Summer on the Moon Prospects with 5 Lunar Landers, as Asteroids / Deep Space Missions Under Way
Possibly set for July is ISRO Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover (26 kg). The lander has ≥ 4 science payloads and NASA passive Laser Retroreflector Array. Moon Village Association is collaborating on Chandryaan-3 public outreach video contest. Commercial enterprise Astrobotic Technologies Peregrine lander carrying 14 NASA-selected payloads, CMU Iris Lunar Rover and a total of 90 kg of customer payloads, is awaiting ULA readiness after Centaur V testing fire. IM-1 Nova-C lander may launch June-July with 5 NASA payloads and 5 customer payloads to Moon South Pole (MSP) region with piggybacking orbiter Doge-1. Roscosmos has an announced July 13 for launch of Luna-25 to Boguslavsky crater ~500 km from MSP with 6 science instruments (totaling 30 kg). JAXA rideshare XRISM space telescope could launch in August with SLIM Moon lander containing Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 mini rover aiming for Marius Hills Hole touchdown. The launch is dependent on H3 rocket failure assessment as H2 rocket (meant to launch SLIM) shares a similar upper stage. In September OSIRIS-Rex will return to Earth with asteroid Bennu samples, followed by launch of Psyche orbiter to asteroid 16 Psyche, and Lucy will come within 450 km of asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh on 1 November. JUICE (launched April) is en route to Jupiter heading toward first Earth flyby in Aug 2024, while missions are proposed to Saturn (TSSM), Uranus (Tianwen-4), and Pluto (Persephone). (Image Credits: ISRO, Roscosmos, JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, NASA)
MONDAY
☆ May 15 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 seven-member crew may welcome 3 members from Axiom-2 this weekend; working with combustion, camera-tracking, radiation experiments.
☆ May 15 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 15 three-member crew working with cargo from Tianzhou-6, planned to return to Earth in 16 days.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: Virgin Galactic preparing for 6-member VSS Unity 25 suborbital flight in late May, commercial operations in late June; Vast partnering with SpaceX to launch Haven-1 space station NET Aug 2025, deliver Vast-1 crew including 4 paying customers; Rocket Lab expecting Q2 revenue between US$60-63M ($23M from launch services, $37-40M from space systems).
☆ Solar System:Solar Cycle 25 to continue generating unusually spectacular, broadly visible auroras, peaking in summer 2025; Global CTX Mosaic of Mars composed of 110,000 MRO images merged by Caltech now available for academic and public use; Danuri Moon orbiter continues mapping mission, KARI shares images of near & far side craters.
☆ Galaxy: UArizona-led study utilizing JWST MIRI instrument finds conditions suggestive of hidden planetary system within Fomalhaut debris disk; Researchers working to reevaluate Eddington limit following measurement of ultra-luminous X-ray source with NASA NuSTAR; Canary Islands astronomers working to verify hypothesis that line of stars imaged with Hubble is a flat galaxy rather than 200,000-ly long trail of SMBH.
o Global: CNSA readying Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay for launch in early 2024, Chang’E-6 lander NET May 2024; SpaceX to provide Azerbaijan space agency Azercosmos access to Starlink, participate in 74th IAC in Baku 2-6 Oct; ClearSpace to launch orbital debris removal mission from Guiana Space Centre on Arianespace Vega C NET late 2026.
●USA: NASA seeking comments on draft RFP for ISS United States Deorbit Vehicle (USDV); Suspected 10 X 15cm meteorite which impacted New Jersey home under investigation, possibly related to Eta Aquarids; ULA preparing to employ LOFTID-based aerobraking technology for Vulcan Centaur BE-4 engine recovery.
● Hawai’i: Observations measuring star spectra within M87 using Keck Cosmic Web Imager show galaxy is asymmetrical, ‘potato shaped’; Southwest Airlines supporting IfA with $10k donation and flight vouchers for outreach events like Astroday; Subaru Telescope study suggests primordial stars formed in groups, Prime Focus Spectrograph instrument to be installed soon will aid verification.
● = 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’).
Explore Mars Summit 2023 ‘Expanding What’s Possible’
Explore Mars 2023 Humans to Mars Summit, May 16-18 is to take place at National Academy of Sciences Building, Washington D.C. with goal of generating urgency for human Mars landings NLT mid-2030s. The conference will be structured around three daily topics: Progress Toward Mars, Opportunities and Challenges, and Expanding What’s Possible. More than 100 moderators and speakers will participate including (clockwise) Vanessa Wyche, Mike Gold, Sian Proctor, Grant Anderson, Bradley Cheetam, Masaki Fujimoto, Lori Glaze, Shatel Bhakta, Ken Davidian, and Matt Shindell. May 16 will commence with welcome address from Explore Mars President Janet Ivey and CEO Chris Carberry followed by fireside chat with NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana. Following presentations include Artemis 3 to Mars: How Lunar Surface Missions Will Advance Humans to Mars, Mars in 2033, and Draco Program – Nuclear Propulsion moderated by Bhavya Lal of NASA. May 17 to include panel discussion Habitation on the Moon and Mars and Vital Systems: Life Support on the Moon and Mars. May 18 presentations to include Infusing Science Objectives into Moon and Mars Human Exploration, Not So Hidden Figures moderated by Space Prize Foundation Executive Director Kim Macharia and Entertainment Industry in Space: from Star Trek to Space Reality, with Moderator Amy Imhoff, Explore Mars, Inc. Director of Strategic Partnerships and Outreach. (Image Credits: Explore Mars Inc., IAF)
☆ May 17 — Moon: 0.74° NNW of Jupiter, 03:00; 3.3° NNW of Mercury, 14:00.
☆ May 17 — Mercury: 6.2° E of Jupiter, 03:00.
☆ May 17 — Mars and Saturn: At heliocentric opposition, 00:00.
THURSDAY
★ May 18 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 6-3,SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink internet satellites with first stage to land on drone ship in Atlantic Ocean; 12:26 EDT.
●May 18 — AIAA,Laurel MD: 2023 AIAA Awards Gala; at John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Terrace Theater.
☆ May 18 — Aten Asteroid 2011 KY15: Near-Earth Flyby (0.050 AU).
FRIDAY
★ May 19 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / OneWeb & Iridium Next,SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of OneWeb satellites with first stage to return to Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg.
☆ May 19 — Moon: New Moon: 05:55; 1.74° SE of Pleiades, 10:00.
SATURDAY
☆ May 20 — Akatsuki, Venus Orbit: JAXA first successful planetary orbiter imaging Venus atmosphere, monitoring weather changes reaches 13 full years / enters 14th year in space today, launched 2010.
SUNDAY
☆ May 21 — Chang’E-4 Queqiao, Earth-Moon Lagrange Point L2: China Queqiao “bridge of magpies” satellite reaches 5 full years / enters 6th year in space today, launched 2018 to provide far side communications to Earth from CE-4 lander / rover.
★ May 21 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Crew Dragon (Axiom Mission 2), LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Private crew mission to ISS to include NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson as mission commander, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi; 17:37 EDT.
★ May 21 — 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; 23:20 EDT.
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