USA in the Space Age: Celebrating 64 Years in Space, Preparing for Future on the Moon, Toward Galaxy Stars

January 31 will mark the 64th Observation of the United States of America entering the Space Age since 1958 first successful satellite launch Explorer 1. Globally more than 1,400 satellites were launched to LEO in 2021, and an estimated 7,500 are currently active with numerous public and private entities planning to capitalize on opportunities in LEO, cislunar space and beyond. Artemis-led return to the Moon working to land the first woman and first Person of Color on the Moon by 2025, is cooperating with international partners to develop a sustainable lunar architecture – and explore the new frontier of the Moon South Pole. The American return to the Moon surface, after nearly 50 years, is set to be accomplished in 2022 – Lunar New Year ‘Year of the Tiger’ – by commercial CLPS providers Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic carrying NASA and independent payloads. The first test launch of the next-generation Moonship / Space Launch System and Orion is planned NET March 12 for a 25-day circumlunar journey. Moon-to-Mars vision should propel humans to Mars before 2030 via international and independent collaboration. Solar System Complete 21st Century exploration will guide human exploration beyond the Asteroid Belt toward intriguing rocky moons and gas giants, with interstellar ambition. (Image Credits: NASA, ESO)

Monday

Jan 31 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 66 seven-member crew working with experiments involving combustion, cell biology, liquid displacement, musculoskeletal development, mouse retina function, and preparing CubeSat deployments.

Jan 31 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 13 three-member crew continue configuration of Tianhe core module with cargo from two Tianzhou ships.

Australia Striving for Human Space Access, Domestic Satellite Capability as Space Debris Mitigation Experts Meet

Head of Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo champions US$8.6B, 5-year effort to achieve crewed space launches from Australia. Despite an early history in orbital spacecraft marked by 1967 launch of WRESAT from Woomera Test Range, South Australia, progress has been stagnant and the nation has yet to send any spacecraft to LEO with a domestic rocket, making the timeline for human spaceflight an ambitious one. Equatorial Launch Australia in a public-private partnership is constructing the Arnhem Space Centre near Nhulunbuy, which will be the site of at least 3 NASA sounding rocket launches in 2022. Mass production of robotics adapted from the terrestrial mining industry and satellites are also major planks of the new national space plan outlined in Robotics and Automation on Earth and in Space Roadmap 2021-2030. Australia has relatively robust astronomical facilities including the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory and venerable 64-metre Parkes Observatory, administered by CSIRO. Parkes will continue deep space mission communication originating with Apollo under 5-year contract to support Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Telemetry Network for NASA CLPS missions starting this year. Space thought is also on the rise in the land down under, with the International Space University hosting 2022 Adelaide Conference On Space Junk, bringing luminaries such as (R-L) Space Archeologist Alice Gorman, Astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, and Author Ceridwen Dovey together (virtually) Feb 4-5. (Image Credits: Australian Space Agency, ISU)

Jan 31 –

Jan 31 – AIAA LA-LV Section, Online: Webinar: Building a Brighter Future for Angelenos – A Great Future for LA/S.CA Aerospace / Technology; by Jessica Lall, President of Central City Association (CCA); 19:00 PST.

Jan 31 – LPI, USRA, NASA, JSC, Purdue University, Online / West Lafayette IN: Applications Due: 5th Hands-On Training in Handling and Manipulation of Small Extraterrestrial Samples; to be held Apr 13-15.

Jan 31 — Moon: New Moon, 19:48.

Continued From…

Nov 4 – Jun 29 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, NASA Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender crew of 6 participating in 8-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS-21 (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).

Dec 20 – Mar 4 — JAXA, Online / Tokyo, Japan: Accepting applications for Japan Astronaut Candidates.

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.

Tuesday

NET Feb – Astrobotic, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA: MoonRanger micro-rover (to map Moon surface near Moon South Pole 2023 under US$5.6M Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload award) to undergo NASA System Integration Review this month, qualifying it for assembly / testing / integration phase.