basin within sight of Shackleton Rim. Malapert offers strategic advantages for lunar base buildout including near-continuous line-of-sight for Earth observations and communications, ‘Peak Of Eternal Light’ illuminated areas for ~300 Earth days, more moderate thermal environment, access to permanently shadowed regions / small cold traps, shielded far-side flank for radio astronomy, and ISRU resources to support fuel / life systems / manufacturing. This high ground is a unique location for commerce, Galaxy and local environment observations, science, education and possible contingency / emergency support point for Moon bases or satellite relay communication fail-safes. Artemis human landings NLT 2025-26 are being planned for a location within 6° of Moon South Pole while Russia-China International Lunar Research Station, Moon Village, India Chandrayaan, National Space Agencies, and commercial groups target robotic and human surface landings with similar mission requirements: sunlight availability, likelihood of finding water, navigable area and elevation. (Image Credits: JAXA, NHK, NASA, ESO, SpaceX)

MONDAY

☆ Jul 11 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 67 seven-member crew working with grip experiments, new 3D printer, food audits, waste disposal via Nanoracks Airlock; Artemyev and Cristoforetti planning for Russia EVA next week.

☆ Jul 11 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 14 crew Chen Dong, Liu Yang, Cai Xuzhe preparing for upcoming work with Wentian module launch scheduled in 12 days.

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’).

James Webb Space Telescope Images Set to Revolutionize Understanding of Cosmos July 12

NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), in halo orbit around Sun-Earth L₂ (~1,500,000 km from Earth) nearing completion of 17 mode checkout for its 4 science instruments. Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, developed for CSA-ASC cleared checkout on June 27, Mid-InfraRed Instrument confirmed science readiness June 30, while Near InfraRed Spectrograph, built for ESA by ESTEC, was ready July 7. Near InfraRed Camera, led by University of Arizona / Lockheed-Martin, is expected to follow suit shortly, with official declaration of fully operation / release of initial images and spectroscopy data planned for July 12 at 04:30 HST (14:30 UTC). Aggregate spectrum coverage ranges from 0.6 to 28 microns, or visible orange to mid-IR, with ~ 25 m² of light collecting area over 18 gold plated beryllium mirror segments (6.5-meter diameter combined). All near-IR sensors utilized by JWST (16 total) are HAWAII-2RG, developed on Mauna Kea at UH88 telescope by IfA astronomers. NASA is counting down to the first release, and hosting a Virtual Global Social July 5-19. JWST can be tracked with NASA Eyes solar system visualization tool or directly with JPL ephemeris data made easily accessible by Unistellar / SETI tool. The initial JWST images will be posted here, and the first 6,000-hour Cycle 1 General Observers will be available from Space Telescope Science Institute. (Image Credits: NASA, ESA)

● Jul 11 — LPI, USRA, NASA, Online / Houston TX: Lunar Surface Science Workshop 17: Defining a Coordinated Lunar Resource Evaluation Campaign.

● Jul 11 — NASA SSERVI, University of Colorado – Boulder, Online: LunGradCon 2022 Day One, Online Event.

● Jul 11-12 — America’s Future Series, Online: 2022 Space Innovation Summit; featuring Peter Beck, Richard Branson, Tory Bruno, Robert Lightfoot, Moriba Jah, more; 08:30-16:00 CDT.

o Jul 11-15 — Royal Astronomical Society, University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom: UK National Astronomy Meeting 2022.

o Jul 11-15 — Space Telescope Science Institute, Stockholm, Sweden: Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes VI: Entering a Golden Age for UV-Optical-IR Space Astronomy.

● Jul 11-29 — National Space Society, Blue Origin Club for the Future, Brownsville TX: Expanding Frontiers’ Space Entrepreneur Summer Academy (SESA); education program for where students interact with scientists and astropreneurs.

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.

o Jul 5 – Aug 2 — KARI, Incheon International Airport, S Korea: South Korea lunar orbiter ‘Danuri’ on its way to Cape Canaveral SFS for integration and testing prior to scheduled August 5 launch on Falcon 9.

TUESDAY

☆ Jul 12 — NASA, Equatorial Launch Australia, Launch Black Brant 9 / Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment (DEUCE), Arnhem Space Center, Yolngu land, Australia: Magellan Aerospace sounding rocket launching astrophysics mission to study extreme UV spectrum, led by Univ of Colorado Boulder.

☆ Jul 12 — James Webb Space Telescope, Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2): Release of JWST first full-color images and spectroscopic data scheduled for today.