LRO Cruising into 7th Year of Cislunar Operations

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the flagship NASA lunar mission of the 21st Century so far, is one of the most sophisticated robotic craft to study the Moon. The 1,900-kg, US$504M mission is entering year 7 in progressively lower orbits over the South Pole of our nearest celestial neighbor. Flying within 20 km of the surface, it is carrying 7 power instruments that generate data of increasingly higher spatial resolution. Release 22, the latest data set from LRO, is being poured over by scientists around the world after its publication June 15 via the Planetary Data System at the Geosciences Node. One of the primary LRO objectives is to scout safe landing sites for future human and robotic missions. Scientists can highlight areas suitable for landing from an engineering standpoint by layering topographical data from LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter), temperature data from Diviner showing prevalence of small boulders and detailed stereographic data from LROC to refine the characterization and pick out larger obstacles. Then of course, many other variables will be taken into consideration in choosing the most interesting and viable location to achieve various government and independent mission priorities in terms of science, longevity, resource utilization, communications, etc. With the volume and quality of data being produced, the $12.4M ongoing annual operating costs seem a reasonable contribution to make toward Human civilization being better prepared to reclaim its status as a multi world species. As LRO Project Scientist Rich Vondrak put it, “LRO is the next step in learning to live and work off of our planet and it’s a wonderful investment in our future.” (Image Credit: NASA / GSFC)

MONDAY

Jun 22 — ISS, LEO: Three-member Expedition 44 crew investigating effects of weightlessness in carotid artery & upper half of body, preparing for arrival of Dragon CRS-7 supply ship containing 1st International Docking Adapter (IDA-1) which will facilitate future docking of human transport vehicles; ISS now 6,059 days in space.

Jun 22 — Hayabusa 2, Asteroid 1999 JU3 Trajectory: JAXA explorer preparing for Earth flyby in December, ion engine & craft remain operational & in good health; expected to reach asteroid in June / July 2018.

 Jun 22 — New Horizons, Pluto Trajectory: NASA craft performing approach science operations & hazard-search observations, 22 days & ~280,000,000 km from Pluto system flyby.

Jun 22 — ESA, Launch Vega / Sentinel 2A, Kourou, French Guiana: Europe Vega rocket, designated VV05, to launch Sentinel 2A Earth observation satellite for European Space Agency and European Commission, 21:51.

Jun 22 — Shackleton Energy Company, Del Valle TX: NewSpace company planning to use plasma-drilling technology to mine Moon for fuel & consumables for lunar / Space / Earth-return missions; will begin with 2-3 years of robotic prospecting at South & North pole.

Jun 22 — Escape Dynamics, Broomfield CO: Working to engineer single-stage-to-orbit reusable electromagnetically powered spaceplanes for orbital launches by 2020.

Jun 22 — BlackSky Global, Seattle WA: Developing fleet of 1-meter long satellites to provide Earth images & video (at 1 frame per second) in near-real time, planning to launch 6 before 2017 & have total of 60 in orbit by 2019 to observe major cities & economic zones between 40-70 times a day.

Jun 22 — Silicon Valley Space Center, Mountain View CA: How Nanosatellites Can Complement LandSat Imagery; presented by Chris Biddy, CEO of Aquila Space; at Hacker Dojo.

Jun 22-23 — The National Academies, Washington DC: Meeting: Review of NASA’s Evidence Reports on Human Health Risks.

Europe to Launch Vega Rocket and Host Astronomy, Space Technology and Industry Conferences 

The summer season begins in Europe with the 2015 European Week of Astronomy and Space Sciences (EWASS) in Tenerife, Canary Islands on June 22-26. The European and Spanish Astronomical Societies, Astrophysics Institute of Canarias and La Laguna University conference will feature lectures, social events and excursions focused on stars, galaxies, exoplanets, cosmology, instrumentation and outreach. More than 400 people from 50 countries are expected to attend. On June 23 ESA is planning to launch the 30-meter long, three-stage Vega rocket, designated VV05, at 21:51 EDT to send the Sentinel 2A Earth observation satellite into polar, Sun-synchronous orbit at 786-km altitude. The Global Space Innovation Conference (GLiC 2015) will run from June 23-25 in Munich, Germany, supported by IAF, DLR and ESA. With the theme “From Government Programs to Entrepreneurial Actions” GLiC will address key factors to advance commercial space industry and technologies in 6 plenary panel sessions, an exhibition, keynote speeches and a young professionals ‘SpaceUp’ unconference. The Global Chief Technologies Officer Conversation will be moderated by (L-R) Robie Roy of Lockheed Martin and include panelists Piero Messidoro of Thales Alenia Space, Yasunori Mochizuki of NEC Central Research Laboratories Japan and Andreas Rittweger of DLR. ESA is also hosting an Industry Day at European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany on June 25-26 to further advance Europe industry collaboration in space sectors and with ESA. (Image Credit: EWASS, ESA, NASA, IAF, DLR, Arianespace)

Jun 22-25 — U.S. DoD, DoE, FAA, NASA, Boeing Co., ATK, et al, Chantilly VA: 2015 National Space & Missile Materials Symposium (NSMMS) & the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange (CRASTE); at Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles.

Jun 22-26 — European Astronomical Society, Spanish Astronomical Society, Canaries Institute of Astrophysics, University of San Fernando, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain: 2015 European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS).

Jun 22-26 — AIAA, Dallas TX: 7th AIAA Atmospheric and Space Environments Conference; AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (AIAA AVIATION 2015); at Hilton Anatole.

Jun 22-26 — NASA, Caltech/JPL, Pasadena CA: Cassini Project Science Group Meeting: Magnetospheric IMaging Instrument (MIMI) #66.

Jun 22-26 — NASA, Multiple Locations / Online: NASA Astronauts to participate in public events in Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Online.

Continued from…

May 1 – Jun 30 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, National Space Grant Foundation, Houston TX: 2015 eXploration Habitat (X-Hab); university-level students’ designs for functional space habitat subsystems prototypes to be submitted & evaluated.

Jun 1 – Aug 7 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 2015 LPI Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science.

Jun 8 – Aug 7 — International Space University, Glenn Research Center, NASA, Ohio University, Athens OH: ISU 28th Space Studies Program (SSP 2015).

Jun 21 – Jul 12 — Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO: Workshop: The Physics of Accretion and Feedback in the Circum-Galactic Medium.

TUESDAY

Jun 23 — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Moon Orbit: NASA spacecraft enters 7th year of operations in Moon orbit today; launched Jun 18, 2009.