China Ambitious 2018 Moon Focus with Chang’e-4, ILOA Galaxy Forum Hainan – International Human Moon Missions

China Spring Festival Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dog, commences February 16, 2018. This year, China hopes good fortune will aid its attempts at launching ~35 rockets, a return to flight of Long March 5, and the first-ever Lunar far side mission Chang’e-4 to explore geology of the South Pole / Aitken Basin. CE-4 orbiter in May-June, followed by lander and rover in October will both launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. The Wenchang Hilton with direct views of Wenchang Launch Center on Hainan Island will be host to Galaxy Forum China 2018 on December 4-7. Sponsored by International Lunar Observatory Association and co-sponsored by International Astronautical Federation, Chinese Society of Astronautics and NAOC, the session themes are ‘International Human Moon Missions’ and ‘Astronomy from the Moon’, with a special luncheon ‘1st Woman on the Moon’. The principal objective of GFC 2018 is to help realize Humans on the Moon as soon as reasonably possible. Malapert Mountain at the Moon South Pole will also be a focus. Confirmed speakers include Chinese Academy of Sciences Professor Ouyang Ziyuan, Vice Chairman of ShareSpace Andy Aldrin, ILOA Director Steve Durst, Canadensys CEO Chris Sallaberger and representatives from Moon Express. Other speakers and participants will be international leading lunar scientists, engineers, space agency experts and officials, commercial entrepreneurs space community professionals, explorers and enthusiasts. (Image Credit: ILOA, NASA, News.cn, Xinhuanet, Gunter’s Space Page)

MONDAY

Feb 12 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Lecture: Insights into Titan’s Circulation and Hydrologic Cycle from Model-Data Comparisons; Juan Manuel Lora from UCLA.

Toronto Advances Satellite and Space Science at SmallSat Symposium and WPSE

The Canadian SmallSat Symposium will be held at Toronto Westin Prince Hotel on February 13-15 with theme “Responsible Revolution”. The Commercial Space 101 workshop will start the first day of the Symposium with (L-R) COPUOS chairman David Kendall, Michael Simpson from Secure World Foundation, and Canadian Space Agency flight operations manager Michel Doyon. The workshop will highlight revolutionary opportunities in various aspects of a growing, global commercial space sector. The symposium, sponsored by Canadian Space Commerce Association, expects over 80 speakers. It will focus on space sustainability, including solutions to issues such as LEO overcrowding, broadcasting interference, and increasing potential satellite collisions as numerous smallsats are slated for deployment. There are currently ~2,000 active satellites, the majority of those in LEO remain within 500 km of Earth, traveling at least ~28,000 km per hour. On February 17-18, WPSE (Women in Planetary Science and Exploration) inaugural conference will be at University of Toronto. Over 40 presenters and 7 keynote speakers include AZ State Space Tech and Science director Tanya Harrison and The Centers of Discovery in Earth & Space and Fossils & Evolution managing director Marianne Mader. The conference is an opportunity for scientists and engineers to showcase their recent findings while highlighting the achievements of women in related fields. (Image Credit: WPSE, National Space Society, Secure World Foundation, CSCA, NASA, CSA, Royal Ontario Museum)

Feb 12-16 — University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland: Workshop: Water During Planet Formation and Evolution.

Feb 12-16 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Pasadena CA: Workshop: MarsX – Mars Subsurface Exploration.

Feb 12 — Moon: 1.8° N of Pluto, 10:00.

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.

Jan 15 – Feb 16 — International Space University, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia: 2018 Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program; intensive, five week, live-in experience designed around an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary educational philosophy.

Jan 16 – Feb 16 — NASA, Online / Chico CA: Kickstarter Campaign: First to the Moon – The Journey of Apollo 8; to create a feature documentary film about Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders and the Apollo 8 mission that brought back ‘Earthrise’ photo.

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.

TUESDAY

Feb 13-14 — Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand: Science for SKA Colloquium 2018.

Feb 13-15 — Canadian Space Commerce Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: 2018 Canadian SmallSat Symposium: SmallSat Responsible Revolution; and Commercial Space 101 workshop.

Feb 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 SY16: Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU).