July 22-28, 2024 / Vol 43, No 30 / Hawai`i Island, USA

NASA Moon to Mars Focus: International Conference on Mars and Lunar-Robust Exploration Science Forum 

Four members of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and representatives of California Institute of Technology and NASA Mars Exploration Program convene The Tenth International Conference on Mars in Pasadena, July 22-25. Goals are an overview of Mars knowledge gained since the Mariner 4 first flyby in July 1965, an identification of crucial planetary science questions and exploration planning. The Science Organizing Committee is a stellar group of scientists with participants from Japan, Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, England, the ESA, Canada, nine USA states and Washington DC. There will be an evening public talk on July 24. Each day includes plenary, recap, poster highlights and oral sessions in two tracks. The final day has a session to synthesize conference content and prepare a draft report. NASA Solar System Exploration Virtual Institute (SSERVI) will hold NASA Exploration Science Forum 2024 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, July 23-25. A live and virtual conference, it attracts >5,000 persons for ~70 lunar and ~20 other scientific presentations. In-person public talk is “Origin of the Moon”. Over 40 posters are presented. Eugene Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal, Michael J. Wargo Exploration Science Award, Angioletta Coradini Mid-Career Award and Niebur Award all will be presented. Associated in-person event is July 22, the 15th annual Lunar and Small Bodies Graduate Forum to present four SSERVI research topics including Missions and Human Exploration. (Image credits: NASA)

MONDAY 

☆ Jul 22 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew delay EVAs and continue work with two Boeing CST-100 Astronauts for the foreseeable future, pending Starliner safety review conclusions; ongoing experiments include with Lumina optical fiber, hydroponic plant water flow, and protein crystallization research.

☆ Jul 22 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew Ye Guangfu, Li Guangsu and Li Cong monitoring zebrafish and hornwort research project, and conducting plant stem cell studies; CMSA publishes high-res images of recent EVA.

o Jul 22-25 — Institute for Basic Science, Planetary Atmospheres Group, Daejeon, Korea: Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Conference on Planetary Science and Space Exploration; at Science Culture Center.

● Jul 22-25 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Mars Exploration Program, Pasadena CA: The Tenth International Conference on Mars.

☆ Jul 22 — Pluto: At opposition in longitude, magnitude 14.4, 11:00.

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events; in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

S Korea Hosts Next Planetary / Space Conference, Advances KLPO and KASA

Coordinated as a satellite event to the 3,000-attendee 45th COSPAR, the Institute for Basic Science Conference on Planetary Science and Space Exploration (PSSE 2024) is set to occur July 22-25 in Daejeon. It will include diverse participation from international organizations such as Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian Space Research Organisation, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Sorbonne Université, Kyoto Sangyo University, ESA, Space Research Institute (IKI) and Israel Weizmann Institute of Science.  The tracks are Moon, Earth and near Earth; Terrestrial Planets; Atmospheric chemistry and dynamics; Gas giants and moons; and Solar System. Mission data being discussed will come from Juno, ExoMars, JWST, Venera-D and Akatsuki. The second talk on day one will be ‘An Overview of the Korean Moon mission, KPLO’ by Eunhyeuk Kim from Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). KLPO (aka Danuri) is the first space and first lunar mission from South Korea, launched 2022. Its 5 instruments will continue collecting data from lunar orbit until at least 2025 in the extended mission phase. KARI is now working with the newly formed Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), which is planned to invest US$72B to accomplish a 2045 Mars landing, with first robotic lunar landing by 2032. Korea was the 10th nation to sign the Artemis accords and has only one Astronaut to date, Soyeon Yi, who flew to ISS in 2008. (Image credits: Institute for Basic Science, KASA, KARI, NASA)

TUESDAY

★ Jul 23 — Chandra X-ray Observatory, HEO: NASA spacecraft in extended mission phase reaches 25th full year / begins 26th year of operations in space; instruments able to detect X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope; launched 1999.

● Jul 23-25 — NASA, SSERVI, Washington University, St. Louis MO: NASA Exploration Science Forum (NESF2024).

☾ Jul 23 — Moon: At perigee (distance 364,894 km), 19:44.

☆ Jul 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 LY2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU)

WEDNESDAY

☾ Jul 24 — Moon: 0.46° NNE of Saturn, 11:00.

☆ Jul 24 — Amor Asteroid 2022 MS: Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)