October 6-12, 2014 / Vol 33, No 40 / Hawai`i Island, USA

World Space Week 2014:
Space – Guiding Your Way

World Space Week 2014 celebrated October 4-10 will focus on benefits of satellite navigation to society. Over 450 events are registered in 59 counties including a Carl Sagan Planetarium show in Brazil, ‘Importance of the afghan-sat 1’ event in Afghanistan, Space Festival in Iran, Space Science Competition in Ghana, ‘From Antarctica to Space’ event hosted online from Concordia Station in Antarctica, and an AIAA Space & Sci-Fi Trivia Night in Australia. WSW is coordinated by the United Nations since 1999 to observe the Oct 4, 1957 launch of Sputnik 1, and the Oct 10, 1967 signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies. The third spacecraft in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is set to launch this month, and 2 Galileo satellites may launch in December. A two-day event at Observatory Armand Pien of Ghent University in Belgium will feature Koen De Beule (ESA, ESTEC) talking about ESA, Hubble space telescope and the European Galileo satellite navigation program which is planned to operate with 30 satellites (27 operational, 3 active spares) by 2019. (Image Credit: WSWA, ESA, DLR, ISRO)

MONDAY

Oct 6 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 41 preparing for EVAs on Oct 7, 15 & 22, transferring cargo from Dragon CRS-4, working with Aseptik sterilization experiment, Kaskad cell cultivation experiment.

Oct 6 — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Orbit: Science team planning for comet Siding Spring Oct 19 Mars flyby, will implement safety precautions and use opportunity to observe comet & its atmosphere.

Oct 6 — Rosetta, Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Orbit: Continuing to map and analyze composition of comet; landing of Philae lander expected Nov 12 at 15:35 UT on “Site J” containing relatively few boulders and slopes of less than 30º.

Oct 6 — Canadensys Aerospace Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada: NewSpace company developing ILO-1 Moon South Pole Observatory, ARES Mars Wind & Dust Sensor, Pyxis Polar Broadband Satellite Constellation.

Oct 6 — Waypoint 2 Space, Houston TX: Will use Final Frontier Design spacesuits in its commercial orbital & suborbital spaceflight training programs; 32 days left for ‘Spacewalking on Earth‘ Kickstarter campaign.

Oct 6 — Firefly Space Systems, Cedar Park TX: SmallSat launch company receiving up to US$1,225,000 in incentives & employment grants from Cedar Park Economic Development Corp. to continue expansion plans; recently acquired 200+ acre test site facility nearby Briggs TX.

Oct 6-8 — The National Academies, Boulder CO: Meeting: Development of a Strategic Vision and Implementation Plan for the U.S. Antarctic Program at the National Science Foundation.

ILOA Galaxy Forum Brings 21st Century Education to New York

Now in its 7th year, the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA)-sponsored Galaxy Forum program continues to bring pioneering 21st Century Galaxy Education to cities, countries, regions and continents around the world. Galaxy Forum New York – Scarsdale will be held at the Scarsdale High School on Friday, October 10. ILOA and Galaxy Forum Founder Steve Durst brought the program to his alma mater in 2011 and it has become a highly-anticipated annual event. This year Alan Stern will give the feature guest lecture on the New Horizons mission, for which he is principal investigator. The New Horizons probe is currently traveling at 14.67 km/s about 4.5B kilometers from Earth. It is scheduled to arrive at the Pluto system July 14, 2015. Galaxy Forum New York 2014 – Grand Central on Saturday, Oct 11 at the Grand Hyatt, will be the inaugural GF event in New York City. In addition to a lecture by Alan Stern, the event will include presentations on the 4 ILOA Moon Missions by Steve Durst, the Grand Central Terminal’s Celestial Ceiling by Ron Janoff, the Spaceflight 18 multimedia experience by Eric ‘Captain Wally’ Wallach, and a panel of local educators discussing integrating innovative 21st Century Galaxy Education resources into their classes. An optional behind-the-scenes tour of GCT will be led by Danny Brucker after the Forum. (Image Credit: galaxyforum.org, mas.org, NASA)

Oct 6-10 — Yerevan State University, Volkswagen Foundation, Yerevan, Armenia: 2nd Autumn School on High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory.

Oct 6 — Asteroid 2014 SB145: Near-Earth flyby (0.011 AU).

Oct 6 — Asteroid 2012 UV136: Near-Earth flyby (0.100 AU).

Continued from…

Sep 23 – Oct 23 — Benjamin Ahr Harrison, Kickstarter, et al, Online: Kickstarter Campaign: Shoot the Moon: A documentary feature film; raising funds to document LiftPort Group’s progress toward creating a Space elevator.

NET Sep 24 — ISRO, Launch GSLV Mk 3 / Atmospheric Test Flight, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk 3 to launch on suborbital test flight, will carry mock-up human crew module.

Oct 4-10 — World Space Week Association, Global: World Space Week 2014.

Oct 4-11 — LPI-JSC Center for Lunar Science and Exploration, NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), Winslow AZ: Meteor Crater Field Camp; students study at Barringer Meteorite Crater to learn about Earth, Moon, asteroids, Mars, other Solar System planetary surfaces.

Oct 5-9 — Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff AZ: The Formation and Evolution of Exponential Disks in Galaxies.

Oct 5-9 — ESO, ESA, NOAO, Space Telescope Science Institute, Australian Astronomical Observatory, Calgary, Alberta, Canada: 24th Annual Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS XXIV); at Westin Hotel.