ISU Convenes 28th Space Studies Program in Ohio, USA

The International Space University annual Space Studies Program session is taking place June 8 – August 7 at Ohio University in Athens in partnership with the NASA Glenn Research Center. ISU President Walter Peeters describes the program as “the culmination of a growing relationship between Ohio University (OHIO), ISU Prof. Bukley…and Prof. Irwin.” Dr. Angie Bukley is a Senior Project Engineer for The Aerospace Corporation and former ISU Dean for Academics and Research. She will serve as a team project co-chair during the program. Dr. Dennis Irwin is Dean & Moss Professor of Engineering Education at the OHIO Russ College and an ISU faculty member who has twice chaired the space systems engineering department and regularly served as a lecturer or workshop leader. The International Astronaut Panel on June 17 features Harrison Jack Schmitt (USA), Sergei Krikalev (Russia), Bob Thirsk (Canada) and Paolo Nespoli (Italy). There will also be an Arthur C. Clarke Panel where space meets popular culture on June 24. Both of these panel sessions, and many others, are open to the public and will be webcast on the ISU Live channel. (Image Credit: ISU, OHIO, A. Bukley, D. Irwin)

MONDAY

Jun 8 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 43 preparing for 3-member departure this week – initiating start of Exp 44 mission, adjusting Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack & Thermal Container for upcoming Cell Mechanosensing-3 experiment, working with studies on plasma crystals, rodent research, fluid shifts.

Jun 8 — Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Mars Orbit: India ISRO orbiter, as well as all NASA & ESA spacecraft, operate into fully autonomous mode during communications blackout period until Jun 22 while Sun comes between Mars & Earth.

Jun 8 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #411 today.

Jun 8 — New Horizons, Pluto Trajectory: Now 36 days away from Pluto / Charon closest approach, will search for rings, map surface, study Pluto atmosphere, measure surface temperature; will continue to send Pluto data for 16 months after flyby.

Jun 8 — Blue Origin, Kent WA: NewSpace company may build rocket manufacturing complex (for ~US$220M) close to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, developing 550,000-lbf thrust BE-4 engine to power ULA Vulcan rocket.

Jun 8 — Virgin Galactic, Mojave CA: Continuing work on new SpaceShipTwo, hoping to begin ground testing by end of 2015 & captive carry flights, glide flights, powered flights in 2016.

Jun 8 — B612 Foundation, Mountain View CA: Planning activities in San Francisco for Asteroid Day Jun 30; in partnership with Ball Aerospace to build & launch Sentinel infrared space telescope.

Jun 8-10 — AIAA, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Netherlands Space Society, American Astronautical Society, Delft, The Netherlands: 8th International Workshop on Satellite Constellations and Formation Flying.

Low Cost and Planetary Probe Missions in Focus in Germany

The 11th International Academy of Astronautics Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference (LCPM-11) is being held June 9-11 at the Einstein room of Archenhold Observatory in Berlin, Germany. Planetary scientists, agency officials and mission project managers will discuss ideas for nano- and CubeSats, and fixed cost robotic missions comparable to JAXA Hayabusa missions and ISRO Chandrayaan-1, as well as the NASA Discovery program and ESA Cosmic Vision small / medium class programs. The conference honorary chair is G. Madhavan Nair, President of IAA (pictured). Sessions will include Space Agencies on-going and developing missions, science instruments and advanced concepts for next-generation low-cost missions and launchers. The 12th Interplanetary Probe Workshop will occur June 15-19 at the Hyatt Hotel in Cologne, Germany. Talks, presentations, posters and networking sessions will focus on science goals, probes, landers, deployment vehicles, airless bodies, Europa, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, Rosetta, Dawn, New Horizons and the Asteroid Redirect mission. Visits to DLR Supersonic and Hypersonic Technology Department, Rosetta Lander Control Center, Envihab at Institute of Aerospace Medicine, and ESA European Astronaut Center are included. Conference chairs include Aaron Morris from NASA Langley, Hannes Griebel from Thales Alenia Space, Anita Sengupta from JPL, Ozgur Karatekin from Royal Observatory of Belgium and Ali Gülhan from German Aerospace Center. (Image Credit: IAA, ISRO, DLR, NASA, ARC, Chris Kallas, JPL, ESA)

Jun 8-10 — ESA,

Jun 8-11 — U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff AZ: 2nd Planetary Data Workshop.

Jun 8-12 — Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland: Euclid Consortium Meeting 2015; at SwissTech Convention Center.

Jun 8-12 — Italy National Institute for Astrophysics, Firenze, Italy: Conference: IGM@50 – Is the Intergalactic Medium Feeding Star Formation?

Jun 8-13 — NASA, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA: Sample Return Robot Challenge.

Jun 8-19 — International Institute of Physics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil: Theoretical Frontiers in Black Holes and Cosmology.

Jun 8 – Aug 7 — International Space University, Glenn Research Center, NASA, Ohio University, Athens OH: ISU 28th Space Studies Program (SSP 2015).

Jun 8 — Moon: 3.1° NNW of Neptune, 15:00.

Continued from…

Oct 15, 2014 – Jun 12 — NASA, University of Hawai`i, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 3.

May 1 – Jun 30 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, National Space Grant Foundation, Houston TX: 2015 eXploration Habitat (X-Hab); university-level students’ designs for functional space habitat subsystems prototypes to be submitted & evaluated.

May 26 – Jul 31 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 2015 Exploration Science Summer Intern Program.

Jun 1 – Aug 7 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 2015 LPI Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science.