Women on the Moon & USA 21st Century Leadership

Celebrating Women’s Equality Day on August 26 many are looking ahead to the next great gender-barriers to be overcome, USA President, United Nations Secretary General, “Lunarnaut”. Sixty women explorers, 11% of the total 549 Astronauts so far, comprise some of the most well known and inspirational Stars of the Space Age: Valentina Tereshkova (1st woman in Space, Vostok 6, June 16 1963), Sally Ride (1st USA woman in Space, youngest of any American astronaut, Challenger STS-7, June 18-24 1983), Barbara Morgan (1st teacher in Space, STS-118, Aug 8 2007), Eileen Collins (1st woman pilot, STS-63, 1st woman commander of a Space Shuttle STS-93), Kathy Sullivan (1st USA woman EVA, STS 41-G, October 11 1984), Sunita Williams (record for total EVAs (7) and total EVA duration by a woman, 50 hours 40 minutes), Mae Jemison (1st African-American woman in Space, STS-47, September 12-20 1992), Shannon Lucid (record until 2007 for most flight hours in orbit for a female astronaut), Liu Yang (1st PRC woman in space, 1st crewed mission to Tiangong 1 space station, Shenzhou 9, June 16 2012) and many others. A new generation of sustainable Human Moon Missions to establish a critical permanent toehold on our nearest celestial neighbor is now within reach. Astronauts could be on the surface at high-value Moon South Pole, where no man or woman has gone before, within 5-7 years for a cost of about US$10B. Women crewing spacecraft on global / international missions of peace to Earth-orbit, Moon, Mars, Solar System Complete in the 21st Century launch on foundations built in part on the 19th Amendment to the United States constitution which codified as law the right of women to vote 96 years ago this week. (Image Credit: NASA, RSA, ESA, JAXA, CSA, CNSA, KARI, ILOA, Women Astronaut identification)

MONDAY

Aug 22 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 48 planning to stow EVA gear and equipment from recent spacewalk to install IDA-2, review procedures for next EVA set for Sep 1; transferring cargo from Progress MS-02 & MS-03, preparing Dragon CRS-9 for unberthing and release next Monday; Williams, Ovchinin, Skripochka performing exercises and readying for return to Earth in 2 weeks.

Aug 22 — Curiosity, Murray Formation, Mount Sharp, Mars Surface: Rover received NASA approval to operate through October 2018, continues rock drilling analyses to map minerals & aid in understanding of planet evolution, 13th drill site selection upcoming, has driven more than 13.68 km.

Aug 22 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Craft built by 16 European Countries & USA in excellent health & orbiting Saturn with a period of 16 days, will start revolution 241 of Saturn this week, perform 8 more flybys of Titan & 2 more of Enceladus before end of 2016, scheduled to deorbit Sep 15, 2017.

Aug 22 — Earth2Orbit (E2O), Bengaluru, India: NewSpace company providing launch procurement services for PSLV launches via Antrix Corporation, offering remote sensing data products using Earth observation imagery from ISRO satellites; offices located in Osaka, San Francisco & Vienna; Founder Amaresh Kollipara, CEO Susmita Mohanty.

Aug 22 — Deep Space Industries, Moffett Field CA: Co-founder Rick Tumlinson detailing plans to develop 30-cm Prospector-X prototype craft for launch to LEO in 2017 with support from Luxembourg Government, and 50-kg Prospector-1 launching 2020 to asteroid for mapping.

Aug 22 — Glasgow Prestwick Spaceport, Prestwick, United Kingdom: Spaceport in UK under development, MoU with XCOR & Orbital Access Limited establishes intent for crewed flights from this location; UK Space Agency is developing National Propulsion Test Facility in Buckinghamshire for £4.12M.

Aug 22 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Chrishma Singh-Derewa of JPL.

Aug 22-23 — World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, Paris, France: 18th International Conference on Satellite and Space Communications (ICSSC 2016).

Aug 22-26 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Caltech, JPL, UCLA, Pasadena CA: Exoplanet Imaging and Characterization: Coherent Differential Imaging and Signal Detection Statistics.

Aug 22 — Moon: 2.9° SSE of Uranus, 01:00.

Continued from…

Jul 12 – Sep 1 — International Space University, Technion Institute, Israel Space Agency, Haifa, Israel: ISU 29th Space Studies Program (SSP 2016).

Aug 7 – Sep 30 — Airbus, Perlan Project, Teachers in Space, El Calafate, Argentina: Teachers in Space Ground Crew Education Program; team members will fly experiments at 27,500-meter altitudes in air as thin as Mars atmosphere, verify operations and retrieve data for posting to internet.

Aug 8 – Sep 2 — Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Nordita, Stockholm: Program: Black Holes and Emergent Spacetime.

August Astro Month 2016

August may be considered Astro Month, similar to July Space Month and June recently being dubbed Asteroid Month. The primary leading, professional astronomy organization, International Astronomical Union holds its triennial General Assembly in August. The 30th will be held in Austria Aug 20-31, 2018 and the most recent was in Honolulu, Hawai`i Aug 3-14, 2015. IAU brings together more than 10,000 professional astronomers from almost 100 countries. August is rich in meteors with the Perseids, Kappa Cygnids, Aurigids and the latter part of the Delta Aquarids, Alpha Capricornids and Piscis Austrinids. Astro Month is also highlighted as the time (in Northern Hemisphere) when warm summer weather allows for Star Parties including the 30th Annual Alberta Star Party in Canada, the Northern Nights Star Fest in Minnesota and Dark Sky Festival in Oregon. The Voyager spacecraft began their journey toward the Stars in Aug 1977, and Voyager 1 reached interstellar space Aug 25, 2012. The month of August is also a return to school / university education, and a time when Astronomers take vacation and return from vacation specifically in Hawaii. Centrally located in the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii and Mauna Kea at 4,205-meters (13,796 ft) are known as one of the top locations for Astronomers to visit and study the Stars due to low light pollution, stable air quality, pristine Milky Way Galaxy views and world-class observatories. Hawaii will celebrate the 57th observance of becoming the 50th State / 50th Star to the USA constellation flag on August 21, 1959. This year starting on Aug 21, International Lunar Observatory Association and Space Age Publishing Company will be sponsoring the ‘Astronomy Benefits Hawaii’ opinion poll for Hawaii Island residents. (Image Credit: NASA, ILOA, SPC, David Kingham, Doug Morrison)

TUESDAY

Aug 23 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Characterizing the Coldest Exoplanets; Andrew Skemer of UC Santa Cruz, 12:00.

Aug 23 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: LPL Colloquium: Living with a Comet: Rosetta at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; Dennis Dennis Bodewits, Assistant Research Scientist at University of Maryland, 15:45-16:45.

Aug 23-25 — NASA, Raleigh NC: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) 2016 Symposium; discussing technology breakthroughs for exploring beyond low-Earth orbit.

Aug 23 – Sep 1 — European Astrobiology Campus (EAC), COST Action “Origins and Evolution of Life in the Universe”, University of the Azores, Stockholm University, Azores, Portugal: Course: Volcanism, Plate Tectonics, Hydrothermal Vents and Life.

WEDNESDAY

Aug 24 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams to set record for most cumulative time spent in Space by American Astronaut, today marks 520 days.

Aug 24 — Arianespace, Launch Ariane 5 / Intelsat 33e & Intelsat 36, Kourou, French Guiana: Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA232, to launch Intelsat 33e and Intelsat 36 communications satellites.

Aug 24-25 — National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville VA: ALMA Future Science Development Program Workshop.

Aug 24-27 — National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Arlington VA: 4th biennial Aerospace Systems Conference of the National Society of Black Engineers.