UK Resumes In-Person Events, National / Commercial Space Efforts Intensify
British Interplanetary Society (BIS) to host Reinventing Space, the organization’s annual marquee event, June 28-30. The venerable society is one of the first in the world to advocate for astronautical progress and space exploration, and has been instrumental as creative conduit for visionary engineering approaches towards those ends. The 3-day conference is to feature a welcoming address by BIS CEO Elizabeth Anderson (T) and keynote addresses by Dave Edmondson (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) Jake Geer (UK Space Agency) Katherine Courtney (Global Network on Sustainability in Space), Sara Mugnaini (OneWeb) and Jan Wörner (former ESA Director). Gala Dinner and Sir Arthur Clarke Awards will be held on evening of June 29. Panel Discussions are to be held on Space Law, BIS & Women in Aerospace: Europe Panel Women in the Space Sector, NextGen Network for young space professionals & students, Laser Communications / Synthetic-aperture radar, and the UK Spaceports Alliance – a consortium of 5 UK spaceport projects, 3 vertical / 2 horizontal. Their fate is expected to be decided by the end of 2021, a major task for incoming UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate. The UK intends to grow its share of the world space market from 5% to 10% by 2030. Significant space businesses based in UK include Reaction Engines, Skyrora, Oneweb and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (Image Credits: BIS, Geograph Britain and Ireland, WIA:E, Sir Arthur Clarke Foundation)
MONDAY
Highlights… Jun 28 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 65 seven-member crew planning for arrival of Progress 78P and ~2,900 kg of cargo this week, working with cardiac research experiment, and neon & argon gas for plasma crystal physics
Jun 28 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: Shenzhou 12 three-member crew to conduct at least 2 EVAs and utilize new robotic arm for TSS / equipment integrations.
Jun 28 —NewSpace: USA Today auctioning first newspaper delivered to Moon as non-fungible token (NFT); Trillium Technologies and SETI Institute connecting space AI / Machine Learning community via SpaceML.org platform; analysis of 933 NewSpace patents finds 62% are data-related.
Jun 28 — Solar System: Extended seismological mission of Mars Insight may cease in 2022 due to solar panel debris; China accepting requests for access to 1,731 g Oceanus Procellarum Moon samples gathered by Chang’e-5; Cassini data points towards latitudinal-related weather effects on Titan craters.
Jun 28 —Hawai’i: UH alum Jamie Foster conducting ISS study on squid procured from Kewalo Marine Lab; HI / CA Air National Guard practice capsule recovery ahead of planned Astronaut splashdowns.
= All times
for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
Asteroid Day 2021 to Be Celebrated June 30 on Eve of July SpaceMonth
The UN-sanctioned global awareness campaign ‘Asteroid Day’ will be observed June 30. Events will be held worldwide including a 24-hour broadcast live from Luxembourg, highlighting public education, engagement and inspiration for the 4.6B year old objects classified as inner Solar System minor planets. Marking the 1908 Siberian Tunguska event, Asteroid Day was co-founded by Stephen Hawking, Grigorij Richters, Danica Remy, Rusty Schweickart, Brian May and its declaration is now signed by >50,000 people. Among numerous entities working to locate and track NEOs for potential hazards are IAU Minor Planet Center, NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, ESA Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, International Asteroid Warning Network and Space Mission Planning Advisory Group. The known Potentially Hazardous Object count is up to 2,173, while a major collision with Earth is predicated to be relatively low in the foreseeable future. Exploration and science at asteroids include JAXA Hayabusa, NASA OSIRIS-Rex, ESA Rosetta, China Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter, and future Lucy, Psyche, NEA Scout and DART missions. Legal frameworks for resource extraction have been developed most notably by USA, Luxembourg, Japan, Portugal and UAE; and commercial venture TransAstra Corporation is currently working toward mining asteroids for propellant. To date there are >1M known asteroids and 26,114 NEOs. The largest is 940-km diameter Ceres, and the total mass of all asteroids combined is still less than that of the Moon. (Image Credits: Asteroid Day 2021 Partners, NASA, Arizona State University)
Jun 28-30 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Reinventing Space Conference 2021; at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.
Jun 15-30 — AIAA, National Association of Rocketry,The Plains VA:The American Rocketry Challenge; high school students compete in the nation’s largest student rocket competition.
TUESDAY
Jun 29 — ISS, Release of Cygnus NG-15, ~405-km LEO: Commercial resupply cargo freighter Cygnus NG-15 dubbed “SS Katherine Johnson” to be released today with waste for disintegration in Earth atmosphere; undocking live coverage available 12:25 PDT..
Jun 29 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / Progress 78P (MS-17),Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia government Soyuz rocket to launch 78th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS, 23:27 UTC; to dock automatically 3 hours and 20 minutes after launch to Poisk zenith.
Jun 30 — Firefly Aerospace, Launch Alpha / DFAST Demonstrator, DREAM, Vandenberg SFB CA: First orbital launch attempt for Alpha rocket launching Benchmark Space Systems DFAST propulsion system tech demo and Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission (DREAM).
Jun 30 — Asteroid Day Ltd., Global / Luxembourg: Asteroid Day 2021; education, events, films and entertainment hosted by organizations and individuals to increase awareness about asteroids.
Jun 30 — Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, Online / Kamuela HI: Mayors Forum; featuring Hawai’i Mayors Blangiardi, Kawakami, Roth and Victorino, 15:00 HST via Zoom.
Jul 1 — Deep Space, Kuiper Belt: Latest research of New Horizons data to recreate hues using tholins / plasma in simulation of Pluto leave scientists questioning exact cause of red color.
Jul 1 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz / OneWeb 8, Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia: Soyuz rocket to launch 36 satellites for OneWeb 8, which is developing a constellation of hundreds of satellites.
Jul 1 — Moon: At last quarter, 11:11.
Jul 1 — Apollo Asteroid 2010 XJ11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)
Jul 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 LE7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)
Jul 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 GM4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.031 AU)
SATURDAY
Jul 3 — Space Age Publishing Company, ILOA, The Vi, Palo Alto CA and Online:Galaxy Forum USA 2021: Silicon Valley; featuring talks by Steve Durst “Stanford on the Moon”, Andrew Siemion “SETI from the Moon”, Grant Anderson “Artemis / NASA Returns to the Moon”, Jill Tarter “Searching for Aliens; Finding Ourselves”.
Jul 3 — Venus: 0.35° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 02:00.
Jul 4 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 5th full year at Jupiter today; one-way transmission signal to Earth is 48 minutes, mission extended through September 2025.
Emanating from ~6km-wide comet with 5.3-year Solar orbit, visible in constellation Aquarius near star Delta Aquarii, fast, faint meteors peak on this night, best...
The International Research Conference is a federated organization dedicated to bringing together a significant number of diverse scholarly events for presentation within the conference...
Includes ~150 meetings covering the fields of COSPAR Scientific Commissions / Panels / Task Groups, such as SC B: The Earth-Moon System, Planets, and...
From 02 to 07 August 2026, a few thousand geoscientists across diverse disciplines will gather at the 23rd annual meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences...
NASA Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) rover surpasses another full year of operations on Mars surface today; launched Nov 26, 2011 – landed Aug 5,...
This international lunar science meeting has two objectives: to provide a platform for leading experts to review recent advances across lunar research, from the...
At CSIR International Convention Centre. Key topics are Earth Observation, Developing Space Tourism, Space Supply Manufacturing. Cultural tours are offered.
Participants will receive theoretical and hands-on training in electron imaging and X-ray spectroscopy for application to planetary samples. This training opportunity is targeted at...
"Leading Australia’s Space Future for Our Strategic Advantage". Southern Space 2026 brings together decision-makers who set the direction for Australia’s space sector. It is...
British Interplanetary Society (BIS) to host Reinventing Space, the organization’s annual marquee event, June 28-30. The venerable society is one of the first in the world to advocate for astronautical progress and space exploration, and has been instrumental as creative conduit for visionary engineering approaches towards those ends. The 3-day conference is to feature a welcoming address by BIS CEO Elizabeth Anderson (T) and keynote addresses by Dave Edmondson (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) Jake Geer (UK Space Agency) Katherine Courtney (Global Network on Sustainability in Space), Sara Mugnaini (OneWeb) and Jan Wörner (former ESA Director). Gala Dinner and Sir Arthur Clarke Awards will be held on evening of June 29. Panel Discussions are to be held on Space Law, BIS & Women in Aerospace: Europe Panel Women in the Space Sector, NextGen Network for young space professionals & students, Laser Communications / Synthetic-aperture radar, and the UK Spaceports Alliance – a consortium of 5 UK spaceport projects, 3 vertical / 2 horizontal. Their fate is expected to be decided by the end of 2021, a major task for incoming UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate. The UK intends to grow its share of the world space market from 5% to 10% by 2030. Significant space businesses based in UK include Reaction Engines, Skyrora, Oneweb and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (Image Credits: BIS, Geograph Britain and Ireland, WIA:E, Sir Arthur Clarke Foundation)
Jun 28 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 65 seven-member crew planning for arrival of Progress 78P and ~2,900 kg of cargo this week, working with cardiac research experiment, and neon & argon gas for plasma crystal physics
Jun 28 — NewSpace: USA Today auctioning first newspaper 
Jun 28 — USA: Masten building 
= All times
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
Jun 28 — National Science Foundation, Online / Alexandria VA: Arecibo Observatory Options Workshop ‘Closing Session’.
