Space Month 2017 America Opens with Canada Day July 1

Canada continues to contribute very significantly to Space Age evolution with informative science, innovative technology and independent perspectives. The young and progressive government of Justin Trudeau appointed Navdeep Bains Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development who has in turn secured additional funding of US$61M for new space projects and is revamping national space policy due out June 2017. Bains says “The technologies that are designed for space today can one day be applied to the everyday lives of Canadians. That means an investment in today’s space sector is an investment in a higher standard of living tomorrow”. The Canada space sector generates US$4.1B in revenue (2014). Space Month, commemorating Apollo 11 July 20 1969 first human landing on another world, is a time to think bigger, push harder, dream higher, chart courses for Solar System Complete exploration in the 21st Century. On July 18-20 at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field CA the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is hosting the 4th annual NASA Exploration Science Forum. Moon Day 2017 is July 22 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas TX. A rising Lunar tide now noted by many observers across the space community and growing calls for International Human Moon Missions may culminate with women and men on the Moon continuously, establishing human multi world civilization. There is great opportunity and promise in this effort to reclaim the greatest advance in American / Human history and honor the accomplishments of Apollo almost 50 years on. (Image Credit: CSA, NASA)

MONDAY

Ongoing…
Jun 26 — ISS, 330-435-km LEO: Expedition 52 three-member crew preparing Dragon CRS-11 for return to Earth on Sunday, transferring cargo from Progress 67P & Cygnus OA-7, working on Rodent Research-5, setting up for Multi-Omics Mouse prebiotics research experiment; externally-mounted Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer undergoing calibrations for 1st observations Jul 13.

Jun 26 — Solar System: Tianzhou-1 cargo ship at Tiangong-2 space lab in LEO testing multi-directional space rendezvous, automated docking, refueling; Kepler adds 219 potential planets to catalog – 4,034 planet candidates total with 50 potentially habitable; meteorite isotope ratio study shows Jupiter, the oldest planet, may have divided early Solar System in two; New Horizons team observing KBO 2014 MU69 to measure size, view potential debris hazards.

Jun 26 — Galaxy: Lowell Observatory study using 65 giant galaxy observations from Hubble indicates most massive galaxies have been aligned (pointed toward neighbor galaxies) for 10B years; ESA selects 2026 PLATO mission to search for habitable exoplanets & 2034 LISA to search for gravitational waves in Universe; Astrophysicists starting “Cosmowebportal” to create data center for cosmological simulations.

Jun 26 — Global: UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces plans for new space sector laws, licensing commercial spaceflight, rockets, satellites, spaceports; Xu Yansong of CNSA states Nov 30 potential date for launch of Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission; ISRO & NASA working on joint Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth monitoring satellite; Russia talks about Astronaut training with India & collaborating on NASA / ESA Cislunar Gateway.

Jun 26 — NewSpace: Peter Beck of Rocket Lab discusses 3D printing for Electron rocket, launches at US$5M, battery-powered engine that can be printed in 1 day; Astrobotic signs agreement with ATLAS for Lunar Laser Communications payload to launch to Moon on Peregrine lander; Blue Origin still targeting late 2018 for commercial New Shepard flights, not sure of passenger ticket cost; Canadensys Aerospace receives US$450,000 6-month contract for Lunar Surface Mobility Concept Study (as does MDA).

Jun 26 — Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands: TU Delft Starship Team (DSTART) Symposium; to share recent progress on interstellar multidisciplinary effort involving astrophysics, biotechnology, computer simulation, chemistry, art.

= 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: Jupiter (SW), Saturn (SE); Morning Planets: Venus (E), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE).

2017 Asteroid Day: New Initiatives Focus on Detection, Deflection, Resources

Global Asteroid Day on June 30 will see more than 700 events in 190 countries with a 24-hour broadcast based out of Luxembourg featuring Rusty Schweickart, Ed Lu, Nicole Stott, Brian Cox, Michel Tognini, Jean-François Clervoy, Dorin Prunariu, and Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg Etienne Schneider. Sanctioned by the United Nations in 2016, Asteroid Day raises awareness about NEAs, their role in our solar system, and the need to track asteroids to protect Earth and facilitate future exploration. There are over 16,200 known NEAs of which 7,672 are larger than 140 m and 875 are larger than 1 km; 1,800 NEAs (158 larger than 1 km) are classified as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids – their Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of less than 0.05 AU. The government of Luxembourg is planning up to 300M investment in asteroid detection and resource mining, and is partnering with Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries of USA, ispace of Tokyo and OHB Venture Capital of Germany. Luxembourg is also in talks with representatives from China, Portugal, Russia and UAE to coordinate Worldwide Asteroid research, and hopes discussions will lead to multilateral agreements and prompt the UN to update the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Various Asteroid efforts include Pan-STARRS in Hawai’i, NASA NEOWISE in LEO, NELIOTA in Greece, Spacewatch in Arizona, the IAU Minor Planet Center, NEOshield-2 in Europe, ESA Space Situational Awareness Program, NASA Near Earth Object Program, as well as private venture B612. (Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, BBC, DSI, Planetary Resources; Also Pictured, Asteroid Day Founders: Grig Richters, Danica Remy, Brian May)

Jun 26-28 — Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, AIAA, Moscow, Russia: SpaceOps Workshop 2017; to discuss Space endeavors via Moon & Mars, missions 2030 & Beyond, advanced data analysis technologies.

Jun 26-29 — Lockheed Martin Corp., NASA, USAF, FAA, DARPA, Indian Wells CA: 2017 National Space & Missile Materials Symposium & Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange.

Jun 26-30 — European Astronomical Society, Prague, Czech Republic: European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) 2017.

Jun 26 – Jul 2 — Curtin University, Perth Convention Bureau, NASA SSERVI, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia: Workshop on Shock Metamorphism in Terrestrial and Extra-Terrestrial Rocks.

Jun 26 – Jul 21 — Other Worlds Laboratory at University of California – Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA: 2017 Exoplanet Summer Program.

Jun 26 – Aug 25 — International Space University, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland: ISU 30th Space Studies Program (SSP 2017).

Jun 26 — Moon: 3.2° S of Beehive Cluster, 01:18.

Continued from…

Jun 10 – Sep 10 — EuroChem, TransTelekom, DHL, General Electric, Samsung, Siemens, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Astana, Kazakhstan: Expo 2017 Astana: Future Energy.

Jun 30 – Jul 29 — Space Media Ventures, National Space Society, Online: Kickstarter Campaign: Space Odyssey Game; presented by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, for people of all ages to experience new Worlds and add to them as real science & their collective imagination allows.

Jun 15 – Aug 15 — International Space Elevator Consortium, Online: ISEC 2017 Summer Internship Program; six interns to perform home-based / online intern studies with ISEC.

Jun 17 – Aug 19 — Singularity University, Moffett Field CA: SU 2017 Global Solutions Program; for students to develop Moonshot innovations addressing humanity’s grand challenges; Climate Change is overarching theme for 2017.

Jun 24 – Jul 2 — The Meteoritical Society, Curtin University, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Perth, Australia: Workshop on Shock Metamorphism in Terrestrial and Extra-Terrestrial Rocks.

Jun 25-27 — Space Frontier Foundation, Moffett Field CA: NASA Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Programs (SBIR/STTR).

Jun 25-28 — American Water Resources Association, Tysons VA: 2017 Summer Specialty Conference on Climate Change Solutions – Collaborative Science, Policy and Planning for Sustainable Water Management.

TUESDAY

Jun 27 — Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Sun-Synchronous Orbit: NASA observation satellite investigating the physical conditions of the chromosphere of Sun begins 5th year in space, launched 2013.

Jun 27-28 — ESA, European Commission, Malta Council for Science and Technology, Kalkara, Malta: Workshop: Space Solutions and Resilience in the Mediterranean Sea.

Jun 27-29 — International Academy of Astronautics, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy: 10th IAA Symposium on the Future of Space Exploration: Towards The Moon Village and Beyond; to present final results of IAA activities related to programs beyond LEO and discuss the Moon Village vision.

Jun 27-29 — Space Frontier Foundation, San Francisco CA: NewSpace 2017: Convergence “Explore Your Opportunity in the Space Frontier”.

Jun 27-29 — The National Academies, Irvine CA: Meeting: Review of Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes.

Jun 27 — Moon: 0.1° S of Regulus, 14:26.

WEDNESDAY

Jun 28 — Arianespace, Launch Ariane 5 / Inmarsat S-band / Hellas-Sat 3 & GSAT 17, Kourou, French Guiana: Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA238, to launch Inmarsat European Aviation Network S-band / Hellas-Sat 3 and ISRO GSAT 17 communications satellites.

Jun 28 — NASA, American Library Association, Kamuela HI: Astro Bash 2017; at Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library, 16:30-19:00.

THURSDAY

Jun 29 — Moon: Occults asteroid 16 Psyche, one of the 10 most massive known asteroids in Main Belt; it is a metallic M-type asteroid, over 200 km in diameter, fairly pure iron–nickel composition and thought to be the exposed core of a protoplanet.

FRIDAY

Jun 30 — Cassini, Saturn Orbit: NASA / ESA / ASI spacecraft begins 14th year of operations in Saturn orbit today; launched Oct 15, 1997, reached Saturn 2004; controlled impact planned for Sep 15.

Jun 30 — International Astronautical Federation, Online: Early Registration Due: 68th International Astronomical Congress 2017 (IAC 2017); occurring Sep 25-29.

Jun 30 — Asteroid Day Ltd., Global: Asteroid Day 2017; education, events, films and entertainment hosted by organizations and individuals to increase awareness about asteroids.

Jun 30 – Jul 3 — Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) 2017 General Assembly.

Jun 30 — Moon: At first quarter, 14:51; 2.7° N of Jupiter, 21:28.

Jun 30 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 LC: Near-Earth Flyby (0.062 AU).

SATURDAY

NET Q3 — Interorbital Systems Corp., Launch Neptune 8 rocket / Team Synergy Moon GLXP Lander & Rovers, TBD: Planning to launch 4-stage Neptune 36 Common Propulsion Module (CPM) on Lunar Direct Trajectory; will carry CYGO Cruiser craft which will release TubeSats & Team Synergy Moon Lander (which will then deploy Tesla Prospector Rover & Tesla Surveyor Rover) in attempt to win US$20M Google Lunar XPRIZE.

Jul 1 — Deep Space, Interstellar Space & Heliosheath: Humankind’s farthest mission in space, Voyager, to be highlighted on PBS documentary Aug 23, to celebrate the 40th observation of launch of Voyager 2; both craft communicating with Earth and expected to continue until at least 2025 when power may run out.

Jul 1 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Intelsat 35e, Cape Canaveral AFS FL, Pad LC-39A: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch Intelsat 35e communications satellite, launch 19:35-20:35.

Jul 1 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: Lunch with an Astronaut, Mike Foreman, adult US$69.95.

SUNDAY

Jul 2 — ISS, Dragon CRS-11 Return to Earth, 330-435-km LEO: SpaceX Dragon CRS-11 resupply craft to be released from ISS 11:43 EDT, live coverage available, set to splashdown in Pacific Ocean with ~2,000 kg of return experiments and cargo.

Jul 2 — ARTEMIS P1, Moon Orbit: Craft begins 7th year in Moon orbit today; originally launched with constellation of 5 satellites in 2007 to study Earth magnetosphere, NASA craft collecting data on Moon interaction with Sun; reached Moon 2011.

Jul 2 — CNSA, Launch Long March 5 / Shijian 18, Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, Hainan Island, China (19° N): China Long March 5 rocket to launch Shijian 18 communications satellite.

Jul 2-5 — University of Cambridge, Center for Theoretical Cosmology, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Stephen Hawking 75th Birthday Conference: Gravity and Black Holes.

Jul 2-6 — Royal Astronomical Society, Hull, United Kingdom: 25th Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting; at E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics – University of Hull.