Astronautics and Astronomy Advancing at Successive CASI, RASC, CSCA Meetings in Ontario

The Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute is hosting the 17th Astronautics Conference (ASTRO 2016) May 17-19 at the Delta Hotel City Centre in the national capital Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The plenary program features Canadian and International space leaders including Canadian Space Agency President Sylvain Laporte, ESA Director General Jan Woerner, DLR Chair of Executive Board Pascale Ehrenfreund, Mexican Space Agency Director General Francisco Jiménez, NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan and NASA Chief Technologist David Miller. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is meeting for the 57th RASC General Assembly in a joint event with AstroCATS, Canada’s largest astronomy and telescope show (RASC GA2016 / AstroCATS) May 19-23 at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. The comprehensive schedule comprises exhibits, displays, lectures, workshops, demonstrations, tours and social events. Presenters include Peter Brown of Western University, Charles Ennis of RASC Sunshine Coast, Anne Hornschemeier of Goddard Research Center NASA, Robert Jedicke of Institute for Astronomy of University of Hawaii, David Levy comet hunter extraordinaire and others. On May 16 Navdeep Bains, Minister for CSA, is scheduled to make an announcement on Human spaceflight alongside a CSA Astronaut and CSA President Sylvain Laporte. The Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA) convenes its Annual General Meeting May 24 at the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto. (Image Credit: CASI, RASC, AstroCATS, CSCA, CSA, DLR, AEM, ESA)

MONDAY

May 16 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 47 six-member crew preparing for BEAM expansion May 25, transferring cargo from Cygnus OA-6 & loading with waste, working with WetLab-2 Module allowing crew to isolate RNA & DNA from cell cultures or tissues, Commander Kopra to speak with ABC this week, Peake to interview with CNN, both will speak with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in June; more than 3M photos have been taken by Astronauts from ISS.

May 16 — Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover, Guang Han Gong, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon Surface: China craft in Lunar Day 31 sending data to Earth; Chang’e-5 lander & sample return mission planned 2017 to land near Chang’e-3, Chang’e-4 orbiter to far side of Moon 2018, Chang’e-6 expected in 2020 and human Moon mission tentatively set for mid-2030s.

May 16 — Asteroid Redirect Mission, Proposed / Near Earth Orbit: Mission still in development phase is targeting 4 potential NEAs suitable for collecting 1 boulder from surface to transfer to lunar orbit for Human science investigations; there are 14,255 known NEOs.

May 16 — SpaceX, Hawthorne CA: NewSpace company first Moon mission planned for 2nd half 2017 with GLXP contenders SpaceIL (Astrobotic also intends to utilize SpaceX), mission to Mars announced with Red Dragon landing as early as 2018, maiden launch Nov 2016 of Falcon Heavy which could send a crew-carrying spacecraft to Jupiter.

May 16 — Tethers Unlimited, Bothell WA: Developing ERASMUS food-safe plastic recycler / sterilizer / 3D printer to eliminate waste for Human deep space missions, proposing 3D printed radiation shielding and a telerobotic arm to perform automated tasks on NanoRacks payloads reducing dependency / time burden on Astronauts; CEO Robert Hoyt.

May 16 — Swiss Space Systems (S3), Payerne, Switzerland: Advocating for spaceport in Switzerland, planning to begin commercial zero-g flights this year for 70 passengers at a time, SOAR suborbital reusable shuttle to be assembled in 2017 with testing in 2018.

Korea SpaceOps 2016 Hosts International Space Agency Leaders

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and AIAA are holding the 14th International Conference on Space Operations (SpaceOps 2016) with the theme “Expanding the Space Community” in Daejeon, South Korea on May 16-20 at the Daejeon Convention Center. Speakers include (L-R) KARI President Gwang-Rae Cho, UAE Space Agency Director General Mohamed Alahbabi, South African National Space Agency (SANSA) CEO Sandile Malinga, NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier, and representatives from ESA, ISRO, DLR, CNES, JAXA, United Kingdom and Thailand. The program will focus on mission planning and management, cross support and interoperability, launch and spaceflight operations, and operations-enabling technology in ground and flight systems. There will also be a social program with a welcome reception, guided tour and closing ceremony. The awards dinner will honor New Horizons Mission Operations Team / JHU-APL, Christopher Kraft Jr. NASA Johnson Space Center (retired), and Christine Chubenko of What Webs We Weave company. KARI, founded 1989, is developing Korean Space Launch Vehicle-2 (Naro-2) to launch its planned 2018 Moon orbiter mission from Naro Space Center in South Jeolla, as well as an indigenous second-stage rocket (by March 2018), Moon lander and 10-20 kg rover (2020), an indigenous third-stage rocket (2021) and future interplanetary missions. It also operates a successful Earth observation KOMPSAT program (1999-present), sounding rocket fleet and new facilities for engine testing. (Image Credit: SpaceOps, KARI, AIAA, UAE Space Agency, NASA, SPC, et al)

May 16 — Canadian Space Agency,

May 16 — AIAA, Reston VA / Online: Voting closes today 23:59 EDT for AIAA Board of Directors and a ballot proposal to update, amend the AIAA Constitution.

May 16-19 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Incline Village NV: Conference: Biosignature Preservation and Detection in Mars Analog Environments; at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe.

May 16-20 — Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Titusville FL: Robotic Mining Competition; for university-level students to design and build a robot that can traverse simulated Martian terrain and perform other tasks.

May 16-20 — Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), AIAA, Daejeon, South Korea: 14th International Conference on Space Operations (Space Ops 2016).

May 16-20 — ESO, Santiago, Chile: Workshop: Resolving Planet Formation in the Era of ALMA and Extreme AO.

May 16-20 — International Astronomical Union, Medellin, Colombia: Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) Conference 2016.

May 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 BX14: Near-Earth flyby (0.058 AU).

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.