Asteroid Day Advocates for Global Awareness as Asteroid Exploration Continues with Hayabusa2, OSIRIS-REx, Dawn

The 4th Annual Asteroid Day will be celebrated on and around June 30 with over 2,500 planned events in 193 countries as well as 2nd Annual Asteroid Day Live podcast from Luxembourg on June 28. Included among 24 planned broadcast speakers are (L-R) Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg Etienne Schneider, UNOOSA Director Simonetta di Pippo, ESA Director General Jan Wörner, Bill Nye, and Astronauts Rusty Schweickart, Ed Lu, Nicole Stott, Tom Jones, Chris Hadfield, Matthias Maurer, and Dorin Prunariu. There will be a scheduled live webcast segment on June 30 from ESA at European Southern Observatory Supernova Planetarium in Munich to discuss asteroid updates / science and conduct interviews. Topics globally will range from government and commercial initiatives to advance asteroid studies, detection, tracking, and deflection technology development. Hayabusa2 closes in on asteroid Ryugu with a scheduled arrival of ~June 27. The mission includes observations, possible deployment of lander and 3 rovers, and sample return. OSIRIS-REx approach phase begins August 17. The science team plans for first image of asteroid Bennu using its Polycam Imager within 2 million km as official start of Science Operations. Bennu surveying is planned for October and concludes with a “touch and go sample” return. Meanwhile, Dawn continues examination of Ceres as close as 35 km while detecting gamma ray and neutron spectra to determine chemical composition. (Image Credits: ESO, JAXA, NASA, NATO, ESA, Bill Nye, Rusty Schweickart, Nicole Stott, Tom Jones, CSA-ASC, Moon Village Association, University of Arizona)

MONDAY

SSERVI 2018 ESF and LunGradCon Gain New Energy from USA Return to Moon Priorities

The 5th Annual Exploration Science Forum (ESF) hosted by NASA SSERVI is set to take place at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California on June 26-28. ESF will feature 5 plenary and 10 parallel sessions, LEAG Town Hall, focus group sessions, Award ceremonies, and poster sessions. Leading lunar scientists participating include (TR-L) Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Carle Pieters, Sarah Noble, Ryan Watkins, Greg Schmidt, Noah Petro, and James Head. The ‘Astrophysics Enabled at the Moon’ session will see talks by Jack Burns, Alexander Hegedus and Jordan Mirocha. There is also major focus on Human Return to Moon, lunar robotic support, volatiles, geophysics, magnetics, geology, and asteroids & comets. Mars Institute Co-founder Pascal Lee will present “Human Return to the Moon: A Mars Forward Analog Strategy for Lunar Science and Exploration”. The 9th Lunar and Small Bodies Graduate Conference (LunGradCon) will be held on June 25. Grad students will present research findings in 15-minute oral presentations, allowing for professional development and networking. ESF and LunGradCon have new strength and opportunities this year with Space Policy Directive 1 and lunar prioritization. An RFI due June 27, has been issued to seek input on availability of lunar lander payloads ready to fly as soon as 2019. While allocation of NASA FY19 potential budget of US$19.9B has yet to become official, full funding has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee for the Lunar Discovery and Exploration program and its Advanced Cislunar & Surface Capabilities program including lander technologies and Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. (Image Credits: SSERVI, NASA, A. Gemignani, Brown University, ILOA, Moon Express, Canadensys Aerospace, Astrobotic)

Jun 25 — NASA, Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), University of Colorado at Boulder, Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres and Cosmic Dust (IMPACT)

Jun 25 — Asgardia, Vienna, Austria: Inauguration of the Head of Nation of Asgardia; Igor Ashurbeyli to announce details of Asgardia working timescales for habitation off-planet, development of its economy, cryptocurrency, UN recognition, senior members of Government.

Jun 25-28 — Free University of Berlin, DLR, University of Münster, et al, Trechtingshausen, Germany: TRR 170 Summer School: Origin of the Earth-Moon System.

Jun 25-28 — NSMMS, CRASTE, Madison WI: National Space & Missile Materials Symposium (NSMMS) / Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange (CRASTE).

Jun 25-29 — Integrated Research Center of Kobe University, JAXA, Kobe, Japan: 15th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference (SCTC2018).

Jun 25-29 — AIAA, Atlanta GA: AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (AIAA AVIATION 2018); at Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

Jun 25 – Aug 17 — Frontier Development Lab (FDL), NASA, Online: FDL 2018 Challenges; an AI R&D accelerator that tackles knowledge gaps useful to NASA space program; 2018 topics are space resources, orbital debris, NEOs, Earth observation, space weather, astrobiology.

Jun 25 – Aug 24 — International Space University, ESA, Netherlands Space Office, Delft University of Technology, Leiden University, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: ISU 31st Space Studies Program (SSP 2018); intensive space course and student projects, plus public events, professional meetings, model rocket launch, robotics competition, space masquerade.

Jun 25 — Moon: 8.9° N of Antares, 15:00.

Continued from…

May 29 – Aug 3 — Lunar and Planetary Society, NASA SSERVI, Center for Lunar Science and Exploration, Houston TX: 2018 Exploration Science Summer Intern Program; students to be involved in activities that support missions to the Moon that utilize Orion crew vehicle, Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, and robotic assets on lunar surface.