May 31 – June 6, 2021 / Vol 40, No 22 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ISS Exp 65 Crew Preps for 3 EVAs, Dragon CRS 22 Arrival; China to Launch Crew of 3 to Tianhe in June

LEO explorers of ISS Expedition 65 are planning Russia EVA #48 on June 2 for Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov. Wearing Orlan spacesuits, the duo will exit from Poisk module to perform a 6.5-hour spacewalk for hardware maintenance and science experiment installations. The rest of the 7-member crew will support and monitor the EVA and work on ongoing experiments including animal-microbe studies, botany research, cargo / waste transfers to Progress 75P, 77P and Cygnus NG-15. Launch of SpaceX Cargo Dragon CRS-22 resupply ship is planned June 3 with rendezvous and docking on June 5, and return to Earth late July. Alongside crew supplies, science investigation and hardware, CRS-22 will be carrying ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) requiring 2 EVAs for installation. Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough will plan for U.S. EVA 74 + 75 on June 16 and June 20 to install the two iROSAs. The CRS-22 mission is also set to deploy 10 CubeSats for Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 36. China Space Station (CSS) Tianhe core module is scheduled to be visited by its automated cargo ship Tianzhou 2 very soon, launching on Long March 7 from Wenchang, Hainan – and potentially followed June 17 with its first 3-member crew for the three-month Shenzhou 12 mission. When fully assembled CSS will be ~1/6 mass of ISS, about the size of Russia Mir. (Image Credits: NASA, Roscosmos, CNSA, Xinhua)

MONDAY

Advanced Approaches to Space Exploration Fostered by NIAC

Administered and funded by Space Technology Mission Directorate, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program current US$125k, 9-month phase 1 investigations include concepts for ISRU of methane propellant for Titan sample return (Steven Oleson / Glenn Research Center); a 20x20km, 5-40 MHz radio observatory constructed with regolith material on Moon (Ronald Polidan / Lunar Resources, Inc); and a data transmission scheme that takes advantage of cycler orbits to physically transfer large quantities (125-375 TB) of planetary data for transmission near Earth (Joshua Vander Hook / Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Ongoing $500k, 2-year phase 2 proposals include fungal mycelium as construction material on other worlds (Lynn Rothschild / Ames Research Center) and a crater-based farside lunar radio dish (Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay / Jet Propulsion Laboratory). A proof-of-concept neutrino detection CubeSat that may indirectly measure black matter (Nick Solomey / Wichita State University) is this year’s phase 3 study, awarded $2M over 2 years. NIAC plans to release 2022 phase 1 call for proposals in early June due mid-July; 2022 phase 2 call for proposals expected mid-October with a due date in December, all of which will be made available at NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) site. Over its 10-year history, NIAC has supported 144 phase one, 70 phase two, and 3 phase three studies in furtherance of novel, forward-thinking technology solutions to daunting space objectives. (Image Credits: NASA NIAC)

May 31 — ESA, CSA-ASC, NASA

May 31 – Jun 11 — UNOOSA, Vienna, Austria: 60th Session of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs; at Vienna International Centre.

May 31 — Mars: 5.3° S of Pollux, 14:00.

May 31 — Amor Asteroid 2021 KS: Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU)

Continued From…
NET Early 2021 — ISRO, Launch SSLV / Demonstration Launch, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: New Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to launch on first orbital test flight.

NLT May 15 — ISRO, Launch GSLV Mk.2 / GISAT 1, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk. 2, designated GSLV-F10, to launch India first GEO Imaging Satellite.

May 24 – Aug 6 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, NASA, Pasadena CA and Online: JPL Planetary Science Summer School Session 1.

May 24 – Aug 20 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, NASA, Pasadena CA and Online: JPL Planetary Science Summer School Session 2.

May 30 – Jun 6 — Japan Geosciences Union, Online / Tokyo, Japan: Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2021.

TUESDAY

NET Jun — ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: Space2Connect Conference; to explore and discuss emerging space-based solutions to address challenges and opportunities of the digital economy.

NET Jun — NASA, Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I 2022 Solicitation begins for 12-18 nine-month space technology studies funded up to US$125K.