May 30 – June 5, 2016 / Vol 35, No 22 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Next-Gen Suborbital Researchers Reconvening in Colorado

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) are leading the 2016 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) June 2-4. The aim is to provide in-depth NASA, FAA and flight provider briefings and extensive networking opportunities for researchers and educators working to find solutions through access to high altitude, low gravity, near-space environments for testing and experimentation. Organizers like Alan Stern Associate VP at SwRI and Tommy Sanford Executive Director at CSF anticipate a new generation of space vehicles coming online 2016-2017 that will offer diverse and economical access to the edge of space, for payloads and for people. The program committee includes Sean Casey (SVSC), Steven Collicott (Purdue University), Joshua Colwell (University of Central Florida), March Cuttino (Orbital Medicine Inc), Makenzie Lystrup (Ball Aerospace), Khaki Rodway (Masten), Todd Smith (JHU-APL) and Charlie Walker (1st non-government Astronaut). Among the distinguished guest speakers are world record high altitude space diver Alan Eustace, Associate Administrator of NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Steve Jurczyk, and Associate Administrator of FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation George Nield. In addition to various tracks, pipelines and themed sessions, the program includes tours of Ball Aerospace and Sierra Nevada Corporation as well as a public talk by Jane Poynter of World View Enterprises. This is the 5th NSRC after a hiatus since 4 consecutive events were held 2010-2013. (Image Credit: SwRI, CSF, NASA)

MONDAY

May 30 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 47 six-member crew scheduled to enter BEAM June 2 and continue to monitor after its full expansion to 16-cubic meter volume & 80-hour leak check phase, working with Fine Motor Skills experiment, rodent research, veggie growth, Earth photography while orbiting at 27,600 kph.

May 30 — Tiangong 1, LEO: China space lab descending into Earth atmosphere over next couple months for fiery disintegration; core module “Tianhe-1” (Heavenly River-1) of new space station to launch 2018.

 May 30 — Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope, LEO: In 8th year of operations, observing Universe in highest-energy form of light at 8,000 electronvolts (8 keV) to 300+ billion electronvolts (300 GeV); adding data to theory that dark matter “is made of black holes formed during the first second of our Universe’s existence.”

 May 30 — 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Mars Trajectory: ESA craft to perform trajectory correction maneuver in July, enter Mars orbit Oct 19, with battery-powered Schiaparelli landing same day (expected to collect data on surface conditions for four Martian days / sols).

 May 30 — Orbital Access Ltd., Prestwick, United Kingdom: NewSpace company planning to lead the development of UK indigenously built horizontal take off space launch systems to take advantage of UK spaceport aiming to be functional by 2018; CEO Stuart McIntyre.

May 30 — Deep Space Industries, Moffett Field CA: Partnering with Luxembourg government to co-fund Prospector-X to test Comet-1 electrothermal thruster & other technologies for asteroid prospecting, will open 2nd office in Luxembourg, planning to launch Prospector in 2020 & 2nd craft in 2025; Chairman Rick Tumlinson.

May 30 — NanoRacks LLC, Houston TX: Allowing for CubeSat deployment from ISS with NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (111 deployed so far), research experiments in & on ISS with NanoLab and External Platform, offering integration services on Blue Origin New Shepard space vehicle & cost-efficient hardware for LEO and beyond.

Vatican Observatory 2016 Biennial Summer School to Host 25 International Students

The 2016 Vatican Observatory Summer School in Astrophysics will focus on Water in the Solar System and Beyond at the Vatican Observatory (VO) in Castel Gandolfo, Italy from May 29 to June 24. With 14 tuition-free summer schools since 1986, this year’s program will be led by VO Director Guy Consolmagno S.J., Meenakshi Wadhwa and Christopher Impey of Arizona State University, Robert Macke and Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya of VO, Athena Coustenis of Paris Observatory and Andrew Rivkin of JHU/APL. Consolmagno is the 1st religious brother to be awarded American Astronomical Society Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science. The tie between Catholic religion beginnings and study of the Stars is evidenced back to the Early Middle Ages (5th-10th Century) with the modern version of the VO being established by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. VO in Castel Gandolfo has 4 historical telescopes (Zeiss Visual Refractor Telescope 1935, Zeiss Double Astrograph 1935, “Carte du Ciel” Telescope 1942, Schmidt Telescope 1957), a research library containing more than 22,000 volumes, and 1,100 samples of meteorites equaling ~150 kg. It operates the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) located at Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona, USA since 1993. (Image Credit: Vatican Observatory, ASU, AAS)

May 30 – Jun 2 — Canadian Astronomical Society, University of Manitoba, CFHT, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, et al, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Annual Meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA).

May 30 – Jun 2 — Hermann Minkowski Institute for Foundational Studies, Varna, Bulgaria: 4th International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime; at Hotel Lilia.

May 30 – Jun 3 — European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency, The Hague, The Netherlands: 2016 European Space Solutions Conference.

May 30 – Jun 1 — AIAA, IEE, Central Scientific Research Institute Elektropribor, St. Petersburg, Russia: 23rd St. Petersburg International Conference on Integrated Navigation Systems.

May 30 — Moon: 1.4° SSE of asteroid 18 Melpomene, 11:00.

May 30 — Mars: Nearest to Earth (75 million km) 11:00, will appear extra bright in sky during opposition until June 3, as distance begins to increase; next opposition July 27, 2018 at 57.6 million km; next record-breaking opposition August 29, 2287 at 55.69 million km.

May 30 — Amor Asteroid 2016 JT: Near-Earth flyby (0.077 AU).

Continued from…

May 3-31 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA / Online: US$50,000 fundraising campaign to fund work in education, public outreach, SETI searches.

May 23 – Jul 29 — The Lunar and Planetary Institute, Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston TX: Exploration Science Summer Intern Program.