Humans to Mars Summit 2014
Explore Mars, Inc. presents H2M 2014 at The George Washington University in Washington DC. The program features a diverse contingent of NASA experts and astronauts, key commercial aerospace and NewSpace representatives, prominent academics and well-respected journalists. The opening keynote is by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and is followed by a panel discussion on ‘Building a Future around Mars’ moderated by Miles O’Brien, Science Correspondent for PBS News Hour and Frontline. Apollo Moon-worker Buzz Aldrin is speaking and having a book signing. A special reception sponsored by Google is schedule for Tuesday evening at the Sun Trust Building near the White House. Among the 62 other notable speakers are Alan Stern of Uwingu, Rick Tumlinson of Deep Space Industries, Pete Worden of NASA Ames and Taber MacCallum of Paragon SDC. Explore Mars is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades. Other leading efforts include Inspiration Mars, a 501-day 2-passenger 161-km altitude Mars flyby designed to take advantage of a free-return orbit opportunity with a target launch date of January 5, 2018; and Mars One, a series of robotic missions building towards one-way crewed migrations starting in 2024 to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. (Image Credit: H2M, Mars One, Inspiration Mars)
2014 EGU General Assembly Advances Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences
The 2014 European Geosciences Union General Assembly is set to take place in Vienna, Austria on April 27 – May 2. The conference has been given a theme for the first time, The Face of the Earth – Process and Form. Günter Blöschl (T) of the Vienna University of Technology will welcome 11,000 attendees and give keynotes on each of the 5 subtopics covering the diversity of geoscience processes and associated forms from the core of the Earth to interplanetary space: Rocks of the Earth, Waters of the Earth, Life of the Earth, Atmosphere of the Earth, and Space and the Earth. As part of the ‘Great Debate’ session Nicholas Arndt of Joseph Fourier University will present ‘Metals in our backyard: To mine or not to mine?’ and Paul Quinn of the University of Newcastle will present ‘Geoengineering the climate: The way forward?’ Other sessions cover geodynamics, geomorphology, Earth magnetism, soil systems, volcanology and tectonics. Space topics include evolutionary paths of the Solar System planets, Lunar science & exploration, exoplanets, space instrumentation, planetary landers and rovers. Dmitrij Titov of ESA will give a private talk on Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) on Apr 28. Athena Coustenis (C) of France National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) along with Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker (B) and others will lead a 4-hour session on ‘Outer planets, icy satellites and rings.’ (Image Credit: EGU, NASA, TUW, RAA)
= 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;’ Greenwich, England).
Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Mars (SE), Jupiter (SW), Saturn (S); Morning Planets: Venus (ESE).
MONDAY
Apr 21 — ISS, LEO: Exp 39 transferring cargo from SpaceX Dragon capsule & Progress 55P, preparing for EVA & undocking of Progress 53P planned for Apr 23, working with studies involving ocean-observation & chemical luminescent reactions in Earth atmosphere.
Apr 21 — Tiangong-1, LEO: Data from spacecraft hyperspectral imaging device to be provided commercially to China and International customers through Space Application Service Platform.
Apr 21 — Curiosity, The Kimberley, Mars: Rover collecting images and data for potential use of hammer drill to examine chemical and mineral composition, look for organic compounds.
Apr 21 — Rosetta,Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko Trajectory: 100-kg Philae lander is awake, communicating, taking images; Rosetta spacecraft to come out of hibernation soon; set to arrive at comet in May after 10-year journey.
Apr 21 — SpaceX, Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island FL: NewSpace company will begin occupying / upgrading historic Launch Complex 39A under a new 20-year property agreement to support commercial launch activities.
Apr 21 — Blue Origin LLC, Kent WA: Working on VASIMR VX-200 engine which may be able to launch humans to Mars in 39 days; to perform Space Vehicle Subsystem Interim Design Review as part of unfunded NASA SAA.
Apr 21 — Spacefleet Ltd, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: Sub-scale version ofEARL suborbital reusable launch vehicle being flown, tested; Earl D-3 electric 1-meter long demonstrator to be tested soon; Earl D-4 being designed by company in Romania.
Apr 21-22 — Malaysia Institution of Geospatial and Remote Sensing, University Putra, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 7th IGRSM International Conference and Exhibition on Remote Sensing and GIS.
Apr 21-27 — NASA, Various Locations / Online: NASA Celebrates Earth Day with Public Events, Online Activities.
Apr 21 — Moon: At last quarter, 21:45.
Continued from…
Apr 18-21 — Stanford Student Space Initiative, MIT, University of Michigan, Worldwide: Global Space Balloon Challenge; teams from around the World build / launch high altitude balloons and share data.
Apr 20-25 — School of Physics Houches, Les Houches, France: Advanced School: The Interaction of Stars with the Interstellar Medium of Galaxies.
Apr 20-26 — Rencontres du Vietnam, Quy Nhon, Vietnam: Exoplanetary Science Conference.
TUESDAY
Apr 22 — Silicon Valley Space Center, Santa Clara CA: Space Entrepreneurship Series: Intro – Is a Start-up for You?; presented by Dr. Sean Casey.
Apr 22 — B612 Foundation, Museum of Flight, Seattle WA: Saving the Earth by Keeping Big Asteroids Away: An Earth Day Presentation by Astronauts Tom Jones and Ed Lu; 18:00 – 19:15 PDT.
Apr 22 — Carnegie Institution for Science, NASA, Washington DC: Capital Science Evening – Old Moon, New Moon; presented by Dr. Maria Zuber of MIT.
Apr 22 — Library of Congress Science, Technology and Business Division, Washington DC: Lecture: Magnifying the Universe; presented by Dr. Jane Rigby.
Apr 22-23 — SAFE Secretariat, University Putra Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Space Applications For Environment (SAFE) initiative session at IGRSM, and 6th SAFE Workshop.
Apr 22-24 — Explore Mars Inc., Washington DC: Humans to Mars Summit 2014; to explore how humans can land on Mars by 2030s; at George Washington University.
Apr 22-26 — Interuniversity Consortium for Space Physics, L’Aquila, Italy: International School of Space Science: Observing the Universe with the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Apr 22 — Moon: At perigee (distance 369,326 km), 14:22.
Apr 22 — Asteroid 2008 EZ5: Near-Earth flyby (0.099 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Apr 23 — ISS, EVA, LEO: Mastracchio, Swanson to perform 2.5-hour extra-vehicular activity to repair external multiplexer demultiplexer (MDM) backup computer which controls some robotic systems,13:20 UT, live coverage available.
Apr 23 — ISS, Undocking of Progress 53P, LEO: Progress 53P to undock from Zvezda service module at 08:54 UT to test its Kurs automated rendezvous equipment, live coverage available; will redock 2 days later.
Apr 23 — Stanford Student Space Initiative, Stanford CA: Space at Stanford; featuring talks on space entrepreneurship, cutting edge research being done at Stanford; in Cubberley Auditorium, 17:00 – 20:00 PDT, free.
Apr 23 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Lecture: The Contested Future of Space Tourism; presented by Mark Johnson.
Apr 23 — NASA HQ, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Opening of “Repairing Hubble” Exhibit; celebrating 24th anniversary of Hubble Space Telescope’s launch into space; speakers include Charles Bolden, John Grunsfeld, John Trauger.
Apr 23 — Cornell University – Astronomy Department, Ithaca NY: Lecture: The Atmospheric Circulation on Brown Dwarfs; presented by Adam Showman, 12:15 EDT.
Apr 23-25 — Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Northrop Grumman Foundation, MedImmune LLC, Washington DC: STEM Solutions Conference.
Apr 23 — Asteroid 304330 (2006 SX217): Near-Earth flyby (0.032 AU).
THURSDAY
Apr 24 — Cassini OTM-378, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #378 today.
Apr 24 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: Cosmic Explorations: When Will We Find E.T. and What Happens If We Do?; presented by Dr. Seth Shostak from SETI.
Apr 24 — Cornell University – Astronomy Department, Ithaca NY: Salpeter Lecture: Atmospheric Dynamics of Giant Planets.
FRIDAY
Apr 25 — ISS, Docking of Progress 53P, LEO: Progress 53P to redock to Zvezda service module at 12:16 UT to test its Kurs automated rendezvous equipment after undocking Apr 23; live coverage available.
Apr 25 — NASA HQ, Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, Online / Washington DC: Asteroid Grand Challenge: Virtual Seminar Series; David Kring (Lunar and Planetary Institute) speaks on examples and consequences of NEA impacts, 11:00 EDT.
Apr 25 — Space Resources Roundtable, Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Online / Golden CO: Abstracts Due: 2014 SRR/PTMSS.
Apr 25 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: Lunch with an Astronaut, Brian Duffy; US$49.95 adult.
Apr 25 – May 3 — Philadelphia Science Festival Steering Committee, Philadelphia PA: 2014 Philadelphia Science Festival; Astronaut Terry Hart to speak / participate in Astronomy Night.
Apr 25 — Moon: 4.1° NNW of Venus, 11:00.
SATURDAY
Apr 26 — NASA Academy Alumni Association, Washington DC: NASA Academy’s 20th Anniversary Event.
Apr 26 — Ad Astra Kansas Foundation, Washburn University Department of Physics & Astronomy, Topeka KS: 2014 Ad Astra Kansas Day; at Stoffer Science Hall.
Apr 26 — Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, Ames Research Center, NASA, Online / Moffett Field CA: Abstracts Due: NASA Exploration Science Forum (ESF).
Apr 26-27— Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Foundation, et al, Washington DC: USA Science and Engineering Festival; at Walter E. Washington Convention Center, free; Astrobotic Technology Inc. & Innovate Our World Moon Mission Challenge to occur Apr 27.
SUNDAY
Apr 27 — RSA, Launch Proton / Luch 5V & Kazsat 3, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Proton rocket to deploy Luch 5V satellite to relay data from Russian spacecraft (including ISS) to ground sites, and Kazsat 3 communications satellite for Kazakhstan.
Apr 27-30 — European Southern Observatory, RadioNet, Obergurgl, Austria: Conference: The Formation and Growth of Galaxies in the Young Universe.
Apr 27 – May 2 — European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria: European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2014: The Face of the Earth – Process and Form; to discuss Earth, planetary, space sciences.
Apr 27 — Asteroid 2000 HB24: Near-Earth flyby (0.034 AU).