New Views of the Moon 2 Workshop Synthesizing New Data for Advanced Lunar Exploration

Lunar and Planetary Institute at Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in Houston TX is hosting the New Views of the Moon 2 workshop on May 24-26 as a first step in publishing the comprehensive ~2018 sequel to the 2006 New Views of the Moon, including latest Moon mission data, sample analyses, and Earth-based observations made in the 21st century. Conference Conveners Clive Neal (University of Notre Dame) and Stephen Mackwell (LPI) will be joined by Paul Spudis (LPI), Charles Shearer (University of New Mexico), Georgiana Kramer (LPI), Lisa Gaddis (USGS), Samuel Lawrence (ASU), Jeff Plescia (JPL) and dozens of other scientists and researchers. Main topics, each with various subtopics and lectures, cover development of the Moon and cislunar space, lunar surface volatiles, interior, tectonics, cratering, magmatic evolution, crust, meteorites, magnetism, exosphere, and space weathering. An abundance of data will be added to the book from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LCROSS, SMART-1, ARTEMIS, Chandrayaan-1, SELENE (Kaguya), LADEE, GRAIL, Chang’e-1, -2 and -3, with references to recent lunar modeling, terrestrial analogs and Apollo sample analyses. (Image Credit: NASA, LPI, USRA, U of Notre Dame, UNM, Space Station Museum, USGS, GSFC, ASU, JAXA/NHK, Chinese Academy of Sciences/NAOC)

MONDAY

May 23 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 47 monitoring station surfaces and air for microbes, planning to expand BEAM on Thursday; traveling at 28,158 kph and orbiting Earth every 90 minutes, station has completed more than 100,000 orbits of Earth, traveled distance between Earth and Neptune.

May 23 — Rosetta, Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Orbit: Craft creating highest-detailed maps of comet, flying through tail in final months of its 12-year mission and lowering its altitude over Comet before “relatively soft impact” planned for end of Sep / mid-Oct.

 May 23 — New Horizons, KBO 2014 MU69 Trajectory: Collecting data on KBO 1994 JR1 with Long Range Reconnaissance Imager to pinpoint location to within 1,000 km & provide insights into Kuiper Belt; science team awaiting NASA approval for proposed Kuiper Belt extended mission.

May 23 — Moon Express, Moffett Field CA: NewSpace company with CEO Bob Richards working to be 1st private company to land on Moon in 2017, launch via Rocket Lab, and building up to sample return missions ~2020, aiming for another US$30M in investment funding this year.

May 23 — B612 Foundation, Mountain View CA: Raising funds to develop Sentinel Space Telescope for launch 2017–2018 to heliocentric orbit similar to that of Venus, mission will aim to locate 90% of NEOs greater than 140 meters in diameter, estimated to cost US$450M for 10 years of operation; CEO Ed Lu.

May 23 — Space Tango, Lexington KY: Designing platforms for microgravity research, planning automated lab TangoLab-1 to be installed at ISS Q2 2016, will be able to run 21 individual experiments & send near-real-time data to researchers; CTO & CEO Twyman Clements.

May 23 — Planetary Society, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo CA: LightSail 2 – Day in the Life two-phase test to occur today with May 24 as back up date, with attendees Bill Nye, Bruce Betts, Jason Davis, Dave Spencer.

May 23 — UK Space Agency, RAL Space, Science and Technology Facilities Council, London, United Kingdom: Seminar: Developing the UK’s Civil Space Strategy – Investment, Barriers to Growth and Inspiring the Next Generation.

Roscosmos and IAA Host Human Space Exploration Conference in Korolyov

The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos) is organizing an international Human Space Exploration Conference on May 24-26 with Plenary session at the DK Kalinina (Korolevskiy Dramaticheskiy Theatre and Cultural Center) and technical sessions at IPK “Mashpribor” (United Rocket and Space Corporation Institute for Mechanical and Instrument Engineering Personnel Training). The industrial city of Korolyov in the Moscow region hosts the RKA Mission Control Center and is well known as the cradle of space exploration in the country, having been converted from World War II artillery to launch vehicle and spacecraft production under the guidance of renowned scientist and academician Sergei Korolev. The conference is in preparation for the next IAA Heads of Agencies summit set for 2017 and is timed to coincide with celebrations of the 55th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. The Plenary Session titled “Human Space Exploration: Present and Future” includes Roscosmos head Igor Komarov, NASA Assoc. Administrator William Gerstenmaier, First China Astronaut Yang Liwei, ESA ISS Interagency Coordinator Thomas Reiter and others. Seven technical sessions take place May 25 on topics such as international cooperation in human space missions, application of automatic and robotic systems in human space missions, and functions of state and business in space exploration. (Image Credit: Roscosmos, IAA, CNSA, NASA, Russian Post)

May 23-25 — ESA, Valencia, Spain: 2016 ESA Workshop on Aerospace EMC; at Westin Hotel.

May 23-27 — ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: Clean Space Industrial Days; to discuss Space Debris Mitigation (SDM) and Active Debris Removal (ADR), at ESTEC.

May 23-27 — Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), Taipei, Taiwan: M87 Workshop: Towards the 100th Anniversary of the Discovery of Cosmic Jets.

May 23 – Jul 29 — The Lunar and Planetary Institute, Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston TX: Exploration Science Summer Intern Program.

Continued from…

Aug 28, 2015 – Aug 28, 2016 — NASA, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 4; at 2,440-meter altitude.

Feb 26 — Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Exhibit Open: A New Moon Rises – New Views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.

May 3-31 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA / Online: US$50,000 fundraising campaign to fund work in education, public outreach, SETI searches.

May 19-23 — Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Canadian Astronomy Telescope Show, London, Ontario, Canada: 57th RASC General Assembly & AstroCATS; Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen to deliver opening remarks at AstroCATS on May 21.

May 22-26 — Japan Geoscience Union, Chiba, Japan: Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2016; at Makuhari Messe.