August 3-9, 2015 / Vol 34, No 31 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ILOA @ IAU Honolulu: Further Establishing Astronomy from the Moon

At the 29th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union taking place 3-14 August in Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA, the International Lunar Observatory Association presents its vision for Moon South Pole Astronomy with the ILO-1 mission. Instrument design and site-selection are currently being refined by the ILOA project team with contractors Canadensys Aerospace. The long-duration Observatory will help advance  realization of Astronomy from the Moon. This dynamic and rich frontier of science has been considered for many years by top minds in the field, including at the professional American Institute of Physics AIP Conference Proceedings 207: Astrophysics from the Moon over 25 years ago. Now ILOA is working with the first robotic telescope on the Moon, Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT) aboard the China Chang’e-3 lander at Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W. LUT operator National Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences is preparing to publish an 18-month survey of the telescope’s observations, findings, technical performance and environmental resilience. All indications are that this survey will help validate the Moon as an ideal platform for innovative 21st Century exploration. The Hawaii-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit ILOA can, by conducting observations and communications from the Moon and sending data back to ILOA HQ in Kamuela HI, guarantee the preeminence of Hawaii Astronomy in the 21st Century, without any further development atop Mauna Kea. (Image Credit: ILOA / Michael Carroll, IAU, NAOC, Canadensys)

MONDAY

Aug 3 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 44 inspecting / preparing spacesuits & tools for upcoming EVA, logging food & liquid intake for Korrektsiya biomedical experiment, analyzing microbes; Astronaut Kelly continuing research for Twins study.

 Aug 3 — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Orbit: On new flight path, preparing for Insight mission (launching Mar 2016) in order to relay signals from lander during touch down; will perform trajectory change maneuver in 2016 and one in 2017 to return to original orbit.

 Aug 3 — Juno, Jupiter Trajectory: In excellent health and operating nominally with 45-minute one-way radio signal, now 336 days from Jupiter insertion, will spend 20 months at Jupiter instead of planned 15 due to updated mission with longer orbital period.

Aug 3 — Masten Space Systems Inc., Mojave CA: NewSpace company working on concept Xues to adapt Centaur upper stage for use as lunar lander, under Lunar CATALYST 22-milestone Space Act Agreement with NASA.

 Aug 3 — Spacefleet Ltd, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: Developing EARL suborbital reusable launch vehicle, EARL-D3 sub-scale model being tested in East Romania, D4 model to be launched at 25-km altitude Sep 10.

Aug 3 — Global Starship Alliance, Multiple Locations: Establishing a consortium of organizations to support & fund interstellar technology research; its branch Open Source Starship Alliance (OSSA) aims to increase interstellar global awareness.

Aug 3 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Brent Sherwood of JPL.

Aug 3-7 — International Astronomical Union, Honolulu HI: IAU Symposium 318: Asteroids – New Observations, New Models.

Aug 3-7 — Sally Ride Science, MIT, Cambridge MA: Sally Ride Science Camp.

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

Aug 3 — Asteroid 2015 NZ13: Near-Earth flyby (0.088 AU).

Continued from…

Jun 8 – Aug 7 — International Space University, Glenn Research Center, NASA, Ohio University, Athens OH: ISU 28th Space Studies Program (SSP 2015).

Jul 28 – Aug 4 — University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder CO: Heliophysics Summer School: Seasons In Space – Cycles of Variability of Sun-Planet Systems.

Jul 30 – Aug 6 — Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), The Hague, The Netherlands: 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC).

Aug 2-7 — Asia Oceania Geosciences Society, Singapore: 12th Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS).

29th SmallSat Conference to Discuss Current and Future Systems for Mission Success

Utah State University and AIAA are holding the 29th SmallSat Conference on August 8-13 in Logan UT. The conference, with an estimated 1,300 attendees and 140 exhibitors, will focus on launch, satellite, payload, ground network, mission operations and data analysis for civilian, educational, commercial and military endeavors. During the ‘Next on the Pad’ session, Andrew Klesh (TL) and Joel Krajewski (TR) of Jet Propulsion Laboratory will speak on ‘MarCO: CubeSats to Mars in 2016.’ Other mission technologies being covered include those on Rosetta-Philae (presented by members of Syrlinks & CNES), LightSail (Ecliptic Enterprises), PROCYON (JAXA), Lunar IceCube (Busek Co, Morehead State University), ACESat – Alpha Centauri Exoplanet Satellite (NASA Ames, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, LSST, Steward Observatory), and MarsDrop Microlanders (JPL, Aerospace Corp. Planetary Science Institute). An alternate talk may be given on ‘Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M): Development, Operations and Results of a Privately Funded Low Cost Lunar Flyby.’ 4M launched October 2014 aboard the China Chang’e-5-T1 test mission, the service module of which is still in orbit around Moon. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, Analytic Graphics Inc., Google, Morehead State University)

TUESDAY

Aug 4 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Gamma Ray Bursts and Recent Results from the Fermi Mission; presented by Peter Michelson of Stanford University.

Aug 4-6 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA, Pasadena CA: 2nd Landing Site Workshop for Mars 2020 Rover.

Aug 4-8 — American Physical Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI: Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society (APS).

Aug 4 — Moon: 0.96° SSE of Uranus, 23:00.

WEDNESDAY

Aug 5 — Curiosity, Mars Surface: Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) rover begins 4th year of operations on Mars surface today; launched Nov 26, 2011 – landed Aug 5, 2012 (Pacific Daylight Time).

Aug 5 — Juno, Jupiter System: NASA spacecraft enters 5th year of operations in space today, launched in 2011; scheduled to enter Jupiter orbit July 4, 2016.

Aug 5 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Lecture: Exoplanets – Where Are Our Alien Neighbours? presented by Don Pollacco, Professor of Astronomy.

Aug 5 — Venus: 7.8° SSW of Mercury, 00:00.

Aug 5 — Asteroid 2015 LE21: Near-Earth flyby (0.081 AU).

THURSDAY

Aug 6-8 — Teachers in Space, Palmdale CA: Teachers in Space Summer Workshop.