Calendar

March 25-31, 2024 / Vol 43, No 13 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Luxembourg Opens 6th Space Resources Week, Paris Hosts IAF Spring Meetings

With semi-overlapping dates, two Europe conferences will host significant events over three days this week: The Space Resources Week in Luxembourg (March 25-27), and the Spring Meetings of the International Astronautical Federation (March 26-28). Space resource utilization and exploration has been promoted significantly in Luxembourg since 2016 with the SpaceResources.lu initiative launched by the government and Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA). During this 6th Meeting, over 150 abstracts were submitted to cover aspects of regulatory, financial and commerce dimensions of the space resources market. A shared ethos of the past / current meetings is “no one can do this alone”. The 2-day Space Resources Course will be taught by representatives from LSA, ESA, ISU, CO School of Mines, ESRIC, and NASA JSC. Also being held alongside the Space Resources Week at the European Convention Center on March 26 is the UNOOSA Expert meeting with the Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities. The IAF Spring Meetings gathering in Paris will bring together the IAF Administrative and Technical Committees, IAF Bureau, and the International Programme Committee which will select the abstracts to become part of the 75th IAC in Milan in October. There is also the IAF Global Networking Forum, and two IDEA 3G Diversity events (breakfast and lunch, both featuring opening comments by IAF President Clay Mowry) with the themes “Is the Next Generation ready to take up leadership roles?” and “Tracking the Evolution of 3G+ Principles at the IACs”. (Image Credits: LSA, IAF)

MONDAY 

Mar 25  International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 planned to be 10-member crew pending launch of Soyuz-MS 25 and arrival of Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya and Dyson, and work with ~3,000 kg of cargo from SpaceX CRS-30.

Mar 25  Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 17 three-member crew look forward to welcoming Shenzhou 18 in one month and planning return to Earth shortly thereafter.

Highlights…

o NewSpace: Astrobotic preparing VTVL Xodiac craft ahead of NASA Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge testing; Blue Origin to demonstrate Blue Ring tech on DarkSky-1 mission manifested by USSF Defense Innovation Unit; Orbit Fab providing US$30K Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) propellant ports to spacecraft manufacturers.

☆ Solar System: ‘Devil Comet’ 12P/Pons–Brooks to increase in magnitude from 7.1 to 5.2 by end of month while moving from Andromeda to Pisces constellations; Northrop Grumman to study Moon railroad concept under DARPA 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) program; NASA (USA) – ISRO (India) Synthetic Aperture Radar for Earth observation delayed to 2nd half of 2024 following testing delay.

☆ Galaxy: NASA / JPL Voyager 1 team analyzing memory readout received from the interstellar craft as they attempt to find solution for flight data subsystem malfunction; CEO states future / more advanced SpaceX Starships will travel to other Star systems.

o Global: CNSA Chang’E Queqiao-2 relay satellite with 4.2m parabolic high-gain antenna on course for frozen lunar orbit for 8-year mission; Four ~700-kg ESA Galileo satellites to be launched by SpaceX following finalization of security terms amid Ariane 6 delay; Road to Space exhibit at Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, Russia honors first human in space Yuri Gagarin.

 USA: SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell estimates 4th test flight of Starship will occur in early May, no Starlink IPO in 2024; Ad Astra Gemini, Apollo, and Apollo–Soyuz Astronaut Thomas Stafford; Biden Administration US$25.4B NASA appropriation request for HY2025 receives praise from Coalition for Deep Space Exploration.

● Hawai’i: Gaia, Magellan, Keck, and VLT data indicate 8% of 91 binary stellar systems studied show signs of planetary engulfment during mature life stage; 3-year DOE grant supporting qubit design research at UH Mānoa in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; 430,000 galaxies discovered by 10,000 citizen scientists and AI reviewing Subaru telescope data under ongoing NAOJ Galaxy Cruise program.

= Terrestrial and… o = International terrestrial events

= Moon activity

= Space and… = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).


Weekly Planet Watch Evening Planets: Mercury (W), Jupiter (W), Uranus (W); Morning Planets: Venus (SE), Mars (SE).

Artemis 3 Project Scientist to Present on Science and Exploration of the Moon

Center for Advanced Sample Analysis of Astromaterials from the Moon and Beyond (CASA Moon) Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series hosting Artemis 3 / LRO project scientist Noah Petro of Goddard Space Flight Center to speak on science goals of the first planned human lunar landings of the 21st century. Petro, who has championed Malapert Massif for lunar exploration and Earth observation at the Lunar Surface Science Workshop, will address a hybrid audience in-person at a University of New Mexico Northrop lecture hall and online. CASA Moon is a one of five new research teams organized under the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) in Spring of 2023, and will be funded $1.5M / yr over 5 years by the Science Mission and Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorates. Led by UNM Institute of Meteoritics Senior Research Scientist Chip Shearer, CASA Moon is also supported by the UMN Sustainable Space Research Grand Challenge, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Upcoming seminars for the Fall 2024 series include U-Pb systematics of lunar samples by Alexander Nemchin of Curtin University; Origin of sulfur isotopes reservoirs on the Moon by James Dottin if Brown University April 10; and Connecting samples with source craters via impact modelling April 24 by Katarina Miljkovic, also of Curtin University. (Image Credits: NASA)

● Mar 25 — NASA Advisory Council Science Committee, Online: Meeting of the NAC Science Committee.

o Mar 25-27 — European Space Resources Innovation Centre, Luxembourg Space Agency, European Space Agency, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg: Space Resources Week 2024; also coinciding with UNOOSA Expert Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities.

☆ Mar 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 CF6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU)

Ongoing…

☆ Sep 6, 2023 – NET Mar — X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), ~550-km LEO: XRISM undergoing 6 month check out testing phase before start of science operations to study galactic plasma.

o NET Feb – NET Apr — CNSA, Online / Beijing, China: Primary selection of international payloads for Chang’E-8 mission.

TUESDAY

● Mar 26 — NOAA, National Science and Technology Council Space Weather Operations, Research and Mitigation (SWORM), Online: Space Weather Advisory Group Meeting.

o Mar 26-28 — International Astronautical Federation, Paris, France: IAF Spring Meetings 2024.

☾ Mar 26 — Moon: 1.27° NE of Spica, 12:00.

WEDNESDAY 

● Mar 27 — CASA Moon, SSERVI, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, LPI, Albuquerque NM and Online: CASA Moon Planetary Sample Science Seminar Series: Artemis III Science and Exploration of the Moon; by Noah Petro, Goddard Space Flight Center, 11:00 MDT.

☆ Mar 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 EA3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)

THURSDAY 

Mar 28 International Space Station, Expedition 70 In-Flight Event, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 70 NASA flight engineers Tracy Dyson and Jeanette Epps connect with Women in Aerospace Engineering Conference, 11:15 EDT, live coverage available.

★ Mar 28 — United Launch Alliance, Launch Delta IV Heavy / NROL-70,  LC37, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Last flight of Delta IV heavy rocket carrying mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

● Mar 28 — AIAA, Online: Webinar: Lunar Surface ISRU and Construction Technology – Progress at MTU-PSTDL; by Paul van Susante of Michigan Technological University Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab.

FRIDAY

★ NET Mar 29 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Eutelsat 36D, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch Eutelsat 36D, a new generation multi-mission geostationary telecommunications satellite to launch.

☆ Mar 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 RO49: Near-Earth Flyby (0.036 AU)

☆ Mar 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 ED4: Near-Earth Flyby (0.037 AU)

SATURDAY

★ Mar 30 — Parker Solar Probe, Heliocentric Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 19th perihelion today.

Mar 30 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz 2.1a / Resurs-P no.4, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Roscosmos to launch Earth observation satellite Resurs-P no.4.

☾ Mar 30 — Moon: 0.32° NE of Antares, occulation, 06:00.

SUNDAY

★ NET Mar 31 — Northrop Grumman, Launch Minotaur IV / NROL-174, SLC-8, Vandenberg SFB CA: NG Minotaur rocket to launch mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

o Mar 31 — Daylight Saving Time (Europe): Change clocks forward 1 hour, from Standard Time to Summer Time.

☆ Mar 29 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 UA9: Near-Earth Flyby (0.089 AU)