May 13-19, 2024 / Vol 43, No 20 / Hawai`i Island, USA

CAPS and AbSciCon24 Astrobiology Meetings Share Progress, Plans for Next-Gen Exploration Missions

The 3rd open session of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences (CAPS) will be held May 20 in Washington DC. CAPS connects the research community, federal government and public, and gathers information on the growth in the astrobiology and planetary science fields to provide reviews on the implementation of decadal surveys including its current project Proposed Science Themes for NASA’s 5th New Frontiers Mission. Some advancements include instrumentation developments for microbe detection, application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and next-gen computing. The CAPS recommendations will influence the next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity for Solar System exploration missions which will be released NET 2026. Ongoing New Frontiers missions are New Horizons in the Kuiper Belt, Juno at Jupiter and OSIRIS-REx heading toward Apophis in the Main Asteroid Belt. The next mission is Dragonfly launching July 2028 to study the prebiotic chemistry and extraterrestrial habitability of Saturn moon Titan. The Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon24) on May 5-10 in Providence RI, supported  by American Geophysical Union, NASA, SETI, Univ of Rhode Island, KBR and Blue Marble Space, brings together ~1,000 participants for 6 days of plenaries, oral presentations, eLightning sessions, posters, online discussion sessions, town halls, meeting mentor program, special events and an exhibition. There are 7 Keynotes and Plenaries including Tim Lyons on ‘Earth’s Complicated Relationship with Oxygen and How It May Help Us Find Life Elsewhere’ convened by Dawn Cardace.  (Image Credits: ESA, Johns Hopkins APL)

MONDAY 

☆ May 13 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew expecting arrival of Starliner CST-100 this weekend, working with pharmaceutical, antimicrobial & fuel combustion experiments, participating in in-flight events with KMGH-TV Denver, Pima Community College Arizona, New York Hall of Science.

☆ May 13 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew continue working with cargo / experiments, are planned to perform 2-3 extravehicular activities during 6-month mission; over 400 material samples exposed to space brought back to Earth by Shenzhou 17.

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

India Issues Guidance on Space Policy, Streamlining Commercial Space Regulation

180+ space companies in India, defined as Non-Government Entities, to conduct space activities under authorization defined by Norms, Guidelines and Procedures for Implementation of Indian Space Policy 2023, issued May 2024 by Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) located in Ahmedabad. Formal application process will collect information including launch details, orbital position, payloads, propulsion systems, expected in-orbit lifetime, and space debris mitigation measures from prospective space operators. Approvals anticipated to be issued within 75–120-day timeframe, with all applicants required to be either India entities or subsidiaries of India entities – however, a constellation exclusion is provided for IN-SPACe authorization of foreign operators. Also, domestic companies will be allowed to utilize international satellite data for the first time under new framework. This latest private space guidance comes following the announcement of US$1.6B Department of Space budget for 2024 and the opening of the India space sector to foreign investment. The race to provide commercial space services in India is led by Skyroot Aerospace of Hyderabad, which aims to become the first non-governmental orbital launch provider with Vikram I set to fly NET Q2 2024 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. AgniKul Cosmos of Chennai is also slated to launch suborbital Agnibaan rocket NET Q3 2024. ISRO continues work towards human spaceflight (Gaganyaan NET 2026), Bharatiya Antariksha space station (first module launching NET 2028) and India Vyomanaut Moon landing (NET 2040). (Image Credits: Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, IN-SPACe)

● May 13-14 — Arizona State University / New America, Online: Space Intersections Symposium: How will religious and political ideologies define the future of human expansion into space?

● May 13-15 — NASA Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group, Houston TX / Online: ExMAG Meeting; at Lunar and Planetary Institute.

● May 13-15 — Smarter Shows, Long Beach CA: Space Tech Expo USA.

☾ May 13 — Moon: 3.5° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 16:00.

☆ May 13 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 JB2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)

TUESDAY

☆ May 14 — Tianwen-1 Lander, Utopia Planitia, Mars Surface: China Tianwen-1 Lander reaches 3 full years / enters 4th year of Mars surface operations at / near 25.1°N, 109.9°E; landed 2021 with Zhurong Rover.

★ May 14 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 8-7, SSLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Next batch of Starlink satellites to launch for SpaceX constellation.

● May 14 — Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, JHUAPL, Online: LEAG ExComm Community Meeting.

o May 14-15 — U.N. Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Portuguese Space Agency, Lisbon, Portugal: Conference on Management and Sustainability of Outer Space Activities.

☆ May 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2014 WF6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.018 AU)

● May 15 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Washington DC: 2024 AIAA Awards Gala.

● May 15-16 — Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC), Logan UT: COSMIC Convergence; workshop on In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing.

☾ May 15 — Moon: At first quarter, 01:48; 3.2° NNE of Regulus, 13:00.