Activity Increases at ISS and China Space Station with Human Arrivals
SpaceX Dragon Axiom-2 is set to rendezvous and dock at International Space Station (ISS) May 22 with USA Astronauts Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, and members of inaugural Saudi Astronaut Program Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Barnawi will be first Arab Muslim female astronaut in space. The crew, under the command of Whitson, is to conduct science, outreach, and commercial activities, and will bring number of Expedition 69 Astronauts on ISS to 11. Axiom-2 mission will last 10 days. This month also saw the observation of 50th anniversary of Skylab, USA’s first Space Station. On May 24, Roscosmos will launch Soyuz-2.1a, 84th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS about 3 hours later. It will carry 2,560 kg of cargo including fuel, compressed gases, equipment, food, water, and additional items to support work and life of the crew. China National Science Association will launch Long March 2 / Shenzhou 16 on May 29, with three crew members to the Tianhe core module, first module of Tiangong Space Station, with a payload to LEO: 8,600 kg. Shenzhou 16 crew will overlap with Shenzhou 15 crew for about six days and remain in space for ~6 months. June 5 will mark the 1st full year / start the 2nd year of continuous human occupation of TSS, and this November will be 23 full years of continuous human occupation at ISS. (Image Credits: Axiom Space, NASA, CASC, China Manned Space Engineering Office, SpaceX)
MONDAY
☆ May 22 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 set to welcome 4 additional members this week and ~2,500 kg of cargo from Progress 84P; working with JEM airlock, experiments involving cellular immune functions, sleep monitoring.
☆ May 22 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 15 three-member crew working with 7,400 kg of cargo (including experiments at 74 kg total) from Tianzhou-6 cargo which will supply Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 crews.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: Virgin Galactic plans final 6-person suborbital test of VSS Unity this week; Astrobotic lunar launch dependent on ULA which plans for Vulcan static fire within days; Intuitive Machines Moon launch shifts to NET Q3; Earth2Orbit of Bengaluru continues public space / education outreach.
☆ Solar System: JUICE in cruise phase undergoing check outs after 2nd actuator firing unfolds antenna, and being tracked en route to Jupiter; Researchers working to explain lack of CO2 on Comet 238P/Read following discovery of H2O; LRO and Capstone teams processing data from successful communication link as LRO imaged by KPLO Danuri ShadowCam.
☆ Galaxy: 4-major spiral arm / unique shape of MWG continues being questioned with Purple Mountain & NAOC research measuring distances of ~200 stars; JWST Cycle 2 GO Program / 2nd year of science operations will see 249 proposals created by >2,088 investigators from 41 countries; Ongoing cosmic explosion AT2021lwx may be most energetic ever, UK-led team attempting to determine origin with x-ray observation.
o Global: US$25k reward offered for ≤ 1kg piece of meteorite which fell along US-Canada border by Maine Mineral & Gem Museum; Inaugural launch of Ariane 6 from Guiana Space Centre now expected NET 2024 due to testing schedule; MBRSC-CU Boulder mission launching NET 2028 to explore 7 Main Belt asteroids.
●USA: NASA positive on Starship progress as next test NET June 15 with booster 9 to feature heatshield, thrust vector control improvements; $1B Space Command relocation may be reassessed due to lack of reproductive rights in Alabama; 200 Gbps laser comm technology demoed on TeraByte InfraRed Delivery may stream HD video during Artemis 2.
● Hawai’i: 39-radio telescope High Sensitivity Array including Mauna Kea VLBA detects 1st extra-solar radiation belt, shape of which may be imaged by Next Gen VLA NET 2028; ILO-X Moon camera Ka ‘Imi awaiting launch as naming contest winner / Kealakehe Intermediate awarded by ILOA Hawai’i; ASIAA-led study of CFHT data captured between 2019-2021 reveals 62 new Saturn moons, bringing total current count to 145.
● = 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’).
IAF Global Conference on Climate Change 2023 (GLOC 2023) Convenes in Norway
GLOC 2023, part of International Astronautical Federation Global Conferences series, is bringing stakeholders in industry, government, and other communities together to consider space-related aspects of the Earth environment under theme ‘Fire and Ice – Planetary Extremes in a Changing Climate’ May 23-25 in Oslo. Held in a different country annually, IAF Global Conferences have been a staple of space thought advancement since GLUC 2010 in Beijing, China. A full 3-day roster of plenary lectures, panel discussions and technical presentations, selected from over 380 abstracts from 61 countries by International Program Committee (IPC) co-chairs Barbara Ryan (World Geospatial Industry Council), Ole Morten Olsen (Norwegian Space Agency), and James Graf (NASA JPL) along with 75 IPC members, are to be held / delivered. KSAT, Absolut Sensing, European Space Imaging, Eidsvoll Electronics, OHB SE, ESA, DLR, CNES and UK Space Agency are among exhibitors booked for GLOC 2023. Notable speakers include (L-R) Norwegian Space Agency director Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, UAE Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri, Director of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing Prakash Chauhan, Polish Space Agency President Grzegorz Wrochna, Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at University of Western Ontario Director Sarah Gallagher, JAXA VP Koji Terada and Sahba El Shawa, SGAC Ethics & Human Rights & Space for Climate Action Lead. (Image Credits: IAF, ESA)
☆ May 22 — International Space Station, Axiom-2 Rendezvous and Docking,~415-km LEO: Axiom-2 spacecraft with Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi set to dock with ISS 09:24 EDT, live coverage available.
☆ May 22 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / TROPICS 5 & 6, Launch Complex 1B, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Rocket Lab Electron rocket to launch second pair of Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) for NASA.
● May 22 — NASA,Online: Moon to Mars Architecture; how commercial industry, academic communities, and others can contribute to NASA Moon to Mars architecture approach, 08:00 EDT.
★ May 23 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Badr 8,SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch communications satellite for Arabsat based in Saudi Arabia with first stage to land on drone ship in Atlantic Ocean; 11:25 EDT.
●May 23 — AIAA San Francisco Section, Mountain View CA:Tech Talk: Interstellar Travel; with physicist and USAF Experimental Test Pilot Ryan Weed; at Hacker Dojo, 18:00.
o May 23-24 — Euroconsult Summits, ARSAT, Government of Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina: LATSAT 2023.
☆ May 23 — Moon: 2.20° N of Venus, 03:00; 5.0° S of Castor, 11:00; 1.57° S of Pollux, 16:00.
☆ May 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 UJ3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU).
☆ May 23 — Amor Asteroid 2019 JK1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.043 AU).
WEDNESDAY
☆ May 24 — Roscosmos, Launch Soyuz-2.1a / Progress 84P, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Soyuz rocket to launch 84th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS.
☆ May 24 — Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Launch Nuri KSLV-II rocket / Multi-payload, Naro Space Center, Goheung, South Jeolla Province, South Korea: Third launch attempt to carry eight satellites including NEXTSat-2, SNIPE (4 CubeSats), JLC-101-v1-2, Lumir-T1, KSAT3U.
☆ May 24 — Moon: 3.7° NNE of Mars, 10:00; 3.9° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 21:00.
☆ May 24 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 CL3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU).
THURSDAY
★ May 25 — Virgin Galactic, Launch WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve / VSS Unity, Spaceport America, Las Cruces NM: Final test flight of suborbital vehicle VSS Unity with mission commander Mike Masucci, pilot CJ Sturckow and 4 passengers (Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Chris Huie, and Jamila Gilbert) scheduled today.
● May 25 — 62nd Observation John F. Kennedy 1st Moon Speech,USA / Worldwide: NASA Artemis program to land 1st Woman and Person of Color on Moon is well underway as today is recognized for Kennedy declaring to congress “I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth” (1961).
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