November 23-29, 2015 / Vol 34, No 47 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Japan Space Enterprise Increasing, and More Collaborative Globally

Launch of Japan H-2A F29 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on island shores at the edge of the Pacific, is set to raise the Telesat Telstar 12 Vantage. This powerful new high throughput communications satellite replaces the old Telstar 12 to enhance coverage over the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East from geostationary orbit at 15° West. If completed this will be the 23rd straight successful H-2A flight. The JAXA Hayabusa 2 “Peregrine Falcon” robotic spacecraft is set for Earth gravity assist flyby December 3, beginning its 2nd year on a round-trip mission to Asteroid 162173 Ryugu. The probe is expected to reach the target in July 2018, survey for ~1.5 years, sample surface material, and depart in Dec 2019 for return to Earth Dec 2020. The wayward JAXA Akatsuki “Dawn” mission is expected to recover soon, using its small attitude-control thrusters to start maneuvering into a highly elliptical orbit around Venus Dec 7, after having overshot the planet on its first attempt in Dec 2010 when the main engine failed during a critical orbital-insertion burn. Also on the manifest is SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) in 2019. Japan continues to advance international cooperation in both the private and public space sectors directly with USA, Canada, Europe, Russia, and across the Asia Pacific as well as through existing architectures such as APRSAF, COPUOS, CEOS, ISU, AIT and the United Nations. (Image Credit: JAXA, Telesat, NASA); Pictured: JAXA Astronaut Kimiya Yui, currently aboard ISS.

MONDAY

Nov 23 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 45 crew reviewing procedures for upcoming Orbital ATK Cygnus CRS-4 arrival Dec 6, maintaining gear that fuels combustion science experiments; Kononenko, Yui, Lindgren preparing for departure scheduled Dec 11; Kelly & Kornienko are now more than 241 days into year-long mission; ground controllers remotely operating Canadarm2 robotic arm to video scan external ISS / Russia solar arrays.

Nov 23 — Hubble Space Telescope, LEO: Recording high-resolution images of deep space in near ultraviolet, visible, near infrared spectra, predicted to continue operations until at least 2030-2040; recent data being studied for pulsations of stars in distant galaxies, white dwarfs at central portion of Milky Way, discovering new galaxies.

Nov 23 — ISEE-3, Heliocentric Orbit: Craft presumably in safe mode, traveling around Sun & predicted to return to vicinity of Earth in 2031; perhaps “2nd reboot” project may be able to reestablish contact, 1st reboot mid-2014 confirmed 5 science instruments still working & gave commands to refine trajectory (partial success).

Nov 23 — B612 Foundation, Menlo Park CA: NewSpace company working on Sentinel Space Telescope (to operate for at least 6.5 years) for identifying & tracking potentially hazardous asteroids & plotting future space exploration missions; performing studies to develop technologies & techniques for detecting & deflecting asteroids.

Nov 23 — Interorbital Systems Corp., Mojave CA: Planning test flights of Neptune rocket Q1 2016 up to ~9,150 meters with 8 commercial payloads, Q2 2016 suborbital with 6 confirmed payloads, Q3 2016 Lunar direct trajectory to launch nanosat, Q4 2016 to launch 30+ NanoSats to LEO; Q1 2017 to launch 27-unit Team Synergy Moon spacecraft on Ballistic Lunar Transfer, Q3 2017 Synergy Moon GLXP Lander on Lunar Direct Trajectory.

Nov 23 — Tau Zero Foundation, Multiple Locations: Global volunteer group of scientists & engineers working to collect, share and propose research related to interstellar travel, and create public awareness; collaborating with Ohio Aerospace Institute to expand its graduate student program.

UK Space Exploration Emphasized by London Space Week, Astronaut Tim Peake, Potential Spaceport

London Space Week organized by UKspace and the Royal Aeronautical Society is planned for November 24-25 at Glaziers Hall in London. Over 500 participants from 20 countries are expected to join in 3,000 business to business (B2B) meetings to discuss launch vehicles, satellites and space-related technologies. Some featured speakers are (L-R) Sa’id Mosteshar on “Regulation of Small Satellites,” Steve Welch “Growing the UK Space Sector,” and Craig Clark “Tiny Satellites, Big Ambitions.” UK Space Agency will celebrate UK Astronaut Tim Peake’s launch to ISS December 15 by organizing 20 events countrywide. British Interplanetary Society (founded 1933) is holding Starship Engineer Workshops Nov 24-25 and historian Dave Wright will give a lecture on “The Brits Who Got the Americans to the Moon – Or the NASA Cricket Team!” Nov 25. The Collaborate to Innovate Space Conference on Nov 26 will feature 200 senior industry delegates at a trade-show style event. In juxtaposition to the British space program of 1950-2010 which focused on uncrewed space science and technologies, UK ministers are currently narrowing down potential areas for a spaceport to be established by 2018 on the island nation, research / testing for the Skylon spaceplane and SABRE engine are in progress, and funds continue to be allocated to support the ISS. (Image Credit: UKspace, DailyMail, Lunar Missions Ltd, ESA, UK Space Agency, NASA, IALS, Astrosat, et al)

Nov 23-27 — ESA, Belgian Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence, Space Weather Working Team, Ostend, Belgium: 12th European Space Weather Week (ESWW).

Nov 23-27 — Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan: Workshop: Microstructures of Black Holes.

Nov 23 — Moon: At perigee (distance 362,446 km) 10:08.

Continued from…

Nov 2-27 — International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland: World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15).

Nov 7-21 — British Interplanetary Society, Somerset, United Kingdom: Exhibition: Visions of Space; at Wells and Mendip Museum.

Sep 28 – Nov 27 — Charles Miller, SpaceNews, Online / Alexandria VA: Commercial Space Executive Training course.

Nov 22-27 — IAG-University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil: XVII IAG/USP Advanced School on Astrophysics: 3D Spectroscopy and Spectral Synthesis.

TUESDAY

Nov 24 — JAXA, Launch H-2A / Telstar 12 Vantage, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan: Japan H-2A rocket to launch Telstar 12 Vantage communications satellite, rocket will fly in the “204” configuration with 4 solid rocket boosters.

Nov 24-25 — UKspace, Royal Aeronautical Society, PROXIMUM Group, London, United Kingdom: London Space Week 2015.

Nov 24-25 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Starship Engineer Workshops.