September 10 – 16, 2012 / Vol 31, No 37 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Ambitious Initiative Aims to Realize Interstellar Space Travel Within Next 100 Years

The 100 Year Starship™ (100YSS) 2012 Public Symposium, to be held on September 13-16, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Houston TX, marks the beginning of a project to realize human interstellar travel within the next 100 years. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will serve as Honorary Chair in this symposium that aims to attract influential intellectual, scientific and cultural leaders to explore the science, social structures and strategies necessary for human interstellar travel. 100YSS will identify and promote radical leaps in knowledge and technology necessary for achieving interstellar flight, while pioneering and transforming breakthrough applications to enhance the quality of life on Earth. The initiative began in November 2010 as the 100-Year Starship Study, a grant project launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA, offering US $500,000 in seed money to create an organization to study what it would take to send humans to another star within the next century. The winning proposal was submitted by the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, established by former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison. The foundation and its partners, Icarus Interstellar, the SETI Institute and the Foundation for Enterprise Development, have already received $1 million from DARPA and $100,000 from the NASA Ames Research Center. (Image Credits: 100YSS, NASA)

Space is the Future at ILA Berlin Air Show

The biannual ILA Berlin Air Show on 11-16 September at the Berlin ExpoCenter Airport will also host a major Space industry trade show. The 1500-square meter Space Pavilion segment of the Air Show will include a comprehensive display of international products and services. ESA, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the DLR German Aerospace Center and the German Aerospace Industries Association are major exhibitors. The purpose is to explore: how space will be used in the future; Earth observation, navigation and communication; space applications for today and tomorrow; future transportation systems; and processes for future cooperation in the fields of commercial and governmental spaceflight. The last ILA in 2010 had 235,000 visitors, 1153 Exhibitors and participation from 47 countries. The newest Member State of ESA, Poland, will be recognized as the special partner country of ILA 2012. (Image Credits: ILA)

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= 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).

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Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mars (WSW), Saturn (WSW). Morning Planets: Venus (E), Jupiter (SSE).

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MONDAY

Sep 10 — ISS, LEO: US astronaut Sunita Williams now holds record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a woman (44 hrs 2 min), surpassing NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (39 hrs 46 min); both women have conducted 6 EVA each.

Sep 10 — Mars Science Laboratory, En route to Glenelg, Mars: Curiosity taking week-long break from driving to test various instruments attached to its 2.1-meter robotic arm and ensure they survived the journey.

Sep 10 — Cassini-Huygens Solstice Mission, Saturn Orbit: New orbital inclination providing Cassini spacecraft more direct view of polar regions and moons for analysis of seasonal changes in Saturn system.

Sep 10 — Southern Stars, San Francisco CA: Using crowdfunding to finance $200,000 design and launch of nano-satellite SkyCube, as well as Twitter to encourage people to feel connected to space and excited about space travel.

Sep 10 — Astrobotic Technology Inc., Pittsburgh PA: Developing technologies for exploring caves on Moon, Mars and beyond, 1 of 10 teams selected for phase II awards from NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program.

Sep 10 — Mars One, Amersfoort, The Netherlands : Aims to launch a series of robotic missions between 2016 and 2020 to build habitable outpost on Mars, then land first humans on Mars in 2023.

Sep 10 —AIAA San Francisco Section, San Francisco, CA: Sky Cube – Science, Social and Space.

Sep 10-12 — The Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: ‘The Mantle of Mars: Insights from Theory, Geophysics, High Pressure Studies, and Meteorites.’

Sep 10-13 — International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Perth, Western Australia: ‘Workshop: The Magellanic System: In Perspective.’

Sep 10-14 — Euroconsult, Paris, France: ‘World Satellite Business Week.’

Sep 10-14 — Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence, Brugge, Belgium: ‘Fifth Solar Orbiter Workshop.’

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Continued from…

Jul 1 – Dec 31 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Online: ‘AIAA Short Course: Introduction to Space Flight,‘ Francis Hale.

Aug 30- Dec 3 — GRAIL Mission, NASA JPL, Lunar Orbit: NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission Extended Science Operations.

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TUESDAY

Sep 11-13 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Pasadena CA: ‘AIAA Space 2012 Conference & Exposition.’

Sep 11-14 — Air Force Research Laboratory, Maui Economic Development Board, Wailea, Maui Island HI: ‘Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference.’

Sep 11-14 — Applied Technology Institute, Manhattan Beach CA: ‘Fundamentals Of Orbital & Launch Mechanics.’

Sep 11-16 — German Space Industries Association, ILA, Berlin, Germany: ‘ILA Berlin Air Show.’

Sep 11 — Moon: 10.8° SSW of Pollux, 04:00.

WEDNESDAY

Sep 12 — AIAA, Northrop Grumman, Pasadena CA: ‘Leading the STEM Charge – Illuminating the Potential of Aerospace,’ Opportunity for local high school students to showcase their work, network with aerospace professionals and learn about educational choices / career paths in aerospace.

Sep 12 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium: ‘Ice on the Move: From Io to Pluto,’ presented by John Spencer, Southwest Research Institute.

Sep 12 — Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington DC: ‘Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee,’ teleconference on space commercialization.

Sep 12 — Explore Mars, National Space Society, Washington DC: ‘We Choose to Explore Space Congressional Blitz,’ legislative outreach event talking to key congressional offices about strategies for advancing U.S. space program.

Sep 12-15 — Confederation of Indian Industry, Bangalore, India: ‘Bengaluru Space Expo 2012.’

Sep 12 — National Space Society, Washington DC: 2013 Humans to Mars Summit: Deadline for Pre-Launch registration.

Sep 12 — ISS, LEO: Third Kounotori HTV set to depart International Space Station and initiate destructive reentry back through Earth’s atmosphere, broadcast live on NASA TV, 00:30.

Sep 12 — Moon: 3.6° S of Venus, 06:00; 6.0° S of Beehive Cluster, 08:00.

THURSDAY

Sep 13 — Space Foundation, Maui Economic Development Board, Wailuku, Maui HI: Astronaut Leroy Chiao will speak about his various space missions and work with Russia, Japan and Europe astronauts at the Cameron Center Auditorium, 17:30.

NET Sep 13 — ULA, Launch Atlas V / NROL-36, Vandenberg AFB CA: ULA Atlas 5 rocket set to launch classified spacecraft payload for US National Reconnaissance Office.

Sep 13 — Washington National Cathedral, Washington DC: Public memorial service to honor astronaut Neil Armstrong to be broadcast live on NASA Television, 10:00 ET.

Sep 13 — International Space Station, LEO: ‘YouTube Space Lab Live,’ Astronauts to reveal results of winning experiments by Amr Mohamed of Egypt and Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma of U.S. live from ISS via YouTube.

Sep 13 — Secure World Foundation, Brussels, Belgium: ‘International Relations and Space: The European Approach.’

Sep 13-14 — Romanian Space Agency, International Academy of Astronautics, International Institute of Space Law, Mamaia, Romania: ‘1st IAA Conference on Space Systems as Critical Infrastructures.’

Sep 13-14 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: ‘The von Karman Lecture Series: The Challenge of Mars Exploration.’

Sep 13-15 — Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff AZ: ‘Origins of the Expanding Universe: 1912-1932.’

Sep 13-16 — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Houston TX: ‘100 Year Starship™ 2012 Public Symposium.’

Sep 13 — Asteroid 2012 PZ19: Near-Earth Flyby (0.092 AU).

Sep 13 — Moon: 5.6° SSW of Regulus, 22:00.

FRIDAY

Sep 14 — The Space Foundation, Colorado Springs CO: ‘The Space Foundation Presents a 30th Anniversary Salute to Air Force Space Command.’

Sep 14 — DLR German Aerospace Center, ESA, Berlin, Germany: ‘2012 ILA Tweetup.’

Sep 14-16 — Mars Society Australia, Canberra, Australia: ‘12th Australian Mars Exploration Conference.’

Sep 14 — Juno Mission, Jupiter Trajectory: ‘NASA Juno Deep Space Maneuvers,’ second of two scheduled deep space maneuvers.

Sep 14 — Asteroid 2012 QG42: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU).

Sep 14 — Asteroid 2012 QC8: Near-Earth Flyby (0.058 AU).

SATURDAY

Sep 15 — Space Foundation, Lockheed Martin Colorado Springs CO: ‘What If…Festival of Innovation,’ event featuring activities demonstrating and encouraging innovation, imagination and creativity.

Sep 15 — Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel MD: Abstract deadline for ‘2012 SEASONS Conference: Operating Through Solar Max,’ on Nov 14-16.

Sep 15 — The British Interplanetary Society, London, England: ‘From Imagination to Reality.’

Sep 15-23 — Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, Armenian Astronomical Society , Byurakan, Armenia: ‘Fourth Byurakan International Summer School for Young Astronomers.’

SUNDAY

Sep 16 — Moon: 5.5° SSW of Mercury, 05:00.