ASE 28th Planetary Congress Invites Astronauts to Share Experiences and Expertise

ASE 28th

The Association of Space Explorers 28th Planetary Congress with the theme Inspired by Space is planned for September 20-27 in Stockholm, Sweden. More than 100 out of the total 545 Astronauts who have traveled to space will participate in private and public technical sessions including Next Human Destinations, Future Space Vehicles, Space Research, Advances in European Space Exploration, Inspired by Space and EVA: 50 Years and the Future. Some of the esteemed guests include (counterclockwise from TL) Rusty Schweickart (USA), Chris Hadfield (Canada), Zhang Xiaoguang (China), Koichi Wakata (Japan), Yelena Serova (Russia), Sultan bin Salman (Saudi Arabia) and Helen Sharman (UK). The ISS typically hosts ~6 month missions for an international 6-member crew which currently launches via Roscosmos at Kazakhstan. The next human space mission for China may not occur until after Tiangong-2 is in LEO. Golden Spike Company hopes to be the first commercial enterprise to offer human Moon missions in 2020. India is working on human-rated CARE capsule and planning its first crewed mission 2021. NASA is developing SLS with a new target of 2023 for first crewed flight from American soil since July 2011 STS-135 and JAXA is developing a human-rated HTV Return Vehicle to launch 2025. (Image Credit: NASA, China Daily, Xinhua, Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de, ESA, ISRO)

MONDAY

Sep 21 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 45 preparing HTV-5 for robotic release scheduled Sep 28; one-year crew members Kelly & Kornienko will remain in Space for another 157 days, performing Fine Motor Skills tests, providing blood samples & saliva swabs, transferring data from centrifuge & downlinking to ground stations, maintaining Water Recovery System & Waste and Hygiene Compartment.

Sep 21 — MAVEN, Mars Orbit: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft enters 2nd year of operations in Mars orbit; will continue to study upper atmosphere; launched Nov 18, 2013.

Sep 21 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: Data confirms that Enceladus has a liquid, global ocean below icy surface encircling its entire rocky core; in revolution 222 of Saturn, craft will perform short engine burn OTM-421 on Thursday, preparing to take protective measures for travel through area of increased ring particle concentration at end of Sep.

 Sep 21 — Juno, Jupiter Trajectory: More than 5 AU from the Sun, Juno is 287 days from reaching Jupiter orbit, will become farthest spacecraft to solely rely on solar power; will power itself & 8 instruments using 3 ten-meter long solar panels.

Sep 21 — Blue Origin LLC, Kent WA & KSC FL: NewSpace company planning to use Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 36 for testing & launching orbital vehicles; may invest ~US$200M for upgrades and infrastructure.

Sep 21 — FireFly Space Systems, Austin TX: Testing Firefly Rocket Engine Research 1 (FRE-R1), developing small-sat launcher “Firefly Alpha”; planning for FRE-2 aerospike engine hot-fire tests in early 2016.

 Sep 21 — Spaceport Sweden, Kiruna, Sweden: Working to establish a commercial human suborbital spaceflight site for Europe, recently held Press conference with Sweden’s only Astronaut Christer Fuglesang titled “Destination Space – a national innovation agenda.”

Sep 21 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: New Horizons at Pluto: Results, Preliminary Interpretations and Discussion; presented by Jason Hofgartner.

SEP - NOV 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: Saturn (SW), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE); Morning Planets: Venus (E), Mars (E), Jupiter (E).

International Fleet of Mars Missions Piques Public Interest for Space Exploration and Considerations for Multi World Expansion

Calendar feature - Mars 2015

Two innovative missions at the Red Planet are set to begin year 2 of operations in orbit this week. The MAVEN mission, part of the Mars Scout program at NASA, is exploring the upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the Sun and solar wind. Analysis of the data is providing insights into how the loss of volatiles from the atmosphere over time, has impacted climate, liquid water and planetary habitability. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) aka Mangalyaan, India’s first venture into interplanetary space, is studying surface features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere, as well as hosting a dedicated effort to identify methane levels, a possible indicator of present or past existence of life. Making a total of 7, there are 5 other Mars missions currently operating, 3 orbiters – Mars Odyssey, MRO (NASA) and Mars Express (ESA) – as well as 2 NASA rovers, Curiosity and Opportunity. Russia has attempted 35 missions with limited success. Japan attempted the Nozomi mission in 1998 but ran out of fuel before entering orbit. Overall, Mars missions have a success rate of just 53%. Getting to Mars is not easy, but is a goal that has inspired much action and thought. Future planned missions include the InSight lander (NASA, projected for launch in March 2016), ExoMars orbiter/lander/rover (ESA/Roscosmos, 2016-2018), Mars 2020 rover (NASA, 2020) and Mars Hope orbiter (UAE, 2020). There are also a variety of other national, independent and commercial enterprises considering robotic and human exploration and development of our planetary neighbor. Of course there is no need to make it all the way to Mars in order to reclaim Human Multi World status, the Moon, Luna, is a whole new world, only half the size but almost 600 times closer. (Image Credit: NASA, GSFC)

 

Sep 21 — Silicon Valley Space Center, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Lightsail-A – Lessons Learned; presented by Lightsail team member Barbara Plante.

Sep 21-26 — University of Freiburg, Universities Space Research Association, NASA, Freiburg, Germany: Bridging the Gap III: Impact Cratering in Nature, Experiments and Modeling.

Sep 21 — Moon: 3.4° N of Pluto, 02:00.

Sep 21 — Aten Asteroid 2007 TD: Near-Earth flyby (0.077 AU).

Continued from…

Aug 28 – Aug 28, 2016 — NASA, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 4; at 2,440-meter altitude.

Sep 1-30 — Flexure Engineering LLC, LunarCubes, Online / Pasadena CA: Flash Art Competition; writing and 2D art contest which focuses on lunar and space exploration; US$3,500 grand prize.

Sep 14 – Dec 7 — SSERVI, NASA, Online: SSERVI teams at University of Central FL (CLASS) and Brown University/MIT (SEEED) give 13 lectures on Planetary Evolution: Phobos and Deimos, every Monday; live coverage available.

Sep 20-27 — Association of Space Explorers, Kronoberg’s County Administrative Board, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Swedish National Space Board, Saab, Stockholm, Sweden: 28th Planetary Congress of the ASE: Inspired by Space.

TUESDAY

Sep 22 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: Completing the Census of Exoplanetary Systems with Microlensing; presented by Scott Gaudi from Ohio State University.

Sep 22-23 — SMi Ltd., Maceio, Brazil: MilSatCom Latin America Conference.

Sep 22-24 — Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council, Seoul, South Korea: Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC) Satellite Conference; at COEX Mall.

Sep 22 — Fall / Autumn Equinox: Shortest day of the year (opposite in Southern Hemisphere) as Sun traveling along the ecliptic, reaches a point farthest south of celestial equator, 22:21.

WEDNESDAY

Sep 23 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Tucson AZ: Lecture: The Kuiper Belt – Revealing the History of the Solar System; presented by Dr Kat Volk.

THURSDAY

Sep 24 — Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), Mars Orbit: India ISRO orbiter enters 2nd year of operations in Mars orbit; launched Nov 5, 2013.

Sep 24 — The National Academies, Washington DC: Meeting: Review of NASA’s Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks.

Sep 24 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Lecture: Exploring Exoplanets with a Starshade Mission; presented by Dr. Margaret Turnbull of SETI Institute and Carl Sagan Center for Life in the Universe.

Sep 24 — Moon: 0.78° NNE of Regulus, 17:00.

Sep 24 — Apollo Asteroid 2012 TT5: Near-Earth flyby (0.055 AU).

FRIDAY

Sep 25 — Canadian Space Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Space Summit Toronto Chapter Meeting: Project Voyager.

Sep 25-26 — Kama‘aha, Kamehameha Schools, The Kohala Center, Hawai‘inuiākea – School of Hawaiian Knowledge at University of Hawaii Mānoa, Honolulu HI: Aimalama: Pacific Peoples’ Lunar Conference on Climate Change; to bring together peoples of Hawai`i & the Pacific who are revitalizing lunar practices to share lunar methodologies with one another & build a regional community of practice; at UH Manoa.

Sep 25 — Moon: 3.1° NW of Neptune, 21:00.

SATURDAY

Sep 26 — International Lunar Observatory Association, Space Age Publishing Co., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Galaxy Forum Canada 2015: Astronomy from the Moon; at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre 182, University of British Columbia, 09:00-12:30.

Sep 26 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: Goddard Space Flight Center Open House.

Sep 26-30 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Iranian Space Agency, Inter-Islamic Network on Space Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran: United Nations/Islamic Republic of Iran Workshop on Space Technology Applications for Dust Storm and Drought Monitoring; Canceled.

Sep 26 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 RU36: Near-Earth flyby (0.038 AU).

SUNDAY

Sep 27 — Dawn, Ceres Orbit: NASA spacecraft enters 9th year in space today, launched Sep 27, 2007; entered orbit around 4 Vesta Jul 16, 2011, reached Ceres orbit March 6, 2015.

Sep 27 — Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles CA: Total lunar eclipse event at Griffith Observatory; 18:30-21:45.

Sep 27 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Dr. Stuart Robbins from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).

Sep 27 – Oct 1 — Pro-physica Foundation, GSI Helmholtz Centre, Warsaw, Poland: NUSTAR Week 2015.

Sep 27 – Oct 2 — European Planetary Science Congress, University of Nantes, Nantes, France: European Planetary Science Congress 2015; at La Cité Nantes Events Center.

Sep 27 — Moon: Total eclipse of Moon: Prenumbral 14:10-19:24, Partial 15:07-18:27, Total 16:10-17:24; visible in most of Europe, South East Asia, Africa, N America, S America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic, Antarctica.

Sep 27 — Moon: At perigee (distance 356,457 km), 15:55; Full / Harvest “Blood” Moon,16:50.

Sep 27 — Aten Asteroid 2006 WV1: Near-Earth flyby (0.085 AU).