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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
ESO telescope captures the most detailed infrared map ever of our Milky Way | ScienceDaily
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2413
Infrared Maps of Milky Way
https://cdn.eso.org/images/newsfeature/eso2413a.jpg
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Lunar Trailblazer – Searching for Water on the Moon
Mission Profile (Search for water)
https://trailblazer.caltech.edu/images/trailblazerDataSummary.jpg
Temporal Water Variations
https://trailblazer.caltech.edu/images/objective_2.gif
LTM Imaging (video)
https://trailblazer.caltech.edu/images/objective_2.gif
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
NASA’s Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster That Crosses the Streams
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/z8338-labeled.jpg?resize=2000,1793
NASA’s Europa Clipper on track for Oct. 10 launch to Jupiter’s icy moon despite radiation worries.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LsFQdNXy2zS7fHChEGihNj-650-80.jpg.webp
NASA’s Artemis Science Instrument Gets Tested in Moon-Like Sandbox
https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/7-lems-sun-trench.jpg?w=2048&format=webp
Space-Related Birthdays
Robert Satcher Sept 22, 1965 STS-129
William C. McCool Sept 23, 1961 STS-107
Loren Shriver Sept 23, 1944
STS-51-C
STS-31
STS-46
John Young Sept 24, 1930 Gemini 3
Gemini 10
Apollo 10
Apollo 16
STS-1
STS-9
Nick Hague Sept 24, 1975 Soyuz MS-10 (aborted)
Soyuz MS-12 (Expedition 59/60), SpaceX Crew-9 (Expedition 72)
Clifton Williams Sept 26, 1932 No flights (died in a plane crash)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Williams-c.jpg/220px-Williams-c.jpg
Stephanie Wilson Sept 27, 1966
STS-121
STS-120
STS-131
This Week in Space History
September 25, 1973 Skylab 3 lands
DART
DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos on 26 September 2022 at 23:14 UTC about 11 million kilometers (0.074 astronomical units; 29 lunar distances; 6.8 million miles) from Earth.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Dart-poster3.jpg/300px-Dart-poster3.jpg
Pathfinder
On Sept. 27, 1997, NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission beamed its very last data transmission back to Earth. https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/L3HYK4hkM2gUTjBQbBMVkG-970-80.jpg
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Microscopium, the Microscope”
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
October 7 Falcon 9 • Hera
Launch time: 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
SpaceX will launch the Hera European Space Agency mission to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted by the DART mission in September 2022.
Updated: September 01
NET October 10 Falcon Heavy • Europa Clipper
Launch time: 12:31 p.m. EDT (1631 UTC)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA’s Europa Clipper to begin its journey to the Galilean moon of the same name. Europa, a moon believed to have a saltwater ocean on its surface, is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 moons. It’s also the sixth closest to the planet. This Falcon Heavy rocket will be flown in a fully expendable configuration, bringing an end to the side booster, tail numbers B1064 and B1065, after they each flew on five previous Falcon Heavy missions.
Updated: September 12
NET November New Glenn • NG-1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 36
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft, which is capable of both hosting and deploying multiple payloads. Blue Origin will attempt to land the first stage booster on its sea-based landing platform, ‘Jacklyn.’
Updated: September 11
TBD Vulcan Centaur • Dream Chaser 1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024, April 2024 and September 2024.
Updated: July 12
NET Spring 2025 New Glenn • EscaPADE
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
ISS
Sept. 29
Sept. 30
Oct. 1
Oct. 2
Oct. 4
Tiangong
Sept. 29
Sept. 30
Oct. 2