ISS Expedition 66 to Oversee Arrival of Progress 80P and NG-17 SS Piers Sellers This Week
Current International Space Station 7-member crew, Commanded by Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, is engaged with science, station maintenance and cargo resupply ships. MS-19 / Progress 80P cargo craft is set to launch on Soyuz 2.1a rocket from Baikonur February 14, arriving and docking at ISS Zenith (space-facing) port of Poisk module Feb 17. It will be the 172nd flight of a Progress spacecraft, carry ~2,350 kg of supplies and remain in space for 196 days to support Exp 66 and 67. Northrop Grumman scheduled launch of Antares 230+ rocket Feb 19 will loft Cygnus NG-17 cargo craft from MARS Pad 0A at Wallops Island VA. Dubbed SS Piers Sellers after the Astronaut and climate scientist, NG-17 will rendezvous and be captured by Astronauts using Canadarm2 Feb 21, carry ~3,700 kg of cargo and remain berthed for ~100 days. Some of the experiments aboard include a new combustion facility, a system to test hydroponic and aeroponic techniques, lithium-ion battery demonstration, and cancer drug research experiment. Marking the start of Exp 67, Shkaplerov and Flight Engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei will return to Earth March 28; followed by SpaceX Crew 3 Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron late April. Before September, first-time spaceflights will be accomplished by Denis Matveev, Sergey Korsakov, Dmitry Petelin, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins and Francisco Rubio. (Image Credits: NASA, Roscosmos, Northrop Grumman, ESA, ISS partners)
MONDAY
Feb 14 – ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 66 seven-member crew working with Electromagnetic Levitator, Veggie Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System, food storage / footprint assessments; NASA sharing details of 2031 potential ISS decommissioning.
Feb 14 – Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 13 crew confirmed to depart space on / near April 13, completing 6 months aboard; Shenzhou 14 crew yet to be announced, will launch in May.
Highlights…
NewSpace: Former Acting NASA Director Steve Jurczyk to lead Quantum Space, aiming to construct commercial station at Earth-Moon L1 NET 2024; Launcher books 3 SSO missions with SpaceX, claims total payload pricing of $8,000-$25,000/kg to be offered.
Solar System: JWST team calibrating 18 primary mirror segments at Sun-Earth L2 by focusing on star 258 LY distant (HD 84406); Chang’e-5 appears to be occupying lunar distant retrograde orbit similar to orbit planned for Orion during Artemis 1; Lockheed Martin to build sample return rocket for Mars under $194M NASA contract.
Galaxy: First observed isolated black hole being characterized via gravitational lensing technique involving Mount John Observatory (New Zealand), Las Campanas Observatory (Chile) and Hubble; Murchison Widefield Array upgrading 4,096 antenna array as ET search of 144 exoplanets near MWG center is inconclusive.
Global: Space entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich raises US$29M to achieve commercial hypersonic flight powered by cryogenic hydrogen rocket via Switzerland-based Destinus; IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference to be led by NOIRLab (Tucson, Arizona) and SKAO (Manchester, UK).
USA:NASA prepares for Artemis 1, CAPSTONE, Psyche, X-59 / X-57 and 3 CLPS missions in 2022; SpaceX breaks Soyuz record with 112 consecutive successful orbital launches, on track to achieve weekly launch cadence while ~40 Starlink failures caused by solar storm raises debris concerns.
Hawai’i: Mauna Kea Working Group member Rich Matsuda urges cultural shift to preserve astronomy; 38-galaxy protocluster MAGAZ3NE J0959 discovered by Keck Observatory found to have significant quiescent properties, to be further studied with JWST.
= Terrestrial events, and…
= 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’).
Europe Strives for Independent Access to Human Spaceflight as World Deliberates on the Peaceful Use of Space
ESA Director Josef Aschbacher wants Europe to have their own ship to explore “the next economic zone, which is the moon [sic] and beyond”. To that end, Aschbacher hopes three “accelerators” (Space for a Green Future, Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response, Protection of Space Assets) and two “inspirators” (European Human Space Exploration, Search for ET) first articulated in ‘Matosinhos Manifesto’ adopted at Intermediate Ministerial Meeting in Portugal Nov 19 2021 will be ratified at European Space Summit 2022, being held Feb 16. The high-level gathering is to open with EU Competitive Council Meeting on Space, which will be addressed by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market; a ministerial level ESA Council Meeting is to follow. Meanwhile, UN COPUOS 59th Scientific and Technical Subcommittee will be ongoing from Feb 7-18, with presentations including General Exchange of Views with Angola, Cuba, Iran, The Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Thailand participating. Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities will be addressed by a panel consisting of Algeria, ESA, Mexico, Open Lunar Foundation, SKAO, South Korea and Venezuela. Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Secure World Foundation, UK and USA are among the entities to consider Space Debris concerns, while China will present on Space Weather. UN-declared International Day of Women and Girls in Science will be celebrated Feb 11, with global activities coordinated by IAU outreach program Women and Girls in Astronomy. (Image Credits: ESA, UN, USUNVIE, Wikipedia)
Feb 14 — ISRO, Launch PSLV / RISAT 1A, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, designated PSLV-C52, to launch RISAT 1A radar Earth observation satellite for ISRO.
Feb 14 – Roscosmos, Launch Soyuz 2.1a / MS-19 (Progress 80P), Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Scheduled launch of Soyuz for 80th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS.
NET Jan 15 – Astra, Launch Rocket 3 LV0009 / S4 Crossover, Pacific Spaceport Complex, Kodiak Island AK: Astra to launch S4 Crossover (attached to the second stage) technology demo mission by NearSpace Launch to obtain flight heritage testing for a prototype payload host platform.
Feb 16 – European Union, ESA, Toulouse, France:European Space Summit 2022 with EU Competitive Council Meeting on Space and ESA Council Meeting at ministerial level.
Feb 18 – Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover,Jezero Crater, Mars Surface: NASA craft reaches 1 full year / enters 2nd year on Mars surface having landed on this day in 2021, carrying Ingenuity helicopter – the first craft to successfully complete powered flights off-Earth.
Feb 18 — Aten Asteroid 2018 CW2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)
Feb 18 — Aten Asteroid 2020 CX1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.018 AU)
SATURDAY
Feb 19 – Northrop Grumman, Launch Antares / NG-17,Pad 0A, Wallops Island VA: NG Antares rocket to launch SS Piers Sellers, the 18th Cygnus cargo freighter on 17th operational cargo flight to ISS; 12:39 EST.
Feb 19-26 – Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Coca-Cola, Online / New York NY: 2022 Kids Week; family-friendly week of fun, educational programming.
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NewSpace: Former Acting NASA Director Steve Jurczyk to lead 
Solar System: JWST team calibrating 18 primary mirror segments at 
USA: 
= Terrestrial events, and…
= 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’).
Feb 14 — ISRO, Launch PSLV / RISAT 1A, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, designated PSLV-C52, to launch RISAT 1A radar Earth observation satellite for ISRO.
ESA Director Josef Aschbacher wants Europe to have their own ship to explore “the next economic zone, which is the moon [sic] and beyond”. To that end, Aschbacher hopes three “accelerators” (Space for a Green Future, Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response, Protection of Space Assets) and two “inspirators” (European Human Space Exploration, Search for ET) first articulated in ‘Matosinhos Manifesto’ adopted at Intermediate Ministerial Meeting in Portugal Nov 19 2021 will be ratified at European Space Summit 2022, being held Feb 16. The high-level gathering is to open with EU Competitive Council Meeting on Space, which will be addressed by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market; a ministerial level ESA Council Meeting is to follow. Meanwhile, UN COPUOS 59th Scientific and Technical Subcommittee will be ongoing from Feb 7-18, with presentations including General Exchange of Views with Angola, Cuba, Iran, The Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Thailand participating. Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities will be addressed by a panel consisting of Algeria, ESA, Mexico, Open Lunar Foundation, SKAO, South Korea and Venezuela. Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Secure World Foundation, UK and USA are among the entities to consider Space Debris concerns, while China will present on Space Weather. UN-declared International Day of Women and Girls in Science will be celebrated Feb 11, with global activities coordinated by IAU outreach program Women and Girls in Astronomy. (Image Credits: ESA, UN, USUNVIE, Wikipedia)
