53rd LPSC Being Held in Texas Teeming with Space Activities and Access
The 2022 Lunar Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) hosted by LPI, USRA and NASA is being held in hybrid format this year in Woodlands TX and online from March 7-11. With over 2,000 abstracts submitted annually, LPSC has grown since the 1970 ‘Apollo 11 Lunar Science Conference’ to cover Solar System Complete science from Mercury to the Kuiper Belt and Interplanetary Dust. Co-chaired by Lisa Gaddis and Eileen Stansbery, sessions include Oral and Poster Sessions, Artemis Town Hall with Jacob Bleacher and Sarah Noble (NASA), Masursky Lecture ‘To Venus and Back Again’ by Martha Gilmore (Wesleyan), Student Awards and a Haiku Contest. Moon topics cover Apollo 16 and 17 Missions: A Perspective for the Future of Lunar Exploration, Cratering & Regolith, Geophysics, Volatiles & Exosphere, Water Mapping, Petrology & Geochemistry, and Volcanism. Some international contributions to LPSC are coming from China, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. Also in Texas this year are 3 other LPI Meetings, AIAA ASCEND, Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium, New Worlds Conference and Moon Day, while SpaceX is busy at its Boca Chica and McGregor launch sites, Blue Origin working at West Texas Launch Site One, Intuitive Machines finalizing its Nova-C lunar lander, and ventures abound at Paragon, Firefly, NG, Houston Spaceport, and leading aerospace colleges Rice University, Texas A&M, Embry Riddle and others. (Image Credits: LPI, USRA, NASA)
MONDAY
☆ Mar 7 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Current 7 Astronauts & Cosmonauts preparing for 2 upcoming EVAs and working aboard ISS as 2 NASA Astronauts train with Roscosmos, 3 Cosmonauts train with NASA, and Anna Kikina is planned to launch aboard SpaceX Crew-5 in September.
☆ Mar 7 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 13 Taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu to continue construction of station, classroom interactions and lessons over next ~1 month before return to Earth.
Highlights…
o NewSpace: CesiumAstro of Austin TX raises US$60M new funding, working to bring phased array communications to LEO, GEO, Cislunar space; Optical imagery from Planet, Maxar, BlackSky and SAR from Capella proving vital in monitoring military actions in Ukraine.
☆ Solar System: “Flower-like” rock formation imaged by Curiosity rover being studied for clues on history of liquid water on Mars; Thales Alenia Space working to develop oxygen-freeing electrolysis technique for ISRU on Moon under ESA $1.1M contract.
☆ Galaxy: Caltech-led study identifies SMBH binary within quasar PKS 2131-021, merger in 10,000 years theorized to release massive quantity of gravitational waves, alter space-time; MeerKAT detection of shockwave 30x the size of MWG created by galaxy cluster merger 200 Mya helping scientists understand supercluster formation processes.
o Global: Romania is 16th Artemis Accords signatory; Nima Shahinian of Oslo continuing training in hopes of becoming first Norwegian in space with Space Adventures ISS trip; Construction of Saxavord Spaceport on Shetland Islands to begin, Lockheed Martin is first customer.
● USA: SLS per-launch cost will be $4.1B, per NASA IG Artemis 3 landing / First Woman on the Moon delay to 2026 – hopefully NLT July 4; SpaceX Commercial Crew contract extended for 3 additional missions to ISS for $900M, bringing total to $3.49B.
● Hawai’i: Maui-based Privateer makes Wayfinder space object tracker available to public, partnering with Omega on debris mitigation; Former IfA astronomer Alan Tokunaga to serve as AAAS fellow; HB2024 headed to House floor vote, Representative Tarnas says bill “provides a stable future for astronomy on Mauna Kea”.
● = 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’).
2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festivals Brings Space Community Together in Austin TX
Returning to in-person format with hybrid online participation, national / global cultural phenomenon SXSW builds off avant garde music, film and comedy anchor festivals to engage with technology, education and space futurism spheres March 11-20 across 130 unique venues in the city of Austin. ‘The Space Rush’ Summit runs March 12-13 at Austin Convention Center with 10 panel sessions and 4 presentations. Notable sessions include Green Space – The Value of Space to Earth panel with ISS Director Robyn Gatens and Astronaut Janet Kavandi; Jessie Christiansen (NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech), Tanya Harrison (Planet Labs), Franck Marchis (SETI Institute), Tim Russ (Star Trek) to discuss Space Exploration for All inclusivity; Private Astronauts Sian Proctor, Dylan Taylor, Cameron Bess together with Professional Astronaut Jose Hernandez to consider The Overview Effect: Seeing Earth from Space. Presentations include Earth & Space: Living our Interplanetary Future by Ariel Ekblaw (MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative; Rick Tumlinson (Earthlight Foundation) proselytizing The Space Revolution; Chris Kemp (Astra) speaking on Spacetech: The Next Frontier. The sole online forum of Space Rush track will be Smashing Into Asteroids with DART Mission team Elena Adams, Nancy Chabot, Andy Rivkin (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory) and Thomas Statler (NASA). Spacey trade show exhibits include Lockheed Martin, Unistellar, Zero Gravity Corporation, Near Space Labs, NSF, World View Enterprises and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. (Image Credits: SXSW)
Continued From… o 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).
★ Mar 8 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 4-10, SLC-39, Kennedy Space Center FL: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch next batch of Starlink satellites.
● Mar 9 — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Washington DC: Schriever Spacepower Forum with Audrey Schaffer; Director for Space Policy at White House National Security Council, 10:00 EDT.
☆ Mar 9 — Moon: 6.8° N of Aldebaran, 05:00.
THURSDAY
★ Mar 10 — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Orbit: NASA spacecraft enters 16 full years / begins 17th year in Mars orbit today, continues to study seasonal changes on planet circling at 300-km near-polar orbit; launched Aug 12, 2005, entered orbit Mar 10, 2006.
☆ Mar 10 — Moon: At first quarter, 00:45; at apogee (distance 404,247 km), 13:00.
☆ Mar 10 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 EY1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU)
☆ Mar 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 DR215: Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)
SATURDAY
● Mar 12 — El Camino College, Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Committee, American Honda Motor Co, Torrance CA: Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day 2022; day of science & space exploration.
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