First 2021 Launch from Vostochny and Second for India Set to Liftoff

Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia is planned to see its 6th launch on March 26 with Arianespace Soyuz 2.1b flight ST30 carrying OneWeb 5 mission for commercial broadband communications. This will be Arianespace first commercial Soyuz mission from Vostochny managed through its subsidiary Starsem. After using ion thrusters to raise altitude to ~1,200 km, these 36 satellites, each weighing 147.5 kg, will join 110 others already in a near-circular polar orbit. There are 15 additional Soyuz OneWeb launches planned to complete fleet at 648. Considering space debris mitigation, OneWeb sats are designed for minimum 5-year lifetime with post-mission disposal operation taking less than one year. India first GEO Imaging Satellite GISAT 1 with a 7-year lifetime is slated to launch Mar 28 on ISRO GSLV-F10 Mk 2 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India. This will be the 14th overall launch of a GSLV. Its identical twin GISAT 2 (launching late 2021) will also image in multi-spectral and hyper-spectral bands, feature electronically steerable, phased array antenna and 700 mm Ritchey–Chrétien telescope based on the design of Cartosat-2A, have launch masses of 2,268 kg and orbit in GTO at 170 x 35,975 km. With 13 other missions scheduled to launch this year, next up could be ISRO demonstration of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle in April. (Image Credits: Arianespace, OneWeb, ISRO, Roscosmos)

MONDAY

Women in Space, Space Commerce, Space Security Are Subjects of Meetings Around World This Week

Secure World Foundation and partners to host a roundtable discussion March 23 in conjunction with launch of War and Peace in Outer Space, a new book by Cassandra Steer (Australian National University) and Matthew Hersch (Harvard) on moral implications of space diplomacy and weaponization. SPACETIDE 2021: The Evolution of Commercial Space is to feature 60 speakers from 10 countries over 2-day conference to be held virtually on Day 1 (Mar 24) and in-person / online hybrid Day 2 from Mori Tower in Tokyo (Mar 25). Sessions on Beginning of the Human Space Flight Era (moderated by Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki), Formation of Lunar Society Accelerated by Global Public-Private Partnership and New Rocket Trends will be held on day 1, while the following day focuses on domestic Japan space industry, government and academia, with sessions on Social Issues, Newspace and 3 ‘Fireside Chats’. Edinburgh Women in Space Conference is being held online from Scotland Mar 26-28, featuring keynote speakers Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration at UK Space Agency; Sarah Gallagher, Chief Science Advisor at Canadian Space Agency and Yvette Hopkins, Executive of Shetland Space Centre. Essay, Art and Video competitions will run concurrently with the conference, with student entries on topics such as Space Sustainability, Interstellar Travel, Commercialization of the Space Sector, New Worlds and Human Exploration. Additionally, International Astronautical Federation is holding spring 2021 meetings March 15 – April 1. (Image Credits: SWF, Edinburgh Women in Space Conference, SPACETIDE Foundation, NASA)

Mar 22-26 — University of Lyon, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research, Online: Virtual Meeting: Galactic and Extragalactic Universe in the Era of New-generation Radio (SKA and Pathfinders) and Optical/IR Facilities.

Mar 22 – Apr 1 — International Astronautical Federation, Online / Paris, France: IAF Spring Meetings 2021.

Mar 22 — Moon: 7.0° S of Castor, 20:00.

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 Mar — International Astronautical Federation, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Online: IAC 2021 Press Conference; providing updates for 72nd IAC being held Oct 25-29.

Mar 15 – Apr 15 — W. M. Keck Observatory, CFHT, Kamuela HI: 2021 Waimea Solar System Walk.

TUESDAY

Mar 23 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink V1.0-L22, LC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of ~60 satellites for SpaceX Starlink broadband network; 17.58 EDT.

Mar 23 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Online / Washington DC: Mars 2020 and the Importance of Planetary Protection; by Moogega “Moo” Cooper of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 20:00 EDT.

Mar 23 — Secure World Foundation, Australian National University Centre for International and Public Law, Harvard University Dept of the History of Science, University of Pennsylvania Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, Online / Washington DC: Roundtable on “War and Peace in Outer Space”.

Mar 23 — Space Tech Expo, Online / Long Beach CA: Webinar: Striking a Balance Between Commercial Off the Shelf and Custom-Made Space Grade Components; 09:00 PDT.