International Moon Day 2024 – Envisioning Moon South Pole Crewed Missions 2020s and Moon Station 2050
In its third year of official recognition by the United Nations, International Moon Day 2024 is being honored with thousands of global events marking the first human touchdown on the Moon in 1969. The main event for IMD is being held in Harbin, China by Moon Village Association, Harbin Institute of Technology and Chinese Society of Astronautics on July 19-21. Its theme ‘Illuminating the Shadows’ highlights the missions, research and interest in the Moon South Pole, its many unexplored craters, mountains and plateaus. The cosponsored ‘Moon Station 2050 Global Innovation Competition’ ceremony on July 20 will award winners for their submitted concepts and technologies related to one of five critical themes: Lunar Architecture, Lunar Energy, Lunar Robot, Lunar Transportation, and Life Support. IMD keynotes and speakers include Giuseppe Reibaldi (MVA), Aarti Holla-Maini (UNOOSA), Gowrishankar Dhandapani (ISRO), and Scott Pace (George Washington Univ.). USA Artemis program is working toward a crewed lunar flyby in 2025 and crewed landing NET 2026, China Chang’E is planning its human missions NLT 2030, and India Gaganyaan is NLT 2040. The Artemis mission may also bring Japan, Canada and Europe Astronauts aboard Artemis 4-8 landing missions. While China, Russia and partners are working on the International Lunar Research Station to be permanently occupied by 2036, USA and international partners are planning the Gateway NET 2026 and south pole Artemis Base Camp 2028. (Image Credits: ESA – P. Carril, NASA, MVA)
MONDAY
☆Jul 15 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew and two Boeing Starliner CST-100 Astronauts participate in in-flight Houston and San Diego interviews, working with Astrobee ISAAC-16 science session, planning future experiment installations for the Inter-orbit Communication System Rack which supports Japanese Experiment Module.
☆Jul 15 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew Ye Guangfu, Li Guangsu and Li Cong working with 7,400 kg of cargo from Tianzhou 7 ship while Tianzhou 8 is being prepared for launch potentially next month.
o NewSpace: Innospace of South Korea now being publicly traded, planning Hanbit-Nano rocket launch from Alcântara in first half 2025; Infostellar of Japan, founded 2016, constructing network of antennas in Asia Pacific region for satellite communications; Equatorial Space Systems of Singapore aiming for 2024 launch of Dorado suborbital sounding rocket from Australia, while advancing Volans small sat launch vehicle.
☆ Solar System: ILOA Hawai’i working toward ILO-1 Moon mission to Malapert Mountain ~2026, ILO-C on Chang’E-7 to Shackleton crater ~2026, and continuing work with ILO-X and digital assets which remain on the Moon via IM-1 mission; Chang’E-5 lunar samples reach Bangkok, Thailand for public viewing, while first-ever lunar farside samples from Chang’E-6 will be prepared to be sent to international scientists for study (NASA-funded researchers also applied for access).
Committee on Space Research Assembles a Worldwide Community of Scientists at COSPAR 2024
The 46th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research and Associated Events (COSPAR 2024) expects 2,000-3,000 participants July 13-21 at BEXCO, Busan, Korea. Rosine Lallement (France) is the Space Science Award recipient, Dieter Bilitza (USA) the International Cooperation Medal awardee, and six other scientists (UK, Japan, India-2, Netherlands and USA) are also honored, both at the event and with attribution of a minor planet. Scientific presentations are organized into nine tracks: Industry Relations, Fundamental Physics in Space, Materials Sciences in Space, Life Sciences as Related to Space, Research in Astrophysics from Space, Space Plasmas / Planetary Magnetospheres in the Solar System, Atmospheres of the Earth / Planets, Space Studies of Earth Surface / Meteorology / Climate, and Space Studies of Earth-Moon System / Planets / Small Bodies of the Solar System. The latter track has 15 sub-tracks with one designated for Lunar Science and Exploration presentations over 10 quarter-days plus a poster display. There are events for Education, Interstellar Research, Planetary Protection, Satellite Dynamics and many other topics. Of 19 invited speakers, John Lee will introduce “the new Korea Aerospace Administration” on July 14, and two will present a one-hour “Talk Concert on the Moon” that day. July 15 has a Roundtable of Space Agency Leaders. The next bi-annual assembly will be COSPAR 2026 in Florence, Italy. COSPAR publishes two journals, Advances in Space Research and Life Sciences in Space Research. (Image credits: COSPAR)
o Jul 1 – Aug 30 — Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taipei, Taiwan: 2024 Summer Student Program; students conduct original research under supervision of professional astronomers.
TUESDAY
o Jul 16 — Brno Observatory and Planetarium, Brno, Czech Republic: International Moon Day 2024; series of lectures devoted to the geology of the Moon, extraction of raw materials on it and its research.
☆ Jul 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 BY15: Near-Earth Flyby (0.041 AU)
WEDNESDAY
★ Jul 17 — Juno, Perijove 63 / 62nd Science Flyby, Jupiter Orbit: NASA craft to perform Jupiter flyby during Perijove 63, its 63rd close flyby of Jupiter and 62nd science flyby with instruments turned on.
☾ Jul 17 — Moon: 0.41° ENE of Antares, occultation, 11:00.
☆ Jul 17 — Venus: 0.05° NE of Beehive Cluster, quasi-conjunction, 13:00.
☆ Jul 17 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 NF: Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU)
THURSDAY
★ NET Jul 18 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Transporter 11 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare),SLC 4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Next Transporter mission to carry dedicated rideshare mission of many microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
☆ Jul 19 — International Space Station, In-Flight Event,~415-km LEO: Interview between KNSD-TV, San Diego and NASA flight engineer Matt Dominick of Expedition 71; starts 12:45 EDT, live coverage available.
o Jul 19-21 — Moon Village Association, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Chinese Society of Astronautics (CSA), Harbin, China:International Moon Day (IMD) 2024 Main Event.
SATURDAY
☆ Jul 20 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / Acadia-3,LC-1B, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Mission dubbed “A Sky Full of SARs” will launch Capella Space next generation Acadia Earth observation satellites.
☾Jul 20 — Apollo 11 55th Observation, Nationwide USA / Global: First human mission to land on Moon in 1969; 1st steps by humans on another World taken by Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin; Command Module piloted by Michael Collins.
●Jul 20 — Viking 1 Mars Lander 48th Observation, Nationwide USA / Global: First USA spacecraft to successfully land on another planet; originally scheduled for July 4, landing was delayed until this day in 1976 due to rough landing site.
☾Jul 20 — International Moon Day / Space Exploration Day, Global: Celebrating the 1st people walking on the Moon / another celestial body – 3rd year in which International Moon Day is a recognized / endorsed declaration by the United Nations.
o Jul 20 — Moon Village Association, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Chinese Society of Astronautics (CSA), Harbin, China: Moon Station 2050 Global Innovation Competition Award Ceremony; in conjunction with International Moon Day (IMD) 2024 Main Event.
● Jul 20 — City of Houston, Houston TX: Today is celebrated as ‘Intuitive Machines Day‘ by city of Houston, honoring the company for its IM-1 lunar landing / USA return to the Moon which occurred on February 22, 2024 and carried 6 NASA instruments and 6 commercial payloads: ILOA Hawai’i ILO-X, Embry-Riddle EagleCam, Galactic Legacy Labs LunaPrise, Columbia Omni-Heat, Moon Phases art cube, Lonestar Independence.
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