November 20-26, 2023 / Vol 42, No 47 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Jupiter Solo Explorer Juno Ready for 56th Perijove Flyby and 2 More Years of Operations

Juno is heading into its next flyby of massive Jupiter on November 22, perijove #56, flying at speeds near 209,000 kph from north to south over the cloud tops in its highly elliptical polar orbit. Jupiter has 95 moons that are officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union, completes one day / rotation in ~10 hours, and is estimated to have 3 distinct cloud layers that span about 71 km. Juno has already captured unprecedented data on Galileo moons Europa and Ganymede, the Great Red Spot, southern storms, aurorae and atmosphere bands on Jupiter. The 57th perijove flyby, occurring December 30, is predicted to come within 1,500 km of moon Io. Since its orbital insertion around the gas giant on 4 July 2016, Juno has been sending data to the Deep Space Network, which has a maximum data capacity at 25 kilobytes per second. Juno will perform a total of 76 close flybys, one every 38 days, until its planned September 2025 atmosphere impact. One month before the controlled impact, the ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will be making a flyby / gravity assist maneuver at Venus on trajectory for Jupiter orbit insertion in July 2031. (Pictured: Juno PI Scott Bolton; Image Credits: NASA, SwRI, JPL-Caltech, ASI, INAF, JIRAM)

MONDAY 

☆ Nov 20 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 seven-member crew working with experiment to study how animal cells sense gravity, setting up laptop for ILLUMA-T to test data transfer speeds ≤1.24Gbps, transferring cargo from Dragon CRS-29, Cygnus-19, Progress 85P.

☆ Nov 20 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: China considering expanding station to include 3 more modules which would allow for additional crew and internal & external experiment payloads hosting.

☾ = Moon activity

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

Future is Focus of 2023 UK Space Conference

The biennial UK Space Conference (UKSC) returns to in-person format for the first time since 2019 under theme Space for Our Future November 21-23 at the Belfast International Convention Center. Sponsored by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), Airbus, BAE Systems and Thales Alenia Space, 114 exhibits and 126 speakers are scheduled to address a broad range of space topics across plenary and track sessions, discussion panels and working groups including cislunar commercialization, technology trends, women in space, international partnerships, and development toward reestablishing domestic launch capability – the UK was the 6^th nation to achieve orbital launch with Black Arrow rocket in 1971, but has yet to resume direct access space since then. Opening plenary session to feature UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini, UKSA Deputy CEO Annelies Look, and ESA Director Josef Ashbacher. Other prominent participants include ESA astronaut John McFall, SSTL Chairman Martin Sweeting, and UKSA CEO Paul Bate. Formal UKSC 2023 program events will be preceded by Power Up: Energizing the Future of Space Solar Power social discussion November 20. Networking events, an outreach session for 450 local students, and gala dinner will also be held. The nascent UK launch industry has a number of efforts underway, with Skyrora of Edinburgh working to launch its Black Arrow-inspired 3-stage XL rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport on Unst and horizonal launch company Astraius planning on lifting off from Prestwick Spaceport NET 2024. (Image Credits: UKSC)

★ Nov 20 — Swift, LEO: Observing gamma-ray bursts & their afterglows in gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical wavelengths from LEO, multiwavelength craft reaches 19 full years / begins 20th year of operations in space today, launched in 2004.

☾ Nov 20 — Moon: At first quarter, 00:50; 2.51° SE of Saturn, 07:00.

☆ Nov 20 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 VE4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU).

TUESDAY

o Nov 21-23 — UK Space Agency, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom: UK Space Conference 2023.

☾ Nov 21 — Moon: At perigee (distance 369,805 km), 11:16.

WEDNESDAY 

★ Nov 22 — Juno, Perijove 56 / 55th Science Flyby, Jupiter Orbit: NASA craft to perform Jupiter flyby during Perijove 56, its 56th close flyby of Jupiter and 55th science flyby with instruments turned on.

☾ Nov 22 — Moon: 1.34° SE of Neptune, 00:00.

THURSDAY 

o Nov 23-25 — China Association for Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese Academy of Engineering, UNESCO, International Science Council, World Federation of Engineering Organizations, Shenzhen, China: Fifth World Science and Technology Development Forum 2023: Empowering Development through Science and Technology, Shaping the Future of the Greater Bay Area.

☆ Nov 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 VH6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU).