August 24-30, 2015 / Vol 34, No 34 / Hawai`i Island, USA

India Seeks Continued GSLV Resurgence with GSAT 6 Launch

The India Space Research Organization (ISRO) is eager and determined to re-establish reliable heavy-lift rocket launching operations with another success of GSLV, the D6 in Mark 2 configuration carrying the GSAT 6 communications satellite. The launch is scheduled for August 27 at 11:22am UCT from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota, a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal at about 13.7°N latitude in the state of Andhra Pradesh. December 2014 saw India’s largest rocket ever the GSLV Mark 3 with two massive S-200 solid strap-on boosters each carrying 207 tons of solid propellant, lofting the 3775-kg CARE human spaceflight experimental system into a sub-orbital test flight at an altitude of 126 km. If everything goes right, this will be the 3rd successful launch of GSLV since its return to flight January 5, 2014 after a 4 year hiatus. GSAT 6 is a multi-media mobile satellite system offering Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (S-DMB) service, via mobile phones and mobile video/audio receivers for vehicles. It can also be utilized for strategic and social applications. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar projects that India will execute an average of 30 launches over the next three years. “There is a terrific demand for launches using the PSLV.” (Image Credit: ISRO)

MONDAY

Aug 24 — ISS, LEO: Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov to command Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft with Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov, and ESA Astronaut Andreas Mogensen joining ISS crew on his first spaceflight (and first for Denmark National) for 10-day mission. Volkov to remain aboard ISS and will trade places with Padalka who will return to Earth with Mogensen and Aimbetov.

Aug 24 — Rosetta, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Orbit: Past its closest approach to the Sun reaching perihelion by 186 million km, ESA scientist to review activities of elevated nucleus temperatures melting frozen ice, extensive shedding of dust particles, and plumes of escaping gas.

Aug 24 — Juno, Jupiter Trajectory: Traveling at 32,090 kph, one-way radio signal travel time is about 50 minutes, craft carries 8 instruments, 1 camera & 3 aluminum Lego figurines representing Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno & Galileo Galilei.

Aug 24 — Deep Space Industries, Moffett Field, CA: DSI partners with ISISpace providing Cubesat-compatible flight systems to U.S. customers.

Aug 24 — Elysium Space, San Francisco, CA: Memorial space flight operations sending symbolic portion of cremains to Earth’s orbit, Lunar surface or Deep Space.

Aug 24 — NovaWurks, Los Alamitos, CA: Providing space services with Hyper-Integrated Satlet (HISat). First Payload Test Bed Mission Fall 2016.

Aug 24-26 — Outer Planets Assessment Group, NASA, Laurel MD: NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group Meeting.

Seattle To Host Space Angels Network 2015 Expedition

Emerald City prosperity of a bustling aeronautics, computer science & technology industry has also made it a hot spot for space activities and start ups including a new office for SpaceX satellite development, Planetary Resources asteroid mining company and BOOSTER Space Industries. The influx of premiere space enterprise to the area makes it a prime location for Space Angels Network Expedition Aug 30 – Sept 1. Other existing NewSpace companies in Seattle include Aerojet Rocketdyne holding a rich history spanning over 75 years evolving now into a billion dollar commercial aerospace company and Blue Origin which is currently in the testing phase for their fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket called the New Shepard. NewSpace 2016 conference will be conducted for the first time in Washington State. Space Frontier Foundation Board chairman, Jeff Feige states the SFF “is thrilled to initiate this new partnership with Washington State, a long-time incubator of aerospace innovation that will benefit the growth of the industry as a whole” and Spaceflight CEO Jason Andrews commenting “The Seattle region is gaining momentum as a bona fide hub of space innovation” reaffirms Seattle becoming a catalyst for the commercial space industry. The 2014 Space Angels Expedition held in California visited companies in private space industries: SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Masten Aerospace, XCOR Aerospace, Whittinghill Aerospace, and Firestar Technologies. (Image Credit: NASA, Space Angels Network, SpaceX, Planetary Resources, BOOSTER, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin)

Aug 24 — Apollo Asteroid 2015 OV: Near-Earth flyby (0.075 AU).

Aug 24-28 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: Workshop: Three Dimensional (3D) Additive Construction for Space using In-Situ Resources.

Continued from…

Mar 1 – Jan 1, 2016 — Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Multiple Locations: Cycle 3 of science flights to observe universe consists of science flights grouped into multi-week observing campaigns totaling about 450 research flight hours.

Aug 9 – Sep 13 — Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen CO: Workshop: New Directions to Shed Light on Dark Matter.

Aug 17-28 — ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Fermilab, American Physical Society, Sao Paulo, Brazil: International Neutrino Summer School 2015.

TUESDAY

Aug 25 — Voyager 1, Interstellar Space: NASA spacecraft enters 4th year in interstellar space, data indicates it became first human-made object to enter interstellar space Aug 25, 2012; launched Sep 5, 1977.

Aug 25 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: The NASA K2 Mission – Extending Kepler’s Legacy; presented by Tom Barclay from Bay Area Research Institute.

Aug 25 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Mountain View CA: LPL Colloquium: Is Vesta A Protoplanet? presented by Guy Consolmagno.

Aug 25 — Moon: 3.2° N of Pluto, 18:00.

Aug 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2005 QQ87: Near-Earth flyby (0.084 AU).