March 30 – April 5, 2020 / Vol 39, No 13 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Moon and Mars 2020 Exploration on Surface and in Orbit

Currently, the sole operating presence of humanity (via robotic proxy) on the Moon surface consists of Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 rover. Communications relay Queqiao, in L2 point halo orbit, provides line of sight vantage to Earth – necessary for communication. Selenocentric orbit is somewhat more populated: NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter continues to map surface features in three dimensions. ARTEMIS P1 and P2, formerly THEMIS B and C maintain lunar orbit, monitoring solar weather and its interaction with Earth magnetosphere. Chang’e 5-T1 service module has maintained a Lissajous orbit while testing maneuvers which will be executed by (top) lunar sample return Chang’e-5, set to launch from Wenchang SLC in Hainan in 2020 with mission of bringing 1-2 kg of regolith back to Earth. The most recent addition to the array of functioning artificial satellites around the Moon is Chandrayaan-2, which has mapped landing sites and areas of interest from lunar polar orbit since September. Further out in the Solar System, NASA’s stationary lander Insight and rover Curiosity continue to gather seismic and environmental data from the Martian surface, while 6 craft observe from orbit of the Red Planet: NASA Mars Odyssey, Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution; ESA Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter (with Roscosmos) and ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission. Racing to meet the July 2020 launch window, China Mars Mission includes an orbiter, lander and rover; USA prepares Perseverance rover and a drone helicopter, and UAE plans Hope orbiter to launch via JAXA H2A rocket. (Image Credits: CNSA, NASA)

MONDAY

 NET Mar 30 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / SAOCOM 1B, Cape Canaveral FL: Falcon 9 rocket to launch SAOCOM 1B satellite for CONAE, Argentina space agency.

Argentina CONAE Satellite to Launch by SpaceX, Advancing Argentina Astronautics and Astrophysics

Argentina launch of 3,000-kg SAOCOM 1B satellite on Falcon 9 from KSC is pushed into the future due to travel and coronavirus concerns. Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) develops a National Space Program including three series of satellites: SAC, SAOCOM and SARE. The SAC series of satellites launched between 1998 and 2011 provide technology demonstration and environmental monitoring. SAC-D, is also known as Aquarius, carries seven instruments to study the environment. SAOCOM 1A, which carries a synthetic aperture radar for monitoring natural disasters, operates in a 615 by 634 km polar orbit since October 2018 launch. Future 200-kg SARE satellites will be built using nanotechnology. Twin NuSat 7 and NuSat 8 Earth-imaging microsatellites are successfully in orbit following Long March 2B launch from Taiyuan launch base in China. CONAE missions are operated from a space center in Cordoba province, which also contains the Mario Gulich Institute for Advanced Space Studies. The fourth Argentine-Brazilian Meeting on Gravitation, Astrophysics and Cosmology is currently planned for April 22-24 in Buenos Aires, following the successful GRAV2019 conference in Cordoba. The Argentine National Observatory, also known as the Astronomical Observatory of Cordoba, stands since founding in 1871 by Argentine President Domingo Sarmiento and USA astronomer Benjamin Gould. During late 2020 Argentina will be host to an International Astronomical Union Symposium 367 in Bariloche, Galaxy Forum South America and the total solar eclipse Dec 14. (Image Credits: CONAE, SpaceX)

Mar 30 – Apr 2 — Space Foundation, Colorado Springs CO: 36th Space Symposium; Postponed.

Mar 30 – Apr 3 — Science and Technology Institute, Universities Space Research Association, NASA, Cocoa Beach FL: 16th Spacecraft Charging and Technology Conference (SCTC 2020); Cancelled.

Mar 30 – Apr 4 — Spaceport America, New Mexico State University, Virgin Galactic, New Mexico Space Grant, NASA White Sands Test Facility, et al, Las Cruces NM: Las Cruces Space Festival 2020; Postponed.

Mar 30 — Aten Asteroid 2006 FH36: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)

Mar 30 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 FB1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 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.

Mar 2-31 — NASA, Nationwide USA: NASA solicits ‘Artemis Generation’ Astronaut applicants.

Mar 16 – Sep 16 — SpaceX, Boca Chica Beach TX: SpaceX to attempt Starship flight to 20-km altitude during this timeframe.

Mar 26-29 — University of Mississippi, Oxford MS: Meeting: Exploring Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology and Space Exploration (SSoCIA 2020).

 NET Mar 29 — Rocketlab, Launch Electron / “Don’t Stop Me Now” Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: 14-day launch window begins for 12th Electron launch to carry ANDESITE and NRO satellites.