Experts Meet at LSA Workshop to Discuss Lunar Surface Missions, Science, Goals

The 5th International Workshop on Lunar Surface Applications is being held April 14-17 in Cocoa Beach Fl at the Courtyard by Marriott. LSA is sponsored by Flexure Engineering, which also hosts LunarCubes workshops, Scientific Opportunities in Cislunar Space and The Lunar Conferences. Featured speakers are Astronaut Cady Coleman, Bob Richards (Moon Express), Nathan O’Konek (Masten Space Systems), David Kring (LPI), Dan Hendrickson (Astrobotic), Jim Keravala (Shackleton Energy), Rob Kelso (PISCES), Wes Faler (Part-Time Scientists), Russell Cox (Flexure Engineering), and many others. Presentation topics will include 3D fabrication and construction, enabling human industrial operations on the Moon by 2020, helium-3 and lunar volatiles extraction, LRO and the lunar flashlight. There are also 8 Design Challenges in which participants will brainstorm to address challenges and solutions for Lunar Architecture & Infrastructure, Entrepreneurship, Subsystems, Precursors & Mission Concepts, and Science & Science Investigations. The annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (formerly the Great Moonbuggy Race) is being held Apr 17-18 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville AL for students to display their designs for exploring planets, moons, asteroids and comets. (Image Credit: Flexure Engineering, NASA, MSFC, Emmett Given, Alex Washburn / Wired, LPI, PT Scientists)

MONDAY

Apr 13 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 43 preparing for Dragon CRS-6 arrival with 1,950 kg of supplies, loading Progress 57P with waste, participating in Ocular Health study & muscle ultrasounds, testing station for pressure leaks & radiation environment.

Apr 13 — Opportunity, Marathon Valley, Mars: Veteran rover, over 10 years on Mars, experiencing periodic flash memory problems; landscape scenes of interest selected by astronauts aboard ISS will be imaged & uploaded when next data set is sent back to Earth.

Apr 13 — Juno, Jupiter Trajectory: Now 448 days & 321M km from Jupiter insertion, is 568M km from Earth traveling 11 km per second relative to Sun, in excellent health & operating nominally.

Apr 13 — Blue Origin LLC, Kent WA: NewSpace company liquid hydrogen & oxygen fueled rocket BE-3 (Blue Engine 3) to begin test flights this year, will power New Shepard suborbital craft; plans for New Shepard orbital flights in the next few years with BE-4 powered by liquefied natural gas.

Apr 13 — Firefly Space Systems, Austin TX: Preparing for Q4 2017 launch of Firefly Alpha rocket able to lift 400 kg to LEO, working to raise US$85M in private investment, engine testing could start in May.

Apr 13 — Copenhagen Suborbitals, Copenhagen, Denmark: Testing Nexø parachute, designing seat & interior layout of Tycho capsule, planning for upcoming tests of BPM-5 rocket engine.

Apr 13 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / CRS 6, Cape Canaveral AFS FL: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch 8th Dragon spacecraft on 6th operational cargo delivery mission to ISS; 16:33 EDT, live coverage available; will attempt to land on floating platform.

Apr 13 — Silicon Valley Space Center, Mountain View CA: Tech Talks: Government for Geeks; presented by Alex Saltman, Senior Advisor to Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

Apr 13-16 — Space Foundation, Colorado Springs CO: 31st National Space Symposium; featuring Buzz Aldrin; at the Broadmoor hotel.

IAA Highlighting Planetary Defense at Conference in Italy

The European Space Research Institute operated by ESA in Frascati, Italy will host the 4th International Academy of Astronautics Conference on Planetary Defense, taking place April 13-17. The overall theme is Assessing Impact Risk and Managing Response and the major focus points in the program are Planetary Defense: Recent Progress & Plans, NEO Discovery, NEO Characterization, Mitigation Techniques & Missions, Impact Effects that Inform Warning, Mitigation & Costs, and Consequence Management & Education. As part of the conference there will be a Hypothetical Asteroid Impact Exercise to encourage researchers and disaster response experts to assess risks, evaluate responses and discuss overall strategies for Planetary Defense in a realistic scenario. Attendees will be presented with updates during the course of the meeting to simulate how an actual threat could evolve. The Keynote titled “Chelyabinsk: Are we ready for a recurrence?” will be presented by Cosmonaut Oleg Atkov. IAA is devoted to fostering the development of astronautics for peaceful purposes and promoting international cooperation in the advancement of aerospace science. It has 1,162 members in 83 countries, is headquartered in Paris (France) and has Study Center Branch Offices in Bangalore (India) and Beijing (China), as well as regional offices in Abuja, (Nigeria), Tunis (Tunisia), Buea (Cameroon) and Nairobi (Kenya). (Image Credit: IAA, ESA)

Apr 13-17 — International Academy of Astronautics, Frascati, Italy: 4th Planetary Defense Conference.

Apr 13-17 — ESO, Santiago, Chile: ESO Workshop: Satellites and Streams in Santiago.

Apr 13-24 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Vienna, Austria: 54th session of the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Apr 13 — Asteroid 2015 FG36: Near-Earth flyby (0.060 AU).

Continued from…

Oct 16, 2014 – Jun 11 — NASA, University of Hawai`i, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 3.