ISU Convenes 28th Space Studies Program in Ohio, USA

Calendar feature - ISU SSP 2015

The International Space University annual Space Studies Program session is taking place June 8 – August 7 at Ohio University in Athens in partnership with the NASA Glenn Research Center. ISU President Walter Peeters describes the program as “the culmination of a growing relationship between Ohio University (OHIO), ISU Prof. Bukley…and Prof. Irwin.” Dr. Angie Bukley is a Senior Project Engineer for The Aerospace Corporation and former ISU Dean for Academics and Research. She will serve as a team project co-chair during the program. Dr. Dennis Irwin is Dean & Moss Professor of Engineering Education at the OHIO Russ College and an ISU faculty member who has twice chaired the space systems engineering department and regularly served as a lecturer or workshop leader. The International Astronaut Panel on June 17 features Harrison Jack Schmitt (USA), Sergei Krikalev (Russia), Bob Thirsk (Canada) and Paolo Nespoli (Italy). There will also be an Arthur C. Clarke Panel where space meets popular culture on June 24. Both of these panel sessions, and many others, are open to the public and will be webcast on the ISU Live channel. (Image Credit: ISU, OHIO, A. Bukley, D. Irwin)


MONDAY

Jun 8 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 43 preparing for 3-member departure this week – initiating start of Exp 44 mission, adjusting Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack & Thermal Container for upcoming Cell Mechanosensing-3 experiment, working with studies on plasma crystals, rodent research, fluid shifts.

Jun 8 — Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Mars Orbit: India ISRO orbiter, as well as all NASA & ESA spacecraft, operate into fully autonomous mode during communications blackout period until Jun 22 while Sun comes between Mars & Earth.

Jun 8 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #411 today.

Jun 8 — New Horizons, Pluto Trajectory: Now 36 days away from Pluto / Charon closest approach, will search for rings, map surface, study Pluto atmosphere, measure surface temperature; will continue to send Pluto data for 16 months after flyby.

Jun 8 — Blue Origin, Kent WA: NewSpace company may build rocket manufacturing complex (for ~US$220M) close to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, developing 550,000-lbf thrust BE-4 engine to power ULA Vulcan rocket.

Jun 8 — Virgin Galactic, Mojave CA: Continuing work on new SpaceShipTwo, hoping to begin ground testing by end of 2015 & captive carry flights, glide flights, powered flights in 2016.

Jun 8 — B612 Foundation, Mountain View CA: Planning activities in San Francisco for Asteroid Day Jun 30; in partnership with Ball Aerospace to build & launch Sentinel infrared space telescope.

Jun 8-10 — AIAA, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Netherlands Space Society, American Astronautical Society, Delft, The Netherlands: 8th International Workshop on Satellite Constellations and Formation Flying.

JUN - AUG 2015 = 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).


Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Venus (WNW), Jupiter (WNW), Saturn (SE); Morning Planets: Uranus (E), Neptune (SE).

 

Low Cost and Planetary Probe Missions in Focus in Germany

Low Cost, Probe Missions Germany

The 11th International Academy of Astronautics Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference (LCPM-11) is being held June 9-11 at the Einstein room of Archenhold Observatory in Berlin, Germany. Planetary scientists, agency officials and mission project managers will discuss ideas for nano- and CubeSats, and fixed cost robotic missions comparable to JAXA Hayabusa missions and ISRO Chandrayaan-1, as well as the NASA Discovery program and ESA Cosmic Vision small / medium class programs. The conference honorary chair is G. Madhavan Nair, President of IAA (pictured).  Sessions will include Space Agencies on-going and developing missions, science instruments and advanced concepts for next-generation low-cost missions and launchers. The 12th Interplanetary Probe Workshop will occur June 15-19 at the Hyatt Hotel in Cologne, Germany. Talks, presentations, posters and networking sessions will focus on science goals, probes, landers, deployment vehicles, airless bodies, Europa, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, Rosetta, Dawn, New Horizons and the Asteroid Redirect mission. Visits to DLR Supersonic and Hypersonic Technology Department, Rosetta Lander Control Center, Envihab at Institute of Aerospace Medicine, and ESA European Astronaut Center are included. Conference chairs include Aaron Morris from NASA Langley, Hannes Griebel from Thales Alenia Space, Anita Sengupta from JPL, Ozgur Karatekin from Royal Observatory of Belgium and Ali Gülhan from German Aerospace Center. (Image Credit: IAA, ISRO, DLR, NASA, ARC, Chris Kallas, JPL, ESA)

  Jun 8-10 — ESA, Madrid, Spain: XMM-Newton 2015 Science Workshop: The Extremes of Black Hole Accretion. Jun 8-11 — U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff AZ: 2nd Planetary Data Workshop. Jun 8-12 — Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland: Euclid Consortium Meeting 2015; at SwissTech Convention Center. Jun 8-12 — Italy National Institute for Astrophysics, Firenze, Italy: Conference: IGM@50 – Is the Intergalactic Medium Feeding Star Formation? Jun 8-13 — NASA, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA: Sample Return Robot Challenge.

Jun 8-19 — International Institute of Physics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil: Theoretical Frontiers in Black Holes and Cosmology.

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

Jun 8 — Moon: 3.1° NNW of Neptune, 15:00.

Continued from…

Oct 15, 2014 – Jun 12 — NASA, University of Hawai`i, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 3.

May 1 – Jun 30 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, National Space Grant Foundation, Houston TX: 2015 eXploration Habitat (X-Hab); university-level students’ designs for functional space habitat subsystems prototypes to be submitted & evaluated.

May 26 – Jul 31 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 2015 Exploration Science Summer Intern Program.

Jun 1 – Aug 7 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 2015 LPI Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science.

Jun 2-12 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA, USN Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai HI: Launch window for NASA to test Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) for Mars entry vehicles; planned tests will boost vehicle up to 55,000 meters using balloon & rocket stages.

Jun 7-12 — ESA, Andoya Space Center, CNES, DLR, Swedish Space Corp., Tromso, Norway: 22nd ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research.

TUESDAY

Jun 9 — The National Academies, Washington DC: Meeting: Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats.

Jun 9 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Bill Harwood, CBS space news.

Jun 9-11 — International Academy of Astronautics, DLR, Berlin, Germany: 11th IAA Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference.

Jun 9 — Moon: At last quarter, 05:42; at perigee (distance 369,326 km), 18:44.

WEDNESDAY

Jun 10-19 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Vienna, Austria: 58th Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

Jun 10 — Asteroid 2015 HK10: Near-Earth flyby (0.087 AU).

THURSDAY

Jun 11 — ISS, Undocking of Soyuz TMA-15M, LEO: Expedition 42/43 members Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA), Anton Shkaplerov (RSA), Terry Virts (NASA) return to Earth; live coverage available.

Jun 11 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Lecture: Hubble Telescope – Looking Back in Time at the Distant Universe; presented by Sandra Faber of Lick Observatory, Robert Williams of Space Telescope Science Institute.

Jun 11 — The Library of Congress – Science, Technology & Business Division, Washington DC: Understanding Magnetic Storms Throughout the Universe; presented by John Dorelli of Goddard Space Flight Center.

Jun 11-12 — British Interplanetary Society, UK Centre for Astrobiology, London, United Kingdom: Extraterrestrial Liberty III: Dissent, Revolution and Liberty in Space.

Jun 11 — Moon: 0.47° SSE of Uranus, 10:00.

Jun 11 — Asteroid 2012 XB112: Near-Earth flyby (0.026 AU).

FRIDAY

Jun 12-14 — American Astronautical Society, AIAA, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Burkett TX: Annual CanSat Competition.

Jun 12-16 — Gemini Observatory, Kunming, Yunnan, China: 3rd China Southeast Asia Fair & 23rd China Kunming Import and Export Goods Exchange; featuring China Lunar Exploration Program exhibit & Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization exhibit.

Jun 12 — Asteroid 293726 (2007 RQ17): Near-Earth flyby (0.047 AU).

Jun 12 — Asteroid 2014 YD: Near-Earth flyby (0.098 AU).

SATURDAY

Jun 13 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #412 today.

Jun 13 — Carlsbad National Park Service, Carlsbad NM: Carlsbad Caverns National Park Star Party.

Jun 13 — Venus: 0.82° S of Pleiades, 09:00.

Jun 13 — Asteroid 2015 KU154: Near-Earth flyby (0.045 AU).

Jun 13 — Asteroid 1999 MN: Near-Earth flyby (0.093 AU).

SUNDAY

Jun 14 — Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon Surface: Spacecraft reach 18 months of operations on Moon today.

Jun 14-18 — Gemini Observatory, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Conference: The Future and Science of Gemini Observatory.

Jun 14 — Moon: 8.1° S of Pleiades, 07:00; 0.14° WSW of Mercury, 16:00.

Jun 14 — Mars: At conjunction with Sun, 06:00.