Space Event / Encounter

ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform flyby of Venus this month, arriving at Jupiter in 2031.

NASA craft to perform Jupiter flyby during Perijove 75, its 75th close flyby of Jupiter and 74th science flyby with instruments turned on.

NASA craft to perform Jupiter flyby during Perijove 76, its 76th close flyby of Jupiter and 75th science flyby with instruments turned on – to be last flyby of planet before controlled impact into Jupiter clouds.

The Sun rises exactly in east traveling through sky for 12 hours, sets exactly in west; every place on Earth experiences a ~12-hour day, 18:19 UTC (08:19 HST).

Astronaut Scholarship Foundation presents a Live Chat with veteran NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin on Thursday, September 25th at 1:00 PM ET for students in 3rd-12th grades and their educators/parents/guardians. This Live Chat series is presented in the memory of Scott Carpenter, one of the original Mercury Seven Astronauts and a […]

All ages welcome! Come and join your colleagues and friends in the aerospace profession in a relaxed atmosphere. Network over a pitcher of beer and schnitzel. AIAA-SF will provide the first round of drinks and appetizers. Let's exchange ideas, and talk about what everybody is doing, and what's happening in Aerospace. […]

Appearing when Earth passes through the tail of Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner, the comet was a perihelion in 2025; speculation has arisen this may be a year with peak yielding many hundreds per hour. However, the Full Moon the day prior may compromise viewing. Most years show 10-20 per hour, […]

One of 2 showers yearly from Halley’s Comet dust, one dust cloud from Halley's path toward the Sun, and one from its path away. Orionids appear to radiate from Constellation Orion, are swift (~67 km/sec), and can be bright and leave persistent trains. Between 10 and 75 meteors per hour […]

Known for fireballs in a swarm year such as 2025, they will have to compete with a Full Moon Nov 5. Appearing in the Constellation Taurus, they emanate from Comet Encke (2P). Traveling relatively slowly, ~27km / second, there may be 5-7 per hour. Southern Taurids are active Sep 20 […]

From Comet Encke dust cloud, with peak rate 5 per hour. Moon is 53% full.

From Comet Tempel-Tuttle (55P) dust cloud, peak rate 15 per hour. Moon is 9% full.

The northern hemisphere's autumn equinox on Mars marks the beginning of the autumn season in the northern hemisphere and coincides with the start of the planet's dust storm season. Unlike Earth, which has a nearly circular orbit, Mars' elliptical orbit causes its seasons to vary in length.

Appearing at brightest magnitude 0.9, traveling from SW to E, Hubble Space Telescope will appear over Hawaiian Islands from 18:56:02 to 19:03:04 HST.

Usually strongest meteor shower yearly, up to 150 hourly. Moon is 30% full.

From Comet Tuttle (8P), with up to 10 per hour. Moon only 3% full helps viewing.

The Quadrantid shower is known for its brief, intense peak, lasting only a few hours. Appearing to radiate from Constellation Quadrans Muralis, there can be 25-120 meteors per hour. Comets are traveling ~40km/second and come from the debris trail of Asteroid 2003 EH1, discovered in 2003 by the Lowell Observatory […]

Best seen from Northern Hemisphere, with a lower hourly rate in the Southern Hemisphere, Lyrids seem to stream from the Constellation Lyra. They actually derive from the debris trail of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which has a period of 415 years. Can be "fireball" bright but usually lack persistent trains, […]

JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission to flyby S-type asteroid 98943 Torifune this month and rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031, after returning samples from (162173) Ryugu to Earth in 2020.

China asteroid sample return mission, to arrive at Kamo’oalewa today to collect at least 100 grams via anchoring-drilling, hover-sampling and touch-and-go techniques; planned to depart Apr 24, 2027 and return to Earth Nov 29, 2027.

ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform its second flyby of Earth this month, arriving at Jupiter in 2031.

Campbell was first appointed in September 2020. She was reappointed for an additional year, 14 Sep 2025 - 14 Sep 2026. It is rare that a President of the Canadian Space Agency serves longer than a one-year term, and Campbell becomes only the third to complete a full five-year term. Past […]

NET Nov — CNSA CE-7 mission planned to land at Shackleton Crater Ridge near Moon South Pole region to survey environment and resources with Relay Satellite, Orbiter, Lander (Rashid-2 from UAE), Rover, Mini-Flying Probe; lander has national science payloads as well as 6 international instruments integrated: from Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, […]

NET Nov — BepiColombo, Hermocentric Orbit Insertion at Mercury, Mercury Orbit: European Space Agency / JAXA Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) expected to reach Mercury, achieve polar orbit and spacecraft separation; will map planet, investigate magnetosphere.

Highlighting Galaxy awareness by celebrating the Solar System traveling around Milky Way Galaxy Center every ~225 million Earth years, one Galactic Tick happens every 633.7 days; first Tick Day was one Tick after October 2nd, 1608 when the first telescope patent was filed.

China Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission planned to depart Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3) today and return to Earth with least 100 grams of sample, to enter Earth atmosphere on Nov 29, 2027.

NASA mission to encounter 11 asteroids including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans to come within 1,000 km of 64-km diameter 3548 Eurybates asteroid and its 1-km diameter satellite Queta.

NASA mission to encounter 11 asteroids including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans to come within 415 km of 21-km diameter 15094 Polymele asteroid which may be a collisional fragment and rich in organic tholin compounds.

China asteroid sample return mission planned to return to Earth today with at least 100 grams from Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3); main Tianwen-2 craft is on trajectory to Main Asteroid Belt to rendezvous with comet 311/P PanSTARRS in 2035.

☆ NET Dec — JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission to perform first flyby Earth today on way to rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031, after returning samples from (162173) Ryugu to Earth in 2020 and flying by asteroid 98943 Torifune in 2026.

NET 2028 — Standard funding of International Space Station may end this year from partner Russia; mission extension to at least 2030 from other partners is expected; future goals and scientific, engineering, utilization, education potential to be determined.

NET Apr — European Space Agency / JAXA Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (BepiColombo) nominal mission ends this month, 5.82 Mercury years after orbit insertion; potential extended mission and plans TBD.

NASA's Lucy mission, to encounter 11 asteroids including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans, planned to come within 1,000 km of 34-km diameter 11351 Leucus asteroid today.

☆ NET Jun — JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission to perform second flyby Earth today on way to rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031, after returning samples from (162173) Ryugu to Earth in 2020 and flying by asteroid 98943 Torifune in 2026.

NET Aug — Japan Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, now with Phobos sample, to begin its return to Earth this month, and planned to arrive at Earth by July 2029 to deliver Sample Return Capsule.

NASA Lucy mission, to encounter 11 asteroids including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans, to come within 1,000 km of 51-km diameter 21900 Orus asteroid (which may be a possible binary) today.

☆ Nov 24 — 242nd Galactic Tick Day, Milky Way Galaxy: Highlighting Galaxy awareness by celebrating the Solar System traveling around Milky Way Galaxy Center every ~225 million Earth years, one Galactic Tick happens every 633.7 days; first Tick Day was one Tick after October 2nd, 1608 when the first telescope patent […]

NET 2029 — Scheduled end of European Space Agency Euclid mission which is measuring accelerated expansion of Universe, aiding in understanding of dark energy / dark matter; future plans / extensions to be determined.

NET 2029 — NASA and JPL Caltech Psyche Mission to investigate all-metal asteroid Psyche to insert itself into asteroid orbit around beginning on this year if launching 2026.

NET Jan — ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform 3rd and final flyby of Earth this month, arriving at Jupiter in 2031.

NET Feb — INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) space telescope will burn up upon Earth atmosphere reentry this month due to natural orbit decay after running out of fuel reserves / end of science mission in early 2020s; launched Oct 2002.

On this day, which happens to be a Friday, 370-meter diameter asteroid (previously known as 2004 MN4) will narrowly miss Earth by about 30,000 km, which is classified as Medium Earth Orbit (2,000 - 35,786 km).

OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer (OSIRIS-APEX) is planned rendezvous with and orbit asteroid Apophis starting today for 9 months following the asteroid’s close Earth approach which occurred April 13, 2029; craft previously known as Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) which returned samples from asteroid Bennu to Earth on Sep 24, 2023.

NET July — China Chang’E-2 spacecraft expected to come within 7M km of Earth around this date after reaching 300M km apogee; craft was launched 1 October 2010.

NET July — Japan Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission with Mars moon Phobos' sample to arrive at Earth this month and deliver Sample Return Capsule.

NET Oct — ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform flyby of Asteroid 223 Rosa this month, arriving at Jupiter in 2031.

NET 2030 — Europe hopes to have built a sustainable Moon Village by this date, while working toward Mars missions.

Europa Clipper mission to insert into Jupiter orbit on this day to study Galileo moon Europa through a series of 44 close flybys (25 to 2,700 km); launched 10 October 2024.

NASA mission to encounter 11 asteroids, including a main belt and 7 Jupiter Trojans, to perform Earth flyby / gravity assist today coming within 660 km after reaching Jupiter orbit and returning to the vicinity of the Earth.    

ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer-3) craft, presumably in safe mode, is traveling around Sun & predicted to return to vicinity of Earth this year – may be able to reestablish contact; launched August 12, 1978.

NET July — ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to reach Jupiter this month if launched April 2023; will perform a flyby of Ganymede 7.5-hours before Jupiter insertion; will spend at least 3.5 years studying Jupiter atmosphere and magnetosphere, moons Ganymede, Europa, Callisto and Io with 10 state-of-the-art instruments […]

☆ NET Jul — JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission to rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26, after returning samples from (162173) Ryugu to Earth in 2020 and flying by asteroid 98943 Torifune in 2026.

Highlighting Galaxy awareness by celebrating the Solar System traveling around Milky Way Galaxy Center every ~225 million Earth years, one Galactic Tick happens every 633.7 days; first Tick Day was one Tick after October 2nd, 1608 when the first telescope patent was filed.

ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to perform flyby of moon Europa this month.

Mercury to pass directly between Earth and Sun; observers see distant planet as small dot gliding slowly across face of Sun; starts Nov 12 at 20:41 HST, ends 01:07 Nov 13.

NASA Lucy mission to come within 1,000 km of 113-km diameter 617 Patroclus and 104-km diameter Menoetius, p-type binary asteroids; Lucy will be in a stable, 6-year orbit between the L4 and L5 -- mission extension may be granted.

End of primary mission for NASA Lucy mission, future science and mission plan extension TBD; mission is a twelve-year journey to eight different asteroids, and craft will continue to orbit the Sun in a stable orbit between the L4 and L5 Trojan swarms around Jupiter. 

ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) expected to achieve Ganymede elliptical orbit insertion this month.

China asteroid sample return mission, having returned at least 100 grams from Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3), to rendezvous with and begin orbiting Comet 311/P PanSTARRS for 1 year.

ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is planned to be deorbited and impact Ganymede at the end of 2035, having reached Jupiter in 2031.