Launch Flurry Marks Record Year, Sets Tone for 2017
Seven rocket launches spread across six launch complexes involving a wide array of customers, providers and missions profiles emphasizes the diversification of spaceflight in the early 21st Century. The projected global total of orbital launches for 2016 is 88, if all currently scheduled launches proceed and are successful. This year has also seen inauguration of 2 major new Pacific spaceports, Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on China’s Hainan Island and Vostochny Cosmodrome at Amur Oblast in the Russian Far East. On December 12 Orbital ATK launches 8 Cyclone GNSS NanoSats from Cape Canaveral; Dec 16 ULA launches EchoStar 19 from the Cape; Dec 19 CNSA launches TanSat climate change satellite from Jiuquan; Dec 20 JAXA launches ERG radiation in geospace exploration satellite from Tanegashima and Arianespace launches Star One D1 & JCSAT 15 from Kourou; Dec 22 ILS launches EchoStar 21 from Baikonur; and Dec 26 CNSA launches SuperView 1 & 2 from Taiyuan. USA in 2016 took the lead in successful orbital rocket launches with 20 (all uncrewed), ahead of China and Russia with 18 each (by country of origin of rocket). There are at least 94 total global orbital launches on the table for 2017, with USA projecting up to 46. (Image Credit: CNSA, RSA, Orbital ATK, ULA, JAXA, Arianespace, ILS)
MONDAY
Ongoing… Dec 12 — ISS, 330-435-km LEO: Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and ESA Astronaut Thomas Pesquet preparing for grapple of JAXA Kounotori cargo ship with Canadarm2 on Tuesday, crew is monitoring fluid shifts in the body with artery and vein measurements, maintaining spacesuits and scrubbing cooling loops – next EVA (U.S. 37) is planned for early Jan 2017.
Dec 12 — Astrosat,65-km Near Equatorial LEO: India first multi-wavelength observatory collecting data with 5 main payloads to advance knowledge on phenomena such as supernova or fate of galaxies, online portal Astrosat Support Cell will make raw data open to public after 1-year proprietary period, expected to continue operations into 2020.
Dec 12 — ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter,Mars Orbit: ESA craft passes first data relay test sending data to Earth from Curiosity & Opportunity rovers, planning to support communications ~1 year from now; will begin atmospheric mapping in 2017 to detect methane (CH4) & other trace gases present which could be evidence for possible biological activity.
Dec 12 — Ad Astra Rocket Company,Webster TX: NewSpace company in 2nd year of 3-year US$9M NextSTEP contract with NASA, planning 1+ hour VASIMR prototype VX-200SS engine firing tests in 2017 leading to 100-hour firing at 100 kilowatts in 2018, has completed 10,000+ firings of prototypes since 2005.
Dec 12 — Blue Origin LLC,Kent WA: New Glenn rocket production facility in Florida (750,000 square feet) to be completed end of 2017, upgraded New Shepard booster & capsule next uncrewed test launch to occur from West Texas, hoping test astronauts will be aboard end of 2017.
Dec 12 — Hawai`i Air and Spaceport,Kona HI: Proposed spaceport at Kona International Airport for horizontal launch & landing vehicles environmental assessment draft under development to bring commercial suborbital tourism, payload deployment to LEO & economic opportunity to Hawaii, utilize existing infrastructure and proximity to ocean; plans are underway by Hawaii Department of Transportation to request FAA approval in 2017.
= All times
for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time;’ Greenwich, England).
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is holding its 49th Fall Meeting December 12-16 in San Francisco CA at Moscone Convention Center. With about 20,000 oral and poster presentations, keynote lectures, workshops, networking and career advancement opportunities, 24,000 participants and hundreds of exhibitors – this is one of the largest Earth and Space science meetings in the world. Cutting-edge science, some of which has not yet been published, will be presented in 29 sections such as Biogeosciences, Near Surface Geophysics, Atmospheric and Space Electricity, and Tectonophysics. Various sessions are co-sponsored by American Meteorological Society, Japan GeoScience Union, European Geosciences Union, and others. The Planetary Sciences session will include presentations on Juno, Jupiter, Io, processes on the Moon, LRO, Mars atmosphere and surface minerals, exoplanet detection and imaging, Titan and ocean worlds, Enceladus, planetary rings, Ceres, Vesta, Venus, Pluto, Charon, comets and asteroids. Keynote lecturers include (L-R) Prince Albert II of Monaco, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, President of the National Academy of Sciences Marcia McNutt, and Pace University Senior Fellow Andrew Revkin. AGU (est. 1919) is a nonprofit organization with HQ in Washington DC and over 62,000 members from 144 countries. (Image Credit: AGU, NASA, GSFC, J. Loomis, Orbital Imaging Corp., Exploring Earth)
Dec 13 — Moon: Full (Moon Before Yule / Cold Moon), 14:06.
Dec 13 — Comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova: 1.3° SSE of 29P Schwassman-Wachman 1, 08:00.
Dec 13 — Aten Asteroid 2015 XX169: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU).
Dec 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 YA: Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU).
Dec 13 — Aten Asteroid 2014 XU6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Dec 14 — Chang’e-3 Lander,Guang Han Gong, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon Surface: Spacecraft enters 4th year of operations on Moon; landed 2013.
Dec 14 — NEOWISE, LEO: NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft (redubbed Near-Earth Object WISE – NEOWISE) begins 8th year in Space; launched 2009.
Dec 14 — Geminids Meteor Shower Peak: Appearing to radiate from constellation Gemini, shower can produce 80-130 meteors per hour; bright, medium-slow meteors (35 km/sec), few leave persistent trains.
Dec 14 — Moon: 5.4° S of M35, 06:00.
Dec 14 — Amor Asteroid 2016 XL2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU).
Dec 15 — Moon: 13.7° S of Castor, 13:00; 10.1° S of Pollux, 17:00.
FRIDAY
Dec 16 — United Launch Alliance, Launch Atlas 5 / EchoStar 19,Cape Canaveral AFS FL: ULA Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-071, to launch EchoStar 19 (also known as Jupiter 2) communications satellite to provide high-speed Internet services for HughesNet in North America.
Dec 16 — Moon: 3.7° S of Beehive cluster, 17:00.
SATURDAY
Dec 17 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA, Downey CA: Educators Workshop: Making Moon Craters; teachers for grades 1-6, free, 10:00-14:00; provides hands-on experiments for teachers on how to make a Moon-like crater demonstration for students in classrooms, camps or at home.
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Seven rocket launches spread across six launch complexes involving a wide array of customers, providers and missions profiles emphasizes the diversification of spaceflight in the early 21st Century. The projected global total of orbital launches for 2016 is 88, if all currently scheduled launches proceed and are successful. This year has also seen inauguration of 2 major new Pacific spaceports, Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on China’s Hainan Island and Vostochny Cosmodrome at Amur Oblast in the Russian Far East. On December 12 Orbital ATK launches 8 Cyclone GNSS NanoSats from Cape Canaveral; Dec 16 ULA launches EchoStar 19 from the Cape; Dec 19 CNSA launches TanSat climate change satellite from Jiuquan; Dec 20 JAXA launches ERG radiation in geospace exploration satellite from Tanegashima and Arianespace launches Star One D1 & JCSAT 15 from Kourou; Dec 22 ILS launches EchoStar 21 from Baikonur; and Dec 26 CNSA launches SuperView 1 & 2 from Taiyuan. USA in 2016 took the lead in successful orbital rocket launches with 20 (all uncrewed), ahead of China and Russia with 18 each (by country of origin of rocket). There are at least 94 total global orbital launches on the table for 2017, with USA projecting up to 46. (Image Credit: CNSA, RSA, Orbital ATK, ULA, JAXA, Arianespace, ILS)
Dec 12 — 
Dec 12 — 
= All times
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time;’ Greenwich, England).
