Video transcript of meeting
- Lunar background information – Jeff Pivnick
- NASA Science web – source of presentation
- Lunar origin – giant impact is most-favoured hypothesis
- Lunar orbit is locked to the Earth
- Composition of the surface & core
- 2 kinds of rock – black magma, white Vesicular basalt
- Regolith makes up the surface dust
- Exploration
- Apollo 11 through 17
- Artemis
- Artemis I Lunar Mission – Chris Gainor
- Artemis I is an un-crewed mission to test the Orion spacecraft and launch vehicle rocket systems
- Dec 11th – scheduled splashdown
- 10 tiny satellites part of the mission
- In-flight photos
- Cabin takes 4 people on future missions
- Photos of the Moon and setting Earth (behind the Moon)
- As close as 81 miles to the Moon’s surface
- Human Space Programs
- Apollo (1968-1972), space shuttle (1981-2011, ISS (1998-present)
- Human missions are very expensive
- Constellation Program – 2004-2010 – parts of this program are in Artemis
- Exploration test flights in 2009, 2014
- Space Launch System – SLS variants of launch rockets
- Orion Exploration Vehicle
- Crew of 4
- Crew Module (NASA contractors)
- Service Module (ESA)
- Cost of Artemis I mission is $4 billion
- Phase 1 – get back to the Moon
- Phase 2 – go on to Mars ~20 years
- Artemis II
- 4 astronauts on board
- Loop around the Moon and return
- No lunar orbit or landing
- 1 of 4 Canadian astronauts will go on the mission
- May 2024 probable launch
- Artemis III
- Landing on the Moon
- As early as 2025
- SpaceX Starship will be used as a lunar lander
- SpaceX Starship may fly to the Moon earlier and independent from Artemis!
- Lunar Gateway – Canadarm in lunar orbit
- Space Shuttle engines are being reused for the Artemis missions
- Minor details about Artemis I – Randy Enkin
- Photo of the mission launch showing Moon, rocket, meteorite for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Trajectories
- Distant Retrograde Orbit through La Grange points
- Slingshot around the Moon to return to Earth
- Cubesats
- Space on Artemis for 16 cubesats
- 10 cubesats on this Artemis I mission
- The Cubesats all have different purposes and missions
- Passengers – all mannequins
- Photo of mission launch for Enkin’s Daily Moon on Facebook
- Lunar Sketches – Randy Enkin
- Waning phase – favourable libration – on two days
- Photos of same area sketched – by Mike Nash (Victoria) and Steven Arthur Sweet (Toronto)
- Apollo, Artemis and Orion – a backgrounder on the Greek gods by Jeff Pivnick
- Concert at UVic on Dec 3rd – Dave Robinson
- Astrophotography SIG – this Wednesday – Dave Payne
- Road construction has closed Observatory Hill to the public until Dec 22nd
- Victoria Centre Observatory closed – Reg Dunkley
- Centre of the Universe – virtual events only – Lauri Roche
- Serious access problems for everyone
- SIGs – David Lee
- Makers SIG this Thursday
- Citizen Science SIG – interested? contact David
- Meteor counts
- Occultations
- Light Pollution monitoring such as Victoria Centre’s recent project
- Galaxy Zoo
- Wikipedia & Science Focus
- Bollide Meteor over Southern Ontario – Peter Jedicke
- 3:26AM EST on Saturday morning
- Asteroid orbital predictions are now a reality
- Predicted hit between London to Brantford, Ontario
- Dave Clark, RASC member observed it
- Photo taken by Rob Weryk from London, based on a tip from Hawai’i astronomy staff
- Earlier photo from Lowell Observatory used to refine calculation of orbit
- Peter didn’t spot the meteorite
- Western News
Astronomy Cafe – Nov 21, 2022