US Space Policy Meetings &
First Women Landing on the Moon

National Space Council, led by US VP Mike Pence, is planning to hold its 4th public meeting in McNair DC on October 23, the same day as “Transformers: Space” sponsored by Washington Post, NASA, AIAA and ASE. High priority topics include American leadership in space, commercial space, and Administration-proposed Space Force. Among the participants at “Transformers: Space” are Ellen Stofan, Jim Bridenstine, Astronaut Sandy Magnus, Astronaut Nicole Stott, Bill Nye, George Whitesides, and Heidi Hammel. The 11th Annual American Astronautical Society Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium is being held in Huntsville AL on Oct 23-25 with theme Galvanizing U.S. Leadership in Space. Speakers include Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, Eileen Collins, Mary Lynne Dittmar, Clive Neal, Dan Dumbacher and Bobby Watkins talking on lunar surface operations, gateway planning, NewSpace, ISS commercialization, exploration tech and partners, and space policy direction. The National Space Program plans a Human Return to the Moon, and with it perhaps is the consideration for the First Women on the Moon – as near in time as possible to Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing 50th Observation. The 61st Woman in Space, Serena Auñón-Chancellor, is currently at ISS; Sunita Williams and Nicole Mann are training as part of the Commercial Crew Astronauts; and the 5 women candidates of 2017 Astronaut class are more than half-way through their astronaut training. One of these women could be on Exploration Missions to the Moon, and hopefully be one of the first to land on its surface. (Image Credits: NASA, AIAA, Kim Shiflett, ILOA, Golden Spike Co., ESA, Mon Express)

MONDAY

Oct 22-27 — European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Ruđer Bošković Institute, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Dubrovnik, Croatia: Cosmology 2018 Conference.

Croatia Cosmology Conference and CERN Experiment on Shores of Sea Change in Universe Theories

Scientists studying the Universe are meeting at Cosmology 2018 in Dubrovnik, Croatia October 22-27. The conference is sponsored by the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb and SISSA in Trieste. It follows a cosmology Summer school held in Trieste. Cosmology 2018 brings together researchers in astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics. Astronautics continues to benefit astrophysics, as space experiments have led to an explosion in data about the Universe. New probes are expected to find unknown physics, and help in establishing needed new theories. CERN Europe, home to the Large Hadron Collider, is assembly point for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. AMS, which led to additional shuttle flights for Endeavour and Atlantis, has measured 123 million cosmic rays. AMS suffers from failing cooling pumps, and will be serviced by a future International Space Station EVA. The European Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space is also scheduled for installation on ISS. ACES will test if the speed of light is constant to one part in 10 billion. While the Hubble Space Telescope remains in Safe mode due to a gyroscope failure, its 73 km/sec per megaparsec measurement of the Universe’s expansion rate disagrees with 67 km/sec from the Planck mission. The European Euclid Space Telescope will be launched in 2021, providing more data. Scientists meeting in Croatia are preparing for a paradigm shift in understanding the Universe. (Image Credits: NASA, ICTP)

Continued from…

Oct 21-26 — American Astronomical Society DPS, Knoxville TN: 50th Annual Meeting of the AAS Division For Planetary Sciences (DPS).

TUESDAY

Oct 23 — Chang’e-5T1 Service Module, Lunar Orbit: China module collecting data on Lunar surface for future Moon missions reaches 4 full years in Space today, launched 2014.

Oct 23 — National Space Council, McNair DC: Fourth meeting of NSC planned for today at National Defense University.

Oct 23 — Washington Post, NASA, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Association of Space Explorers (ASE), Washington DC: Transformers: Space; examining factors shaping the new era of space travel featuring VP Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Bill Nye, Chris Ferguson, Victor Glover, Ellen Stofan, Leland Melvin, Nicole Stott, Heidi Hammel.

Oct 23 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: To The Moon And Beyond; luncheon Honoring Apollo Flight Director Gene Kranz, Benefits Project To Restore Apollo Mission Control, Marriott Marquis Houston.

Oct 23-25 — American Astronautical Society, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, Huntsville AL: 11th Annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium: Galvanizing U.S. Leadership In Space; at Charger Union Theater.

Oct 23-25 — Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, Oak Ridge TN: TVIW Symposium on The Power of Synergy; at Y-12 New Hope Center.

Oct 23 — Uranus: At opposition, 15:00.

Oct 23 — Amor Asteroid 2016 TS55: Near-Earth Flyby (0.086 AU)

Oct 23 — Aten Asteroid 2014 UR: Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU)