National Science Foundation Scoping Meetings on Thirty Meter Telescope Taking Place Across Hawaii Island
Public input on proposed ELT-class Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea being sought by NSF for use on Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Community Engagement Plan (CEP) and for consideration in relation to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106. In-person comment opportunities are being held near population centers around the Big Island of Hawaii: Tuesday Aug 9 in Hilo, Wednesday Aug 10 in Nāʻālehu, Thursday Aug 11 in Kona, and Friday Aug 12 in (Waimea) Kamuela. Written and electronic comments for the NSF EIS and draft CEP will be accepted until September 17, 2022, while comment period on NHPA Section 106 review will be announced at a later time. CEP is anticipated to be finalized by end of 2022; NSF is targeting summer 2023 for draft EIS release / final EIS by summer of 2024, with final funding decision due in fall of 2024. 4 preliminary alternatives under consideration include: (1) No action / funding, (2) Investment in the construction and operation of TMT on Mauna Kea without / (3) with an NSF-facilitated plan to define and practice responsible astronomy in Hawaii in partnership with the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, MKO, and the affected Hawaiian community, and (4) moving the project to Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands. (Image Credits: NSF, W. M. Keck, Google Maps)
MONDAY
☆ Aug 8 — ISS,~415-km LEO: Expedition 67 working with air sampling / monitoring, plant growth experiments; Station has 5 craft docked: Soyuz MS-21, Dragon CRS-25, Progress 80 & 81, and Crew-4 which is set to depart Sep 10 with four crew.
☆ Aug 8 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 14 three-member crew in Tianhe and Wentian modules, planning to test big and small mechanical arms, prepare for EVAs, set up refrigerators for upcoming experiments from 4° to -80° Celsius
Highlights…
o NewSpace: Virgin Galactic plans private astronaut training center in New Mexico near Spaceport America; Masten to undergo reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, sell US$4.6M SpaceX launch credit to Intuitive Machines; Astra securing US$100M loan.
☆ Solar System: UK children’s movie character Shaun the Sheep will occupy Orion crew capsule during upcoming Artemis 1 mission to Moon orbit; 2,800+ citizen scientists on Zooniverse platform are helping JPL analyze Mars cloud data from MRO.
☆ Galaxy: 500,000,000 LY distant Cartwheel Galaxy investigated with JWST Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument; Astrobiologist Peter Ward, astronomer Donald Brownlee propose ‘Rare Earth‘ theory that posits factors that give rise to complex life on Earth are extremely unusual in universe.
o Global:Mexican Space Agency (AEM) Letter of Intent with various local entities to strengthen next-gen space, STEM and innovation learning; Debris from CNSA LM-5 being investigated on Indonesia / Malaysia sides of Borneoprompts call from NASA for global trajectory sharing, SpaceX Crew-1 wreckage in Australia also under investigation.
●USA: White House Science and Technology Council urges 44 actions to mitigate LEO risk in National Orbital Debris Implementation Plan; 9 NASA Astronauts are candidates to be First Woman on the Moon; NASA to require professional Astronaut commanders on future private astronaut missions to ISS.
● Hawai’i: Astronomy professor Pierre Martin hopes to allow educational and community access to UH teaching telescope at Halepohaku under permitting review; Caltech Submillimeter Observatory cleared by state and county to begin decommissioning, process expected start before end of summer / completed by end of year.
● = Terrestrial events, and…
o = International terrestrial events in local time.
★ = Space events, and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
The 2022 Utah State University Small Satellite Conference in Logan UT is being held August 6-11 with theme ‘Out of this World’. There will be ~115 technical talks, 5 poster sessions, 17 NASA short talks, swifites (3-min talks), 40 side meetings, a student competition, exhibition and (pictured L-R) Keynote by Rocket Lab Founder Peter Beck. Some of technical talks are on Capstone (Tom Gardner, Advanced Space), Near Earth Asteroid Scout (Les Johnson, MSFC), GOSA – European Offshore Spaceport (Andreas Stamminger, OHB System), Annual Industry Survey (Carlos Niederstrasser, Northrop Grumman), and sessions on Propulsion, Next on the Pad, Advanced Concepts, Communications, and Science / Mission Payloads. Among the side meetings there will be a SpaceX Rideshare program update, Lunar Missions Workshop by Surrey, New Zealand Ground Stations overview, and a Japan Tech Update with Kyocera Corp, Interstellar Technologies, Nikon, Warpspace and Mitsubishi Electric. August dates are already announced for the 2023-2026 Small Sat annual conferences. 75 different countries have at least one satellite orbiting Earth, and according to UNOOSA, as of April 2021, there were 7,389 individual satellites in space, while Euroconsult projects 17,000 will be launched by 2030. Next up for LEO are the Starlink Group 4-26 batch of 53 satellites scheduled Aug 9, and ready for deep space are 10 CubeSats via Artemis 1 launch to the Moon NET Aug 29. (Image Credits: USU, University of Miami)
★ Jun 28 – Nov 13 — CAPSTONE, Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit Trajectory: Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment heading to operating position at NRHO / cislunar space.
o Aug 2-11 — International Astronomical Union, Hybrid / Busan, S Korea and Online:XXXI (31st) IAU General Assembly; at Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO).
☆ Aug 4 – Dec 16 — Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), Lunar Trajectory: South Korea ‘Danuri’ to search for lunar resources, test technologies using Ballistic Lunar Transfer, 3 highly elliptical Earth orbits to initiate a trans-lunar injection and arrive at 100-km lunar orbit.
☆NET Aug 7 – ISRO, Launch Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), Satish Dhawan Space Center, India: Inaugural launch of SSLV rocket from ‘First Launch Pad’ while Small Satellite Launch Complex (SSLC) is being built for future launches.
● Aug 7-10 — American Astronautical Society Space Flight Mechanics Committee, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Astrodynamics Technical Committee,Charlotte NC:2022 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference.
TUESDAY
☆ Aug 9 — ISS,~415-km LEO: Expedition 67 NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkins talks with JPL / Caltech from ISS; live coverage available, 12:55 EDT.
★ Aug 9 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 4-26,LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: Falcon 9 to launch with next batch of Starlink internet satellites, first stage booster to land on a drone ship in Atlantic Ocean.
●Aug 9-12— National Science Foundation, Hawai’i Island:Public Scoping Meeting on Thirty Meter Telescope with Public Comment; 18:00 HST each day – Hilo (Aug 9), Na’alehu (Aug 10), Kona (Aug 11), Waimea (Aug 12).
☆ Aug 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 OC4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)
☆ Aug 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 HG5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.099 AU)
WEDNESDAY
☆ Aug 10 — Moon: At perigee (distance 359,855 km), 07:07.
☆ Aug 11 — Moon: Full / Sturgeon / Super Moon, 15:35; 3.7° SE of Saturn, 21:00.
☆ Aug 11 — Perseid Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Perseus, shower can produce up to 100 meteors per hour, which are fast, bright and frequently leave persistent trains.
☆ Aug 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 LG4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU)
FRIDAY
★ Aug 12 — Parker Solar Probe,Heliocentric Orbit: NASA craft to come within 6.16 million km of the Sun, well within the orbit of Mercury and ~7 times closer than any spacecraft has before – reaches 3rd full year / enters 4th year in Space today; launched Aug 12, 2018.
☆ Aug 12 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 FF: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
SATURDAY
☆ Aug 13 — Perseid Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Perseus, shower can produce up to 100 meteors per hour, which are fast, bright and frequently leave persistent trains.
☆ Aug 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 OT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)
☆ Aug 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 BZ2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU)
☆ Aug 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 MN2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU)
SUNDAY
● Aug 14 — The Space Show,Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Armen Papazian, Author of The Space Value of Money.
☆ Aug 14 — Moon: 2.77° SE of Neptune, 03:00.
☆ Aug 14 — Saturn: At opposition in longitude, 07:00.
☆ Aug 14 — Amor Asteroid 2022 OA4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU)
☆ Aug 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 CN3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.092 AU)
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