China Poised to Launch, Fuel, and Crew Modular Space Station

Core module Tianhe is being prepared at Wenchang SLC, Hainan Island alongside Long March 5B Rocket which will attempt to lift it to LEO (340-450 km) on April 29 for nominal 10-year service life. The core is 22,500 kg, 16.6 m x 4.2 m, providing 50 m³ of living / control center space. The first of 4 cargo missions, Tianzhou-2 space barge, also in Wenchang, is to launch via Long March 7 in May, carrying propellant and crew supplies to be autonomously transferred. Shenzhou-12 Taikonauts may arrive from Jiuquan SLC on Long March 2F by June – 12 total crewmembers are scheduled for 4 missions over 2 years, with 3 crewmembers typically sharing a total of 110 m³ (up to 6 during crew change overlaps) once Laboratory Cabin Modules Wentian and Mengtian are connected, with goal of full operability by 2022. In complete form, China Large Modular Space Station is estimated to be upwards of 100,000 kg, nearly 24% of International Space Station mass and will feature a 2-m class Chinese Space Station Telescope Xuntian paired with 2.5B pixel camera for astrophysical investigation. While China is making this effort independently, international science opportunities are to be coordinated by UNOOSA; Lunar base partner Russia, planning its own Russia Orbital Space Station by 2024, may provide technical and logistical assistance. (Pictured: Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of CMSA; Image Credits: CMSEO, CMSA, Xinhua, CCTV)

MONDAY

Apr 26 — United Launch Alliance, Launch Delta 4-Heavy / NROL-82, Vandenberg AFB CA: ULA to launch classified satellite for U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on Delta 4 Heavy rocket.

2021 Cubesat Conferences Look Beyond LEO to Advanced Applications

The 18th CubeSat Developers Workshop is being held April 27-29, followed by 9th Annual LunarCubes Workshop Apr 30 and Interplanetary Small Satellite Conference 2021 on May 3-4. Held online by organizers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, NASA and JPL, CubeSat Developer’s Conference with theme ‘Working Together” will have live sessions, pre-recorded content, 3rd CubeSat Training Course, XinaBox Satellite building Workshop and a virtual exhibit booth. LunarCubes Conference will highlight the Lucky 13 CubeSats on Artemis 1 launching NET November 2021, including 3 that will map lunar volatiles. About 25 participants are expected to interact on recent advances as well as ‘lessons learned’ from existing deep space CubeSats. The Interplanetary Small Sat Conference will see a Keynote by Craig Kundrot of NASA on ‘Expanding the use of CubeSats and SmallSats in SMD’s newest division: Biological and Physical Sciences’ and Scientist Tony Ricco on ‘Leveraging Cubesat Payload Technologies to Search for Life on our Solar System’s Icy Worlds‘. Mars Cube One dual CubeSats were the 1st interplanetary CubeSats, China Longjiang-2 was 1st microsat around the Moon, and advanced astronomy CubeSats included ASTERIA, HaloSat and PicSat. Breakthrough initiatives aim to send interstellar nanosats to Alpha Centauri. NASA is funding US$2M for Wichita State University Phase 3 CubeSat neutrino detector project. (Image Credits: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, NASA, JPL, NASA, ESA)

Apr 26-27 — SMi,

Apr 26-30 — International Academy of Astronautics, Online: 7th IAA Planetary Defense Conference.

Apr 26 — Moon: Full Pink Moon, 17:32.

Apr 26 — Mercury: At aphelion, 0.3075 AU from Sun, 15:00.

Apr 26 — Mars: 0.55° N of M35 cluster, 21:00.

Apr 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 HF4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)

Apr 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 HA177: Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)

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.

Apr 19-30 — UNOOSA, Vienna, Austria: 58th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

TUESDAY

Apr 27 — ISS, Expedition 65 Change of Command, ~405-km Altitude: Shannon Walker hands off ISS command to Aki Hoshide, 13:35 EDT, live coverage available.

Apr 27 — Arianespace, Launch Vega / Pléiades Neo 3, Kourou, French Guiana: Arianespace Vega , designated VV18, to launch Pléiades Neo 3 Earth observation satellite for Airbus.

Apr 27 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Online / Washington DC: Lecture: Sampling an Asteroid to Understand the Birth of Our Planet; free, 20:00-21:00 EDT.