APRSAF to Meet in Bengaluru India with Extensive International Cooperation

The 24th Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum takes place November 14-17 at Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel, not far from the headquarters of India Space Research Organization. Themed Space Technology for Enhanced Governance and Development, the event is co-organized by ISRO, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Additional local support is provided by Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS) Bangalore Chapter, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL). In addition to the plenary sessions, each of 4 main working groups are running concurrent breakout sessions: Space Applications, Space Technology, Space Environmental Utilization, and Space Education. The program, under General Co-chairs Kiran Kumar and Mami Oyama, also includes the SAFE (Space Applications for Environment) and Kibo-ABC Initiative Workshops, an Exhibition, a Space for the Future Evening Session, a Welcome Reception, a Water Rocket Event, a Cultural Tour, and Poster Contest on the theme United Through Space. Country Reports will be provided by high level representatives from space agencies and institutions of Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, USA and Vietnam, with additional participation of UK, USA, IAF, SGAC, UNOOSA and UNESCAP. China, which is noticeably absent from APRSAF, leads another regional grouping, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization which includes members Bangladesh, China, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru and Turkey as well as participation of Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Ukraine. (Image Credit: APRSAF, ISRO)

MONDAY

Ongoing…
Nov 13 — ISS, 330-435-km LEO: Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli to facilitate capture of Cygnus OA-8 “S.S. Eugene Cernan” with Canadarm2, six-member crew performing routine emergency drill reviews, ocular ultrasounds, air and breathing analyses, fine motor skills studies.

Nov 13 — NewSpace: Team Hakuto postpones lunar launch to Jan-Mar 2018 for GLXP; SpaceX investigating recent rocket engine explosion, says launch manifest will not be affected; Copenhagen Suborbitals planning summer 2018 launch of next rocket Nexø II.

Nov 13 — Solar System: Juno at Jupiter completes 8th science flyby, Ed Hirst becomes new project manager; researchers studying microorganism resiliency in ‘Mars-like’ conditions with various gamma radiations, low pressures, low temperatures.

Nov 13 — Galaxy: Oldest spiral galaxy ever discovered A1689B11 may reveal insights into Milky Way evolution; scientists studying giant exoplanet near Milky Way Center with mass ~13 Jupiters combined.

Nov 13 — Global: ISRO discusses doubling launch rates and working more with private sector; China planning to launch reusable space plane by 2020; Japan Astronaut Soichi Noguchi to join another ISS mission in late 2019.

Nov 13 — USA: Administration declares to Return Humans to Moon, NASA / others wait for new budget considerations; Jim Bridenstine nomination narrowly approved by Committee, will go to full Senate; NASA seeking input to name New Horizons flyby target 2014 MU69.

Nov 13 — Hawai`i: Mayor Harry Kim vision for Mauna Kea as a Living Monument for Peace being developed further from Galaxy Forum Hawaii 2017; W. M. Keck Observatory Chief Scientist Anne Kinney joins National Science Foundation as director of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Nov 13-15 — International Academy of Astronautics, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department – University of Florida, Orlando FL: 1st IAA Conference on Space Situational Awareness (ICSSA).

Nov 13-15 — Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA, ESA, CSA, Baltimore MD: Meeting: Planning Solar System Observations with JWST.

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

Europe Advancing NewSpace and Moon Village Concept

Luxembourg is hosting NewSpace Europe: New Frontiers of Opportunity on November 16-17 with support from Space Frontier Foundation, Space Resource Luxembourg, Spire and European Space Agency. Luxembourg is the first European country to have a legal framework recognizing the right to space-based resources extracted in compliance with existing international law, particularly the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The Conference will create opportunities for space leaders to discover and align with experts, technologies and ideas from across space and other markets. Notable participants include ESA Director General Jan Wörner talking on ‘A Vision for ESA’ and participating in the session ‘It Takes A Village’ alongside CEO of Astrobotic John Thornton, CEO of ispace Takeshi Hakamada, ASI representative Anilkumar Dave, CEO of NanoRacks Jeffrey Manber and Luxembourg Ministry Senior Advisor Gary Martin. Chairman for Breakthrough Prize Foundation Pete Worden, President of Moon Village Association Giuseppe Reibaldi, ESA candidate astronaut Matthias Maurer, President of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell and CEO of Spire Peter Platzer will also give talks. The nonprofit Moon Village Association is holding its 1st workshop on Nov 19-21 at International Space University campus in Strasbourg, France. Input from NASA, JAXA, Lockheed, Airbus, Part Time Scientists, Association of Space Explorers, LEAG and Hawaii International MoonBase Alliance will focus on architecture, scientific opportunities, finance, governance and culture of the Moon Village concept proposed by Jan Wörner. (Image Credit: ESA, SpaceX, NASA, et al)

Nov 13-16 — International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, NASA, Denver CO: Supercomputing Conference Exhibition 2017; NASA to showcase science and technologies.

Nov 13-17 — Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), NASA, Laramie WY: Habitable Worlds 2017: A System Science Workshop.

Nov 13-17 — International Astronomical Union, University of Cape Town, South African Astronomical Observatory, Stellenbosch, South Africa: IAU Symposium 339: Southern Horizons in Time-Domain Astronomy.

Nov 13 — Apollo Asteroid 326354 (2000 SJ344): Near-Earth Flyby (0.073 AU).

Continued from…

Oct 21 – Dec 4 — Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston TX: Campaign 4: Mission 3 – Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA 2017); 45 day analog spaceflight / Moon / Mars mission.

NET Nov – Apr 2018 — CNSA, Tiangong-1 Earth Atmosphere Reentry, LEO: China 1st Space Lab to be disintegrated during Earth atmosphere reentry after slow orbit decay beginning March 16, 2016; predicted to reenter between 43°N and 43°S latitudes during this time frame.

Nov 12-13 — Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) of University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Arizona-JAXA Workshop 2017: Planetary Science Enabled by Epsilon Class Missions.

Nov 12-18 — French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Cargese, France: 13th School of Cosmology: The CMB from A to Z.

TUESDAY

Nov 14 — United Launch Alliance, Launch Delta 2 / Joint Polar Satellite System-1 spacecraft, Vandenberg AFB CA: Launch of Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) spacecraft, developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for NOAA, aboard Delta 2 rocket.

Nov 14 — National Geographic, Broadcast: Premier of MARS: Our Future on the Red Planet.

Nov 14 — Lunar and Planetary Observatory Association, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Kronoseismology – Probing Saturn’s Interior Via Its Rings; Professor Philip Nicholson of Cornell University.

Nov 14-16 — ESA, DLR, CNES, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: 5th Human Dependability Workshop (HUDEP 2017): Towards Human Centered Design in the Whole System Life Cycle.

Nov 14-16 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington DC: Meeting: Best Practices for a Future Open Code Policy for NASA Space Science.

Nov 14-17 — ISRO, JAXA, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, Bengaluru, India: Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-24).

Nov 14 — Moon: 3.0° NNE of Mars, 17:00; 6.6° NNE of Spica, 10:00; 0.41° S.S.W. of asteroid 4 Vesta, 22:00.

WEDNESDAY

Nov 15 — CNSA, Launch Long March 4C / Fengyun 3D, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center: China Long March 4C rocket to launch the Fengyun 3D weather satellite into polar orbit.

Nov 15 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Zuma, Cape Canaveral AFS FL: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch Zuma payload for U.S. government; Falcon 1st stage to return to landing Zone-1.

Nov 15 — PBS, Time Inc., Broadcast / Arlington VA: Beyond a Year in Space; part 2 of Year in Space; chronicles astronaut Scott Kelly return & adjustment to life on Earth after spending 12 months at ISS – the longest space mission in American history.

Nov 15 — Moon: 1.9° NNE of comet 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 06:00; 3.9° NNE of Jupiter, 14:00; 3.8° NNE of Venus, 22:00.

THURSDAY

Nov 16-17 — The Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ESA, Space Frontier Foundation, Luxembourg City: NewSpace Europe: New Frontiers of Opportunity; featuring Johann-Dietrich Wörner – ESA, Jochen Harms – OHB Venture Capital, Pete Worden – Breakthrough Prize Foundation.

Nov 16-17 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/NASA, Pasadena CA: Lecture: Mars 2020 Lecture or There and Back Again.

Nov 16-18 — Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), University of Central Florida, Cape Canaveral FL: SEDS SpaceVision 2017.

Nov 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2000 UO30: Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU).

Nov 16 — Apollo Asteroid 2013 TK69: Near-Earth Flyby (0.082 AU).

FRIDAY

Nov 17 — `Imiloa Astronomy Center, University of Hawai`i – Hilo, Hilo HI: Mauna Kea Skies Talk; astronomers from Mauna Kea observatories speak about recent discoveries; this session features UKIRT; 19:00 HST, US$8-10.

Nov 17 — Caltech, Pasadena CA: Cosmic Lenses: Bending Light with Gravity; Denise Schmitz, 19:00.

Nov 17 — Peninsula Astronomical Society, Los Altos Hills CA: Lecture: Eclipse Extravaganza – The Great American Eclipse of 2017.

Nov 17 — Space Foundation, Online / Colorado Springs CO: Entries due for 8th Annual International Student Art Contest 2018 “My Space City Vision”; winners notified January 2018, to be displayed at 34th Space Symposium.

Nov 17 — Apollo Asteroid 444584 (2006 UK): Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU).

SATURDAY

Nov 18 — National Space Society of North Texas, Grapevine TX: TX-Central Regional Space Development Conference; featuring Ken Murphy (Moon Society), Kurt Chankaya (Dallas Mars Society), Camille Wardrop Alleyne (NASA), UTD professor Donald Hicks.

Nov 18 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: 39th Bratfest: The Grill Finale – Celebrating the Life of Cassini.

Nov 18 — Moon: New Moon, 01:42.

SUNDAY

Nov 19-21 — Moon Village Association, International Space University, Strasbourg, France: 1st International Moon Village Workshop; featuring ESA Director General Jan Wörner, Association of Space Explorers Europe President Michel Tognini, JAXA VP International Relations Shizuo Yamamoto, NASA Associate Administrator for Strategy and Plans Tom Cremins.

Nov 19-21 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Irvine CA: Meeting: Extraterrestrial Sample Analysis Facilities.

Nov 19 — Moon: 9.2° N of Antares, 06:00.

Nov 19 — Mars: Summer solstice, 16:00.