June 20-26, 2011 / Vol 30, No 25 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Canada to Host 1st Orbital Debris Workshop

The Canadian Space Agency is organizing its ‘1st Orbital Debris Workshop’ for June 21-22 at the CSA Conference Centre in St-Hubert, Quebec. The agenda includes presentations and sessions by representatives from the Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), NASA and ESA among others, aiming to provide information and initiate discussions about the ever more critical issue of human-generated orbital debris. The event is a collaboration between relevant stakeholders, including industry, universities, research organizations, and government departments. Speakers and Session Leaders include Steven MacLean (R) CSA President, Heiner Klinkrad (L) of ESA/IADC, and Nicholas Johnson NASA-JSC. Canada hosts this gathering as the subject multiplies in terms of risk to space-faring humans and all space exploration, transportation, communication, and scientific assets. This global concern is addressed by the IADC, which the CSA joined in 2010. The workshop will cover related topics including Monitoring and Measurement, Protection, Mitigation and Regulation. Reports compiled by NASA in 2009 indicate the existence of: 19,000 orbital debris objects larger than 10cm; 500,000 in the 1-10cm range; and tens of millions smaller than 1cm. An orbital collision with even a very small object can have severe consequences due to the excessive velocities involved. (Credit: CSA, IADC)

9th International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions in Laurel MD

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will sponsor the 9th IAA Low Cost Planetary Missions Conference on June 21-23 in Laurel MD. Several hundred planetary scientists, technologists, engineers, managers, and agency officials are expected to attend the biennial conference devoted to cost-efficient planetary missions. There will be over 50 oral presentations covering various missions including Chandrayaan-2 (TR), O / OREOS, Akatsuki, Hayabusa, MESSENGER, MAVEN, IKAROS, GRAIL, EPOXI and Stardust NEXT. JAXA Scientist Masato Nakamura will give a talk on ‘Return to Venus of AKATSUKI (TL),’and Astrobotic President David Gump (inset) will discuss ‘Delivery of Lunar Surface Payloads on a Cost Shared Commercial Robotic Expedition.’ Astrobotic was awarded US$10M from the NASA Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data Program to design, build and test the primary structure for its spacecraft / lander (BL). JN Goswami (BR) of ISRO will give an overview of the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission. The 2650 Kg orbiter (TR), lander and rover (C) are slated for launch onboard a GSLV rocket NET 2014. Honorary chairs at the event include JAXA scientist Hiroki Matsuo and former ISRO Chairman and IAA President, Madhavan Nair (CR). (Credit: Astrobotic, ISRO, viewline.com, sigada.org)

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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 – Morning Planets: Venus (ENE), Mars (E), Jupiter (E) / Evening Planets: Saturn (SW).

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MONDAY

Jun 20 — International Space Station, LEO: E-28 crew members continue their scheduled science, maintenance and exercise activities; ESA Johannes Kepler Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 scheduled to undock from the ISS Zvezda service module port at 09:48 CDT and will burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

Jun 20 — NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Orbit: Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the LRO functioning nominally and has already taken more than 10 times as many elevation measurements as all previous missions combined.

Jun 20 — Mars Rover Opportunity, Red Planet: Opportunity continues trek to Endeavour crater, recently setting a new one-sol backwards driving distance record with a drive exceeding 165 meters.

Jun 20 — Adler Planetarium, Chicago IL: ‘Astro Explorers Jr,’ event for children over 5-years old to explore the exciting world of engineering through hands-on activities, museum exploration and more.

Jun 20-21 — The National Academies, Woods Hole MA: ‘NASA Technology Roadmap Meeting: Materials Panel.’

Jun 20-21 — New York University, New York City NY: ‘SciCoder Workshop 2011,’ event designed to introduce the young researcher to modern programming practices, languages, and tools as specifically applicable to scientific research.

Jun 20-23 — Applied Technology Institute, Cape Canaveral FL: ‘Fundamentals of Orbital & Launch Mechanics,’ Thomas Logsdon.

Jun 20-24 — Teachers in Space, NASA, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, et al, Dallas TX: ‘Teachers in Space Program: Suborbital Astronautics Workshop.’

Jun 20-24 — Goddard Space Flight Center, Twin Falls ID: ‘Lunar Workshops for Educators.’

Jun 20-25 — Canarian Institute of Astrophysics, Canary Islands, Spain: ‘STARMUS Festival: Discover the Cosmos and Change the World.’

Jun 20-26 — The French Aerospace Industries Association, Paris, France: ‘49th Paris Air Show 2011,’ featuring ESA scientists and full-size models of the Ariane 1 & 5 launchers

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Continued from . . .

May 31 — NASA Lunar Science Institute, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: ‘Lunar Exploration Summer Intern Program,’ 10-week program to evaluate possible landing sites for robotic and human exploration missions; through Aug 5.

Jun 9 — New Mexico Museum of Space History, Alamogordo NM: ‘New Mexico Space Academy Summer Camp;’ through Aug 5.

Jun 12 — NASA, ESA, Lisbon, Portugal; Rio Tinto, Spain: ‘Mars Week in Europe,’ events include pre-conference Mars science meetings (Jun 12-13), an international conference on ‘The Exploration of Mars Habitability (Jun 13-15), the 1st International Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) meeting (Jun 16-17) and a field trip to unique geology and acidic environments in Rio Tinto, Spain (Jun 18-20/21); through Jun 21.

Jun 13 — Space Voyage Academy, Littleton CO: ‘Space Voyage Summer Academy Camp,’ an enrichment program about space for students ages 5-16; through Jul 29.

Jun 18 — Colorado Space Grant Consortium, Virginia Space Grant Consortium, et al, Wallops Flight Facility VA: ‘RockOn! 2011: The Next How To Workshop;’ through Jun 23.

Jun 19 — Space Resources Roundtable, NORCAT, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: ‘2nd Annual Joint Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium and Space Resources Roundtable,’ event to promote a closer relationship between the space and mining sectors; through Jun 22.

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TUESDAY

NET Jun 21 — RSA, Launch Soyuz / Progress 43P, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: RSA Soyuz rocket set to launch 43rd Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS.

Jun 21 — NASA Headquarters, Washington DC: Media teleconference at 14:00 EDT to discuss results of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission and upcoming mission plans with panelists Douglas Cooke, Michael Wargo, and Richard Vondrak.

Jun 21 — Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Alexandria VA: ‘Live Interactive Webcast with Bob Crippen.‘

Jun 21-22 — Stennis Space Center, Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, Stennis Space Ctr MS: ‘Stennis Business Consortium / Small Business Technology Expo.’

Jun 21-22 — Canadian Space Agency, Montreal, Quebec, Canada: ‘1st Canadian Workshop on Orbital Debris.’

Jun 21-23 — International Academy of Astronautics, John Hopkins University, Laurel MD: ‘9th International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions.’

Jun 21-23 — European Science Foundation, Brussels, Belgium: ‘4th GAIA GREAT Plenary Meeting.’

Jun 21 — Summer Solstice: Days are longer and nights shortest (opposite in southern hemisphere) as the Sun, traveling along the ecliptic, reaches a point farthest north of the celestial equator; 07:17.

Jun 21 — Mars: 4.3° SSE of Pleiades; 00:00.

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WEDNESDAY

Jun 22 — The SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium Series Lecture: ‘Laser Plasma Spectrochemistry,’ Richard Russo.

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THURSDAY

Jun 23 — WM Keck Observatory, Kamuela HI: ‘2011 Astronomy Lecture Series: News From the Astronomical Frontier,’ Taft Armandroff.

Jun 23 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: ‘Ask an Expert: John Glenn – First Photographer and First Scientist in Space,’ Jennifer Levasseur.

Jun 23 — Moon: At Last Quarter, 01:48; At Apogee (Distance 63.39 Earth-Radii), 18:00.

Jun 23 — Asteroid 2009 WW104: Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU).

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FRIDAY

Jun 24-25 — NASA, Tallahassee FL: Public viewing for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle spacecraft that will carry humans into deep space at the Tallahassee Challenger Learning Center.

Jun 24 — Cassini OTM-287, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #287 today.

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SATURDAY

Jun 25 — Moon: 5.2° NNW of Jupiter; 18:00.

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SUNDAY

Jun 26 — Asteroid 1998 KM3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.093 AU).