Vol 44, No 37: Lunar Broadcast Precursor: Terrestrial Edition

Europe advances space goals this week through a dynamic blend of astronomy and astronautics. At Noordwijk, Netherlands, ESA Lunar Science Office hosts September 15 workshop at ESTEC to discuss Moon regions for a European-led robotic infrastructure supporting international science and human surface activities. Sep 15-17 Binary Asteroids Meeting VI at Nice Observatory delves into Near-Earth Objects, main-belt asteroids and Trans-Neptunian Object systems among others, enhancing insights into solar system dynamics. Concurrently, the second Mercury Laboratory Workshop in Finland Sep 15-17, co-hosted by ESA, University of Helsinki and Europlanet, promotes collaboration on planetary studies, bridging astronomy with robotic missions like BepiColombo. Sep 15-19 World Space Business Week in Paris draws 1,400+ onsite and online from 60+ countries and drives commercialization of space via summits on innovation and logistics. 11th GEGSLA operational meeting Sept 16 of Moon Village Association headquartered in Vienna forwards its mission to offer an international forum for collaboration toward a global community that uses Moon resources sustainably for the benefit of all humanity. Sep 16-18 celebration at the Paris Observatory of the Titan landing on Huygens via Cassini highlights collaboration among ESA, NASA and ASI, inspiring future deep-space probes. (Image Credits: ESA, MVA, WSBW, Eiffel Tower, Nice Observatory, U of Helsinki)

HUMANS IN SPACE
International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 73 eleven-member crew are unloading fuel, science supplies and ~3,000 kg of food from Roscosmos Progress 93 craft docked at aft port of Zvezda module, and are unloading ~5,000 kg of new science experiments and station hardware from the Cygnus XL resupply ship, which the Canadarm2 has installed on the Unity module Earth-facing port; Jonny Kim is storing research samples including human cells cryogenically, defined as below 150°C; Mike Fincke is incubating yeast and fermented milk samples, seeking to biomanufacture vitamins / nutrients; Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are configuring physics research gear.
Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 20 three-member crew are studying the risks of cancer development from space radiation via tests with tumor cells and gene expression, conducting the “Origin of Life Space Experiment to examine how genetic codes may have originated and the role of gravity in that process, and seeing how methanogen bacteria behaves in a simulated Mars environment; they monitor the China Space Station Habitation Area Microbiome Programme (CHAMP) that continuously tracks microbial communities living inside the station.
Lunar News: Weekly lunar advisories [coming soon]
Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Thur Sep 18: Apollo Asteroid 2025 SC (0.0003 AU); Tues Sep 19: Apollo Asteroid 2025 RL2 (0.001 AU); Sun Sep 21: Apollo Asteroid 2025 RE6 (0.013 AU).
First Women Land on the Moon in…
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