AIAA Starts 2018 with SciTech Forum and Exposition in Florida

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is hosting 2018 Science and Technology Forum on January 8-12 in Kissimmee FL with support by Lockheed Martin Corp, ULA, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman, Airbus and others. 11 technical conferences and 9 courses / workshops that comprise SciTech 2018 will have ~4,000 participants exploring cutting edge aerospace research and technology findings in fields including Propellants and Combustion, Communications Systems, Space Operations, Space Resource Utilization, Spacecraft Structures, Aerospace Sciences, and Terrestrial / Wind Energy. There will also be an Exhibition Hall with 55 exhibitors. Some of the 2,000 technical papers will be from (L-R) Surendra Sharma of NASA Ames and Sunil Chintalapati of Florida Institute of Technology discussing Emerging Technologies for Mars and Other Planetary Exploration; Michael Grant of Purdue University and Zachary Putnam of University of Illinois talking on Launch Vehicle, Entry Vehicle, and Projectile Flight Dynamics; and 2 sessions on Asteroid and Non-Earth Orbiting Missions featuring Jay McMahon of University of Colorado Boulder. Aerospace representatives will be attending from NASA, JAXA, DLR, Canadian Space Agency, India, S Korea, China, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy and nearly 1,300 institutions from 40 countries. The Rising Leaders in Aerospace program features a leadership exchange / speed mentoring, networking events and a panel sponsored by AIAA Diversity Working Group on Moving Us Forward: Growing Diversity in the Aerospace Sector with Jandria Alexander of Booz Allen Hamilton, Melissa Sampson of ULA, and Janet Nickloy of Harris Corporation. (Image Credit: AIAA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co., ULA)

MONDAY

Lunar Science for Landed Missions Workshop at NASA Ames this Week

On January 10-12 at Ames Research Center in California, NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) and Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) are holding a workshop focused on science targets for near-term Moon landers. This 2.5-day workshop is intended to result in a report on the community consensus of scientifically prioritized lunar surface targets, to be delivered to NASA Headquarters within this month. Greg Schmidt from SSERVI and Clive Neal from LEAG are chairing the workshop, with a 9-member Science Organizing Committee consisting of long-time lunar scientists such as Ben Bussey and Carle Pieters. There will be a panel on the first day on commercial landing opportunities with representatives from Moon Express, Astrobotic, Team Hakuto and Blue Origin. Another panel will discuss global opportunities with Russia IKI, Japan JAXA, Korea KARI and ESA. About 50 people will give oral presentations, including Jack Burns from University of Colorado Boulder who will discuss the lunar farside and its potential for low frequency radio astronomy and cosmology. Apollo Astronaut Jack Schmitt is giving a talk on “How the last Apollo samples were collected”. All the workshop participants will be invited to help evaluate and rank potential target sites on the Moon. For those unable to be present, remote participation will be possible online as well. (Pictured: SSERVI Greg Schmidt, LEAG Clive Neal; Image Credit: NASA, LEAG, U. of Notre Dame)

Jan 8-12 — AIAA, Kissimmee FL: 2018 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech 2018); AIAA Spacecraft Structures Conference; Space Flight Mechanics Meeting; at Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center.

Jan 8 — Moon: At last quarter, 12:25.

Jan 8 — Venus: At superior conjunction, 20:00.

Jan 8 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 XT61: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU).

Jan 8 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 YX4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU).

Continued from…

NET Dec – Feb 2018 — 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.

Dec 19 – Mar 6, 2018 — CNSA, Online / Beijing, China: CNSA collecting 20,000 digital messages from public to be stored in Chang’e-4 relay satellite launching May-June 2018 to Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange Point to support Moon South Pole missions.

Jan 7-13 — University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, Applied Physics Laboratory, Peking University, Kona HI: Conference: Fundamental Physical Processes in Solar-Terrestrial Research and Their Relevance to Planetary Physics 2018.

TUESDAY

Jan 9 — CNSA, Launch Long March 2D / Superview 1-03 and 04, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China: Long March 2D rocket to launch two SuperView 1 (GaoJing) Earth observation satellites for Beijing Space View Technology Co.