China to Attempt Maiden Sea Launch with Long March 11 from Yellow Sea

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. is planning to launch Long March 11, dubbed ‘CZ-11 WEY’, from a modified ocean vessel on June 5 with two Jilin-1 Earth-imaging satellites for Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. With its successful launch, these satellites will join 10 others already operating in space. Fully funded by Jilin Province, the constellation may reach 60 in orbit ~2020 and 138 by 2030. This launch will mark the first-ever sea launch orbital attempt from Zhongguo. While not as near to the equator as launch centers of Wenchang 19°N or Xichang 28°N, launching offshore in the Yellow Sea will likely be farther South than facilities of Jiuquan 40°N and Taiyuan 38°N, taking advantage of the higher rotational speed of Earth and offering omnidirectional launch opportunities over population-free regions. Even better situated for pacific space access are Hawai’i Islands, which could provide optimal offshore astronautics – being midway between two mainlands, the southernmost point of USA, and near the center of Pacific Hemisphere. The return of ‘Sea Launch’ Commander vessel and the Odyssey launch platform, now owned by S7 Space and headquartered in Moscow, may occur from Sovetskaya Harbor at 48°N launching Soyuz-5 rockets. Multinational Sea Launch service performed 32 successful commercial launches to GTO from 1999-2014. Offshore, equatorial launch technology will likely become more necessary as rocket launches, populations and the desire to lower launch costs increase. (Image Credits: Chang Guang Sat. Tech. Co., S7 Space, Sea Launch, Google Maps, NASA)

MONDAY

Jun 3 — SpaceX, Boca Chica TX: Untethered hover testing of Starship Hopper scheduled for today, window open through Jun 5.

‘Back to the Moon to Stay’ is Theme of 38th International Space Development Conference (ISDC)

National Space Society (NSS) will convene the 2019 ISDC in Arlington, Virginia June 6-9. Occurring annually without interruption since 1982, ISDC brings stakeholders together to ‘work toward a common goal of developing a space-faring civilization’. The nearly exclusively American ‘featured speaker’ roster is replete with notable figures: NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins, Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden, Apollo Mission Control Flight Director Gerry Griffin, Executive Secretary of the National Space Council Scott Pace, Director of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Ellen Stofan and Mark Sirangelo, recently resigned former Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator. A Moon Development and Settlement programming track, chaired by Madhu Thangavelu, is to be prominently featured. Preceding the conference, a one-day Policy Forum on Space Settlement is to be held June 5, chaired by Steve Wolfe, Deputy Executive Director of SpaceCom. Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Associate Director of the Air and Space Law Program University of Mississippi, is among the scheduled speakers. Forum topics include current and future space law as it relates to settlement, policy incentives towards private settlement, and the role of government in space settlement. NSS was formed in 1987 through the merger of organizations associated with two luminaries in the history of space thought – Wernher von Braun of the National Space Institute and Gerard O’Neill of the L5 Society. (Image Credits: NSS, ISDC)

Jun 3-7 — International Astronomical Union, Viana do Castelo, Portugal: IAU Symposium 352: Uncovering early galaxy evolution in the ALMA and JWST era.

Jun 3-7— University of Hawai’i, Hawaii Islands: 4 hearings to be held for public to comment about UH proposed Mauna Kea administrative rules; Oahu, Hawaii Island, Maui.

Jun 3 — Moon: New Moon, 00:00.

Jun 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2012 KZ41: Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)

Continued from…

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

Mar 19 – Jul 19 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender crew of 6 to participate in 4-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).

May 15 – July 28 — Lāhainā Noon: As the Sun passes through the Zenith, directly overhead tropic locations, vertical objects cast no shadows; lā hainā means ‘cruel sun’; Hawaii Islands dates / times available.

May 20 – Aug 9 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 31st Annual Planetary Science Summer Seminar.

May 31 – Jun 2 — International Venus Science Community, PLANET-C Project Team of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Center for Planetary Science, Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan: International Venus Conference 2019.

Jun 2-7 — Humboldt University, Orsay University, CERN, et al, Blois, France: 31st Rencontres de Blois: Particle Physics and Cosmology.