China / Zhongguo Long March 5 Return to Flight Vital For 2020s Chang’e Moon, Mars, Human Missions

The 3rd heavy-lift Long March 5 (LM-5) rocket is scheduled to launch December 27 from China newest and most southern launch center at Wenchang, Hainan Island 19° N. Carrying 8,000-kg Shijian 20 tech demo satellite into geosynchronous orbit, it will be the first LM-5 flight in ~30 months. Success is critical for China 2020 commitments to launch its first lunar sample return mission Chang’e-5, first Mars mission Huǒxīng-1 (Mars-1) of a rover and orbiter July 23, conduct variant Long March 5B test, and fly next-gen human spacecraft. CE-5 is expected to launch NET July 2020 to Mons Rümker Region 40.8° N, 58.1° W and return to Earth within one month. Back-up CE-6 could launch to collect samples near Moon South Pole after CE-7 lands on Shackleton Rim NET 2023. CE-8 may be the final robotic mission before China lands humans on the Moon. 21st Century China / International / USA Artemis collaboration for Moon Village settlement could be on the horizon. CE-6 will have international payloads aboard. Data from far-side CE-4 and its 4 international payloads is expected to be shared publicly; similar to CE-3 which enters its 7th year / reaches 6 full years of operation Dec 14. In July 2029, CE-2 in Deep Space will come within 7M km of Earth after reaching 300M km apogee. (Pictured: CLEP Designer Wu Weiren; Image Credits: CNSA, CCTV / screengrab)

MONDAY

Dec 9-10 — NASA, Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans LA: Artemis Day; social media users invited to view Space Launch System core stage for Artemis 1, and to tour Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

International Conference Talks About Orbital Debris While AGU Looks To Moon and Mars 

The First International Orbital Debris Conference December 9-12 in the town of Sugar Land near Houston, Texas will be hosted by LPI, USRA, NASA and AGI. IOC will cover all aspects of micrometeoroid and orbital debris research, highlighting research in USA and encouraging collaborations with the international community. Holger Krag of ESA Space Debris Office estimates there are about 1 million pieces of space junk larger than 1 cm, all of which could pose a danger. During 2019 ESA Aeolus Earth observation satellite has been moved to avoid collision with one of the SpaceX Starlink satellites, which are also a concern of astronomers. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee proposes guidelines to mitigate the creation of space debris. An IADC study using 6 different models shows that even in a near-perfect scenario of 90% compliance with the guidelines, a collision could be expected every 5-9 years. ESA proposes active removal missions to clean up space debris. Satellites will also be among the topics for over 25,000 attendees at the 100th American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting at San Francisco Moscone Center. On Dec 11 a plenary talk will discuss the future of Moon and Mars exploration in the age of Artemis. Another panel “New Access to Space” will focus on nations and commercial enterprises sending spacecraft to lunar orbit and the lunar surface. (Image Credits: IOC, ESA, USGS)

Dec 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 XY:

Dec 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 WO2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.012 AU)

Dec 9 — Apollo Asteroid 2019 WT3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU)

Dec 9 — Aten Asteroid 2019 XB: Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)

Dec 9-11 — The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Irvine CA: Astro2020 Meeting: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020.

Dec 9-13 — LPI, USRA, NASA, AGI, Houston TX: 1st International Orbital Debris Conference (IOC).

Dec 9-13 — American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco CA: 100th American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting.

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.

Nov 2019 – Nov 2020— Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 with two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu on trajectory for Earth return.

Nov 29 – Dec 5 — European Commission, EU Space Programme, Copernicus, EGNOS, Galileo Network, ESA, et al, Helsinki, Finland: European Space Week 2019; featuring keynotes, discussions and conference sessions, hackathon, accelerator boot camp, a festive awards ceremony and more.

Dec 8-13 — International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems, UNOOSA, Bengaluru, India: 14th Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG).