March 4-10, 2019 / Vol 38, No 9 / Hawai`i Island, USA

USA ‘Moon Rush’ Following SPD-1 ? Continuing to follow Space Policy Directive 1 (SPD-1) NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is committed to returning to the Moon with speed. NASA selects 12 scientific demonstration payloads to be landed possibly starting in 2019. Experiments developed by NASA centers include a magnetometer, a mass spectrometer for lunar volatiles, and three resource prospecting instruments. A neutron spectrometer and infrared spectrometer have been developed for the canceled Lunar Resource Prospector mission. Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payload (LSITP) proposals from researchers had a separate due date of February 27. The 9 companies, selected as Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), will compete to provide delivery to Moon. Mar 25 is due date for human lunar lander proposals. Commercial entities will submit designs for lunar ascent element, descent element, and orbital transfer vehicle, elements to be orbited on commercial boosters to rendezvous with crew on Orion. Exploration Mission 1, uncrewed test of Orion, is planned for 2020. EM-2 planned for 2022 would send 4-person crew to lunar orbit. NASA also seeks contributions from international partners while sharing data with Zhongguo Chang’e-4 mission. US has speedy goals of descent element tests beginning in 2024, end-to-end uncrewed landing test in 2026, and a human lunar landing around 2028. The crew of 4 may include one of the first women on the Moon. (Image Credits: NASA, Lockheed Martin, Moon Express)

MONDAY Highlights… Mar 4 — ISS, 405-km LEO: ISS Exp 58 three-member crew training for SpaceX Dragon 2 mission cargo transfers / undocking, performing in-flight activities with Dalhousie University and Lowell Observatory, wrapping up Sally Ride EarthKAM Mission 65, preparing for crew arrival next week. Mar 4 — NewSpace: Japan iSpace planning 2020 & 2021 lunar launches on Falcon 9, and to test solid state battery on Moon 2021; Astrobotic becomes 1st lunar delivery service selected by both NASA & ESA; ALE Co., microsatellite now in LEO, carries 400 tiny spheres for creating artificial meteor showers. Mar 4 — Solar System: Juno reveals images of swirling cloud formations in Jupiter atmosphere; InSight lander operates Germany DLR HP3 ‘Mole’ penetrometer designed to reach 5 meters into Martian surface; farthest known planetary body, 140 AU from Sun, discovered in telescope data, nicknamed FarFarOut. Mar 4 — Galaxy: Astronomers using Spitzer and Chandra perform simultaneous X-ray and infrared observations of central black hole in Milky Way; Event Horizon Telescope, made up of multiple instruments worldwide, continues effort to image Sagittarius A*; Galaxy mergers being studied via Spitzer images. Mar 4 — Global: Russia President Putin orders establishment of National Space Center in Moscow by Jan 2020; two UAE candidates training in Russia for launch of first UAE astronaut aboard Soyuz September 2019; Zhongguo CASC plans first flight of Jielong-1 orbital launcher in early 2019; CASIC also plans first launch of Kuaizhou-11 booster in 2019. Mar 4 — USA: Boeing Starliner preparing for April uncrewed test and May pad-abort test at White Sands NM; NASA selects SPHEREx mission for launch in 2023 to make 3D map of universe; United Launch Alliance CEO Salvatore Bruno predicts 1,000 people living on Moon within 30 years. Mar 4 — Hawai’i: Keck Observatory contributes to GOALS study of merged galaxies; Keck Cosmic Web Imager discovers ultra-diffuse galaxy DGSAT 1, a rare ‘ghost’ that may date from early universe; Subaru Telescope enters 21st year of operations, plans 2022 camera to capture light spectrum of 2,400 objects at once, and 2026 ultra widefield camera.

= All times

for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.

= 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’).

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Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mercury (W), Mars (W), Uranus (W); Morning Planets: Venus (ESE), Jupiter (SE), Saturn (SE).

Four Launches Upcoming with Participation from Europe, South America, USA, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Russia, Kazakhstan The second flight for SpaceX Falcon Heavy is set for March 7 from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying ~6,000-kg Arabsat 6A communications satellite to GTO for Arabsat headquartered in Saudi Arabia. All Arab League states, ‘Crescent Moon Countries’, except Comoros are shareholders of Arabsat. Falcon Heavy is powered by 3 Falcon 9 cores, each equipped with 9 Merlin-1D engines. It will attempt landing of all 3 stages for reuse: 2 by land, 1 by sea. From Vandenberg AFS in California, SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to loft Canadian Space Agency 3 satellites for Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) on March 9 to SSO. RCM is the successor to the second Radarsat and will be used for maritime surveillance, disaster management and ecosystem monitoring. SpaceX will attempt first-stage landing and potential payload fairing recovery on Mr. Steven vessel. On March 14, multi-national Arianespace with HQ in France plans to launch Vega designated VV14 with PRISMA Earth observation satellite for Italian Space Agency (ASI). Arianespace main launch site is Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, South America. Roscosmos is launching Soyuz MS-12 with 3 Astronauts for Expedition 59/60 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan also on March 14. Arriving at ISS less than 6 hours from launch will be Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Nick Hague and Christina Hammock Koch of NASA, who will become the 63rd Women in Space. (Image Credits: Google Maps, SpaceX, Arianespace, ESA, Roscosmos, NASA, CSA-ASC, Lockheed Martin, MDA)

Mar 4-8 — NASA, Ames Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Caltech, IPAC, Exoplanet Science Institute, Glendale CA: Kepler & K2 Science Conference V. Mar 4-8 — University of Arizona, Steward Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson AZ: Conference: Dusting the Universe. Mar 4 — Moon: at apogee (distance 406,416 km), 01:00. Mar 4 — Aten Asteroid 2015 EG: Near-Earth Flyby (0.003 AU) Mar 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 CX4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU) Mar 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 CW: Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) Mar 4 — Aten Asteroid 1996 BG1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 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. Feb 20 – Mar 6 — University of Hawaii, ESA, ILEWG, International MoonBase Alliance, 2,400-meter elevation, Mauna Loa: International, mix gender, 6-person crew to perform 1st Moon simulation at HI-SEAS habitat. Mar 2-9 — Gemini Observatory, UH Hilo, IfA, CFHT, ‘Imiloa, Mauna Kea Observatories, NOAO, PISCES, Subaru Telescope, NAOJ, et al, Hilo HI: Journey through the Universe Week. Mar 3-9 — Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), JHU, University of California at Santa Cruz, et al, Aspen CO: Conference: Into the Starlight – The End of the Cosmic Dark Ages. Mar 3-9 — University of KwaZulu-Natal, National Research Foundation, Hluhluwe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Conference: Cosmology on Safari 2019.

TUESDAY

Mar 5-6 — Applied Technical Institute, Columbia MD: ATI Course: Spacecraft Thermal Control; led by Carol Mosier, US$1590 per person.

Mar 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 DC: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)

WEDNESDAY

Mar 6 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Lecture: Apollo 9 – Testing the Lunar Module; by Jerry Stone, 19:00.

Mar 6 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: Colloquium: Civilization and the Solar System – Cosmic Upheavals and Human History; by Dagomar Degroot of Georgetown University, 15:30.

Mar 6-8 — Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL: Centaur Exploration Workshop.

Mar 6 — Moon: New Moon, 06:04; 2.99° SSE of Neptune, 07:00.

Mar 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 DA1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)

Mar 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2008 RR24: Near-Earth Flyby (0.068 AU)

Mar 6 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 TD4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.071 AU)

THURSDAY

NET Mar 7 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon Heavy / Arabsat 6A, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch Arabsat 6A communications satellite for Arabsat of Saudi Arabia to GTO.

Mar 7 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: LPI Seminar: 2014 MU69 – The first encounter with a cold classical Kuiper Belt Object; by Carly Howett of SwRI, 15:30.

Mar 7 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Colloquium: The Importance of Brown Dwarfs; by Jacqueline Faherty from American Museum of Natural History.

Mar 7 — Moon: 7.9° SSE of Mercury, 09:00.

FRIDAY

Mar 8 — Peninsula Astronomical Society, Los Altos CA:Talk: WHY and HOW we went to the Moon; by Gordon Myers – member of the Apollo Mission Control Center Support Team, 19:30.

Mar 8 — Royal Astronomical Society, London, United Kingdom: RAS Ordinary Meeting.; and Meeting on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Applied to Astronomy.

Mar 8 — Amor Asteroid 2019 DN: Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)

Mar 8 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 ED86: Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)

SATURDAY

Mar 9 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Radarsat Constellation Mission, SLC 4E, Vandenberg AFB CA: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch Radarsat Constellation Mission for Canadian Space Agency and MDA.

Mar 9 — JPL, Caltech, NASA, Pasadena CA: Educators Workshop: The Physics of Designing a Mission to Mars; for educators of grades 6-12.

Mar 9-15 — International Union of Radio Science (URSI), New Delhi, India: 2019 URSI Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference.

Mar 9-20 — Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) ESA, ISRO, NASA, IAU, Punjab, India: COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop: Broadband Spectral and Timing Studies with Astrosat, Chandra and XMM-Newton.

Mar 9 — Moon: 4.6° SSE of Uranus, 22:00.

Mar 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2012 DF31: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)

Mar 9 — Aten Asteroid 2017 GO5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU)

SUNDAY

Mar 10 — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Orbit: NASA spacecraft begins 14th year in Mars orbit today, continues to study seasonal changes on planet circling at 300-km near-polar orbit; launched Aug 12, 2005, entered orbit Mar 10, 2006.

Mar 10 — Daylight Saving Time (USA): Set clock ahead 1 hour; does not include Hawai’i, American Samoa or Arizona (except the Navajo Reservation).