USA Prioritizing Human Return to Moon ~2023, Cislunar Gateway, Private-Public Partnerships

The 2017 U.S. Administration is further clarifying its vision for Space with the proposed NASA FY19 budget and goals: Return to Moon, Deep Space Exploration and R&D, Commercial and Industrial Partnerships, SLS and Orion. A long-awaited, national shift toward and support of the Moon includes a potential US$200 million for commercial robotic landings 2020, leading to human-rated lander developments 2023. Astrobotic, Moon Express, Blue Origin, Bigelow Aerospace, Masten and others may have more opportunities to help establish a permanent and sustainable Moon presence. The Lunar Orbital Platform / Gateway has garnered support from international agencies and private enterprises alike. The Lunar Exploration Campaign and Space Policy Directive-1 are topics of next National Space Council meeting headed by V.P. Mike Pence on February 21 at Cape Canaveral. To show support for an ambitious national space program, the Space Exploration Alliance ‘Legislative Blitz 2018’ is planned for Feb 25-27, followed by the Alliance for Space Development, NSS, SFF ‘March Storm 2018’ on March 11-15, and American Astronautical Society ‘Congressional Visits Day 2018’ March 12-14. While final allocations need to go through Senate approval process, the overall NASA FY19 budget proposal calls for a slight increase of $372.4 million totaling $19.892 billion with a decrease and stagnation at $19.592 billion for 2020-2023 (essentially a pay cut each year due to inflation). Earth science, education and the ISS have been, as expected, designated to receive less-to-zero funding in coming years. (Image Credit: NASA, ME, Astrobotic, Bigelow, Blue Origin, CNBC)

MONDAY

Feb 19 — Southern Illinois University, Carbondale IL: Astronaut Guion “Guy” Bluford Jr talks on ‘The Future of the Space Program and International Space Station’.

JAXA Holds Workshops On Global Exploration Roadmap & Lunar Polar Exploration

On February 18 and 19, JAXA is convening two all-day public workshops in Tokyo, one to introduce the status of Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) and another to discuss exploration of the polar regions of the Moon. GER is being developed by International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which is facilitating discussions among 14 space agencies to expand human presence into the Solar System through coordinated effort. January 2018 edition of GER “reflects consensus about the importance of the Moon on the pathway to Mars”. The Feb 19 workshop on exploration of lunar polar region is the 2nd one following a 2-day workshop on this topic held on Dec 8-9, 2017. It will draw on results from the previous event to deepen discussion toward realizing international collaboration related to scientific instruments and exploration vehicles for investigating water ice at the poles. The GER workshop will be led by JAXA international space exploration advancement team head Naoki Sato (R), and the lunar polar workshop by JAXA scientist Makiko Ohtake (L) and university professors. Also on the horizon this week for Japan is the launch of H-2A rocket #38 from Tanegashima Space Center, scheduled for Feb 25. It will deliver Information Gathering Satellite – Optical 6. Finally, Japanese government is preparing for the 2nd International Space Exploration Forum (ISEF2) to be held March 3, along with I-ISEF for industries on Mar 2 and Y-ISEF for young professionals on Feb 28 – Mar 3. I-ISEF will have panelists including ispace founder Takeshi Hakamada and Moon Village Association president Giuseppe Reibaldi. (Image Credit: JAXA, earth-planets-space.org, ISECG, SPC)

Feb 19 — Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO,

Feb 19 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Physical Manifestations of Evolution, Regularity and Chaos In and Around Our Galaxy; Kathryn Johnston, Professor Columbia University, 16:00.

Feb 19-20 — Astrobiology Center, National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Tokyo, Japan: 6th Workshop on Life in the Universe.

Feb 19-24 — IAU, ISRO, Birla Institute of Scientific Research, NAOC, COSPAR, et al, Jaipur, India: IAU Symposium 340: Long-Term Datasets for the Understanding of Solar and Stellar Magnetic Cycles.

Feb 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 CP2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.016 AU).

Continued from…

Dec 19, 2017 – Mar 6 — CNSA, Online / Beijing, China: CNSA collecting 20,000 digital messages from public to be stored in Chang’e-4 relay satellite launching May-June to Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange Point to support Moon South Pole missions.

Feb 3 – Mar 19 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston TX: Campaign 4: Mission 4 – Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA 2017); 45 day analog spaceflight / Moon / Mars mission.

Feb 15-19 — American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), European Union Horizon 2020 Programme, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX: AAAS Annual Meeting.

Feb 15 – Oct 15 — Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), 2,500-meter Elevation, Mauna Loa HI: HI-SEAS 6 six-member ‘Lavanaut’ crew on 8-month space mission simulation.

Feb 18-19 — JAXA, International Space Exploration Collaboration Group, Tokyo, Japan: Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) meeting focusing on Human Mars exploration; and lunar polar workshop; open to public.

Feb 18-20 — UCLA, Los Angeles CA: Dark Matter Advanced Training Institute (DA ATI).