"The First, Best Space Calendar in the Business"
Vol 29, No 11
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Earth-Moon Cislunar System Enables Exploration, Utilization of Solar System and Beyond

The future and viability of America's space program lies in understanding and development of the Earth-Moon Cislunar system as the enabler to exploring the entire Universe. The Moon is only 3 days away using proven technology and provides the gateway to the political, economic, technological and other infrastructures required to visit 5 all-encompassing destinations beyond. Free Space and the Lagrange points (CR) represent areas of near-space orbit best suited for space stations and other permanent depots.  Near-Earth asteroids and the main asteroid belt hold significant resources which can be mined and utilized on the way to Mars. Also are the Jupiter and Saturn gas giant systems, which represent more than 90% of the planetary mass of the Solar System. Beyond the frontier of our Solar System lie the Milky Way Galaxy, the Stars and Cosmic Infinity.  USA leadership and popular opinion can understand that a permanent return to the Moon will lead the way to the rest of the Cosmos, and that Mars is only one of these many destinations. Public discussions on these issues continue on March 15 at the 10th Annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: 'Moon, Mars and Beyond - Where Next for the Manned Space Program?' at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, as well as President Obama's space conference on April 15 in Florida. Pictured: Neil deGrasse Tyson (Credit: NASA, AMNH, msnbc, ratiojuris, lcsd.gov.hk)

Canada Meeting to Advance Commercial Space Sector

The Canadian Space Commerce Association will hold its Annual General Meeting on March 16 in Toronto, Canada. Business owners, venture capitalists, scientists and engineers are invited to be a part of a comprehensive forum focusing on Canada’s growing space sector. Keynote speaker this year is MDA Vice-President Christian Sallaberger (TL) who will discuss ‘Structuring for Success in the Commercial Space Sector.’ MDA, Canada’s largest space company, is also the world leader in space robotics, having designed and built the main robotic systems for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. Other speakers include Canadian Space Society President Kevin Shortt (CL) and Patent Agent Wilfred So (BL). Canada has transformed itself into a world-class space enterprise, witnessing double-digit growth of space-focused firms. (Credit: CSCA, NASA, CSA, blakes.com, MDA, gsea.org, Odyssey Moon)

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: Saturn (S) / Evening Planets: Venus (W), Mars (SE), Saturn (E).
 

MONDAY
Mar 15 — International Space Station, LEO: E-22 crew members continue to make preparations for Mar 18 departure of commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Maxim Suraev; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html.
Mar 15 — NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Orbit: Imagery gathered from LRO instruments providing wealth of information used to construct boulder distribution maps, slope maps and digital terrain models which will aid engineers / scientists in future missions to the Moon; http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Mar 15 — International Lunar Observatory Association, Hawai`i Island HI / Global: Promising year ahead with 1st of five 2010 ILOA Board Meetings last week in Hawaii; Galaxy Forum Waimea this week, Hilo 16 May to extend 2010 Hawaii series; Galaxy Forum preparations underway for this year in California, Canada, Kansas, China, India, Europe, Japan and elsewhere; http://www.iloa.org.
Mar 15 — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Red Planet: NASA MRO completes 4th year in orbit, passing data-volume milestone of 100 terabytes or 100 trillion bits of data which is 3x the amount of data from all deep-space missions combined; http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news-DS-NASA-Mars-Orbiter-Speeds-Past-Data-Milestone-030910.aspx.

Mar 15 — American Museum of Natural History, New York NY: '10th Annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: Moon, Mars and Beyond - Where Next for the Manned Space Program?;' http://www.amnh.org/programs/programs.php?date=2010-03-15&event_id=1633.
Mar 15 — Mees Solar Observatory, Maui HI / Online: Early registration for 6th Solar Polarization Workshop at Haleakala Observatory, Maui; http://kopiko.ifa.hawaii.edu/spw6/.
Mar 15 — International Institute of Space Law, Online: 'Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition,' Deadline for Submission of Memorials
for all other teams participating in the Asia Pacific Regional Rounds; http://www.spacemoot.org/currentfinal.htm.
Mar 15-17 — Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands: 'Conference: High Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy: Past, Present and Future;' http://www.sron.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2156&Itemid=1986.
Mar 15-18 — California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA: '8th International Conference on High Energy Density Laboratory Astrophysics;' http://hedla2010.caltech.edu/.
Mar 15-18 — Satellite Today, Washington DC: 'Satellite 2010: New Faces, New Content, New Opportunities;' http://www.satellitetoday.com/satellite2010/.
Mar 15-19 — International Astronomical Union, Cape Town, South Africa: 'Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2010: An IAU Commission 55 Conference;' http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2010/index.html.
Mar 15-19 — German Physical Society, Bonn, Germany: 'Bonn 2010: Solar Worlds Symposium;' http://www.dpg-verhandlungen.de/2010/bonn/syew_en.html.
Mar 15 — Mercury: .66° SSE of Uranus; 13:00.
Mar 15 — Moon: New Moon, 10:02; 5.4° NNW of Uranus, 14:00; 6.0° NNW of Mercury, 14:00.
Continued from . . .
Jan 30 — Museum of Science and Industry, Confucius Institute / University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom: 'Exhibition: From Gunpowder to Space Rockets - The China Space Program,' includes models of ancient rockets, recent satellites, rockets, space ships and a lunar rover; through Aug 7; http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/china-space-exhibition.
Mar 13 — Dissertations Initiative for the Advancement of Climate Change Research (DISCCRS), Saguaro Lake Ranch AZ: 'DISCCRS 5 Symposium;' through Mar 20; http://www.disccrs.org/.
Mar 14 — National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson AZ: 'From First Light to Newborn Stars,' physics of star formation in galaxies, including the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, and galaxies at high-z; through Mar 17; http://www.noao.edu/meetings/first-light/.

Mar 14 — American Society of Civil Engineers, et al, Honolulu HI: 'ASCE Earth and Space 2010,' Experts from a variety of disciplines will gather to discuss exploration, engineering, construction, and operations in challenging environments on the Moon, Earth and Mars, in space and on other bodies of the Solar System;' through Mar 17; http://content.asce.org/conferences/earthspace2010/index.html.

Mar 14 — Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, University of Alabama Huntsville, et al, Lahaina HI: '9th Annual International Astrophysics Conference;' through Mar 19; http://icnsmeetings.com/conference/9thannual/index.html.
TUESDAY
Mar 16 — Canadian Space Commerce Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: '2010 Canadian Space Commerce Association Annual General Meeting,' focus to grow Canadian commercial space with invited speakers Christian Sallaberger, Mike Gold and Eric Choi; http://spacecommerce.ca/.
Mar 16 — International Institute of Space Law, Online: 'Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition,' deadline for submission of memorials; http://www.spacemoot.org/currentfinal.htm.
Mar 16-17 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Washington DC: '2010 Congressional Visits Day,' AIAA members to meet with national decision makers to discuss critical industry issues in civil aeronautics, civil astronautics, and defense; http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2216.
Mar 16-17 — NASA Advisory Council, Washington DC: 'NAC Earth Science Subcommittee Meeting;' http://www.spaceref.com/.
Mar 16-18 — NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL: 'Launch: Water,' forum to host conversation with experts about potential solutions to the world's sustainability problems; http://www.spaceref.com/.
Mar 16 — Moon: 6.1° NNW of Venus; 14:00.
WEDNESDAY
Mar 17 — The SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium Series Lecture: 'What Clays Can Tell Us About Past Climate at Mawrth Vallis, Mars,' Nancy McKeown; http://www.seti.org/csc/lectures.
Mar 17 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: 'Barbara Marx Hubbard and the Rise of Space Advocacy in the 1970s,' Roger Launius; http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1851.
Mar 17 — NASA, International Space Station: NASA TV to air E-22 / 23 change of command ceremony and E22 farewells and hatch closure; http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/mar/HQ_M10-042_Soyuz_TV_Coverage.html.
Mar 17 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: Book signing: 'My Dream of Stars,' Anousheh Ansari; http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1940.
Mar 17-18 — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Monrovia CA: 'Meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG);' http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Mar 17-19 — ESA, Frascati, Italy: 'Hyperspectral Workshop 2010,' covers current and future hyperspectral / imaging spectroscopy capacity in Europe; http://www.congrex.nl/10c02/.
Mar 17-20 — National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson AZ: 'An Eventful Universe,' explores the time-axis in observational phenomena; http://www.noao.edu/meetings/eventful-universe/.
THURSDAY
Mar 18 — International Lunar Observatory Association, Space Age Publishing Company, Kamuela HI: 'Galaxy Forum Waimea: Galaxy Education in the 21st Century;' http://www.iloa.org/galaxyforum.html, http://www.spaceagepub.com/galaxyforum.html
Mar 18 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 'Physical and Chemical Processes in Cometary Comae;' http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/seminars/#1429.
Mar 18-19 — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 'The von Kármán Lecture Series: Using NASA Satellites to Study the Earth's Climate;' http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.cfm?year=2010&month=3.
Mar 18-24 — The Planetary Society, Anchorage; Fairbanks AK: 'Alaska Aurora Borealis: Come See the Greatest Light Show on Earth;' http://betchartexpeditions.com/na-alaska_aurora_borealis.htm.
FRIDAY
Mar 19 — IMAX Corporation, NASA, Nationwide: 'Movie: Hubble 3-D,' to enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore mysteries of our celestial surroundings and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA's history; http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=118725&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1374657&highlight=.
Mar 19-21 — International Institute of Space Law, Bangalore, India: 'Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition,' Indian Domestic Funding Rounds; http://www.spacemoot.org/currentfinal.htm.
Mar 19-22 — Imiloa Astronomy Center, Hilo HI: 'Imi Na'auao Wayfinding and Navigation Crew Training Workshops;' http://www.imiloahawaii.org/16/special-events.
Mar 19 — Cassini Distant Flyby, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts distant flyby of Titan; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/.
Mar 19 — Asteroid 3356 Resnik: Closest Approach To Earth (1.183 AU).
SATURDAY
Mar 20 — Launch Proton / EchoStar 14, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: International Launch Services Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage set to deploy EchoStar 14 telecommunications spacecraft; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html.
Mar 20 — Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (Northeast Chapter), Buffalo NY: '2nd North Eastern Conference of Space;' http://ubseds.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150&Itemid=75.
Mar 20 — Imiloa Astronomy Center, Hilo HI: 'Mauna Kea Skies Lecture Series;' http://www.imiloahawaii.org/calendar/day_view/day:March+20,+2010#event_32.
Mar 20 — NASA, Nationwide: 'Sun-Earth Day 2010: Magnetic Storms;' http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/about/index.php.
Mar 20 — Cassini Distant Flyby, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts distant flyby of Telesto, Atlas, Prometheus, Daphnis & Methone; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/.
Mar 20 — Spring (Vernal) Equinox: The Sun rises exactly in the east traveling through the sky for 12 hours and sets exactly in the west; Every place on Earth experiences a 12-hour day twice a year on the Spring and Fall Equinox.
Mar 20 — Moon: .38° SSW of Pleiades; 14:00.
SUNDAY
Mar 21-25 — American Chemical Society, San Francisco CA: 'Spring 2010 Meeting of the American Chemical Society: Recent Advances in Observational and Experimental Astrochemistry;' http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?.
Mar 21 — Cassini Distant Flyby, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts distant flyby of Pallene & Polydeuces; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/.
Mar 21 — Moon: 8.6° N of Aldebaran; 10:00.
Mar 21 — Asteroid 3656 Hemingway: Closest Approach to Earth (1.121 AU).
Mar 21 — Asteroid 2001 FE7: Near Earth Flyby (0.078 AU).
 
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Space Calendar Published Weekly, Mondays. ISSN 0741-1731. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © March 15, 2010. 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. Assistant Editor / Joseph Sulla. Marketing Editor / Michelle Gonella. Special Contributors: Hawaii Aloha. Australia / Kirby Ikin. Canada / Robert Richards. China, Asia / Chen Kan Arth. Europe-Russia / Theo Pirard. India, South Asia / Radhakrishna Rao, USA, Bill Carswell. www.spaceagepub.com, news@spaceagepub.com.