Jupiter Trojan Surveyor Lucy Returns for LEO Gravity Assist, Many Additional Asteroid Missions Being Prepared

NASA Lucy is swinging back for a 300-km Earth flyby at ~108,000 kph, harnessing gravity to accelerate and reach deeper into space on a 2-year orbital trajectory, exactly 1 year after initial launch. Lucy will pass Mars before a deep-space maneuver with 898 m/s ΔV is executed on February 2, 2024, bringing the craft back to 350-km LEO for a second Earth Gravity Assist December 14, 2024. On April 20, 2025, while on route to investigate Jupiter Trojan asteroids, Lucy will fly by Donaldjohansen in the Main Asteroid Belt. The Australopithecus afarensis skeleton / namesake of the mission, Lucy, was discovered in Ethiopia by Johansen in 1974. Greek Camp Trojans, those located around Lagrangian point L4 (60° ahead of Jupiter orbit), are to be investigated first: Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and Orus are to be examined by Lucy’s 5-instument imaging / spectroscopy / radio suite between August 12, 2027 – November 11, 2028. On December 26, 2030 Lucy will make its final return to Earth prior to heading out to fly by Patroclus / Menoetius binary around L5 Trojan camp. Closer in time, NEA Scout CubeSat is to deploy from Artemis 1, expected to launch in November. Psyche and Janus are to launch together on SpaceX Falcon Heavy NET 2023, and ESA Hera to measure DART effect on Didymos binary asteroid system launching NET October 2024. (Image Credits: NASA, JPL, SwRI)

MONDAY

☆ Oct 10 — ISS, ~415-km LEO: ­­­ Expedition 68 / SpaceX Crew-5 Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, Anna Kikina join 7 Astronauts and Cosmomauts transferred from Expedition 67; Roscosmos Sergei Krikalev seeks extension of ISS partnership.

☆ Oct 10 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 14 three-member crew preparing for arrival of final main station component Mengtian (Dreaming of Heavens) laboratory module, launching this month from Wenchang SLC via Long March 5B.

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’).

1st International Lunar Search and Rescue Conference Set for Oct 13-15 Participation in Beijing / Online

Hosted by International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety and Beijing Institute of Technology, the 1st International Lunar Search and Rescue (LSAR) Conference is being held October 13-15 in Beijing, China with online engagement from international colleagues. Catalyzed by the emerging Artemis Base Camp, International Lunar Research Station, space agency, public-private plans to land & work on the Moon, LSAR will discuss technical, operational, legal and organizational issues related to lunar Astronaut emergencies. It will include a 2-part opening session, 5 main sessions, 3 keynotes, 3 panels with 22 people, and 14 on-demand presentations. IAASS President Paul Wilde will give welcome remarks, followed by Simonetta Di Pippo (Director Space Economy Evolution Lab) Keynote titled ‘Lunar Exploration: An International Humanity’s Endeavour’ and Mark Glissman (Chief of Air and Space Forces Space Safety USA). Speaking under the ‘Moon Programs and Future Vision’ Session will be Wu Weiren (Chief Designer of China Lunar Exploration Program) and Massimo Sabbatini (ESA Erasmus Innovation Center Manager). There will also be representatives from Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, The Netherlands, Russia, UK. LSAR was originally set for Hainan, where Wenchang Space Launch Center (19° N) conducts Long March flights to the Moon, Mars and Tiangong. It will be followed by the 12th IAASS International Space Safety Conference: Making Space Travel Safer in Osaka, Japan on May 22-24, 2023. (Image Credits: ESA, P. Carril, Virtual Moon, RAS, NASA)

☆ Oct 10 — Starlink G4-27 Satellites, LEO: Visible pass over Hawai’i Islands (magnitudes 5.7-6.0) of G4-27 batch of Starlink satellites from the South, starting 04:23:11 to 04:59:59.

☆ Oct 10 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 TA1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.092 AU)

☆ Oct 10 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 SE10: Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)

Continued From…

★ 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.

☆ 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.

o Aug 8 – Nov 11 — IAU, NAOJ, NARIT, Online / Global: NameExoWorlds 2022.

o Oct 4-10 — World Space Week Association, Global: World Space Week 2022: Space and Sustainability; to celebrate international contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition; Oct 4 is 65th observation of 1st Space mission Sputnik One launched by Soviet Union 1957; Oct 10 is 55th observation of Outer Space Treaty going into effect 1967.

TUESDAY

o Oct 11-12 — European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), Vienna, Austria: 16th Autumn Conference: Space Economy and Commerce: The Way Ahead for Europe; at Urania Observatory.

● Oct 11-14 — SatNews, Hughes, Airbus, Firefly Aerospace, Raytheon, Redwire, et al, Mountain View CA: Silicon Valley Space Week: Satellite Innovation Conference, followed by 2022 MilSat Symposium; at Computer History Museum.

☆ Oct 11 — Moon: 0.80° N of Uranus, 21:00.