UK Striving for Domestic Space Access, Adoption of Space-Age Technology
Space-related industry is currently a US$20.5B economic driver employing some 42k individuals in United Kingdom and the decade-old UK Space Agency has the ambitious goal of capturing 10% of global space market by 2030. 7 coastal locations are being considered or actively constructed as spaceports with polar / SSO trajectories: in Sutherland, Western Isles and Shetland (vertical rocket launch); Prestwick, Campbeltown, Snowdonia and Cornwall (plane-based launch). Sutherland, Scotland on the island of Unst is slated to be site of the first orbital launch from the United Kingdom, UK Pathfinder Launch, with ABL Space Systems RS1 rocket configured by Lockheed Martin under $31M contract. The mission to set six 6U cubesats into various orbits from a MOOG deployal craft. Scott Hammond, Operations Director for the Shetland Space Centre, is to elaborate on this historic mission and other national and commercial space ventures in a talk hosted by the West Midlands Branch of the British Interplanetary Society on May 8, available globally online with registration. UK policymakers are also eager to ensure broad benefit from space, partnering with Rolls-Royce on nuclear power research and encouraging space technology migration with a specific healthcare focus, allocating $7M of Space Agency funds to improve hospital facilities with expertise gleaned from the space sector. On the deep space front, UK commercial enterprise SpaceBit is booked with both Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines to deliver dissimilar rovers to the Moon in late 2021 / early 2022. (Image Credits: UKSA, BIS, Reaction Engines, Lockheed Martin, Astroscale, Surrey)
MONDAY
Highlights… May 3 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 65 with 6 spaceflight engineers and Akihiko Hoshide as Commander have more freedom of movement after extended stay of Crew-1; working with metallic alloy material science, worm muscle experiments.
May 3 — Solar System: CNSA working to prepare Tianzhou 2 fueling / supply mission to China Space Station core Tianhe; MOXIE experiment appears successful as MIT team works to evaluate purity of oxygen refined from Mars Perseverance; Ingenuity successes bode well for $1B Dragonfly octocopter, setting off in 2027 to explore Titan.
May 3 — USA: Ad Astra Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins – 10 Apollo Astronauts remain; Blue Origin / Dynetics Government Accountability Office complaints regarding HLS contract to be decided on by Aug 4; House Space Subcommittee Chairperson seeking NASA inclusion in $2T infrastructure bill.
May 3 — Hawai’i: Maunakea Scholars program awards student Las Cumbres observation time to seek habitable worlds orbiting ß Persei; Daniel Inouye Solar Telescope, Solar Orbiter, Parker Solar Probe evaluating ‘campfire’ theory; Subaru instrument InfraRed Doppler finding evidence of exoplanetary hydroxyl.
AAS Hosts 58th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium 2021 “Planetary Stewardship”
The American Astronautical Society 58th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium with theme Planetary Stewardship is being held online May 4-6 with support from JHUAPL, Ball Aerospace, Lockheed, NASA GSFC. There will be ~60 speakers, 10 sessions, 2 awards, 3 Goddard+ presentations and 3 Keynotes given by (TL-BR) NASA SMD Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Senior Climate Advisor Gavin Schmidt and Ellen Stofan of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. AAS President Alan DeLuna will give Opening and Closing Remarks. Conference Co-Chairs include AAS Executive Director Jim Way, Kathy Laurini from Dynetics and Brendan Curry from The Planetary Society. Participating in ‘Commercial Human Spaceflight – Enabling Research & Science’ Session are Erika Wagner (Blue Origin), Sirisha Bandla (Virgin Galactic), Christian Maender (AxiomSpace), Tommy Sanford (CSF) and Phil McAlister (NASA Commercial Spaceflight). ‘Research in the Void: Infrastructure for Human-tended Space Science’ session includes Planetary Scientist Barbara Cohen, Planetary Geologist Rachel Klima and Professor of Planetary Geology Clive Neal. Astronomy Science on ‘Collaboration and Coordination of Ground and Space Telescopes’ will be moderated by Keck Observatory Chief Scientist John O’Meara, and participants are Jonathan Arenberg (Northrop Grumman), Heidi Hammel (JWST / AURA) and Ashlee Wilkins (House SST Committee). Founded 1954, AAS with adopted motto “Advancing All Space” currently has 51 Organizational members, 17 award programs, and continues its Space Times newsletter. (Image Credits: AAS, NASA, JHUAPL, et al)
May 3-4 — ISSC Organizing Committee, Caltech, MIT, Cornell, University of Michigan, JPL, NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute, Online: Interplanetary Small Satellite Conference 2021.
May 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 HT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)
May 3 — Moon: At last quarter, 09:51; 4.1° SE of Saturn, 10:00.
May 3 — Mercury:2.12° SE of Pleiades, 23:00.
Continued From… NET Early 2021 — ISRO, Launch SSLV / Demonstration Launch, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: New Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to launch on first orbital test flight.
NET Apr — Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Guizhou, China: International applications for international scientific community participation in FAST to be reviewed starting this month, becoming effective in August 2021.
May 4-5 — Center for Space Commerce and Finance, Foundation for the Future,Online: 2021 NewSpace Business Plan Competition; during Blue Marble Week Virtual Conference.
May 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 AF8: Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)
WEDNESDAY
May 5 — InSight, Elysium Planitia,Mars Surface: Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander reaches 3 full years / enters 4th year in Space today, launched in May 2018, landed on Mars Nov 26, 2018.
May 5 — Uniphi Space Agency, Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Space Foundation, Challenger Center, et al, Nationwide USA: National Astronaut Day 2021; inspiring people to reach for the Stars and celebrate Astronauts; on this date in 1961 Astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the 1st American in Space (15 minute suborbital flight to 186-km altitude).
May 5 — Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peak: The 1st of 2 annual showers that occur as a result of Earth passing through dust released by Halley’s Comet; Eta Aquarid meteors appear to radiate from Constellation Aquarius, Northern Hemisphere observers may see 10+ meteors per hour, Southern Hemisphere ~50 per hour; peak 09:00.
May 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 JP: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)
May 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 AE4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)
FRIDAY
May 7 — International Space Day 2021, Worldwide: First Friday in May, events and presentations to promote STEM education and inspire people to continue the work of Space explorers; originally began as ‘National Space Day’ in 1997 by Lockheed Martin Corp.
May 7 — Eta Lyrid Meteor Shower Peak: Favorable due to New Moon, shower offers only about 3 per hour; peak 23:00.
May 7 — Mars: At heliocentric opposition with Saturn, 21:00.
May 7 — Amor Asteroid 2021 HF1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU)
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Space-related industry is currently a US$20.5B economic driver employing some 42k individuals in United Kingdom and the decade-old UK Space Agency has the ambitious goal of capturing 10% of global space market by 2030. 7 coastal locations are being considered or actively constructed as spaceports with polar / SSO trajectories: in Sutherland, Western Isles and Shetland (vertical rocket launch); Prestwick, Campbeltown, Snowdonia and Cornwall (plane-based launch). Sutherland, Scotland on the island of Unst is slated to be site of the first orbital launch from the United Kingdom, UK Pathfinder Launch, with ABL Space Systems RS1 rocket configured by Lockheed Martin under $31M contract. The mission to set six 6U cubesats into various orbits from a MOOG deployal craft. Scott Hammond, Operations Director for the Shetland Space Centre, is to elaborate on this historic mission and other national and commercial space ventures in a talk hosted by the West Midlands Branch of the British Interplanetary Society on May 8, available globally 
May 3 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 65 with 6 spaceflight engineers and Akihiko Hoshide as Commander have more freedom of movement after extended stay of Crew-1; working with metallic alloy material science, worm muscle experiments.
May 3 — NewSpace: SpaceX to utilize 
May 3 — USA: Ad Astra Apollo 11 Astronaut 
= 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’).
