September 14-20, 2015 / Vol 34, No 37 / Hawai`i Island, USA

IAA Summit and Space Conference in Mexico Address Climate Change and Disaster Management

The Heads of Space Agencies Summit on Climate Change and Disaster Management takes place September 18 in Mexico City, organized by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). Top leaders from spacefaring nations discussing topics of international / global importance with the objective of creating a clear and compelling message from the space community, ahead of the 21st UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change in Paris November 30 – December 11. Delegations from the agencies will also participate with policy makers, government representatives, scientists and academicians from around the world during a Pre-Summit Conference on the same topic and with the theme Space Systems for the Benefit of Earth and Humankind. Also hosted by the IAA, chaired by Madhavan Nair of India and Francisco Javier Mendieta Jiménez of Mexican Space Agency (AEM), the conference presents papers in parallel session including Technical Factors, Data Distribution and Sharing, Role of Private Sectors for Downstream Applications, Major Drivers and Challenges for International Cooperation, and Space Telemedicine Applications for Mitigation of Pandemic. Other International Program Committee representatives from AEM are Enrique Pacheco-Cabrera, Deputy Director for Space Science and Technology Affairs and Rosa Maria Ramirez de Arellano, General Coordinator of International Affairs and Security in Space. As a leading and widely respected organization, IAA operates globally and is also hosting the 8th Pico- and Nano-Satellite Workshop in Wurzburg, Germany on Sep 15-16. (Image Credit: IAA, AEM, NASA/Hubble/STSci)

MONDAY

Sep 14 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 45 six-member crew preparing HTV-5 for unberthing next week, continuing to work with Robonaut, muscle atrophy exercise, radiation monitoring study; Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer gathering data as program managers analyze failure of 1 out of 4 cooling pumps; Gennady Padalka, recently returned to Earth, now holds world record for longest time spent in space – 879 days over five missions.

Sep 14 — Gaia, Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange Point: Craft mapping billion stars in 2nd year of science, intermediate data release planned for summer of 2016 with its recorded 272B positional / astrometric measurements, 54.4B brightness / photometric data points, and 5.4B spectra.

Sep 14 — Dawn, Ceres Orbit: Over next 2 months craft will image entirety of dwarf planet 6 times from 1,470-km altitude; using framing camera to enable 3-D modeling, collecting gravity field data, mapping surface chemical composition with visible / infrared spectrometer.

Sep 14 — RSA, Launch Proton / Express AM8, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Proton Rocket to launch Express AM8 satellite for Russian Satellite Communications Co.

Sep 14 — Garvey Spacecraft Corp., Long Beach CA & Kodiak Island AK: NewSpace company developing series of nanosat launch vehicles, will begin P-19 first stage vehicle testing at Kodiak Island via collaboration with Alaska Aerospace Corporation.

Sep 14 — Icarus Interstellar, Multiple Locations: Drexel University chapter of Icarus working on CubeSat propulsion designs for project Tin Tin to send mission to Alpha Centauri; hoping to inspire more student & professional chapters around the world from all permanently inhabited continents.

Sep 14 — Deep Space Industries, Moffett Field CA: Grant Bonin joins team as Chief Engineer; company planning to have spacecraft heading toward asteroid before 2020 to land, take samples, analyze mineral content.

Sep 14 — The Space Show, Online / Tiburon CA: Dr. David Livingston talks with Dr. Pat Hynes from ISPCS.

Sep 14-16 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China: United Nations International Conference on Space-based Technologies for Disaster Management – A Consolidating Role in the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015-2030; at Grand Gongda Jianguo Hotel.

Observe the Moon Night and Astronomy Day Celebrated September 19

The Moon, Earth’s nearest celestial companion and 2nd brightest object in the sky after the Sun (mean apparent magnitude −12.74 and −26.74 respectively), will be close to first quarter, in waxing phase and in constellation Sagittarius on International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) September 19. First quarter Moon is considered the best time to observe the Moon due to the shallow angle of sunlight hitting the surface and illuminating details. InOMN is sponsored by International Observe the Moon Organization, NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute and the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Some of the events worldwide will include learning about Moon phases and missions, crater and Apollo site naming challenges, planetarium shows and telescope observations at locations such as `Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hawaii – USA, Telus World of Science in Alberta – Canada, Torino Planetarium in Italy, Kikatiti Secondary School in Tanzania and Blang Padang village in Indonesia. The only humans in space, Expedition 45 six-member crew at ISS will also be participating in InOMN. The fall Astronomy Day, initiated by the Astronomical League, is also being held on Sep 19. Millions will look to the stars to learn about the history of the Universe and contemplate the future. (Image Credit: InOMN, UCLA, NASA, Bob King)

Sep 14-17 — Keck Institute for Space Studies, Pasadena CA: Workshop: Don’t Follow (Just) the Water – Does Life Occur in Non-Aqueous Media? – Part II; with Jack Beauchamp, Christophe Sotin, Jonathan Lunine.

Sep 14-18 — University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Conference: Modelling Galaxies Through Cosmic Times.

Sep 14 – Dec 7 — SSERVI, NASA, Online: SSERVI teams at University of Central FL (CLASS) and Brown University/MIT (SEEED) give 13 lectures on Planetary Evolution: Phobos and Deimos, every Monday; live coverage available.

Sep 14 — Moon: At apogee (distance 406,023 km), 01:00.

Sep 14 — Aten Asteroid 2014 KS76: Near-Earth flyby (0.022 AU).

Continued from…

Aug 28 – Aug 28, 2016 — NASA, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Mauna Loa HI: Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 4; at 2,440-meter altitude.

Sep 1-30 — Flexure Engineering LLC, LunarCubes, Online / Pasadena CA: Flash Art Competition; writing and 2D art contest which focuses on lunar and space exploration; US$3,500 grand prize.

Sep 8-14 — Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration, London, Ontario, Canada: 6th Annual Planetary Short Course.

Sep 13-17 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, SETI Institute, Annapolis MD: From Interstellar Ices to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Symposium to Honor Lou Allamandola’s Contributions to the Molecular Universe; at Historic Inns.

Sep 13-19 — Transregional Collaborative Research Centre, Heidelberg University, University of Bonn, LMU Munich, National Technical University of Athens, Corfu, Greece: Workshop on Particles and Cosmology.