August 10-16, 2015 / Vol 34, No 32 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ISS EVA / HTV-5 Kounotori Resupply

International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 44 Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko gear up to perform a 6.5-hour Extra Vehicular Activity (Russia EVA-41) on August 10 for routine inspections and maintenance, retrieval of an experiment and surface sampling on the Russia side of ISS. Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko is working on Russia biomedical experiments. Expedition 44 will conduct human research, biology and biotechnology, astrophysics, physical science investigations and education activities from June 11 to September 11. One-Year crew members Scott Kelly of NASA and Kornienko of Roscosmos are investigating prolonged human spaceflight and surrounding medical issues. Emergency and Aerospace M.D. Kjell Lindgren of NASA, is serving as flight on his first space mission. Kounotori HTV-5 aboard a Japan H-2B rocket is set to deliver supplies to the ISS with a launch Aug 16 from Yoshinobu Launch Complex at Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. After 4 days of orbital maneuvers, capture has been set for Aug 20 and will be conducted by Kimiya Yui of JAXA operating Candarm2 to facilitate berthing to Harmony module. There are at least two more HTV Missions planned: HTV-6 in 2016 and HTV-7 in 2017. (Image Credit: NASA, JAXA, Scott Kelly, Roscosmos)

MONDAY

Aug 10 — ISS, LEO: Crew preparing communications gear for JAXA HTV-5 arrival, updating inventory / transferring cargo from Progress 60P & 58P; China genetics experiment from Beijing Institute of Technology may be launched to ISS via NanoRacks agreement (would be 1st China project on ISS).

Aug 10 — ISS, Russia EVA-41, LEO: Padalka & Kornienko to exit Pirs docking compartment for a photographic inspection of ISS Russian segment, retrieve an experiment, clean windows and sample surface of ISS; begins 13:45 UT, live coverage available.

Aug 10 — Tiangong-1, LEO: China space station to be deorbited in near-future before 14.5-meter long Tiangong-2 able to house 3 crew members is launched NET 2016.

Aug 10 — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Moon Polar Mapping Orbit: 1,000-kg craft coming within 20 km of South Pole & 165 km of North Pole, measuring surface temperature, collecting UV albedo readings & taking high resolution images for recent impacts & mapping.

Aug 10 — Terminal Velocity Aerospace LLC, Atlanta GA: NewSpace company prototype of small reentry payload return capsule being drop-tested from 32+ km altitude with communication & parachute technologies; could be used as mechanism for faster / more regular science sample return from ISS / Space.

 Aug 10 — Sierra Nevada Corp., Louisville CO: Preliminary feasibility studies to be conducted at Huntsville International Airport for Dream Chaser suborbital vehicle to land at site; FAA reentry license for airport may follow.

 Aug 10 — Final Frontier Design, Brooklyn NY: Small company providing spacesuits & gloves for NASA through Small Business Innovation Research award; Waypoint 2 Space planning to use suits in its commercial suborbital / orbital training programs.

Aug 10 — Antrix Corp. Ltd, Bengaluru, India: Commercial arm of ISRO facilitating deal to launch 9 USA smallsats on PSLV rockets as secondary payloads by end of 2016.

Southeast Asia Space Technology, Cosmology, Relativity Events

Langkawi Island, Malaysia will be hosting the 2015 International Conference on Space Science and Community on August 10-12 with the theme Space Technology for Humanity. It is sponsored by the National University of Malaysia, National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA) and IEEE. This 4th in a series of conferences focuses on advances in space science and communication. Six tracks will cover Astrophysics and Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences, Geosciences and Remote Sensing, Satellite and Communication Technology, Space and Climate Change, and Disaster Management. The conference general chair (pictured L-R) is Prof. Ir. Dr. Mardina Abdullah of UKM. A keynote speaker will be Dr. Mazlan Othman (founding director ANGKASA, former director of UNOOSA) on Solving Problems through Space Solutions. Keynote Speaker Prof. Dr. Mengu Cho will present on Nano-satellite Reliability and Standardization: Introduction of Lean Satellite Concept, and the atmospheric science session will be chaired by Dr. Sabirin Abdullah and Dr. Karthigesu Nagarajoo. Two conferences as part of the Rencontres du Vietnam, an official partner of UNESCO, are being held in Quy Nhon, Vietnam. The General Relativity and Gravitation conference on Aug 9-15 will cover current developments in related fields while celebrating the 100th observation of Albert Einstein’s inception of the theory of general relativity. On Aug 16-22, Cosmology 50 years after Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Discovery conference will connect Vietnam, Asia-Pacific scientists and international colleagues, with a particular focus on young researchers and post-docs. (Image Credit: UKM, UTHM, NASA, GSFC, ICISE, Rencontres du Vietnam, Google)

Aug 10-12 — National University of Malaysia, National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA), Space Science Centre, IEEE, Langkawi Island, Malaysia: 2015 International Conference on Space Science and Communication (IconSpace2015): Space Technology for Humanity.

Aug 10-14 — International Astronomical Union, Honolulu HI: IAU Symposium 320: Solar and Stellar Flares and Their Effects on Planets.

Aug 10-15 — Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 17th International Workshop on Neutrino Factories and Future Neutrino Facilities.

Aug 10 — Moon: 6.1° S of M35, 06:00.

Aug 10 — Apollo Asteroid 2009 DB1: Near-Earth flyby (0.047 AU).

Continued from…

Aug 3-14 — International Astronomical Union, Honolulu HI: 29th IAU General Assembly; world’s largest meeting of professional astronomers, at Hawaii Convention Center.

Aug 7-10 — Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Subaru Telescope, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park HI: 3rd Workshop of the Scientific Research Program (SCAR) for Astronomy & Astrophysics from Antarctica.

Aug 8-13 — AIAA, Utah State University, Logan UT: 29th Small Satellite Conference: All Systems Go! – Critical Pieces for Mission Success.

Aug 9-13 — American Astronautical Society, AIAA, Vail CO: AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference.

Aug 9-15 — Qui Nhon Science and Education Foundation, Rencontres du Vietnam, Quy Nhon, Vietnam: Conference: Hot Topics in General Relativity and Gravitation.

Aug 9 – Sep 13 — Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO: Workshop: New Directions to Shed Light on Dark Matter.