June 22-28, 2020 / Vol 39, No 25 / Hawai`i Island, USA

International Astronautical Federation Plans Virtual IAC 2020, Remains ‘Agile, Innovative and Resilient’

IAF President Pascale Ehrenfreund addresses the global space community and announces 71st IAC, the 2020 ‘Cyberspace Edition’ being held October 12-14 online and for free, in an effort to Connect @ll Space People globally. Ehrenfreund states IAF is working to respond to current and future challenges and focusing on 3 main topics for its advocacy agenda: to support and facilitate global space governance, stimulate and propel global space economy, and influence and foster global space advocacy. With support from IAA, IISL, and SGAC, this 3-day IAC will include plenaries, 1600 video lectures, technical and special sessions, IAF GNF sessions and a virtual exhibition. 2020 IAF Award Recipients include Chang’e-4 mission leaders Wu Weiren, Yu Dengyun and Sun Zezhou; ISRO Chairman K. Sivan; SWF Executive Director Peter Martinez; and ESA for the ‘3G’ Diversity Award. Launching September 16 is IAF Global Networking Forum Space Conversations Series, which will be free, live webinars held every 2 weeks on Wednesday. Established in 1951, IAF currently has 400 member organizations from nearly 70 countries. It will host 72nd IAC in Dubai, followed by 73rd in Paris 2022, and 74th in Baku in 2023. The Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) in St. Petersburg, Russia will now be planned for June 2021. IAF also has 3 dedicated committees and various programs, competitions and awards for students, young professionals and emerging space leaders. (Image Credits: IAF)

MONDAY

Highlights…
Jun 22 — ISS, 405-km LEO: Expedition 63 five-member crew working with Total Organic Carbon Analyzer, Acoustic Monitor Noise Survey, and cargo transfers from Progress 75P, HTV-9, Crew Dragon; Cassidy and Behnkin to perform EVA this Friday and July 1 for power system upgrades; UAE students participate in ISS robot programming competition.

Jun 22 — NewSpace: Final Frontier Design working on xEMU Lunar spacesuit for NASA under new contracts; SpaceX building sea launch / off-shore spaceports; Interstellar Technologies constructing next Momo rocket while analyzing failure of Momo-5.

Jun 22 — Solar System: ExoMars TGO detects green glow at Mars; asteroid Bennu thermal fracturing evidence aids understanding of airless body surface evolution; Trident mission to Neptune moon Triton 2038 under consideration.

Jun 22 — Galaxy: Univ. of Nottingham researchers estimate 36 civilizations possible within MWG; there may be 6 billion Earth-like planets in our Galaxy; simulations suggest ‘magnetically arrested’ Sagittarius A* may advance imaging attempts.

Jun 22 — Global: India and Japan to launch Lunar Polar Exploration lander / rover NET 2023; Oman to develop its first satellite program; Japan upgraded Epsilon 5 to launch Vietnam LOTUSat-1 satellite 2023; Scotland sees first launch, Skylark reaches 6 km, plans for 100 km in 2021.

Jun 22 — USA: Kathy Lueders to take over as NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration & Operations; booster segments for SLS first Artemis mission arrive at KSC, being readied for integration; CubeQuest Challenge re-opens for Moon & Beyond payloads.

Jun 22 — Hawai’i: W. M. Keck instrument HIRES spectrometer identifies Earth-sized exoplanet with 3.14 day orbit; UH astronomers Charlotte Bond and Mark Chun build infrared sensor to correct optical distortion; UH Hilo requesting public input on decommissioning of 20-foot diameter Hōkū Keʻa educational telescope.

Jun 22-24 — OpenPlanetary, Online: OpenPlanetary Virtual Conference; featuring talks on Mars, Commercial Space, PDS Archiving Standards.

= 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’).

Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Jupiter (SE), Saturn (SE); Morning Planets: Mars (E), Neptune (SE).

SpaceFund Champions Revolutionary Space Enterprise Via Multi-Platform Engagement

Spacefund, brainchild of pioneering space entrepreneur and advocate Rick Tumlinson, planning web-based ‘Ask Me Anything’ Q&A June 23, following SpaceFund-hosted 10th annual Aerospace & Defense National Online Forum held June 17. Managing Partner Meagan Crawford will represent SpaceFund and affiliate SpaceFund Intelligence, which she heads. NewSpace businesses hopeful of securing financing and SpaceFund mentorship will have an opportunity to apply to pitch “1:1” for part of the US$2M fund – average funding being under $100k. Spacefund offers insight backed by extensive industry experience – Deep Space Industries, LunaCorp, MirCorp, Brand Delta-V and Center for Space Commerce and Finance are among organizations the two principals have co-founded – and by rigorous analysis of the contemporary NewSpace industry. Products of this research include SpaceFund Reality rating, which purports to quantify the quality of NewSpace companies; Space Fund Token is to provide direct access to transactional accounting by all parties to an exchange within a regulated framework, fostering fluid, innovation-spurring investment. Outside of cyberspace, Space Frontier Foundation, perhaps Tumlinson’s longest running association, is to host NewSpace Conference 2020 August 12–14 in Lake Washington WA. The New Worlds Institute of Earthlight Foundation, inspired by Moonworker John Young recollections of Earth reflecting off of the lunar surface, will gather in Austin TX November 6–7 to imagine future ecosystems humankind may inhabit. (Image Credits: SpaceFund, NASA, Earthlight Foundation, Brand Delta-V, DSI)

 Jun 22-26 — ESO, Online: Conference: Assessing Uncertainties in Hubble’s Constant Across the Universe.

Jun 22 — Moon: 8.1° S of Castor, 12:00, 4.5° S of Pollux, 16:00.

Jun 22 — Mercury: At aphelion, 0.4667 AU from Sun, 18:00.

Jun 22 — Aten Asteroid 2020 LV: Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)

Jun 22 — Amor Asteroid 2020 KR1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 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.

May 9 – Jul 11 — AIAA Los Angeles – Las Vegas Section, Online: Virtual Aerospace Art Gallery Exhibition.

TUESDAY

Jun 23 — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Moon Orbit: NASA spacecraft reaches 11 full years / enters 12th year in Moon orbit today; launched Jun 18, 2009, arrived at Moon 5 days later.

Jun 23 —SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 9 and BlackSky Global 5 & 6, LC-39A KSC FL: SpaceX to launch 10th batch of ~60 satellites for Starlink constellation, 2 satellies for BlackSky Global.

Jun 23 — AIAA, Reston VA / Online: Webinar: Staking Your Claim to the Trillion-Dollar Space Economy; 13:00-14:30 EDT.

Jun 23 — JPL, NASA, Pasadena CA / Online: Education Workshop: Teaching Space with NASA – Engineering the Perseverance Mars Rover; 13:00-14:00 PDT.

Jun 23 — SpaceFund, Houston Exponential (HX), Online / Houston TX: VC Ask Me Anything (AMA) Virtual Event featuring SpaceFund; with Meagan Crawford, 17:00 CDT.

Jun 23-25 — Space Frontier Foundation, Kent WA: NewSpace 2020; postponed to Aug 12-14.

Jun 23 — Moon: 2.03° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 17:00.

WEDNESDAY

Jun 24-25 — SMi Group, Arlington VA: MilSatCom 2020; postponed to June 23-24, 2021.

Jun 24 — Aten Asteroid 441987 (2010 NY65): Near-Earth Flyby (0.025 AU)

THURSDAY

Jun 25 — NASA, ESA, JAXA, Online / Multiple Locations: Agencies to release dashboard of satellite data showing impacts on environment and socioeconomic activity caused by coronavirus, 09:00 EDT.

Jun 25 — Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Online / NYC NY: Intrepid and the Space Race; hear stories from Intrepid’s crew, and “visit” the space shuttle Enterprise, 14:00-15:30 EDT.

Jun 25 — TechCrunch, The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles CA: TC Sessions: Space 2020; postponed to Dec 17.

Jun 25 — Space Tourism Society, Online / Los Angeles CA: Webinar: A View in the Future; featuring John Spencer of STS and Jane Poynet of Space Perspective, 11:00-12:00 PDT.

Jun 25 — Space Tourism Society, Los Angeles Venture Association, Explore Mars, Astronomers without Borders, et al, Los Angeles CA: Space Tourism Conference 2020; postponed to April 28, 2021.

Jun 25 — Moon: 4.2° NNE of Regulus, 08:00.

Jun 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 FW128: Near-Earth Flyby (0.008 AU)

Jun 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 MA: Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)

FRIDAY

Jun 26 — ISS, U.S. EVA #65, 405-km LEO: Expedition 63 Cassidy and Behnkin to perform spacewalk up to ~7 hours for power system upgrades to ISS; begins 07:35 EDT, live coverage available.

Jun 26 – ISS National Laboratory, American Astronautical Society, Online / Seattle WA: Abstracts Due: ISS R&D Conference 2020; virtual meeting on Aug 3-6.

SATURDAY

Jun 27 — Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Sun-Synchronous Orbit: NASA observation satellite investigating the physical conditions of the chromosphere of Sun reaches 7 full reaches / enters 8th year in space, launched 2013.

Jun 27 — Moon: At first quarter, 22:15.

Jun 27 — Aten Asteroid 2020 KQ7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU)

SUNDAY

Jun 28 — CNSA, Launch Long March 3B / Apstar 6D, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China: Long March 3B to launch Apstar 6D communications satellite.

Jun 28 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston hosts open lines for callers.

Jun 28 — NASA, Online / Cape Canaveral AFS FL: Due date for USA media to apply to watch July 20 launch of Mars 2020 ‘Perseverance’ rover in person.

Jun 28 — Moon: 6.8° NNE of Spica, 04:00.

Jun 28 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 JX1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU)