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June 28 – July 4, 2021 / Vol 40, No 26 / Hawai`i Island, USA

UK Resumes In-Person Events, National / Commercial Space Efforts Intensify

British Interplanetary Society (BIS) to host Reinventing Space, the organization’s annual marquee event, June 28-30. The venerable society is one of the first in the world to advocate for astronautical progress and space exploration, and has been instrumental as creative conduit for visionary engineering approaches towards those ends. The 3-day conference is to feature a welcoming address by BIS CEO Elizabeth Anderson (T) and keynote addresses by Dave Edmondson (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) Jake Geer (UK Space Agency) Katherine Courtney (Global Network on Sustainability in Space), Sara Mugnaini (OneWeb) and Jan Wörner (former ESA Director). Gala Dinner and Sir Arthur Clarke Awards will be held on evening of June 29. Panel Discussions are to be held on Space Law, BIS & Women in Aerospace: Europe Panel Women in the Space Sector, NextGen Network for young space professionals & students, Laser Communications / Synthetic-aperture radar, and the UK Spaceports Alliance – a consortium of 5 UK spaceport projects, 3 vertical / 2 horizontal. Their fate is expected to be decided by the end of 2021, a major task for incoming UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate. The UK intends to grow its share of the world space market from 5% to 10% by 2030. Significant space businesses based in UK include Reaction Engines, Skyrora, Oneweb and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (Image Credits: BIS, Geograph Britain and Ireland, WIA:E, Sir Arthur Clarke Foundation)

MONDAY

Highlights…
Jun 28 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 65 seven-member crew planning for arrival of Progress 78P and ~2,900 kg of cargo this week, working with cardiac research experiment, and neon & argon gas for plasma crystal physics

Jun 28 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 12 three-member crew to conduct at least 2 EVAs and utilize new robotic arm for TSS / equipment integrations.

Jun 28 NewSpace: USA Today auctioning first newspaper delivered to Moon as non-fungible token (NFT); Trillium Technologies and SETI Institute connecting space AI / Machine Learning community via SpaceML.org platform; analysis of 933 NewSpace patents finds 62% are data-related.

Jun 28 — Solar System: Extended seismological mission of Mars Insight may cease in 2022 due to solar panel debris; China accepting requests for access to 1,731 g Oceanus Procellarum Moon samples gathered by Chang’e-5; Cassini data points towards latitudinal-related weather effects on Titan craters.

Jun 28 — Galaxy: Researchers determine 1,700 exoplanets have vantage to witness Earth transit Sun over 5,000 years; Sloan Digital Sky Survey study shows supermassive galaxy filaments rotate; ground teams continue to troubleshooting recent glitch as Hubble science is paused.

Jun 28 — Global: ILRS Guide For Partnership outlines participation opportunities with Russia / China Moon missions; 22k+ applicants, 24% women, hope to become ESA Astronauts; Mauritius 1st satellite undergoing initial tests after deployment from ISS under JAXA, UNOOSA program.

Jun 28 — USA: Masten building rocket-based lunar ice mining rover, delaying XL-1 launch to MSP until Nov 2023; NASA advertising 2 commercial ISS mission opportunities in 2022-23; additional Artemis HLS award faces uncertain path through Congress.

Jun 28 — Hawai’i: UH alum Jamie Foster conducting ISS study on squid procured from Kewalo Marine Lab; HI / CA Air National Guard practice capsule recovery ahead of planned Astronaut splashdowns.

= All times

for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.

= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.

= All times for space events, and…

= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).


Weekly Planet Watch Evening Planets: Venus (WNW), Mars (WNW), Jupiter (S), Saturn (S); Morning Planets: Mercury (ENE), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE).

Asteroid Day 2021 to Be Celebrated June 30 on Eve of July SpaceMonth

The UN-sanctioned global awareness campaign ‘Asteroid Day’ will be observed June 30. Events will be held worldwide including a 24-hour broadcast live from Luxembourg, highlighting public education, engagement and inspiration for the 4.6B year old objects classified as inner Solar System minor planets. Marking the 1908 Siberian Tunguska event, Asteroid Day was co-founded by Stephen Hawking, Grigorij Richters, Danica Remy, Rusty Schweickart, Brian May and its declaration is now signed by >50,000 people. Among numerous entities working to locate and track NEOs for potential hazards are IAU Minor Planet Center, NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, ESA Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, International Asteroid Warning Network and Space Mission Planning Advisory Group. The known Potentially Hazardous Object count is up to 2,173, while a major collision with Earth is predicated to be relatively low in the foreseeable future. Exploration and science at asteroids include JAXA Hayabusa, NASA OSIRIS-Rex, ESA Rosetta, China Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter, and future Lucy, Psyche, NEA Scout and DART missions. Legal frameworks for resource extraction have been developed most notably by USA, Luxembourg, Japan, Portugal and UAE; and commercial venture TransAstra Corporation is currently working toward mining asteroids for propellant. To date there are >1M known asteroids and 26,114 NEOs. The largest is 940-km diameter Ceres, and the total mass of all asteroids combined is still less than that of the Moon. (Image Credits: Asteroid Day 2021 Partners, NASA, Arizona State University)

Jun 28 — National Science Foundation, Online / Alexandria VA: Arecibo Observatory Options Workshop ‘Closing Session’.

Jun 28-29 — Discoverer Programme, European Union Horizon 2020 Programme, Online: Virtual: 1st International Symposium on Very Low Earth Orbit Missions and Technologies; featuring 30 experts from 11 different countries.

Jun 28-30 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Reinventing Space Conference 2021; at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.

Jun 28 – Jul 2 — European Astronomical Society (EAS), Online / Lyon, France: Virtual: European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting.

Jun 28 – Aug 27 — International Space University (ISU), Granada, Spain: ISU Space Studies Program 2021.

Jun 28 — Moon: 4.2° SE of Jupiter, 12:00.

Jun 28 — Aten Asteroid 2021 LD6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)

Continued From…

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

Jun 14 – Jul 1 — Keck Institute for Space Science, Caltech, Online / Pasadena CA: Workshop: Venus In-Situ Sample Capture Mission.

Jun 26-30 — Space Renaissance International, Online / Fino Mornasco, Italy: 2021 Space Renaissance Congress: Civilian Space Development.

Jun 15-30 — AIAA, National Association of Rocketry, The Plains VA: The American Rocketry Challenge; high school students compete in the nation’s largest student rocket competition.

TUESDAY

Jun 29 — ISS, Release of Cygnus NG-15, ~405-km LEO: Commercial resupply cargo freighter Cygnus NG-15 dubbed “SS Katherine Johnson” to be released today with waste for disintegration in Earth atmosphere; undocking live coverage available 12:25 PDT..

Jun 29 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Progress 78P (MS-17), Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia government Soyuz rocket to launch 78th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS, 23:27 UTC; to dock automatically 3 hours and 20 minutes after launch to Poisk zenith.

Jun 29 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Online / Washington DC: Lecture: Venus Rediscovered: An Astrobiological or Astrophysical Frontier?; 20:00-21:00 EDT.

Jun 29 — Center for Strategic and International Studies, Online / Washington DC: Lecture: Space Race in the 21st Century: Understanding Russia’s Evolving Military Capabilities; by Victoria Samson of Secure World Foundation.

WEDNESDAY

Jun 30 — Firefly Aerospace, Launch Alpha / DFAST Demonstrator, DREAM, Vandenberg SFB CA: First orbital launch attempt for Alpha rocket launching Benchmark Space Systems DFAST propulsion system tech demo and Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission (DREAM).

Jun 30 — Asteroid Day Ltd., Global / Luxembourg: Asteroid Day 2021; education, events, films and entertainment hosted by organizations and individuals to increase awareness about asteroids.

Jun 30 — Institute of Physics South West Branch, Online / United Kingdom: Lecture: Step into Space: Introducing Cornwall’s Space Hub; 18:00-19:30.

Jun 30 — Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, Online / Kamuela HI: Mayors Forum; featuring Hawai’i Mayors Blangiardi, Kawakami, Roth and Victorino, 15:00 HST via Zoom.

Jun 30 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 – Panel on Venus Meeting #20 and Foundation for Assessing the Health and Vitality of the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Research Communities Meeting #3 and Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in the Leadership of Competed Space Missions Meeting #7.

Jun 30 — Moon: 4.0° SE of Neptune, 03:00.

THURSDAY

Jul 1 — Deep Space, Kuiper Belt: Latest research of New Horizons data to recreate hues using tholins / plasma in simulation of Pluto leave scientists questioning exact cause of red color.

Jul 1 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / OneWeb 8, Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz rocket to launch 36 satellites for OneWeb 8, which is developing a constellation of hundreds of satellites.

Jul 1 — Moon: At last quarter, 11:11.

Jul 1 — Apollo Asteroid 2010 XJ11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)

FRIDAY

Jul 2 — Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) P1, Moon Orbit: Craft reaches 10 full years / enters 11th year in Moon orbit today; originally launched with constellation of 5 satellites in 2007 to study Earth magnetosphere, NASA craft collecting data on Moon interaction with Sun; reached Moon 2011.

Jul 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 LE7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)

Jul 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 GM4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)

SATURDAY

Jul 3 — Space Age Publishing Company, ILOA, The Vi, Palo Alto CA and Online: Galaxy Forum USA 2021: Silicon Valley; featuring talks by Steve Durst “Stanford on the Moon”, Andrew Siemion “SETI from the Moon”, Grant Anderson “Artemis / NASA Returns to the Moon”, Jill Tarter “Searching for Aliens; Finding Ourselves”.

Jul 3 — Venus: 0.35° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 02:00.

Jul 3 — Amor Asteroid 2021 LG3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU)

SUNDAY

Jul 4 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 5th full year at Jupiter today; one-way transmission signal to Earth is 48 minutes, mission extended through September 2025.

Jul 4-9 — European Association of Geochemistry, Geochemical Society, Online / Europe: Virtual: Goldschmidt2021 Conference.

Jul 4 — Moon: 1.94° SE of Uranus, 08:00.

Jul 4 — Mercury: At westernmost elongation, 10:00.

Jul 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 AD1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU)