July 16 – 22, 2012 / Vol 31, No 29 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Russia Launch of Soyuz TMA-05A to Deliver Expedition 32 Crew

Expedition 32 continues as three new crew members Yuri Malenchenko (Ukraine-Russia), Sunita Williams (USA) and Akihiko Hoshide (Japan) are set to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft from Baikonur on July 14, then dock with the ISS on July 17 to begin a busy 4 month tour of duty. Expedition 32 began on July 1 when the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the ISS. Before leaving, Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to Russian Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with fellow cosmonaut Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba. The new crew will be preparing for the July 20 arrival of an HTV Japanese cargo vehicle carrying critical payloads for scientific research on the human body in space, including the effects of microgravity and cardiovascular response. The crew also anticipates the arrival of Orbital Sciences and SpaceX commercial vehicles during the 4 month increment. Commander Padalka and flight engineer / Soyuz vehicle commander Malenchenko will conduct an EVA to replace a faulty Main Bus Switching Unit and install cables to transfer U.S. power to the Russian segment for the Multipurpose Laboratory Module coming up next year. A spacewalk to install additional anti-meteorite panels on the ISS will also be conducted. (Image Credit: NASA)

Lunar Science Forum 2012 at Ames Research Park

The 5th annual Lunar Science Forum is being held on July 17-19 at NASA Ames in Moffett Field, California, USA. Organized by the Lunar Science Institute, the Forum will feature exciting early results from GRAIL, in depth results from LRO and ARTEMIS, plans for LADEE, and a variety of topics enabled by scientific investigations of, on and from the Moon. Award winner and pioneer of lunar science, Ross Taylor of Australian National University, gives the annual Shoemaker Award Keynote Lecture in the Main Room at 8:45am on Monday. Dr. Taylor was a member of the Preliminary Examination Team at NASA JSC and carried out the first analysis of the first lunar sample – 21.5kg of lunar material returned to Earth by Apollo 11 on July 24th 1969. The Lunar Exploration and Analysis Group town hall meeting is 4:30-5:30pm on Wednesday. “Lightning Talk” sessions are rapid-fire 2-minute talks (without slides) that give students and others an opportunity to gain visibility and promote their research. Proceedings and presentations will be recorded and posted to the web for on demand viewing. (Image Credit: LPI, NLSI)

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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 (SW). Morning Planets: Venus (E), Jupiter (E).

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MONDAY

Jul 16 — ISS, LEO: ISS astronauts support NASA proposals to expand lab’s crew size from 6 to 7 to enhance research capabilities and utilize space station more effectively as vehicles built by private contractors enter service later this decade.

Jul 16 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Cassini spacecraft has recently resumed orbits that allow for spectacular views of Saturn’s rings.

Jul 16 — New Horizons, Pluto Trajectory: Now nearly 24 A.U. from Earth, New Horizons is back in hibernation until January 2013; spacecraft will start collecting data on interplanetary space — a region of space rarely visited by spacecraft — during these long hibernation periods.

Jul 16 — S/2012 (134340) 1, Pluto Orbit: Following discovery of a fifth moon provisionally designated S/2012 (134340) 1 by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope, the infrared vision of Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be used by astronomers for follow-up observations of Pluto and its satellites.

Jul 16 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mountain View CA: ‘Shackleton Energy: Back to the Moon to Stay.’

Jul 16 — NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field CA: ‘2012 Next Generation Lunar Scientists and Engineers Workshop.’

Jul 16-17 — UK Space Biomedicine Association, Aberdeen, United Kingdom: ‘UK Space Environments Conference.’

Jul 16-20 — Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , Heidelberg, Germany: ‘Conference: Characterizing and Modeling Extrasolar Planetary Atmospheres – Theory and Observation.’

Jul 16-20 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: ‘24th Annual Planetary Science Summer School: Session 2.’

Jul 16-20 — Space Frontier Foundation, Daytona Beach, FL: ‘Teachers in Space: Space Medicine and Human Factors Workshop.’

Jul 16-20 — Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, Miami, FL: ‘2012 IEEE Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference.’

Jul 16-22 — European Southern Observatory, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Chalmers University of Technology, Trieste, Italy: ‘Galactic Winds of Change: Confronting Models with Observations.’

Jul 16-27 — International Centre for Theoretical Physics, South American Institute for Fundamental Research, São Paulo Research Foundation, São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil: ‘Advanced School in General Relativity: Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology.’

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Continued from…

Jun 18 – Jul 26 — NASA Explorer Schools, Various NASA centers: ‘NASA Explorer Schools Summer Workshop;’ workshops to include ‘Extreme Green’ at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH; ‘Airborne Research Experience’ at Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA; ‘There is More to Light than Meets the Eye’ at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD; and ‘Atmospheric Science’ at Wallops Island, VA.

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

Jul 14-22 — Committee on Space Research, Indian Space Research Organization, Mysore, India: ‘39th Scientific Assembly of Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).’

Jul 15-19 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, San Diego CA: ‘42nd International Conference on Environmental Systems.’

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TUESDAY

Jul 17 — ISS, LEO: 3 new crew members set to dock with ISS as Expedition 32 continues.

Jul 17 — U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington DC: ‘Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee Public Teleconference.’

Jul 17-18 — The University of New South Wales, Australian Center for Space Engineering Research, Canberra, Australia: ‘6U CubeSat Low Cost Space Missions Workshop.’

Jul 17-19 — NASA Lunar Science Institute, Moffett Field CA: ‘Lunar Science Forum 2012.’

Jul 17-19 — Applied Technology Institute, Riva MD: ‘3-Day Course: Space Systems & Space Subsystems.’

Jul 17-20 — National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Gemini Observatory, San Francisco CA: ‘Gemini Science Meeting 2012.’

Jul 17 — Asteroid 2012 MM11: Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU).

WEDNESDAY

Jul 18 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium: ‘The Geology of the Terrestrial Planets: Perspectives on the Earth,’ presented by Jim Head, Planetary Geosciences Department, Brown University .

Jul 18 — Moon: 10.6° SSW of Pollux, 11:00; New Moon, 18:23.

THURSDAY

Jul 19 — Arianespace, Analytical Graphics, Intelsat, The Tauri Group, SpaceNews, Washington DC: ‘Future Space 2012.’

Jul 19 — Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, NASA, Hilo HI: Field tests of NASA prototype Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) rover demonstrating how explorers might prospect for resources for survival while on other planetary bodies.

Jul 19-20 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: ‘The von Karman Lecture Series: The Power of Two – How Humans and Robots Explore Space.’

Jul 19-20 — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Baltimore MD: ‘National Capital Area Disks Meeting (NCAD 2012).’

Jul 19 — Moon: 5.9° SSW of Beehive Cluster, 14:00; 1.2° W of Mercury, 20:00.

FRIDAY

Jul 20 — JAXA, H-2B / HTV 3, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan: Japanese H-2B rocket scheduled to launch 3rd H-2 Transfer Vehicle at 18:18. HTV serves as remote-controlled cargo vehicle to deliver equipment and supplies to International Space Station.

Jul 20 — 43rd Apollo 11 Observation, Nationwide USA / Global: 1st Human mission to land on Moon in 1969; 1st steps by humans on another planetary body taken by Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. 36th Viking 1 Observation, Nationwide USA / Global: 1st spacecraft to land / conduct mission on Mars in 1976.

Jul 20 — NASA, Kennedy Space Center FL: ‘NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Meeting.’

Jul 20 — The International Space Elevator Consortium, Redmond WA: Final papers due for the ‘2012 Space Elevator Conference.’

Jul 20 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: ‘Lunch With an Astronaut,’ Ken Cameron.

Jul 20-22 — NASA, USAID, U.S. Department of State, NIKE, Pasadena CA: ‘LAUNCH: Beyond Waste Forum.’

SATURDAY

Jul 21 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Performing Orbital Trim Maneuver #328.

Jul 21 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Educator Resource Center, Pomona CA: ‘Educator Workshop: Deep Space Network, Physics of Sounds.’

Jul 21 — Moon: 5.6° SSW of Regulus, 09:00.

SUNDAY

Jul 22 — Russian Federal Space Agency, Launch Soyuz Rocket / Satellites, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Set to launch Russia Kanopus-B, MKA-PN1, Belarus BKA, Canada exactView-1 and German TET-1 satellites.

Jul 22 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Performing distant flyby of Saturn moon Helene.

Jul 22-26 — Evans and Sutherland, Megastar, SkySkan, Zeiss, Baton Rouge LA: ‘21st International Planetarium Society Conference.’

Jul 22-26 — The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, The Southwest Research Institute, Laurel MD: ‘The Pluto System on the Eve of Exploration by New Horizons: Perspectives and Predictions.’

Jul 22-27 — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Munich, Germany: ‘International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.’

Jul 22 — Asteroid 2002 AM31: Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU).