Space News Update- April 1, 2014 -

In the News

Story 1: SLS positioning for ARRM and Europa missions

Story 2:Soyuz docks with International Space Station

Story 3:

Opportunity Rover Gets Power Boost from Wind Events on Mars

Departments

The Night SkyISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV HighlightsSpace CalendarFood for Thought

Space Image of the Week

SLS positioning for ARRM and Europa missions

Soyuz docks with International Space Station

Opportunity Rover Gets Power Boost from Wind Events on Mars

The Night SkyTuesday, April 1 •The biggest and brightest asteroids, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta respectively, are only about 2° apart in eastern Virgo, some 12° northeast of Mars. They've brightened to magnitudes 7.1 and 5.9, respectively. They'll be at opposition in mid-April. Use our finder chart for Ceres and Vesta. Wednesday, April 2 •The crescent Moon shines below the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and the V-shaped Hyades, as shown above. Thursday, April 3 •With binoculars or a telescope, North Americans can watch the waxing crescent Moon crossing the Hyades star cluster. The Moon's dark, earthlit limb will occult three 4th- and 5th-magnitude stars depending on where you are, as told in the April Sky & Telescope, page 50. Friday, April 4 •Spot Mars and Spica in the southeast after dark and look far left from them to find Arcturus, the "Spring Star," shining in the east. Arcturus forms the pointy bottom of the long, narrow kite asterism made by the brightest stars of Bootes. The kite is currently lying on its side to the left of Arcturus, with its head at the far left bent slightly upward. The kite is 23° long, about two fist-widths at arm's length. Saturday, April 5 • The Moon passes below Jupiter in Gemini this weekend, as shown at right

Sky & Telescope

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

ISS For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Tue Apr 1, 5:12 AM 5 min 55° 22 above NW 11 above ESE

Wed Apr 2, 4:25 AM 2 min 30° 30 above NE 10 above E

Wed Apr 2, 5:59 AM 5 min 27° 11 above WNW 11 above SSE

Thu Apr 3, 5:12 AM 3 min 50° 49 above WSW 10 above SE

Fri Apr 4, 4:26 AM < 1 min 11° 11 above SE 11 above SE

Fri Apr 4, 9:02 PM 1 min 23° 11 above SSW 23 above SSW

Sat Apr 5, 8:13 PM 4 min 22° 11 above S 16 above E

Sat Apr 5, 9:49 PM 1 min 20° 10 above WSW 20 above W

NASA-TV Highlights(all times Eastern Daylight Time)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website

•April 1, Tuesday12:30 p.m. - Deep Space Network’s 50th Anniversary NASA Social - JPL (NTV-1, NTV-2)

•April 3, Thursday•8:15 a.m. - ISS Expedition 39 In-Flight Interview for JAXA with TV Tokyo (native language on NTV-3) - JSC (All Channels)

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

•Apr 01 - Asteroid 3902 Yoritomo Occults HIP 26571 (6.5 Magnitude Star) •Apr 01 - Asteroid 2009 SA100 Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU) •Apr 01 - Asteroid 2010 GD35 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU) •Apr 01 - Asteroid 2009 FD Near-Earth Flyby (0.101 AU) •Apr 01 - Asteroid 3297 Hong Kong Closest Approach To Earth (2.584 AU) •Apr 02 - Comet 297P/Beshore Closest Approach To Earth (1.563 AU) •Apr 02 - Comet C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.794 AU) •Apr 02 - Comet 119P/Parker-Hartley Perihelion (3.027 AU) •Apr 02 - Comet 78P/Gehrels At Opposition (3.862 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 1014 Semphyra Occults HIP 74392 (4.5 Magnitude Star) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 2014 EQ12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 AU) •Apr 02 - [Mar 30] Asteroid 2014 FL38 Near-Earth Flyby (0.082 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 11335 Santiago Closest Approach To Earth (1.150 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 12258 Oscarwilde Closest Approach To Earth (1.341 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 3720 Hokkaido Closest Approach To Earth (1.428 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 7088 Ishtar Closest Approach To Earth (1.915 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 6701 Warhol Closest Approach To Earth (1.967 AU) •Apr 02 - Asteroid 42355 Typhon Closest Approach To Earth (18.494 AU) •Apr 02 - 50th Anniversary (1964), Zond 1 Launch (USSR Venus Flyby Mission) •Apr 02 - 55th Anniversary (1959), Selection Of The Mercury 7 Astronauts •Apr 03 - [Mar 28] DMSP F-19 Atlas 5 Launch •Apr 03 - Comet P/2007 C1 (Christensen) Closest Approach To Earth (1.421 AU) •Apr 03 - Comet 281P/MOSS Closest Approach To Earth (3.613 AU) •Apr 03 - Comet P/2008 T1 (Boattini) At Opposition (3.871 AU) •Apr 03 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 0238-00901-1 (11.3 Magnitude Star) •Apr 03 - Asteroid 2014 EC49 Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU)

Space Calendar

JPL Space Calendar

•Apr 04 - Sentinel 1A Soyuz-STB Fregat-MT Launch •Apr 04 - [Mar 30] IRNSS 1B/ Swayam PSLV-XL Launch •Apr 04 - Comet P/2010 A2 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (1.334 AU) •Apr 04 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #376 (OTM-376) •Apr 04 - Asteroid 2013 TT5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU) •Apr 04 - Asteroid 128036 Rafaelnadal Closest Approach To Earth (1.162 AU) •Apr 04 - Asteroid 2266 Tchaikovsky Closest Approach To Earth (2.637 AU) •Apr 05 - Comet 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT At Opposition (4.277 AU) •Apr 05 - Asteroid 99942 Apophis Closest Approach To Earth (0.376 AU) •Apr 05 - Asteroid 2956 Yeomans Closest Approach To Earth (1.580 AU) •Apr 05 - Asteroid 24750 Ohm Closest Approach To Earth (1.953 AU) •Apr 05 - Asteroid 6594 Tasman Closest Approach To Earth (2.014 AU) •Apr 05 - Judith Resnick's 65th Birthday (1949)

Food for ThoughtSatellite Shows High Productivity from

U.S. Corn Belt

Space Image of the Week

Image Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA

Io in True Color