Artemis 2 Astronauts to be Announced as LSSW #19 Workshop Continues Artemis 3 Candidate Landing Site Analyses
21st Century Artemis program is about to reach a new milestone with the April 3 announcement of the 4-member Moon-bound Artemis 2 crew set to fly NET November 2024. The mission will take 3 Americans and 1 Canadian on 21-day (max) journey from launch to high Earth orbit, followed by Orion engine firing to complete a multi-trans lunar injection for a free return trajectory back to Earth. Of the 4 active Canada Astronauts (3 men, 1 woman), only David Saint-Jacques is an experienced space flier spending 203 days in Space during ISS Expeditions 58/59. Jeremy Hansen, Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons and Joshua Kutryk are yet to reach Space. There are 41 active NASA Astronauts – 16 are women, and presumably, at least 1 will become the first woman to reach cislunar space, traveling 7,402 km beyond the far side of the Moon. The exact location of the first women and first men to the Moon South Pole region is gradually becoming determined by science and engineering teams including inputs from Lunar Surface Science Workshops (LSSW). The 19th LSSW convened by Sam Lawrence and Noah Petro and themed The First Steps in a Bold New Era of Human Discovery: Candidate Artemis 3 Landings Sites, is being held April 4-5. In this meeting, MSP region specific geologic and remote sensing datasets in relation to appropriate survey reports will be discussed. (Image Credits: NASA, CSA-ASC, LPI, USRA, CareerGirls.org)
MONDAY
☆ Apr 3 — International Space Station,~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 working with Vascular Aging 13-hour blood pressure studies, and cargo from Dragon CRS-27, Progress 83P, Cygnus ‘SS Sally Ride‘ NG-18.
☆ Apr 3 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou-15 crew may perform 1-2 more EVAs over next 2 months; CMSA is working on 25-kg taikobot to help aboard space stations & other applications.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: Crescent Space Systems, subsidiary of Lockheed, to work on cislunar comm & navigation network ‘Parsec’; Launch provider Equatorial Space of Singapore to advance Dorado rocket with $1.5M; Space Pioneer planning Tianlong-2 first operational liquid-fueled orbital flight in April.
☆ Galaxy: TRAPPIST-1b appears to have little-to-no atmosphere according to JWST observations, other 6 known exoplanets to be analyzed; Astronomer Bernard Carr posits existence of primordial black holes which predate Big Bang; Correlation between radio CHIME and gravity wave LIGO data suggests neutron star origin of some FRBs.
o Global:UN Methane Alert and Response System to begin disclosing 40-50 leaks per month over 10,000 kg/hr threshold observed by Kayrros & SRON; Cross-referenced China Insight-HXMT / SATech-01, USA Fermi, & Russia Konus data show Gamma Ray Burst 221009A was 70x more energetic than any previously observed.
●USA: Redesigned RS-25 engine models with 30% reduced cost, ~110% increased thrust and slated for Artemis 5 being tested at Stennis; Astronaut Frank Rubio to set national record of ≥ 371 continuous days in space with NET Sept 27 return to Earth; Parachute review further delays Boeing Starliner inaugural crewed spaceflight to NET July 21.
● Hawai’i: Lānaʻi Elementary teacher Danyel Erickson and student Shaia Costales recount exchange with Crew-6 Astronaut Warren Hoburg from ISS; TMT Director Robert Kirshner “optimistic” about Mauna Kea astronomy ahead of MKSOA operations beginning in July; Art meets astronomy with new mural by UH student Cyan Garma adorning IfA courtyard.
● = 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’).
International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference Meets in New Era of Astronomical Engineering
Co-organized with NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, UNOOSA and ESA, the 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference is gathering in Vienna, Austria April 3-7. Analysis of Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first precursor planetary defense mission which impacted and shortened the orbit of moonlet Dimorphos in its orbit of asteroid Didymos by 32 minutes on September 2022, will feature prominently in the 4-day conference: Space Mission Highlights session will feature DART team members Elena Adams (Johns Hopkins University APL), Shantanu Naidu (JPL), Harrison Agrusa (University of Maryland) and Elisabetta Dotto of Rome Observatory updating on LICIACube, sent as a rideshare with DART to witness impact / deflection. ESA Hera, being built by OHB SE and set to launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 NET October 2024 with orbital insertion in 2026 will further characterize the new human-engineered trajectory of Dimorphos in situ. Reporting on Hera progression will be heard from Hera Patrick Michel (French Scientific Research National Center) and Ian Carnelli (ESA). Disaster preparedness, decision making, legal aspects and international coordination, public outreach and upcoming NEO detection efforts will also be considered in special sessions. Keynote addresses will be given by Bhavya Lal (NASA Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy), Niklas Hedman (UNOOSA Acting Director) and 2 TBA speakers. (Image Credits: IAA, UNOOSA, ESA, NASA, OAW, JPL)
o Apr 3 — NASA, Johnson Space Center, Canadian Space Agency,Online / Houston TX: Announcement of the 4-member crew to fly on Artemis 2 mission around the Moon and back to Earth; 11:00 EDT, live coverage available.
o Apr 3-7 — International Academy of Astronautics, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), ESA, Vienna, Austria: 8th IAA Planetary Defense Conference.
☆ Apr 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 EA2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU)
☆ NET Apr — Gilmour Space, Launch Eris, Bowen Orbital Spaceport, Queensland, Australia: Inaugural flight of 23-m / 30,000-kg solid fueled rocket, first Australia domestic orbital launch.
☆ Apr 6 — ISS, Relocation of Soyuz MS-23,~415-km LEO: Relocation of Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft with NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio and Roscosmos Flight Engineers Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin from Poisk module to Prichal module; 04:15 EDT, live coverage available.
☆ Apr 8 — Apollo Asteroid 2011 WP4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
☆ Apr 8 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 UE28: Near-Earth Flyby (0.059 AU)
☆ Apr 8 — Apollo Asteroid 511777 (2015 EZ): Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)
SUNDAY
★ Apr 9 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Transporter 7,SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 to launch Transporter 7 mission to SSO with many microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers; first stage booster to return to Landing Zone 4.
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