October 28 – November 3, 2019 / Vol 38, No 43 / Hawai’i Island, USA

International Space Station Enters 20th Year of Continuous Human Occupation

November 2 marks 19 full years and the beginning of year 20 for continuous human occupation at ISS. After historic all female USA EVA 59, in which Battery Charge Discharge Unit was replaced, a series of 5 EVAs are planned to repair Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrumentation. 3 remaining battery related EVAs will be rescheduled to a later date, as will planned Russia EVA 47, in which Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Skvortsov are to work on the Russian module Zvezda (NET Jan 2020). That will be the first Russian spacewalk since Alexei Leonov, first human to walk in space, passed away October 11. Leonov was commemorated by Expedition Commander Luca Parmitano – “Farewell Alexei, and ad astra” during US EVA 58. To date, 221 ISS EVAs have been performed over the course of a cumulative 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes. The ISS now nearly doubles the record for longest continuous human presence in earth orbit set by Mir (9 years and 357 days). ISS has from inception been a decidedly international effort: 19 countries have sent their citizens to work and reside together in space, with significant contributions by Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Russia and USA. Next launch to the ISS will be the uncrewed commercial resupply mission NG-12, in which Northrop Grumman Antares rocket will carry Cygnus cargo freighter. (Image Credits: NASA)

MONDAY

Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Meets Ahead Of Nov 1 Artemis Human Lander Proposals Due Date

Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meets at Washington DC Hilton October 28-30. The annual meeting brings together members of the lunar science community to offer input to Artemis program. The first day will focus on planning a Planetary Decadal Survey. The remaining two days will focus on Artemis, with speakers from the NASA Human Exploration and Operation Missions Directorates. LEAG hopes to help in sustaining lunar exploration, developing a cislunar economy, and creating opportunities for international collaboration. LEAG seeks to aid NASA with a Lunar Exploration Roadmap. The LEAG Executive Committee includes Clive Neal (L) from University of Notre Dame and Louise Prockter of Lunar & Planetary Institute. Commercial and international partners will attend the LEAG meeting. In a keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green (R) talks about unanswered scientific questions on the Moon. Artemis and the First Women on the Moon are winning international support with Canada and Japan officially collaborating, ESA seeking approval from member states and Roscosmos sorting out ways to support Artemis. Blue Origin teams with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to bid for an Artemis lunar lander.  Lockheed Martin plans to provide a crewed reusable ascent element based on their Orion spacecraft. Bids for human landing system from industry teams have an early due date of Nov 1. (Image Credits: NASA, Notre Dame University, LPI)

 Oct 28 — United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), Secure World Foundation, Project Ploughshares, NYC NY: Navigating Space: Charting a Course for a Sustainable Space Environment.

 Oct 28 — Keck Institute of Studies, Caltech, Pasadena CA: Lecture: Exploring Jupiter; by Candice Hansen-Koharcheck from Planetary Science Institute.

 Oct 28-29 — European Space Agency, Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space, Paris, France: ACES Workshop 2019; colloquium for scientists working with ACES atomic clock to be launched to ISS in 2020.

 Oct 28-29 — National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Science, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Washington DC: 10th Forum for New Leaders in Space Science.

 Oct 28-29 — International Academy of Astronautics, Cambridge MA: 2nd IAA Symposium on STEM/STEAM for Space for the Leaders of Tomorrow.

 Oct 28-30 — Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), Washington DC: Annual Meeting of LEAG.

 Oct 28-31 — Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 4th Young Professionals in Space Conference (YPS) 2019.

Oct 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 UT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.012 AU)

Oct 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 UE1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data collected from 7 instruments during KBO Ultima Thule flyby to be transmitted to Earth over this time period.

 NET Aug – Nov — Hayabusa2, Asteroid 162173 Ryugu: JAXA Hayabusa2 with 2 sample returns planned to remain at Asteroid for observations during this time period, then return to Earth.