July 4 Marks 7 Years of Juno at Jupiter, Honors Astronaut Sally Ride and Looks to First Woman on the Moon
American Independence Day to observe the 7th full year of NASA Juno spacecraft at Jupiter on July 4, after its 5-year, 1.7 billion-mile (~2.7 billion km) journey from Earth, having launched August 4, 2011. Mission continues to probe the gas giant finding answers to origin and evolution of Jupiter System, Solar System, and other similar giant planets across the cosmos. Now heading into its 53rd flyby of Jupiter, Juno collected more than three terabits (375 gigabytes) of data during its prime 35 science orbits including observations of Jupiter interior, atmosphere and weather layer. It will operate through September 2025, and conduct flybys of Galileo moons Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io which will aid future NASA Europa Clipper and ESA JUICE missions. This year July 4 will also honor Astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, with a statue of her likeness being installed at Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. Ride became first USA woman to fly on Space Shuttle Challenger STS-7 in June 1983 and STS-41-G in October 1984. The first American woman selected to orbit the Moon, Christina Koch, is scheduled to launch on Artemis 2 NET November 2025. A significant and worthy timetable for the first woman to touchdown on the lunar surface would be NLT July 4, 2026 when the nation plans to commemorate the 250th observation of the founding of USA. (Image Credits: NASA, Sally Ride Science, SwRI, ESA)
MONDAY
☆ Jul 3 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 seven-member crew working with Plant-Hab 03 botany, microbiology, Kibo Robot programming, Astrobee experiments; planned to see NG-19 cargo and Crew 7 next month.
☆ Jul 3 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 16 three-member crew working with cargo from Tianzhou-5 and -6, and sharing high-res video from interior and exterior of station.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: Virgin Galactic seeking US$400M investment for Delta (Gen 3) spaceplane fleet to launch NET 2025; SpaceForest of Poland planning high altitude test of Perun rocket, ESA Themis auxiliary flip engine development; Developer Rob Lauer working to raise US$310M for spaceport / space academy on 240 acres west of Las Vegas.
☆ Solar System: JWST NIRCam raw Saturn images being processed, Jane Rigby to serve as new senior project scientist; NASA OSIRIS-REx team preparing to receive asteroid Bennu sample inbound to Utah; Mars MOXIE (funding for which ends EOY ’23) produces 2X greater oxygen generation than ever before.
☆ Galaxy: Signs of habitability search in TRAPPIST-1 system continues following findings that TRAPPIST-1 c lacks CO2 atmosphere; 190+ scientists at NANOGrav Center work to identify SMBH origins of low-frequency gravitational waves observed over 15 years via 68-pulsar timing array; Ion essential to interstellar organic chemistry, methyl cation (CH3+), shown to exist around protoplanetary disk d203-506.
o Global: Aarti Holla-Maini of UK to succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy as UNOOSA Director in Vienna; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 integrated into LVM3, being readied to launch July 12; UAE / UN PHI-Demo CubeSat with SteamJet propulsion (UK), OQ Technology IoT payload (Luxembourg) operating from 550km orbit following Soyuz launch.
● Hawai’i: Astronomers observing gas giant exoplanet 8 Ursae Minoris b with CFHT, Keck and TESS infer it survived stellar planetary engulfment; UH researchers to receive US$4M to produce 4-Megapixels sensors to be used for exoplanet direct imaging and spectroscopy; ‘Imiloa features new program on University of Hawaiʻi 88-inch Telescope.
● = Terrestrial and… o = International terrestrial events
☾ = Moon activity
★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
SpaceTide 2023 Gathers Space Entrepreneurs with Focus on Japan, Asia-Pacific, and Global Space Markets
The 7th Spacetide conference is being held at Toranomon Hills Mori Tower in Tokyo (with online hybrid participation via YouTube) July 4-6. 85+ speakers are to address 1,000+ attendees from 20+ countries over the 3-day conference under the overall theme The Rise of Space Economy. Day 1 of Spacetide will open with remarks from Spacetide Foundation CEO Masayasu Ishida and greetings from Minister of State for Economic Security of Japan Sanae Takaichi, followed by panel on Japan 10-year national space strategy with (clockwise) Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki representing Space Port Japan and JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa. CEO Takeshi Hakamada will reflect on 10 years of ispace operations and coming decade during talk Shaping the Cislunar Economy. CNES Director of Strategy Jean-Marc Astorg will deliver a keynote address. Value Creation through Collaboration between Space and New-to-Space Players and APAC Space Economy will be topic of Day 2. Panel on Growth strategies and Ecosystem Development will feature SpaceBase CEO Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom and Space Faculty Private Limited CEO Lynette Tan. ISU President Pascale Ehrenfreund and Privateer Space CEO Alex Fielding are to give Keynotes on Day 3, which will have an international / worldwide scope. Spacetide envisions a US$1 trillion+ space economy buoyed by new enterprises in which it will function as a ‘neutral hub’, connecting regional and global space initiatives. (Image Credits: Spacetide Foundation, et al)
☆ Jul 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 MT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU).
Continued From…
●Jun 12 – Aug 12 — Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators at University of California Observatories, University of Hawai’i,Hilo HI: Akamai Internship Program 2023.
o Jun 26 – Aug 25 — International Space University, ESA, Netherlands Space Office, Delft University of Technology, Leiden University,São José dos Campos, Brazil:35th ISU Space Studies Program (SSP 2023).
TUESDAY
★ Jul 4 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 7th full year at Jupiter today; one-way transmission signal to Earth is 48 minutes, mission extended through September 2025.
☆ Jul 4 — Arianespace, Launch Vega C / Syracuse 4B & Heinrich Hertz, ELA-3, Kourou, French Guiana: Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA260, to launch Syracuse 4B and Heinrich Hertz communications satellites.
☆ Jul 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 HO6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU).
THURSDAY
★ Jul 6 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 5-13, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 to carry batch of Starlink V1.5 internet satellites to LEO; first stage booster to land on drone ship in Pacific Ocean.
o Jul 6-8 — Deutsches Museum, 1e9, Paradox, et al, Munich, Germany:Festival of the Future; topics cover Climate Tech, Quantum Technologies, Web3, Life Sciences, the Metaverse, other future technology.
☆ Jul 6 — Earth: At aphelion, 1.0167 AU from the Sun, 06:00.
☆ Jul 6 — Moon: 2.44° SE of Saturn, 20:00.
☆ Jul 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 ME4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU).
☆ Jul 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 LH2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU).
FRIDAY
★ Jul 7 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon Heavy / USSF 52,LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Falcon Heavy to launch USSF 52 mission for U.S. Space Force.
☆ Jul 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 LH5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU).
SATURDAY
★ Jul 8 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 6-5, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to carry batch of Starlink v2-mini internet satellites to LEO, 21:15 EDT; first stage booster to land on drone ship in Atlantic Ocean.
o Jul 8-17 — National Space Foundation, NOIRLab, International Dark-Sky Association, AURA, Online / Global: Globe at Night July Campaign; to raise awareness of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit night sky brightness observations.
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