Offshore Sea Launch Gains Momentum with China Success While Efforts Underway in Germany and USA |
MONDAY☆ Oct 17 — ISS, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 68 seven-member crew to participate in livestream events with JAXA, Associated Press / Native American media affiliates, Univision (en Español) this week; to welcome Progress 82P next week. ☆ Oct 17 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 14 three-member crew continue work in Wentian module while preparing for Mengtian arrival this month; Shenzhou-15 crew of 3 (unnamed publicly) crew increase training for Dec flight. Highlights… o NewSpace: CAPSTONE on course to reach Lunar halo orbit following recovery maneuver allowing mission team to regain 3-axis attitude control; Astra signs deal to supply Maxar with spacecraft engines in 2023 as company struggles to raise stock price to >US$1 to avoid NASDAQ delisting. ☆ Solar System: NASA and JHUAPL astronomers work to understand 32-minute shortening of Dimorphos oribit by DART, exceeding mission goal of 73 seconds by 25x; ESA Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre now monitoring 1,425 asteroids with some potential to impact Earth out of 30,039 total NEA catalogued. ☆ Galaxy: VLA, ALMA MeerKAT, Australian Telescope Compact Array, Chandra and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory being used by researchers at Harvard CfA to analyze outflow from black hole tidal disruption event AT2018hyz; Human hibernation is possible, per Univ of CO biomedical scientist Sandy Martin, and may be key to human interstellar travel, says NASA technologist Les Johnson. o Global: China-led study utilizes computer modelling to predict presence of phosphorus emanating from Enceladus underwater seabeds; JAXA investigating cause and mitigation of Epsilon-6 rocket failure; French study finds microbes may have caused Mars cooling by replacing hydrogen with methane in atmosphere. ● USA: Ship 20 / Booster 7, stacked at SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site, await WDR and 33-engine hot fire tests preparatory to first orbital test launch; Late Blue Origin BE-4 engines and Astrobotic request for additional time lead ULA to push inaugural flight of Vulcan Centaur to NET Q1 2023; Dennis and Akiko Tito to fly on 2nd SpaceX Starship mission around Moon. ● Hawai’i: Cambridge Institute of Astronomy researcher Yinuo Han utilizing Keck NIRC / NIRC2 to directly observe dust being pushed by stellar winds between WR140 binary stars; 5 speakers at ILOA Galaxy Forum Hawaii 2022 Kamuela to highlight ‘Astronomy and Culture in Hawaii and on the Moon’. |
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● = Terrestrial events, and…
o = International terrestrial events in local time. ★ = Space events, and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’). |
Weekly Planet Watch – Morning Planets: Mercury (E); Evening Planets: Mars (ENE), Jupiter (ESE), Saturn (S), Uranus (E), Neptune (SE).
25th Mars Society Convention Shares Science, Tech Developments, Advocates Permanent Human Settlement within Next Decade
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☆ Oct 17 — INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), LEO: Detecting some of the most energetic radiation in space, ESA, NASA, Roscosmos spacecraft reaches 21 full years / enters 22nd of operations; launched 2002, expected to run out of fuel early 2020s and fall to Earth Feb 2029. o Oct 17 — Space Renaissance International, Online / Fino Mornasco, Italy: Space Renaissance Academy Webinar Series: Astropolitics; featuring Alberto Cavallo, 19:00-21:00 CEST. ● Oct 17 — ACC Art Books, Online / Global: Publishing Date: Out of This World – Historic Milestones in NASA’s Human Space Flight; by Author Bill Schwartz. ● Oct 17-18 — Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt MD: 2022 In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) Workshop; with GSFC facility tours. o Oct 17-26 — National Space Foundation, NOIRLab, International Dark-Sky Association, AURA, Online / Global: Globe at Night October Campaign; to raise awareness of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit night sky brightness observations (goal 20,000 data points for 2022, 12,826 so far). ☆ Oct 17 — Moon: At apogee (distance 404,311 km), 00:00; 5.3° S of Castor, 01:00; 1.78° S of Pollux, 07:0; at last quarter, 07:15. Continued From… ★ Jun 28 – Nov 13 — CAPSTONE, Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit Trajectory: Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment heading to operating position at NRHO / cislunar space. ☆ Aug 4 – Dec 16 — Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), Lunar Trajectory: South Korea ‘Danuri’ to search for lunar resources, test technologies using Ballistic Lunar Transfer, 3 highly elliptical Earth orbits to initiate a trans-lunar injection and arrive at 100-km lunar orbit. o Aug 8 – Nov 11 — IAU, NAOJ, NARIT, Online / Global: NameExoWorlds 2022. ● Oct 14-21 — Imagine Science Films, NYC NY: 15th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival 2022: Science New Wave. TUESDAY● Oct 18-19 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Online / Houston TX: Planetary Protection in Practice. ☆ Oct 18 — Moon: 3.9° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 11:00. ☆ Oct 18 — Venus: 3.2° NNE of Spica, 07:00. ☆ Oct 18 — Amor Asteroid 2022 SB5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU) ☆ Oct 18 — Amor Asteroid 2022 SK21: Near-Earth Flyby (0.081 AU) |
WEDNESDAY
★ Oct 19 — Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), HEO: NASA spacecraft mapping boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space reaches 14 full years / enters 15th year in space; launched on this day 2008.
☆ Oct 19 — ExoMars 2016 Orbiter, Mars Orbit: ESA and Roscosmos spacecraft reaches 6 full years / enters 7th years at Mars, launched 2016; craft continues collecting data on atmosphere, deployed Schiaparelli demonstration lander 19 Oct 2016 (unsuccessful).
o Oct 19 — Moon Village Association, Online / Vienna, Austria: Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA) 21st Meeting.
● Oct 19 — American Astronautical Society, Online: Posters Due for 15th Annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium Student Poster Competition; 00:00 EDT; winner to present in Baku, Azerbaijan Oct 2023.
● Oct 19-20 — Secure World Foundation, Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS), Arlington VA: 2022 Global Satellite Servicing Forum.
☆ Oct 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 SF63: Near-Earth Flyby (0.014 AU)
☆ Oct 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 TH6: Near-Earth Flyby (0.061 AU)
☆ Oct 19 — Amor Asteroid 2022 SQ3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU)
☆ Oct 19 — Venus: Brightest, magnitude -3.93°, 06:00.
THURSDAY
☆ Oct 20 — BepiColombo, Mercury Trajectory: European Space Agency / JAXA Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (dubbed Mio ‘waterway or fairway’) reach 4 full years / enter 5th year in space today, launched 2018; expected to reach Mercury polar orbit 2025 to map planet, investigate magnetosphere.
● Oct 20 — Secure World Foundation, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations, Online / New York NY: Benefits of Space for Socioeconomic Development Panel.
● Oct 20 — Canadian Space Agency (CSA-ASC), Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada: Space Brain Hack Youth Initiative and Canada goes to the Moon Public Presentation; CSA Astronaut Joshua Kutryk to lead two public events at Science World and Vanier Park.
● Oct 20-22 — American Branch of the International Law Association, New York NY: 2022 International Law Weekend; featuring ‘The Rush for Resources: International Legal Implications of Space Mining Panel’.
● Oct 20-23 — Mars Society, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ: 25th Annual International Mars Society Convention: Searching for Life with Heavy Lift.
☆ Oct 20 — Moon: 4.6° NNE of Regulus, 08:00.
☆ Oct 20 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 SM48: Near-Earth Flyby (0.057 AU)
☆ Oct 20 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 SO21: Near-Earth Flyby (0.063 AU)
FRIDAY
o Oct 21-24 — Earth System Governance, University of Toronto – Scarborough, University of Waterloo, Hybrid / Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Online: 2022 Toronto Conference on Earth System Governance.
● Oct 21 — Orionids Meteor Shower Peak: The 2nd of 2 showers from Halley’s Comet dust, Orionids appear to radiate from Constellation Orion, are swift (68 km/sec), can be bright & leave persistent trains; between 20-70 meteors per hour, 00:00.
☆ Oct 21 — Aten Asteroid 2021 TE1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.077 AU)
SATURDAY
☆ Oct 22 — Venus: At superior conjunction with Sun, 1.717 AU from Earth, 11:00.
☆ Oct 22 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 RB5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)
☆ Oct 22 — Aten Asteroid 2020 HP1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU)
SUNDAY
● Oct 23 — National Space Foundation, NOIRLab, Online / Hilo HI: Maunakea Wonders Teacher Workshop; gives participants a background on existing Maunakea Observatories, scientific discoveries, engineering / instrumentation, and career paths available to HI islands students.
☆ Oct 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 TX: Near-Earth Flyby (0.086 AU)
☆ Oct 23 — Aten Asteroid 2016 TA57: Near-Earth Flyby (0.094 AU)
