Booming CubeSat Industry Discussed at 13th Cal Poly Workshop and von Kármán Lecture
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MONDAYApril 18 — ISS, LEO: Expedition 47 unloading cargo from Progress MS-2 and Dragon CRS-8, will set up / test new experiments including BEAM, Microchannel Diffusion for fluid dynamics, CASIS Protein Crystal Growth & Co-Crystallization in Microgravity, Rodent Research for skeletal muscle atrophy; Tim Peake to perform London Marathon from Space on Wednesday. April 18 — Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover, Guang Han Gong, Sinus Iridum / Mare Imbrium, 44.12°N 19.51°W, Moon: China lander operating in good health in Lunar Day 30 with its camera and Ultra Violet Telescope; while Yutu remains immobile, Ye Peijian – Chang’e-3 chief scientist – states Yutu is collecting & sending data to Earth. April 18 — NEOWISE, LEO: Studying NEOs (hundreds of meters across) in infrared wavelengths, is ~56% of the way through its 5th coverage of the entire sky; over 419,000 infrared detections have been made including 498 NEOs & 96 comets (72 new objects were found since 2013); PI Amy Mainzer of JPL. April 18 — SpaceX, Multiple Locations: NewSpace company analyzing first successful 1st stage to have landed on floating barge ~300 km off shore in Atlantic Ocean after orbital launch, next 2-3 launches will attempt same task, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell states reusability could cut launch price by 30%; when will Elon capitalize the Moon? April 18 — Space Frontier Foundation Advocate Newsletter, Boulder CO: New position of Advocate Coordinator filled by Ben Corbin, will shine light on inner workings of organization, decisions of BoD, connect Advocates through networking opportunities, projects and new Newsletter – in addition to NewSpace News. April 18 — Breakthrough Initiatives, Multiple Locations: Founded by Yuri Milner & Stephen Hawking, Breakthrough Listen with US$100M funding attempting to identify ET communications, Breakthrough Message is studying ethics of sending messages into Deep Space, Breakthrough Starshot $100M proposal to develop spacecraft fleet able to fly to Alpha Centauri at 20% the speed of light (215 million km/h). Apr 18-19 — SMi Group, London, United Kingdom: Military Space Situational Awareness. |
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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: Mercury (WNW), Mars (S), Jupiter (S), Saturn (SW).
India Accelerating PSLV Rocket Program Evolution
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Apr 18-20 — The National Academies, Washington DC: Meeting: NASA Science Mission Extensions – Scientific Value, Policies, and Review Process.
Apr 18-22 — Sant Cugat Forum, Niels Bohr International Academy, Villum Foundation, Barcelona, Spain: 4th Session of the Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics: Workshop on Young Solar Systems. Apr 18-24 — NASA, The Mars Generation, Worldwide: Train like a Martian Challenge; fitness events held Worldwide to promote wellness, STEAM education; inspired by NASA Train Like an Astronaut program. Apr 18 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 GX: Near-Earth flyby (0.060 AU). Apr 18 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 FF13: Near-Earth flyby (0.072 AU). Continued from…Apr 17-22 — European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria: European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2016. TUESDAYApr 19 — ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: 8th European Workshop on Thermal Protection Systems and Hot Structures. Apr 19 — Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ: Colloquium: Mercury’s Complex Exosphere – What Have We Learned From MESSENGER? Dr. Ronald Vervack, Kuiper Space Sciences Room 312 at 15:45. Apr 19 — American Astronomical Society, San Diego CA: Abstracts Due: 228th Meeting of the AAS; to be held Jun 12-16 at Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Apr 19 — Poland Ministry of Economic Development, PARP, Polish Space Agency, ESA, Warsaw, Poland: User Forum Poland: Satellites For Society. April 19 — Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, NASA, Online / Moffett Field CA: Extended Deadline: 3rd Exploration Science Forum (ESF 2016); to be held Jul 20-22, at Ames Research Center. |
Apr 19 — Moon: 7.2° W of Saturn, 18:00.
Apr 19 — Amor Asteroid 2016 FN13: Near-Earth flyby (0.036 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Apr 20 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Lecture: The Twisted Universe – the cosmic quest to reveal which end is up; Brian Keating, 12:00.
Apr 20-22 — California Polytechnic State University CubeSat Program, San Luis Obispo CA: 13th Annual CubeSat Developer’s Workshop.
Apr 20-22 — United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), Government of Ethiopia, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 4th High Level Forum on United Nations Global Geospatial Information.
THURSDAY
Apr 21 — ISRO, Bengaluru, India: Heads of more than 25 companies invited to form a consortium to build and fly the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Apr 21 — Conrad Foundation, NASA, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Titusville FL: 10th Annual Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge; high schools students work together in teams to develop solutions in categories: Aerospace & Aviation, Energy & Environment, Cyber Technology & Security, Health & Nutrition.
Apr 21 — Cornell University, Ithaca NY: Colloquium: The (Bio?)Geochemistry of Enceladus’ Ocean; Chris Glein from SwRI.
Apr 21, 22 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech, Pasadena CA: The von Kármán Lecture Series 2016: CubeSats – Big Goals, Tiny Package; Dr. Andrew Klesh, JPL Chief Engineer for Interplanetary Small Spacecraft.
Apr 21-22 — UCLA Institute for Planets and Exoplanets, Los Angeles CA: The Asteroid-Meteorite Connection Workshop.
Apr 21 — Moon: 4.8° NNE of Spica, 02:00; at apogee (distance 405,896 km), 06:00; Full (Pink / Egg Moon), 19:24.
Apr 21 — Lyrid Meteor Shower Peak: Unfavorable due to full Moon, Lyrids derived from Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher with period 415 years, are medium-swift (49 km/sec), often bright with persistent trains and can offer 15-20 per hour.
Apr 21 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 GC1: Near-Earth flyby (0.023 AU).
FRIDAY
Apr 22 — Arianespace, Launch Soyuz / Sentinel 1B, Sinnamary, French Guiana: Arianespace Soyuz rocket, designated VS14, to launch Sentinel 1B radar observation satellite, Microscope microsatellite, Norway’s Norsat 1 microsatellite & a CubeSat sponsored by ESA.
Apr 22 — Earth Day Network, Worldwide: Earth Day 2016: Trees for the Earth; to broaden, diversify & activate the environmental movement worldwide; originally proposed to occur March 21 (first day of Spring) by creator John McConnell.
Apr 22 — Ad Astra Kansas Foundation, Wichita KS: Ad Astra Kansas Day lecture 2016: Matter-Antimatter Propulsion via QFT Effects from Parallel Electric and Magnetic Fields; by Dr. Gerald Cleaver of Baylor University, at Wichita State University, 14:00.
Apr 22 — Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), Planetary & Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium (PTMSS), Lunar and Planetary Institute, Golden CO: Abstracts Due: 2016 SRR/PTMSS; to be held Jun 7-9, at Colorado School of Mines.
Apr 22-24 — European Commission (FP7), Athens, Greece: Inspiring Science Education (ISA) Athens; at Ellinogermaniki Agogi.
Apr 22-24 — NASA, JPL, Caltech, Pasadena CA / Worldwide: International Space Apps Challenge; local events taking place simultaneously in 193 locations spanning 72 countries.
Apr 22 — Venus: 0.81° SSE of Uranus, 11:00.
Apr 22 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 GD207: Near-Earth flyby (0.011 AU).
SATURDAY
Apr 23 — Mauna Kea Astronomy Outreach Committee, Kamuela HI, Mauna Kea 2,800-meter level: Malalo o ka Po Lani; presentation covering cultural components that surround Mauna O Wakea, 18:00 followed by stargazing program, at Mauna Kea Visitor Information Center.
Apr 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 FH12: Near-Earth flyby (0.020 AU).
Apr 23 — Aten Asteroid 2014 UR: Near-Earth flyby (0.079 AU).
Apr 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 BU13: Near-Earth flyby (0.079 AU).
Apr 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2006 HF6: Near-Earth flyby (0.098 AU).
SUNDAY
Apr 24 — Hubble Space Telescope, LEO: NASA spacecraft with 2.4-meter diameter main telescope begins 27th year in space today, launched Apr 24, 1990; expected to continue operations until at least 2021.
Apr 24 — People’s Republic of China, Nationwide: National Day of Space Flight 2016; commemorating the launch of China’s first satellite, Dongfanghong-1 on April 24, 1970.
Apr 24 — Mavericks Lab, NASA, SETI, Online / Moffett Field CA: Applications Due for Planetary Scientist positions.
Apr 24 — Moon: 4.9° N of Mars, 20:00; 9.6° N of Antares, 22:00.