International Spacecraft Exploring the Solar System and Beyond

Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, ~141 AU from Earth, headed for Gliese 445. The probe’s 8-track Digital Tape Recorder is scheduled to turn off in 2018. Voyager 2 is in the heliosheath, ~117 AU from Earth, headed for Sirius with anticipated arrival in ~250,000 years. The probes are expected to communicate until at least 2025. New Horizons is scheduled to awaken from hibernation on June 4 and encounter KBO Ultima Thule, meaning ‘beyond the borders of the known world’, on January 1, 2019, 05:33 UTC. This will be the most distant flyby in history at ~40 AU from Earth. The mission has been extended through 2021 to explore additional KBO. Juno is in a highly elliptical orbit near Jupiter. The 11th flyby will gather data on weather, rings, and composition. Juno intends to operate through July 2018 with anticipated mission extension approval. Within the asteroid belt, Dawn continues to circle the ice world of Ceres every 5.4 hours. It plans to fire an ion engine on April 17, beginning a downward spiral to its smallest to date elliptical orbit by the first week of June. Mars Curiosity Rover, currently on Vera Rubin Ridge, surpasses 2,008 Sols. It plans to utilize a new drilling method to retrieve samples and surface data. Akatsuki five cameras continue to observe Venus atmosphere with data releases June 1 and December 1. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, JAXA, Akihiro Ikeshita)

MONDAY

Vienna Hosts 2018 EGU, and Home to Significant Space Organizations

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018 is being held at Austria Center Vienna on April 8-13 covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. Organized by (L-R) EGU President Jonathan Bamber, Program Committee Chair Susanne Buiter and 25 program group chairs from various sciences divisions, EGU2018 expects nearly 14,500 scientists from 100+ countries presenting about 4,800 oral and 11,000 posters in 650 unique scientific sessions. Also of great Space consequence in Vienna is United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, led by Director Simonetta Di Pippo, which is readying for 57th Legal Subcommittee Meeting of COPOUS on April 9-20 and UNISPACE+50 on June 20-21. Based out of the offices of European Space Policy Institute in Vienna, the Space Generation Advisory Council with more than 13,000 members from 110 countries, has nearly 30 events annually to advance young adults representation in space policy development. The Moon Village Association in Vienna, led by Giuseppe Reibaldi, is creating international, national and regional networks to develop a Moon Village with interested parties from industry, academia, government and the public. It comprises approximately 150 members from more than 34 countries. AUSTROSPACE with 8 industrial, 6 research and 5 institutional members, is an Austria association that compiles information about local space activities, and represents interests of Austria-based space suppliers, users and organizations. The comprehensive, triennial 30th IAU General Assembly will be held in Vienna this August. (Image Credit: EGU, ACV, NGU, MVA, UNOOSA, IAF, SGAC, Austrospace, NASA, LPI, ESA)

Apr 2-6 — UCLA, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Los Angeles CA: Conference: Shedding Light on the Dark Universe with Extremely Large Telescopes.

Apr 2 — Aten Asteroid 2004 FG29: Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)

Apr 2 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 ER1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)

Continued from…

NET Mar 30 – Apr 3 — CNSA, Tiangong-1 Earth Atmosphere Reentry, LEO: China 1st Space Lab to disintegrate during Earth atmosphere reentry; predicted to reenter between 43°N and 43°S latitudes during this time frame.

TUESDAY

Apr 3-5 — Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), NASA, Washington DC: MEPAG Meeting.

Apr 3 — Moon: 3.8° NNE of Jupiter, 06:00.

WEDNESDAY

Apr 4 — ISS, Dragon CRS-14 Rendezvous and Capture, 405-km LEO: Arrival, capture, and installation of SpaceX CRS-14 Dragon cargo craft scheduled to begin 07:00 EDT; live coverage available.

Apr 4 — Moon: 9.1° N of Antares, 17:00.

Apr 4 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 EB: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)