New Horizons 9.5-Year Journey to Pluto Continues: Worth the Wait
The first spacecraft dedicated to explore Pluto, its moons and potential Kuiper Belt Objects (KOBs) – New Horizons, is scheduled to cross Neptune orbital path on August 25. It will be the 5th spacecraft to voyage this far after Pioneers 10 & 11 and Voyagers 1 & 2. Traveling at ~52,883 kph, it is performing instrument check outs, homing activities, course corrections and brightness variation measurements of Pluto and Charon until its scheduled hibernation on September 6. New Horizons will wake in December to prepare for distant-encounter operations and monitoring. It is expected to fly by Pluto at ~10,000 km traveling at 14 km/s on July 14, 2015, after traveling about 9.5 years and 4.8B km. The science team is hoping to capture the first ever high-res images of the dwarf planet and its moon Charon, as well as map IR surface composition / temperatures. PI Alan Stern, among others, hopes that discoveries and data from the Pluto system reignite the “planet-status” debate. Two of the five moons, Kerberos and Styx were discovered in 2011 and 2012 – it is likely more may be found. Observations are expected to continue for at least 1 year after its flyby. Hubble space telescope has revealed two potential Kuiper Belt Objects (1110113Y and 0720090F) which may be suitable for New Horizons to target between 2016-2020. (Image Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, SwRI, ESA, New Horizons KBO Search Team)
Polar Science and Exploration
The Royal Society of New Zealand hosts the 33rd SCAR Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference on August 23 – September 3 at the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland New Zealand. SCAR is the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, an inter-disciplinary committee of the International Council for Science charged with initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. SCAR has members and offices in 38 countries. The program includes a session on Astronomy & Astrophysics from Antarctica convened by Emeritus Professor John Storey of the Department of Astrophysics and Optics, University of New South Wales, Australia. This session includes presentations on IceCube, ESCAPE, exoplanet observations from ASTEP to AST3, and prospects for a Planet Formation Imager on the high Antarctic plateau. To the North just 10° below the Arctic Circle, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut David Saint-Jacques is set to conduct Geology Field Training at the Western Clearwater lake, one of a pair of annular impact crater lakes at 56°N by 74°W, Quebec, Canada. Saint-Jacques will be accompanying a team lead by Dr. Gordon Osinski from the University of Western Ontario Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration. (Image Credit: SCAR, Wikipedia, NASA, Jeff McMahon, Ben Holt Sr. et al)
= All times for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time;’ Greenwich, England).
Aug 25 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 40 crew packing Soyuz TMA-12M with items for return to Earth, preparing for change of command Sep 9, transferring cargo from Progress 56 & ATV-5, setting up Aquatic Habitat for Zebrafish Muscle study.
Aug 25 — Curiosity, Hidden Valley, Mars: Science team evaluating 4th potential drilling rock dubbed Bonanza King; will continue heading toward Pahrump Hills site on the way to Mount Sharp.
Aug 25 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #389 today.
Aug 25 — New Horizons, Pluto Trajectory: Spacecraft to cross Neptune orbit today.
Aug 25 — Canadensys Aerospace Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada: NewSpace company conducting investigation on what Canada’s overall contribution to Mars 2020 rover mission could be under Canadian Space Agency grant award.
Aug 25 — Bigelow Aerospace LLC, Las Vegas NV: Preparing BEAM inflatable habitat to launch / attach to ISS mid-2015 for 2 years; planning for commercial Alpha space station and lunar habitats.
Aug 25 — Uwingu,Boulder CO: For “Beam Me to Mars” initiative, collecting messages to transmit to Mars via Universal Space Network on Nov 28 in celebration of 50th anniversary of the beginning of Mars exploration with Mariner 4 launch.
Aug 24-28 — Brazilian Aerospace Association, Foundation for the Support of Research State of São Paulo,Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil:Meeting: Small Bodies Dynamics 2014 (SBD14).
Aug 27 — ISS, LEO: ISS In-Flight Event – Commander Steve Swanson & Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman talk with Elliot Ranch Elementary School in CA, 17:10 EDT.
Includes ~150 meetings covering the fields of COSPAR Scientific Commissions / Panels / Task Groups, such as SC B: The Earth-Moon System, Planets, and...
From 02 to 07 August 2026, a few thousand geoscientists across diverse disciplines will gather at the 23rd annual meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences...
Virtual Series 2026 will offer deeper conversations on why PQC matters and the practical steps businesses should be taking; starts 1:00 pm AEST. Featuring:...
This international lunar science meeting has two objectives: to provide a platform for leading experts to review recent advances across lunar research, from the...
At CSIR International Convention Centre. Key topics are Earth Observation, Developing Space Tourism, Space Supply Manufacturing. Cultural tours are offered.
Participants will receive theoretical and hands-on training in electron imaging and X-ray spectroscopy for application to planetary samples. This training opportunity is targeted at...
"Leading Australia’s Space Future for Our Strategic Advantage". Southern Space 2026 brings together decision-makers who set the direction for Australia’s space sector. It is...
A total solar eclipse with a magnitude of 1.0386 (greatest eclipse 17:47:06 UTC) will be visible in parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic...
Includes presentation of the Neil Armstrong Award of Excellence, activities for the new class of Astronaut Scholars, 2-day Technical Conference where Scholars present their...
During U.S. spacewalk 97, two astronauts will replace a Space-to-Ground antenna on the orbital complex. The antenna is a critical communication system NASA uses...
Key themes include: Characterizing exoplanet-host solar-like stars; Star-planet interactions; Planet populations around solar-like stars. At University of Liège.
India orbiter surpasses another full year in lunar polar orbit since reaching the Moon in 2019; Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover were unsuccessful in lunar...
The first spacecraft dedicated to explore Pluto, its moons and potential Kuiper Belt Objects (KOBs) – New Horizons, is scheduled to cross Neptune orbital path on August 25. It will be the 5th spacecraft to voyage this far after Pioneers 10 & 11 and Voyagers 1 & 2. Traveling at ~52,883 kph, it is performing instrument check outs, homing activities, course corrections and brightness variation measurements of Pluto and Charon until its scheduled hibernation on September 6. New Horizons will wake in December to prepare for distant-encounter operations and monitoring. It is expected to fly by Pluto at ~10,000 km traveling at 14 km/s on July 14, 2015, after traveling about 9.5 years and 4.8B km. The science team is hoping to capture the first ever high-res images of the dwarf planet and its moon Charon, as well as map IR surface composition / temperatures. PI Alan Stern, among others, hopes that discoveries and data from the Pluto system reignite the “planet-status” debate. Two of the five moons, Kerberos and Styx were discovered in 2011 and 2012 – it is likely more may be found. Observations are expected to continue for at least 1 year after its flyby. Hubble space telescope has revealed two potential Kuiper Belt Objects (1110113Y and 0720090F) which may be suitable for New Horizons to target between 2016-2020. (Image Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, SwRI, ESA, New Horizons KBO Search Team)
The Royal Society of New Zealand hosts the 33rd SCAR Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference on August 23 – September 3 at the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland New Zealand. SCAR is the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, an inter-disciplinary committee of the International Council for Science charged with initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. SCAR has members and offices in 38 countries. The program includes a session on Astronomy & Astrophysics from Antarctica convened by Emeritus Professor John Storey of the Department of Astrophysics and Optics, University of New South Wales, Australia. This session includes presentations on IceCube, ESCAPE, exoplanet observations from ASTEP to AST3, and prospects for a Planet Formation Imager on the high Antarctic plateau. To the North just 10° below the Arctic Circle, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut David Saint-Jacques is set to conduct Geology Field Training at the Western Clearwater lake, one of a pair of annular impact crater lakes at 56°N by 74°W, Quebec, Canada. Saint-Jacques will be accompanying a team lead by Dr. Gordon Osinski from the University of Western Ontario Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration. (Image Credit: SCAR, Wikipedia, NASA, Jeff McMahon, Ben Holt Sr. et al)
= All times for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time;’ Greenwich, England).
