February 24 – March 1, 2020 / Vol 39, No 8 / Hawai`i Island, USA

NASA Seeks Artemis Generation Astronauts to Explore Moon and Mars

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wants all eligible Americans to consider if they are a good fit to join the elite ranks of active Astronauts, which currently number 48. Successful applicants will have a chance to live and work on the International Space Station and to “establish a permanent human presence on the Moon within the next decade to uncover new scientific discoveries and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy” which will “prepare humanity for future exploration to Mars”, according to NASA Moon to Mars Overview. Applications will be accepted from March 2 to 31, with selection expected to occur midyear 2021. Training at Johnson Space Center in Houston will follow for those selected to join the 350 total NASA-trained Astronauts. This Artemis class of astronaut candidates will be the 23rd to date – given the likelihood of interplanetary mission assignment interest may exceed the 18,300-application record set in 2015 for group 22. Prospects are expected to meet academic and professional standards and pass a long duration spaceflight physical evaluation. Candidates may recall the words of Eugene Cernan, last human to walk on the lunar surface in December of 1972, “we leave [the Moon] as we came and as we shall return… with peace and hope for all”. (Image Credits: NASA; Pictured L-R: NASA Spacesuit Engineer Amy Ross, Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Spacesuit Engineer Kristine Davis, and Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager Dustin Gohmert)

MONDAY

Interstellar Organizations Work Toward Future Breakthroughs

Icarus Interstellar is one of multiple organizations with a goal of making flight to other solar systems a reality. Founded by physicist and engineer Kelvin Long, Icarus Interstellar stages the biannual Starship Congress. Kelvin Long on Feb 25 lectures on Starship Physics at the British Interplanetary Society. Icarus Interstellar’s other projects range from Project Icarus, which has roots with the BIS, to Project XP4 for breakthrough physics. Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop operates since its official founding by scientists and engineers at Oak Ridge in 2014. TVIW hosts yearly symposia in cooperation with NASA, including a groundbreaking talk on an Interstellar University in the Ad Astra State. Ad Astra Kansas Foundation focuses on technology and space research in Kansas, hosting the Interstellar Symposium and Propulsion Workshop. On Apr 25 the Ad Astra Kansas Space Celebration will be held at Washburn University in Topeka. Every January 29, observation of Kansas admission to Union, Ad Astra Kansas hosts activities at Kansas Museum of History focusing on local hero and astronaut Nick Hague. The Initiative for Interstellar Studies, founded by Kelvin Long and Robert Swinney, is a UK-registered nonprofit that sponsors postgraduate work at the International Space University, a yearly Interstellar Studies Workshop, and the Alpha Centauri Prize for innovative research. 100-Year Starship, headed by Astronaut Mae Jemison, sponsors the annual Canopus Awards for interstellar writing. Breakthrough Starshot Project is a US$100M project to develop interstellar flight to 0.2c. (Image Credits: Icarus Interstellar, Initiative for Interstellar Studies)

Feb 24 — Moon: 3.8° SE of Neptune, 09:00. 

Feb 24 —  Aten Asteroid 2020 BW13: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data collected from 7 instruments during KBO Arrokoth 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.

Feb 23-25 — Space Exploration Alliance, NSS, AIAA, Moon Society, Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Planetary Society, SEDS, et al, Washington DC: SEA Legislative Blitz 2020; advocating for the exploration and development of Space.

TUESDAY

Feb 25 — Astra Space, Launch Astra Rocket 3.0 / DARPA Launch Challenge 1, Pacific Spaceport Complex, Kodiak Island AK: Rocket 3.0 first orbital launch attempt under DARPA Launch Challenge to deliver Prometheus CubeSat, two ARCE CubeSats, and carry Space Object Automated Reporting Systems payload on upper stage.

Feb 25 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Lecture: The Philosophy of Starship Physics – The Exploration of Interstellar and Intergalactic Space; by Kelvin Long, physicist and aerospace engineer, 19:00.

Feb 25 — SETI, New York NY: SETI Talks: Life on Ice; by Astrobiologist and Antarctic Explorer Dale Andersen; at Explorers Club, 18:15.

Feb 25 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Wind-driven Landscape Change on Mars; by Mackenzie Day, Assistant Professor at UCLA Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences; 15:34.

Feb 25-26 — IAA, UNOOSA, African Union Agenda 2063, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International High Level Conference & Exhibition (IHLC2020): The Space Options for Africa 2020.