Crew-8 and Transporter 10 Launching to Space in the Coming Days, Starship IFT-3 Also Possible
The robust SpaceX launch cadence continues with Crew-8 ISS mission on Endeavour, which is to be the 13th crewed flight of Dragon capsule (9th within NASA Commercial Crew program) set for launch on Falcon 9 March 1 at 12:04 EST from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. 3 NASA Astronauts and 1 Roscosmos Cosmonaut will travel together to space, dock with ISS Harmony module and be greeted by 7 members of Expedition 70, representing ESA, JAXA, Roscosmos and NASA. 200+ experiments / tech demos are planned for Crew-8 operations extending until fall of 2024. Also riding on Falcon-9, Transporter-10 launching from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base NET 4 March carrying a wide variety of commercial payloads including AEROS (Open Cosmos), M3 (Missouri University of Science & Technology), EagleEye (Creotech Instruments), MuSat-2 (Muon Space), LizzieSat (Sidus Space) and Tower 5/6 (Lynk Global). The Transporter series is conducted through the SpaceX SmallSat Rideshare Program, which offers access to SSO for US$300k. Starship Integrated Flight Test 3, an essential step in realizing Artemis 3 human landings with HLS variant, may also occur NET March 8, per statement by SpaceX CEO, pending successful Wet Dress Rehearsal following 2 failed attempts and subsequent unstacking of Booster 10 / Ship 28, which may delay test launch planned to terminate ~100 km NE of Kaua’i Island, Hawai’i. (Image Credits: SpaceX, ExoLaunch, NASA)
MONDAY
☆ Feb 26 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 seven-member crew working with cognition tests, plant microbe experiments, optical fiber production; looking forward to NASA astronaut graduation program next week.
☆ Feb 26 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 17 three-member crew transferring cargo from Tianzhou-7 spacecraft, continue exercise / work in space while preparing for May return to Earth.
Intuitive Machines Is First Commercial Operator Conducting Lunar Surface Communication and Exploration
Human enterprise is active on the Moon for the first time, with the Nova-C class lander Odysseus now in communication with ground controllers at IM Mission Control in Houston TX via Goonhilly Station in UK following 5:23 CST (11:23 UTC) soft landing touchdown near Malapert A crater — public awaiting official mission assessment; NASA Director hails CLPS ‘cosmic bridge’ of public-private cooperation that led to commercial Moon mission carrying 6 NASA and 6 independent payloads including Astronomy from the Moon ILO-X (precursor to ILO-1), which will conduct the first imaging of the luminous Milky Way band in visible spectra; Intuitive Machines founder Kam Ghaffarian looking forward to achieving ‘daily trips to the Moon’ while envisioning interstellar travel as ‘ultimate destiny for humanity’.
India and Japan Conferences Highlight Lunar, Deep Space, Dust Sciences
The JHU-APL Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium is holding the 22nd National Space Science Symposium on February 26 to March 1 in Goa, India at Goa University on the west coast of the country. On the first day ISRO Chair S. Somanath will give a public lecture on ‘Scientific & Exploration Missions: Opportunities for Science Communities in India’. There will be 4 plenary sessions, 4 interdisciplinary lectures, 6 parallel sessions with 5 lead talks and 56 presentations in each parallel session. The 6 sessions will cover space-based science, Earth atmosphere science, solar and planetary sciences, astronomy and astrophysics, enabling technologies for space exploration, and a student session. India missions being discussed will include Chandrayaan-2 and -3, XPoSat, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1 and Gaganyaan. Beyond ISRO, representatives will join from Udaipur Solar Observatory, Banaras Hindu University, Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad), Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, University of Mumbai, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and many other entities. The PERC International Symposium on Dust & Parent Bodies 2024 (IDP2024) on Feb 26-28 in Tokyo, Japan will overview DESTINY⁺ (Demonstration and Experiment of Space Technology for INterplanetary voYage with Phaethon fLyby and dUst Science). DESTINY⁺ will launch via Epsilon S rocket, escape Earth orbit using its ion engines, swing by the Moon and head to asteroid (3200) Phaethon – the parent body of the Geminids meteor shower. (Also pictured Masanori Kobayashi (PERC Conference Chair); Image Credits: ISRO, JAXA, ISAS, NASA, PERC, et al)
☆ Feb 26 — Aten Asteroid 2023 EF: Near-Earth Flyby (0.083 AU)
Ongoing…
☆ Sep 6, 2023 – NET Mar — X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), ~550-km LEO: XRISM undergoing 6 month check out testing phase before start of science operations to study galactic plasma.
☆ NET Feb — ISRO, Launch LVM-3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-3) / Gaganyaan,Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: India planning for 1st orbital test flight of Gaganyaan uncrewed capsule this month.
☾ Feb 22 – Mar 3 — Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C Lander, Lunar Landing Trajectory: IM Lunar Lander operating on surface of Moon with NASA and commercial payloads.
☆ Feb 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 CT7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU)
WEDNESDAY
☆Feb 28 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz 2.1b / Meteor-M,Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz rocket to launch Russia meteorological satellites to replace the Meteor-3M series.
● Feb 28 — CASA Moon, SSERVI, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, LPI,Albuquerque NM and Online: CASA Moon Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series; by Anthony Gargano, Lunar and Planetary Institute, 11:00 MST.
☆ Feb 28 — Saturn: At conjunction with Sun, 10.711 AU from Earth, 11:00.
THURSDAY
☆Feb 29 — CNSA, Launch Long March 3B / Unknown Payload,LC-2, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China: Long March 3B rocket to launch a to-be-decided payload for LM3-152 mission.
☆ Feb 29 — Leap Day 2024: Extra day added to Julian and Gregorian calendars every 4 years as Earth orbits the Sun at 365.25 days, equaling a solar year.
☆ Feb 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 DL: Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
FRIDAY
☆ Mar 1 — Deep Space: Project managers still working to overcome software glitch for Voyager 1 in Interstellar Space since last September.
★ Mar 1 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / SpaceX Crew 8, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Dragon Crew 8 vehicle to fly to ISS with NASA Astronauts Jeanette Epps, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin; 12:04 EST.
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