September Meeting (NOTE TIME and LOCATION)
Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet on September 8 at Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Our business meeting will start at 2:30 p.m. with feature presentations beginning at 3:00 p.m. The street address is 1617 SW 74th Street and the phone number is 685-5414. Claire and I found out in November that it is easier coming from the east to get off at the previous exit (Western Avenue) and proceed down the north access road. You can also exit at Penn, but you have to enter the parking lot from the street north of Denny’s.
We only have the meeting place until 6:00 p.m.
September 2012 - OSA Meeting Agenda
2:30 PM
3:00 PM
The theme for Oklahoma Space Alliance in 2012 is “What’s Happening in Space.” People think that space exploration is dead with the end of the shuttle program. We should use our theme as an emphasis for meetings, selection of speakers and topics for age
OSIDA Meeting
The September meeting of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority has been cancelled. Next meeting is October 10 at 1:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation building in Oklahoma City..
Minutes of August Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met August 11, 2012 at the Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. Members attending included Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, David Sheely, Russ Davoren, Tom Koszoru and Syd Henderson.
Several OSA members met at Claire and Cliff McMurray’s to work on the proposed Space Art Contest. We will have to contact each school district from Norman and Noble to Edmond, and from Yukon to the east side of the Oklahoma City metro area. We want each district to get something. Subject: If you lived in space, what would your home look like?
There was no need for a report on OSIDA because all the members attending the meeting were there. [Note: a report was included in the August Update.] There was no treasurer’s report because Tim was absent.
Presentations:
We watched a video of the launch of the Mars rover Curiosity. There are 17 cameras on Curiosity.
Ice cliffs on Mars are 800 meters high and the ice is several kilometers thick. The North Polar Cap is two kilometers thick at its center and as big as Texas.
We watched a science experiment on the ISS of water bubbles circling knitting needles in zero-G. They do this because of opposing electric charges. The principle is similar to orbits in gravitational fields; electrical attraction also follows an inverse square law, and sideways velocity keeps the bubble from simply crashing into the needle. Actually the bubble also has a velocity component that goes down the needle, so that its path is a helix. When it reaches the end of the needle, the bubble reverses direction.
We watched a memorial video for Sally Ride, a Nathalie Cabrol video on space exploration and a STS launch video.
Russia launched five satellites in one launch.
Japan sent a cargo module to the Space Station.
Ariane 5 has now had 50 successful launches in a role.
On August 3, NASA handed out $1.1 billion in contracts to three companies to privately develop rockets and spacecraft for what could be the next step in manned spaceflight. This includes $212.5 million to Sierra Nevada, $440 million and 450 million to Boeing.
The Morpheus prototype lander crashed during testing on August 9. Video of the crash is at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/10/nasa-morpheus-video-explosion_n_1765683.html. (Okay, just Google “Morpheus crash.”) Assuming it stops landing on its side, Morpheus is a potential lander on the Moon and asteroid.
We watched an ISDC video of Jeff Greason speaking on space policy. 20-year plans for space do not work because nobody can plan a big project 20 years ahead.
--Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Space News: Neil Armstrong Dies
Neil Armstrong, mission commander of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the first man to walk on the Moon, died on August 25, 2012. He was three weeks past his 82nd birthday.
Like all astronauts of the time, Armstrong was a test pilot, flying nearly a thousand missions for the High-Speed Flight Station (now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center). He became an astronaut in 1962, and in 1966 was the pilot for Gemini 8, the first mission to conduct a docking in space, with the unmanned Agena spacecraft. In doing so, Armstrong became the first civilian American astronaut in space, since he had retired from the Navy six years earlier. (Two earlier civilians had flown in space, Joe Walker on the X-15 and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, both in 1963.)
Armstrong is, of course, much more famous for his second and last voyage into space, when he and Buzz Aldrin’s landing and walks on the Moon were followed by billions of people.
After the lunar voyage, Armstrong was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator of ARPA, but resigned from that and NASA in 1971, becoming a teacher at the University of Cincinnati. However, Armstrong did serve on the commission, which investigated the Challenger disaster. Over the next decades, he served on several boards, including Thiokol (the company that manufactured the solid rocket boosters that exploded on the Challenger). However, Armstrong generally shied away from politics and the public eye. He did publicly criticize the 1001 cancellation of the Constellation program.
Armstrong died from complications to a heart operation.
Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon is one those occasions where those who watched it remember exactly where they were. (In my case, beside my father in our living room watching a black-and-white TV.) A commentator on one of the blogs said it best: centuries from now the two names most remembered from the Cold War will be Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin.
From Hugh Downs, Chairman of the NSS Board of Governors: "News of Neil Armstrong's passing is so shocking that there is no way it can be absorbed right away as reality. His position in history is deeper than that of any known discoverer or explorer in the history of this planet. As the first human to land on any world outside the Earth, and probably the first living creature of any sort to come from the Earth and reach the Moon, his legacy will be safe as long as intelligent life survives in this corner of the cosmos."
From Paul E. Damphousse, NSS Executive Director: "Humanity will one day become a truly space-faring species and millions of people will venture beyond the Earth. But Neil Armstrong will always be the first among us to set foot on another world. Today we mark his passing and celebrate his place in history. He was one of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand, and we will honor his legacy by continuing our efforts to move humanity into the cosmos."
From Buzz Aldrin, fellow Apollo 11 Astronaut and member of the NSS Board of Governors: "I am deeply saddened by the passing of my good friend, and space exploration companion, Neil Armstrong today. As Neil, Mike Collins and I trained together for our historic Apollo 11 Mission, we understood the many technical challenges we faced, as well as the importance and profound implications of this historic journey. We will now always be connected as the crew of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, yet for the many millions who witnessed that remarkable achievement for humankind, we were not alone.
"Whenever I look at the Moon I am reminded of that precious moment, over four decades ago, when Neil and I stood on the desolate, barren, yet beautiful, Sea of Tranquility, looking back at our brilliant blue planet Earth suspended in the darkness of space, I realized that even though we were farther away from Earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone. Virtually the entire world took that memorable journey with us. I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew. My friend Neil took the small step but giant leap that changed the world and will forever be remembered as a historic moment in human history."
Other Space News
On August 17, Space Shuttle Endeavour backed out of its hanger at Kennedy Space Center and was replaced by Space Shuttle Atlantis. Work is done on Endeavour, which will arrive at the California Science Center in California by the end of October, missing its Canadarm, which will be sent to a museum in Canada. Once repairs are complete, Atlantis will remain at Kennedy Space Center, where it will be displayed in the Visitor Complex. Atlantis and Discovery (which is in display at the Smithsonian) get to keep their Canadarms.
Three weeks after its landing, Mars Rover Curiosity set off on its first journey, to a spot a quarter mile east of its landing spot. Curiosity’s landing spot has been dubbed Bradbury Landing after the late sf writer Ray Bradbury, the author of The Martian Chronicles, The destination is Glenelg (or Glenelg Intrigue), a spot where layered bedrock and cratered terrain meet the kind of rock that Curiosity landed on. The name “Glenelg” was chosen partly because it’s a palindrome and Curiosity will visit it twice. Another location is named Goulburn, from which I conclude that Australians are naming this terrain. (Gale Crater itself is named after the Australian amateur astronomer Walter Frederick Gale.)
Curiosity’s eventual goal is Aeolis Palus, the 18,000-foot tall mountain at the center of Gale Crater. The unofficial name for the mountain is Mount Sharp, after American geologist Robert Sharp. “Aeolis” is a reference to the Martian wind, which presumable eroded Aeolis Mons. Aeolus was the Greek god who was the keeper of the winds, as referred to in The Odyssey; a feature shaped by the wind is an Aeolian landform.
Sky Viewing
Mercury is currently lost in sunlight. In late September, it will be 14° from the Sun, but from the United States, this distance is mostly horizontal. Mercury will be at greatest eastern elongation on October 25, but even then, it will only be 4° above the horizon a half hour after sunset.
Venus is now rising about three and a half hours before the Sun, which it will continue to do through the month of October. It is magnitude -4.3.
Mars is currently low in in the south-southwest after sunset, setting a couple of hours after the Sun. Oddly, since both the Sun and Mars are setting earlier each night, Mars will be continue to set two hours after the Sun for most of the rest of the year, growing gradually dimmer. It is currently magnitude 1.2 and in the constellation Libra.
Jupiter is currently rising around 11:30 p.m. and is magnitude -2.3. By October 1, it will be rising at 10:00 p.m., and by October 31 at 8:00 p.m. It will gradually brighten to magnitude -2.7. It is currently about six degrees and moving away from Aldebaran, the bright star in Taurus, but in October, Jupiter’s retrograde motion will send it back toward Aldebaran.
Saturn is low in the western sky at sunset, but, unlike Mars, it’s gradually approaching the Sun as they toward an October 25 conjunction. Saturn is currently visible, but will get difficult to see by the end of the month.
Uranus will be at opposition the night of September 28, at which point it will be at magnitude 5.7. Uranus is in retrograde motion and passing back into Pisces from Cetus.
Neptune is still hanging out in the corner of Aquarius where it’s been for a couple of years, and is magnitude 7.8 Finder charts for Uranus and Neptune are in the September issue of Sky & Telescope and online at
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Uranus-Neptune-2012.pdf. There is also a map for Neptune in the August Astronomy.
[Data for this section from Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, NASA and Wikipedia.]
There are a couple of meteor showers in October. The Taurids are a long lasting shower: it lasts from October through December. However, this translates to maybe a half-dozen meteors per hour. Some of these are fireballs. The reason for the long and sparse shower is that the Taurids are remnants of Comet Encke, which has a period of only three years and has been degrading rapidly for centuries. In fact, Comet Encke is the parent of three meteor showers: the Taurids are actually two showers, the Northern and Southern Taurids, which occur at the same time. There are also the Beta Taurids in June. It has been suggested that the Tunguska object may in fact have been an outsized Beta Taurid.
The Orionids peak between October 20 and 24. This peak usually amounts to twenty meteors per hour, but often they peak as twice that rate. The Orionids are also associated with a comet—in this case, the famous Comet Halley, as May’s Eta Aquariids.
In addition to Jupiter being in Taurus, so is the brightest asteroid Vesta; Jupiter is in the Hyades, while Vesta is about halfway between Aldebaran and Zeta Tauri, the third magnitude star that’s the tip of the lower horn of Taurus. (The distance from Aldebaran to Zeta Tauri is about 15 degrees.)
The biggest asteroid, Ceres, is also in Taurus, only a couple of degrees below Zeta Tauri. By the way, if you can find Ceres and Zeta Tauri on September 9 and extend the line joining them an equal distance, you can find the Crab Nebula.
Viewing Opportunities for Satellites (September 8 – October 13, 2012)
You can get sighting information at www.heavens-above.com/. Heavens Above allows you to get satellite-viewing data for 10-day periods, and gives you a constellation map showing the trajectory of the satellite. If you go to the bottom of the map page, it will give you a really detailed map with the location at 10 or 15-second intervals, depending on detail.
Sky Online (the Sky & Telescope web site) carries International Space Station observation times for the next few nights at skyandtelescope.com/observing/almanac. With the addition of the solar panels, the International Space Station can be as bright as magnitude -3.5, making it brighter than all the stars other than the Sun and all the planets other than Venus, although magnitude -2 to -3 is more likely. The Hubble Space Telescope can get up to magnitude 1.5, which is brighter than the stars in the Big Dipper, although, since it is lower in the sky, it is more difficult to see. China’s Tiangong 1 space station can get up to magnitude -0.6, which is brighter than all the night stars except Sirius and Canopus.
Missions to and from the Space Station may change its orbit. The Expedition 32 crew will be returning on September 16. The next manned mission to the Space Station launches on October 15, so should affect this data. However, there are also a supply mission by SpaceX and a demonstration flight by Orbital Services sometime in October. Be sure to check Heavens Above or www.jsc.nasa.gov/sightings before going out to watch.
As near as I can tell, no more missions to Tiangong-1 are planned. No more missions to the Hubble Space Telescope are planned.
There are no good passes for the Hubble Space Telescope this month.
ISS September 13, 2012
Time Position Elevation
6:46 a.m. 210° 21°
6:47 295 38*
6:48 136 58
6:49 75 37
6:50 61 2
*Passes 1° below Betelgeuse.
Tiangong 1 September 13, 2012
Time Position Elevation
8:33 p.m. 236° 19°*
8:34 233 38
8:35 145 77
8:36 72 37
8:37 67 18
Vanishes into Earth’s shadow.
*Passes very close to Mars
ISS September 16, 2012
Time Position Elevation
(Appears from Earth’s shadow.)
5:57 a.m. 238° 41°
5:58 320 79
5:59 39 41
6:00 43 21
Tiangong 1 September 26, 2012
Time Position Elevation
8:11 p.m. 289° 18°
8:12 278 36
8:13 211 64
8:14 140 35
8:15 130 18
Vanishes into Earth’s Shadow
ISS October 3, 2012
Time Position Elevation
6:36 a.m. 310° 21°
6:37 307 42
6:38 209 84
6:39 139 41
6:40 136 21
ISS October 11, 2012
Time Position Elevation
7:55 p.m. 241° 22°
7:56 253 42
7:57 327 66
7:58 26 39
7:49 38 32
Pass times are from Heavens Above
Key: Position is measured in degrees clockwise from north. That is, 0° is due north, 90° is due east, 180° is due south, and 270° is due west. Your fist held at arm's length is about ten degrees wide. "Elevation" is elevation above the horizon in degrees. Thus, to find the Tiangong 1 at 8:14 p.m. on September 26, measure four fist-widths east of due south, then three-and-a-half fist-widths above the horizon.
All times are rounded off to the nearest minute except for times when the satellite enters or leaves the shadow of the Earth. The highest elevation shown for each viewing opportunity is the actual maximum elevation for that appearance.
J-Pass provides a service called J-Pass Generator, which will e‑mail you sighting information for the next three days for up to ten satellites. For more information, go to science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JPass/PassGenerator/.
Programming Notice: NASA TV on the Web
Watch NASA TV (Public, Media and Education Channels) on your computer using Flash, Windows or QuickTime at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.
NASA TV Schedules are available at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html
Highlights:
September 15, 1:30 p.m.: Change of command ceremony from ISS Expedition 32 to 33.
September 16, 2:45 p.m.: Farewell and hatch closure for Expedition 32. 6:00 p.m.: Soyuz undocks from Station, 8:30 p.m.: Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan.
September 17: 9:00 a.m.: Welcoming ceremony for Expedition 32 crew (on video.)
Space-Related Articles
“The Great Galactic Travelers,” by Robert Zimmerman, Sky & Telescope, October 2012, pp. 28 – 35. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are small irregular galaxies that are the Milky Way’s closest neighbors. Both are easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere; indeed Arab astronomers observed the LMC in the 10th century. Amerigo Vespucci observed the LMC during his third voyage. Both Clouds were observed during Magellan’s voyage, but not described by him; one of his officers, Antonio Pigafetta not only described them but also guessed they were made of stars (eighty-odd years before the invention of the telescope). [Surely they must have been observed on the Portuguese voyages to India as well.]
The LMC is 160,000 light-years from Earth and has the mass of five billion suns (including dust and dark matter). The SMC is 200,000 light-years from Earth and has the mass of two billion suns. They lie about 75,000 light-years apart. The Large Cloud contains very active star-forming regions, including the famous Tarantula Nebula. The Small Cloud is much less active. (In comparison the Milky Way is a trillion times the mass of the Sun.)
It’s been supposed for decades that the Magellanic Clouds are in orbit around the Milky Way, and indeed have completed dozens of orbits. However, beginning in 2002, observations by Nitya Kallivayalil, her colleagues and others indicate that the Magellanic Clouds are moving at a velocity of over 300 km/sec, which is much larger than previously supposed, which means that the Clouds have probably never completed an orbit around the Milky Way, and, indeed, may not be in orbit at all. There are also indications that the current burst of star formation in the Large Cloud may have begun only 100 to 200 million years ago in a galaxy at least 10 billion years old.
The October issue of Astronomy is devoted to spectacular pictures of the Universe. But also note the “Strange Universe” article on page 10 on how many of those objects actually look grey or very faint pastels to the eye. (Exceptions include Mars, the outer planets, some stars like Betelgeuse and Antares and the Orion and Trifid Nebulas.)
“Just Back from the ISS, Lots to Tell,” by Jessica Hamzelou, New Scientist, 21 July 2012. Three mice returned from 91 days on the Space Station. Among the findings were: (1) Their thyroids didn’t age as rapidly as on Earth, (2) The number of sperm present in testes was down by 90% (oh-oh), (3) Slow-twitch muscles (those responsible for posture) deteriorated for a couple of weeks, then stopped deteriorating. (Fast-twitch muscles don’t deteriorate nearly as much.)
Calendar of Events
September 8: Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at 2:30 p.m. at Denny’s on the I-240 access road on the north side just east of Pennsylvania Avenue in southern Oklahoma City. The street address is 1617 SW 74th Street and the phone number is 685-5414.
September 8 – 16: Okie-Tex Star Party in Kenton, Oklahoma. Check the Upcoming Events calendar at http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
September 12: [Tentative.] Oklahoma Space Industry Authority Meeting at 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
September 16: Expedition 32 returns from Space Station.
September 21: Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meets at Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex). There will be a novice session in the planetarium at 6:45 p.m., followed by a club meeting at 7:30 p.m. See http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
September 22: International Observe the Moon Night.
September 28: Uranus is in opposition.
Fall of 2012: First launch of XCOR’s Lynx suborbital spaceplane.
October: First commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. (This via the SpaceX Dragon capsule.)
October: First Test Flight of Orbital Services Antares rocket. Antares rockets will eventually launch Cygnus missions to the ISS.
October 4 – 10: World Space Week. See www.worldspaceweek.org/ for details.
October 10: [Tentative.] Oklahoma Space Industry Authority Meeting at 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
October 12: Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meets at Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex). There will be a novice session in the planetarium at 6:45 p.m., followed by a club meeting at 7:30 p.m. See http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
October 13: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at approximately 2:30 p.m. Exact time and location to be announced.
October 15: Launch of three Expedition 33/34 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
October 25: Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun.
October 26: Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 24° from the Sun (hence can be seen after sunset).
October 32: ISS Progress 49 resupply mission launched from Kazakhstan.
November 9: Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meets at Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex). There will be a novice session in the planetarium at 6:45 p.m., followed by a club meeting at 7:30 p.m. See http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
November 10: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at approximately 2:30 p.m. Exact time and location to be announced.
November 14: Total eclipse of the Sun beginning in northern Australia and following a path across the South Pacific, stopping short of South America. The biggest city in the path is Cairns, Queensland, Australia, population 150,000.
November 14: [Tentative.] Oklahoma Space Industry Authority Meeting at 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
November 27: Saturn is 0.8° above Venus.
December: First Orbital Services Cygnus mission. This is the Orbital COTS Demonstration mission of the capsule that will eventually resupply the ISS (along with Progress modules and SpaceX’s Dragon capsules). Cygnus will attempt to rendezvous and berth with the ISS.
December 2: Jupiter is in opposition.
December 5: Launch of three Expedition 34/35 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
December 8 or 15: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party. Exact time and location to be announced. Call 321-4027.
December 9: The asteroid Vesta is in opposition at magnitude 6.3.
December 12: [Tentative.] Oklahoma Space Industry Authority Meeting at 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
December 14: Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meets at Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex). There will be a novice session in the planetarium at 6:45 p.m., followed by a club meeting at 7:30 p.m. See http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
December 15: Second commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. (Again via the SpaceX Dragon capsule.)
December 18: The asteroid Ceres is at opposition at magnitude 6.7.
December 30: Pluto is in conjunction with the Sun.
Sometime in 2013: The student-built nanosatellite, Aalto-1, will become Finland’s first satellite.
Early in 2013: First Cygnus resupply mission to the ISS.
Sometime in 2013: China launches the Tiangong-2 space station and the Shenzhou 10 manned mission to it.
Sometime in 2013: China’s Chang’e 3 rover lands on the Moon, This will be the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon since 1976.
January 9, 2013: [Tentative.] Oklahoma Space Industry Authority Meeting at 1:30 p.m., Oklahoma Department of Transportation Building in Oklahoma City.
January 11, 2013: Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meets at Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly the Omniplex). There will be a novice session in the planetarium at 6:45 p.m., followed by a club meeting at 7:30 p.m. See http://www.okcastroclub.com/ for details.
January 12, 2013: [Tentative] Oklahoma Space Alliance meeting at approximately 2:30 p.m. Exact time and location to be announced.
January 22, 2013 (moved from December 2012): Launch of IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, which will trace the flow of energy and matter into the Sun’s corona and photosphere. See http://iris.gsfc.nasa.gov/ for details.
February 15, 2013: Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass within 21,000 miles of Earth.
March 2013: Launch of three Expedition 35/36 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
April 17, 2013: Mars is in conjunction with the Sun.
May 2013: Launch of three Expedition 36/37 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
May 23 – 27, 2013: ISDC 2013, the National Space Society’s 32nd Annual International Space Development Conference, San Diego, California. For more information, visit http://isdc.nss.org/2013.
August 2013: Launch of Gaia (Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics), the European Space Agency successor to Hipparcos. Gaia will provide data on one billion stars in the Milky Way, including distances, proper and radial motion, and spectroscopic info burying astronomers in data. Gaia will also observe asteroids closer than the Earth to the Sun. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft) or http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120377_index_0_m.html.
September 2013: Launch of three Expedition 37/38 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
November 2013: Launch of three Expedition 38/39 members via Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Space Station.
November 18 – December 7, 2013: Launch window for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN orbiter (MAVEN). The project web site is http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/.
Sometime in 2014: First test flight of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
Sometime in 2014: India launches Chandrayaan II. This mission will include a lunar rover. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-2.
Sometime in 2014: Russia launches the “Luna-Glob” mission, which will deploy 13 mini-probes upon the lunar surface. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna-Glob. [Moved from 2012.]
February 14, 2014: Launch of Japan’s Astro-H X-ray astronomy spacecraft. For details, visit http://astro-h.isas.jaxa.jp/index.html.en.
April 14-15, 2014. Total eclipse of the Moon visible from North America.
July 2014: Proposed launch date of Hayabusa 2 to asteroid 1999 JU3.
August 2014 - December 2015: The European Space Agency’s Rosetta space probe orbits comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In November 2014, it will release the Philae lander. Web page is www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta or visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_%28spacecraft%29
Sometime in 2015: China launches the Tiangong-3 space station. This will eventually become the core of a large Chinese space station in the 2020s.
February 2015: Dawn space probe arrives at Ceres. Operations are scheduled to continue through July. Dawn may continue on to other asteroids if it is still operational.
July 14, 2015: The New Horizons probe passes through the Pluto-Charon system. The New Horizons web site is pluto.jhuapl.edu/.
August 15, 2015: [Moved from 2014.) The European Space Agency/JAXA BepiColombo Mercury Orbiter is launched. Home page is sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=30\
Sometime in 2016: ESA launches the ExoMars Mars Orbiter. This mission will include a static lander, but the rover will be launched in 2018. For more information, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exomars.
March 2016: Proposed launch date for InSight, a lander that will probe the interior of Mars. For information, see http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/.
July 2016-2020: The New Horizons probe visits the Kuiper Belt.
August 21, 2017: The next total solar eclipse visible in the United States, on a pretty straight path from Portland, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. St. Louis is the biggest city in-between.
Sometime in 2018: ESA launches the ExoMars Mars Rover. For more information, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exomars.
Sometime in 2018: Earliest date for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
January 2022: BepiColombo arrives at Mercury orbit.
April 8, 2024: A total solar eclipse crosses the US from the middle of the Mexico-Texas border, crosses Arkansas, southern Missouri, Louisville, Cleveland, Buffalo and northern New England.
August 12, 2045: The next total solar eclipse visible in Oklahoma. This one is also visible in Salt Lake City, Denver, Little Rock (again), Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
Oklahoma Space Alliance Officers, 2012 (Area Code 405)
Steve Swift, President 496-3616 (H)
Vice-President is vacant
Syd Henderson, Secretary & Outreach Editor 321-4027 (H) 365-8983 (C)
Tim Scott, Treasurer 740-7549 (H)
Claire McMurray, Correspondence Secretary 329-4326 (H) 863-6173 (C)
Tom Koszoru, Update Editor 366-1767
OSA E-mail Addresses and Web Site:
(Replace "at" with @ symbol.)
sswift42 at aol.com (Steve Swift)
jtvt at inbox.com (Jim Trombly)
sydh at ou.edu (Syd Henderson)
ctscott at mac.com (Tim Scott)
cliffclaire at hotmail.com (Claire McMurray)
T_Koszoru at cox.net (Heidi and Tom Koszoru)
john.d.northcutt1 at tds.net (John Northcutt)
lensman13 at aol.com (Steve Galpin)
E-mail for OSA should be sent to [email protected]. Members who wish their e-mail addresses printed in Outreach, and people wishing space-related materials e-mailed to them should contact Syd. Oklahoma Space Alliance website is osa.nss.org/index.html. Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Other Information
Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority (OSIDA), 401 Sooner Drive/PO Box 689, Burns Flat, OK 73624, 580-562-3500. Web site www.state.ok.us/~okspaceport.
Science Museum Oklahoma (former Omniplex) website is www.sciencemuseumok.org. Main number is 602-6664.
Tulsa Air and Space Museum, 7130 E. Apache, Tulsa, OK 74115.
Web Site is www.tulsaairandspacemuseum.com. Phone (918) 834-9900.
The Mars Society address is Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills CO 80454. Their web address is www.marsociety.org.
The National Space Society's Headquarters phone is 202-429-1600. Executive Director is Gary Barnhard [email protected]. The Chapters Coordinator is Bennett Rutledge 720-529-8024. The address is: National Space Society, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005 Web page is space.nss.org.
The Planetary Society phone 626-793-5100. The address is 65 North Catalina, Avenue, Pasadena, California, 91106-2301 and the website is www.planetary.org. E-mail is [email protected].
NASA Spacelink BBS 205-895-0028. Or try www.nasa.gov. .
Congressional Switchboard 202/224-3121.
Write to any U. S. Senator or Representative at [name]/ Washington DC, 20510 (Senate) or 20515 [House].
OKLAHOMA SPACE ALLIANCE
A Chapter of the National Space Society
MEMBERSHIP ORDER FORM
Please enroll me as a member of Oklahoma Space Alliance. Enclosed is:
$10.00 for Membership. (This allows full voting privileges, but covers only your own newsletter expense.)
___________________ $15.00 for family membership
TOTAL amount enclosed
National Space Society has a special $30 introductory rate for new members ($35 for new international members). Regular membership rates are $55, international $65. Student memberships are $25. Part of the cost is for the magazine, Ad Astra. Mail to: National Space Society, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005, or join at space.nss.org/membership. (Brochures are at the bottom with the special rate.) Be sure to ask them to credit your membership to Oklahoma Space Alliance.
To join the Mars Society, visit www.marsociety.org. One-year memberships are $50.00; student and senior memberships are $25, and Family memberships are $100.00. Their address is Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills CO 80454.
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OSA Memberships are for 1 year, and include a subscription to our monthly newsletters, Outreach and Update. Send check & form to Oklahoma Space Alliance, 102 W. Linn, #1, Norman, OK 73071.
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright ©2012 Oklahoma Space Alliance.