International Space University Begins 36th Space Studies Program (SSP 2024)

ISU’s nine-week summer Space Studies Program (SSP) is held at locations around the world and this year is at Rice University in Houston TX, USA June 8 to August 3. The program fosters international collaboration for space exploration and the Artemis program, and it includes lectures, tours, hands-on projects, and teamwork. (See the ISU Library Website for Team Project Reports). Professional visits are available to facilities in Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Four tracks are available: Engineering, Physical sciences, Life sciences and Policy & Management. Subjects covered include: Space applications / humanities / engineering / policy / economics / law / management and business / sciences, and Human performance in space. Among the 250 invited SSP 2024 lecturers are ISU President Pascale Ehrenfreund, NASA’s Pete Worden, Christian Sallaberger, Soyeon Yi, Mikhail Marov, Walter Peeters, Angeliki Kapoglou, Emeline Dahlstrom, Derek Webber, Gene Giacomelli, Christopher Welch and Grant Anderson. Other programs originating at ISU’s campus in Strasbourg, France include the Online Space Lectures Series and two Masters degree programs. A Master of Space Studies (MSS) has long been available, including two semesters and an internship. New is Master of Space Studies Accredited (MSc), accredited by ASIIN, that includes three semesters with a master’s thesis. Founded in 1987, ISU’s 5,600+ alumni from 110 countries include Planet co-founder and CSO Robbie Schingler (L), NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir (C) and Earth 2 Orbit CEO Susmita Mohanty. (Also Pictured: Rice Univ. President Reginald DesRoches (R); Image Credits: ISU, Rice University, Planet Labs, NASA)

MONDAY 

☆ Jun 10 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew planning for departure of Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams on Starliner CST-100 late in the week, followed by USA EVA 90.

☆ Jun 10 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu starts 3rd year of continuous Human occupation of TSS; share images of tree-planting / growth in Northern China.

☾ Jun 10 — Moon: 3.3° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 01:00.

☾ = Moon activity

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

Utilizing the Sun: Overview of the Solar Cruiser and Planetary Sunshade Missions

The Planetary Sunshade Foundation is hosting an International Working Group Call featuring Les Johnson on June 13 to discuss his role as Principal Investigator of the Solar Cruiser (SC) mission. The SC was a proposed mission for a 1,672 m² solar sail to fly alongside Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe in February 2025 – due to technical, timeline and funding issues the mission was not selected to continue into development phase, but work is still being done on the project and its studies aided the development of other technologies including successful demonstration of a full quadrant sail deployment. The SC sail would have been the largest ever tested in space. This massive sail is of great interest to the 2021-formed Planetary Sunshade Foundation, which is proposing a megastructure to be placed at Sun-Earth Lagrange 1 to help prevent Earth temperature rise through solar reflection and to produce energy for in-space or Earth use. The Foundation advocates that carbon dioxide removal technologies will not be enough to alter the current trajectory of extreme climate change and about 1% shading of the Earth (with a sail 1 million square kilometers) would reduce radiative forcing, to cool the planet 1°C while not directly affect the atmosphere’s chemistry. The NASA Advanced Composite Solar Sail System was the most recent solar sail mission; it launched April 2024, has a sail area of about 80 square meters and will attempt a series of orbital changes. (Image Credits: NASA, Planetary Sunshade Foundation)

TUESDAY

★ Jun 11 — Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope, LEO: Spacecraft with Large Area Telescope & Gamma-ray Burst Monitor instruments reaches 16 full years / enters 17th year in Space; launched 2008.

● Jun 11 — Women in Aerospace (WIA), Washington DC: Women in Aerospace Meeting; with Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of Air Force for Space Acquisition.

● Jun 11-12 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Space Studies Board (SSB), Washington DC: 2024 Spring Meetings of SSB.

o Jun 11-13 — KSat, Anywaves, NewSpace Systems, SpaceMap, et al, Seoul, S Korea: 2024 International Space Summit: New Horizon of Cooperation.

☾ Jun 11 — Moon: 2.99° NNE of Regulus, 21:00.

☆ Jun 11 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 LD: Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU)

WEDNESDAY

★ Jun 12 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 10-2, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites.

★ Jun 12 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 9-1, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites.