Chang’e-5 Poised for 1st Lunar Sample Return of 21st Century, 1st for Zhongguo

Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket at Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, Hainan Island is ready to launch the ~8,200-kg Chang’e-5 lander and sample-return vehicle early morning November 24. The mission will aim to return to Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia December 16-17 at least 2 kg of regolith from a depth of 2 meters from 70-km diameter Mons Rümker region in Oceanus Procellarum (18.4° N, 57.4° W) where lunar sunrise will occur on Nov 27. CE-5 Deputy Chief Designer Li Chunlai states most of the samples will be stored at Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Astronomical Observatories of China in Beijing. The lander carries cameras, a spectrometer, soil composition analytical instruments, a sampling sectional thermo-detector and ground-penetrating radar. CE-5 mission is part of the final phase of CLEP robotic lunar exploration before a planned international research station and human Moon landings, possibly mid-to-late 2020s. CE-6 (sample return), CE-7 and CE-8 plans are underway with all 3 launching from Wenchang and potentially landing at Moon South Pole locations. CE-7 would include 23 science payloads, a lander, rover, relay satellite and hopper (‘mini-flying probe’ for permanently shadowed crater observations). CE-6 is incorporating international payloads. China Space Station first module Tianhe “Harmony of the Heavens” is to launch April 2021, followed by module Wentian “Quest for the Heavens”, and crew missions Shenzhou 12 and 13. (Image Credits: CNSA, CSA-NAOC, CCTV, Xinhua, ESO)

MONDAY

Roscosmos, Arianespace, JAXA & SpaceX Have Orbital Missions Planned This Week

A flurry of launches are upcoming: November 28, Russia space agency Roscosmos hopes to reach geosynchronous orbit with Angara-A5 heavy lift launch vehicle, intended to be Proton successor. Plesetsk Cosmodrome will again be site of the A5 test launch, as it was once previously in 2014. Also on Nov 28 the 1,200-kg UAE-owned Earth observation satellite Falcon Eye 2, built by Airbus, is set for launch from the Sinnamary site of Guiana Space Centre. Falcon Eye 2 is to provide UAE Armed Forces with reconnaissance after being placed in sun-synchronous polar orbit by Arianespace Soyuz (Fregat configuration). Japanese Data Relay Satellite-1 (JDRS-1) will test experimental in-space optical communication technology from GEO, transmitted to ground stations via Ka-Band (26.5 – 40 GHz) frequencies. JDRS-1 is to launch from Tanegashima Space Center Nov 29 on a Mitsubishi-built H-2A rocket. SpaceX is contracted by the government of Turkey to place 3,500-kg communications satellite Turksat 5A at 31 E° GEO with Falcon 9 (Block 5 configuration) Nov 30, which will utilize 42 transponders operating within Ku-band frequency (12 – 18 GHz). Also heading to space on a Falcon 9, the first mission (CRS-21) of the next Generation Cargo Dragon 2 craft is to deliver supplies and experiments to ISS December 2. The new Cargo Dragon has 50% greater payload capacity and will dock autonomously. (Image Credits: Arianespace, Roscosmos, SpaceX, JAXA)

Nov 23 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Online / Houston TX: Applications Due: LPI Summer Internship for 2021; being held June 7 – August 13.

Nov 23 — Cornell University, Online / Ithaca NY: Lecture: Estimating Meteor Flux from Near-Earth Asteroid Bennu; Robert Melikyan from Ithaca College, 12:20 EST.

Nov 23 — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Online / Washington DC: Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032 – Panel on Mars Meeting 3; and Panel on Small Solar System Bodies Meeting 5.

Nov 23 — Moon: 4.2° SE of Neptune, 06:00.

Nov 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 WC: Near Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)

Nov 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 VW2: Near Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)

Continued From…

Nov 2019 – Dec 2020 — Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 on trajectory for Earth to return two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu; craft will then head toward Asteroid 1998 KY26, arriving 2031.

Nov 4, 2020 – Feb 28, 2021 — International Astronautical Federation, Online: Abstracts Submission Open: 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2021); being held Oct 25-29.

NET Nov 19-23 — Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, Las Cruces NM: Launch window open for VG to attempt VSS Unity space plane third piloted test flight to suborbital space.