International Moon Day 2024 – Envisioning Moon South Pole Crewed Missions 2020s and Moon Station 2050

In its third year of official recognition by the United Nations, International Moon Day 2024 is being honored with thousands of global events marking the first human touchdown on the Moon in 1969. The main event for IMD is being held in Harbin, China by Moon Village Association, Harbin Institute of Technology and Chinese Society of Astronautics on July 19-21. Its theme ‘Illuminating the Shadows’ highlights the missions, research and interest in the Moon South Pole, its many unexplored craters, mountains and plateaus. The cosponsored ‘Moon Station 2050 Global Innovation Competition’ ceremony on July 20 will award winners for their submitted concepts and technologies related to one of five critical themes: Lunar Architecture, Lunar Energy, Lunar Robot, Lunar Transportation, and Life Support. IMD keynotes and speakers include Giuseppe Reibaldi (MVA), Aarti Holla-Maini (UNOOSA), Gowrishankar Dhandapani (ISRO), and Scott Pace (George Washington Univ.). USA Artemis program is working toward a crewed lunar flyby in 2025 and crewed landing NET 2026, China Chang’E is planning its human missions NLT 2030, and India Gaganyaan is NLT 2040. The Artemis mission may also bring Japan, Canada and Europe Astronauts aboard Artemis 4-8 landing missions. While China, Russia and partners are working on the International Lunar Research Station to be permanently occupied by 2036, USA and international partners are planning the Gateway NET 2026 and south pole Artemis Base Camp 2028. (Image Credits: ESA – P. Carril, NASA, MVA)

MONDAY 

☆ Jul 15 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew and two Boeing Starliner CST-100 Astronauts participate in in-flight Houston and San Diego interviews, working with Astrobee ISAAC-16 science session, planning future experiment installations for the Inter-orbit Communication System Rack which supports Japanese Experiment Module.

☆ Jul 15 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew Ye Guangfu, Li Guangsu and Li Cong working with 7,400 kg of cargo from Tianzhou 7 ship while Tianzhou 8 is being prepared for launch potentially next month.

★ Jul 15 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Launch of ASBM dual satellites built by Northrop Grumman for Space Norway carrying multiple hosted payloads.

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

Committee on Space Research Assembles a Worldwide Community of Scientists at COSPAR 2024

The 46th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research and Associated Events (COSPAR 2024) expects 2,000-3,000 participants July 13-21 at BEXCO, Busan, Korea. Rosine Lallement (France) is the Space Science Award recipient, Dieter Bilitza (USA) the International Cooperation Medal awardee, and six other scientists (UK, Japan, India-2, Netherlands and USA) are also honored, both at the event and with attribution of a minor planet. Scientific presentations are organized into nine tracks: Industry Relations, Fundamental Physics in Space, Materials Sciences in Space, Life Sciences as Related to Space, Research in Astrophysics from Space, Space Plasmas / Planetary Magnetospheres in the Solar System, Atmospheres of the Earth / Planets, Space Studies of Earth Surface / Meteorology / Climate, and Space Studies of Earth-Moon System / Planets / Small Bodies of the Solar System. The latter track has 15 sub-tracks with one designated for Lunar Science and Exploration presentations over 10 quarter-days plus a poster display. There are events for Education, Interstellar Research, Planetary Protection, Satellite Dynamics and many other topics. Of 19 invited speakers, John Lee will introduce “the new Korea Aerospace Administration” on July 14, and two will present a one-hour “Talk Concert on the Moon” that day. July 15 has a Roundtable of Space Agency Leaders. The next bi-annual assembly will be COSPAR 2026 in Florence, Italy. COSPAR publishes two journals, Advances in Space Research and Life Sciences in Space Research. (Image credits: COSPAR)

● Jul 15-17 — American Astronautical Society, Cleveland OH: Glenn Space Technology Symposium: Increasing the Thrust of Space Sustainability.

● Jul 15-19 — Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), University of Hawai’i at Hilo, Maunakea Observatories, Hawai’i Island: Women’s STARS (STEM Aerospace Research Scholars) Program 2024.

o Jul 15-20 — Moon Village Association Coordinators – Nigeria, 6 Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria: International Moon Day School Tour with MVA Nigeria: Theme: Illuminating the Shadows.

o Jul 15-20 — The Sky Explorers, Mumbai, India: MOON MASTI – International Moon Day 2024; at Nehru Centre.

☆ Jul 15 — Mars: 0.53° SE of Uranus, 05:00.

TUESDAY

o Jul 16 — Brno Observatory and Planetarium, Brno, Czech Republic: International Moon Day 2024; series of lectures devoted to the geology of the Moon, extraction of raw materials on it and its research.

☆ Jul 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 BY15: Near-Earth Flyby (0.041 AU)