‘New Era of Human Spaceflight’ as SpaceX Poised to Reestablish USA Space Access

Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission (DM-2) will mark both the first time humans are to be taken to orbit by a private company and the long-awaited return of crewed launches from USA. Lifted by Falcon 9, DM-2 is to depart from KSC Launch Pad 39A to ISS May 27 at 16:32 EDT. NASA astronaut Doug Hurley’s leadership will bookend this auspicious historical interval, having piloted the last Space Shuttle mission STS-135 Atlantis and set to be Spacecraft Commander of DM-2. Bob Behnken will serve as Operations Commander, focusing on rendezvous and docking directly to ISS Harmony Module. Interestingly, space exploration is a family pursuit for Hurley and Behnken, as they are married to Astronauts Karen Nyberg and Megan MacArthur. Established just prior to the 2011 cessation of the Space Shuttle program as Commercial Crew Development, Boeing and SpaceX were granted contracts to fly NASA Astronauts in 2014. An uncrewed test flight of Boeing Starliner Dec 2019, showing possibility of ‘catastrophic’ software error, requires retesting. SpaceX will need to demonstrate parachute system readiness and account for a Merlin engine failure during Starlink 5 deployment prior to DM-2. Meanwhile, Blue Origin leads team including Northrup and Lockheed in development of human lunar lander for Artemis 2024. Independent of NASA, Virgin Galactic clears final test of carrier Cosmic Girl in April 12 flight. (Image Credits: NASA, V. Tangermann, A. Nyberg, SpaceX, Blue Origin )

MONDAY

Europa JPL / Caltech Virtual Workshop to Overview Ocean Worlds Research, Lander Mission Planning 

Europa In Situ Workshop 2020 half-day virtual conference is planned by JPL / Caltech for April 28-30 (on which day TBA). The 362 registrants should also expect a multiday in-person meeting to be hosted NLT Jan 2021. Talks will cover Europa / ocean worlds lander mission, flight system, landing sites, Clipper mission recon, sampling processes, surface operations, autonomy, and contamination control strategies. The lander mission concept and tech development are being advanced by JPL, GSFC, APL, MSFC and Sandia National Laboratories; and participants speaking from these organizations include (L-R) Earl Maize, Kevin Hand, Cynthia Phillips, Miguel San-Martin, Lori Shiraishi and Grace Tan-Wang. The ~15,000-kg Europa lander, if funded, would launch 2025 on SLS about 1 year after Europa Clipper orbiter, for 2030 Jupiter arrival and 2032 Europa landing. It would search for subsurface biosignatures at 10-cm depth, characterize surface / subsurface material to assess habitability and optimally survive for >22 days. Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter, which contains 70% of planetary mass of the Solar System, and should operate until at least August 2021 collecting more data on Jupiter aurorae, gravity & magnetic fields, core and atmosphere layers, structures, composition. While Juno won’t perform close flybys of any of its intriguing 79 known moons, images of Io detected an unknown volcano, and future remote sensing / images are expected for the 4 Galileo satellites, some of the ring moons and outer irregular moons. (Image Credits: JPL, Caltech, NASA)

Apr 27 — Cornell University,

Apr 27 — Moon: 0.78° SE of M35, 13:00.

Apr 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 FM6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU)

Apr 27 — Amor Asteroid 2020 HS1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data collected from 7 instruments during KBO Arrokoth flyby to be transmitted to Earth over this time period.

Nov 2019 – Nov 2020 — Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 with two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu on trajectory for Earth return.

TUESDAY

Apr 28 — Aerospace Corp., Online: Discussion: High-Volume Production of Satellites; with Dave Eccles, 13:00 EDT.

Apr 28-29 — Space Studies Board of the National Academies, Washington DC: Space Studies Board Meeting; virtual meeting.

Apr 28-30 — JPL, Caltech, Online / Pasadena CA: Europa In Situ Workshop 2020; virtual meeting being planned for half-day workshop with full conference to occur late 2020 or early 2021.

Apr 28-30 — NASA Science Mission Directorate, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Science and Technology Mission Directorate Denver CO: Lunar Surface Science Workshop 2020; postponed.

Apr 28 — Venus: At brightest, magnitude -4.52°, 05:00.

Apr 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 HT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)

Apr 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 HP: Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)