"The First, Best Space Calendar in the Business"
Vol 28, No 10
fax: 808-885-3475
news@spaceagepub.com, www.spaceagepub.com
tel: 808-885-3473

Google Lunar X Prize Teams Advancing Toward Lunar Frontier

A year and a half into the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP), 17 teams continue to advance in their quest to capture up to US$30M in prize money. To win the international competition, a team must land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to Earth before Dec 31, 2014. The first team to register for the competition, Odyssey Moon Ltd. (OML), has partnered with NASA Ames to develop a lunar lander based on the Common Spacecraft Bus (B), developed by Ames. Astrobotic Technology Inc., another favorite to win the prize, has set out an ambitious series of missions beginning with their Tranquility Trek GLXP mission to the Apollo 11 landing site, currently scheduled for launch in May 2010. Astrobotic's other planned missions will focus on exploring the lunar poles and helping to prepare the surface for NASA's future outpost. New teams continue to enter the competition, as seen last week with the announcement of the Synergy Moon team. Registration for the competition closes on Dec 31, 2010. Beyond competing for the GLXP, most of the participating teams have plans to become reliable and affordable providers of commercial services in support of human lunar and solar system exploration. Additionally, the X Prize Foundation is currently seeking an education and public outreach manager to develop and oversee efforts to publicize the GLXP and encourage students to pursue careers in space exploration. (Credit: GLXP, OML, Astrobotic Technology)

USA Space Shuttle Remaining Schedule Confirmed, Transition To CEV

In the recently released 2010 proposed budget, the Obama Administration has confirmed plans to retire the Space Shuttle in 2010, thereby freeing up funds for the development of systems to deliver people and cargo to the Moon in the coming decade. The strategy shows support for the former administration's Vision for Space Exploration that calls for NASA to return humans to the surface of the Moon and establish an outpost there to support missions to Mars and beyond. Launch of Discovery STS-119 (T), the 125th Shuttle mission, is now scheduled for Mar 11 from Cape Canaveral FL. The 14-day flight will feature 4 spacewalks to install the final truss segment (S6) and last pair of US solar arrays to the station. That will leave only 8 more scheduled Shuttle flights, including STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope this May, culminating with the May 31, 2010 launch of Endeavour STS-133 to the ISS. Following up on a campaign promise, President Obama is looking into adding a Shuttle flight in 2010, likely to carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer physics experiment to the ISS. Another campaign promise that Obama made involved narrowing the 5-year gap between Shuttle and CEV. The CEV is currently scheduled to begin operation in 2014 or 2015. Options for USA spaceflight during the gap include rides from Russia or other ISS partner nations, as well as NewSpace options, possibly aided by the NASA COTS program. (Credit: NASA)
THIS WEEK
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
LEGEND
All times 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 – Morning Planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter (ESE), Saturn (S) / Evening Planets: Venus (W), Saturn (E).
 

MONDAY
Mar 9 — International Space Station, LEO: Expedition 18 crew to receive Discovery STS-119 this Friday Mar 13, Sandra Magnus will be replaced by JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html.
Mar 9 — Aerospace States Association, Washington DC: ASA Hearing before its member state Lt. Governors to address an aerospace agenda for the new US Presidential Administration and Congress; http://aerostates.org/events.
Mar 9 — National Commission on Space Activities, NASA, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Letters of Intent due to be considered in the selection of new members of US / Argentine Aquarius / SAC-D Science Team; http://www.conae.gov.ar/SAC-D_AQ_AO/indexe.html.
Mar 9-10 — European Southern Observatory, European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Garching, Germany: 'ESO Spectroscopic Survey Workshop;' http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/ssw2009/index.html.
Mar 9-11 — ESA, University of Calabria, Cocenza, Italy: 'Workshop on Cross-Scale Coupling in Plasmas;' http://www.fis.unical.it/astroplasmi/cross-scale/.
Mar 9-12 — Subaru Telescope, Keauhou HI: '2nd Subaru International Conference: Exoplanets and Disks - Their Formation and Diversity;' http://subarutelescope.org/SubaruConf09/.
Mar 9-12 — ESA / ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands: 'ATV Jules Verne Re-entry Multi-Instrument Observation Campaign Post-Flight Intermediate Results Science Meeting;' http://www.congrex.nl/09m12/.
Mar 9-13 — Applied Technology Institute, Beltsville MD: 'Attitude Determination & Control Course;' 'Space-Based Radar Course;' http://www.aticourses.com/.
Mar 9-Apr 8 — NASA Headquarters, Washington DC: 'NASA 2009 Mission Madness Tournament'; online game, fans vote for favorite NASA space mission, winner to be determined on Apr 8; http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/missionmadness/index.html.
Mar 9 — Mars, Red Planet: Mars Exploration Rover Spirit travelling through silica-rich region on its way to explore a steep mound called 'Von Braun' and an irregular, 45-meter-wide (150-foot-wide) bowl called 'Goddard' where it will spend the Martian summer (southern hemisphere); http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-041.
Mar 9 — Cassini OTM-183, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #183 today; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Mar 9 — Moon: 2.3° SSW of Regulus; 05:00.
Mar 9 — Asteroid 1862 Apollo: Closest Approach to Earth; (1.239 AU).
Continued from . . .
Mar 2 — European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Viña del Mar, Chile: ''The Interferometric View on Hot Stars;' through Mar 9; http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/IHOT09/.
Mar 7 — IEEE, Big Sky MT: '2009 IEEE Aerospace Conference;' through Mar 14; http://www.aeroconf.org/.
TUESDAY
Mar 10-12 — American Astronautical Society, Greenbelt MD: '2009 Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium: Sustainable Space Exploration;' http://www.astronautical.org/goddard/.
Mar 10 —Moon: Full or Worm Moon; Hoku I Nana; 16:37.
Mar 10 — Moon: 5.5° SSW of Saturn; 12:00.
Mar 10 — Asteroid 2009 DV43: Near-Earth Flyby; (0.022 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Mar 11 — Launch Discovery STS-119 / 15A, Cape Canaveral FL: Tentative launch date for 125th Space Shuttle flight, 28th U.S. mission to the International Space Station; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html.
Mar 11 — American lnstitute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Washington DC: '2009 Aerospace Markets Conference - The Decade Ahead;' http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2210.
Mar 11 — Asteroid 2007 FS3: Near-Earth Flyby; (0.016 AU).
THURSDAY
Mar 12 — Imiloa Astronomy Center, Hilo HI: 'Festival of Science Comes to Imiloa;' http://www.imiloahawaii.org/events.php.
Mar 12 — Asteroid 2009 EG1: Near-Earth Flyby; (0.046 AU).
FRIDAY
Mar 13 — Launch Atlas 5 / WGS 2, Cape Canaveral FL: Atlas 5 rocket will launch the second Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft, formerly known as the Wideband Gapfiller Satellite; http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html.
Mar 13 — Moon: 2.9° SSW of Spica; 03:00.
Mar 13 — Asteroid 2008 EZ84: Near-Earth Flyby; (0.090 AU).
SATURDAY
Mar 14 — Zero Gravity Corporation, Washington DC: Zero-G Weightless Experience, the only present commercial opportunity to experience "true weightlessness" without going to space; http://media-newswire.com/release_1087081.html, http://www.gozerog.com/.
Mar 14 — Royal Astronomical Society, London, UK: 'Far-IR and Sub-mm Astronomy;' http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=227.
Mar 14-21 — Recontres de Morionde, La Thuile, Italy: 'QCD and High Energy Interactivity;' http://moriond.in2p3.fr/QCD/2009/qcd_uk.html.
Mar 14 — Asteroid 2009 DR3: Near-Earth Flyby; (0.018 AU).
SUNDAY
Mar 15 — International Space Station, LEO: Discovery STS-119 crewmembers Swanson, Arnold conduct EVA-1 to install S6 truss segment; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html.
Mar 15-19 — National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson AZ: '14th North American Workshop on Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects;' http://www.noao.edu/meetings/wildstars2/.
 
Click Here For DOWNRANGE -- Events Through 2010.

Space Calendar Published Weekly, Mondays. ISSN 0741-1731. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Mar 9, 2009, Space Age Publishing Company, 65-1230 Mamalahoa Highway - Suite D-20, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743; 480 California Avenue - Suite 303, Palo Alto, California 94306, USA. Editor & Publisher, ILOA Director / Steve Durst. Associate Editor, ILOA Executive Director / Charles Bohannan. Managing Editor / Jason Ventura. Assistant Editor / Joseph Sulla. Marketing Editor / Michelle Gonella. Special Contributors: Hawaii Aloha. Australia / Kirby Ikin. Canada / Robert Richards. China, Asia / Patricia Yu, Chen Kan Arth. Europe-Russia / Theo Pirard. India, South Asia / Radhakrishna Rao, USA, Bill Carswell. www.spaceagepub.com, news@spaceagepub.com.