Events of Interest: Week of November 7-11, 2011
The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, click the links below or check our calendar on the right menu. The Senate is in session this week until Thursday (Friday is a federal holiday, Veterans Day). The House is in a Constituent Work Week and meets only in pro forma session on Monday and Thursday.
During the Week
Russia is scheduled to launch its first robotic mission to Mars in 15 years. This mission, Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil), is a sample return mission to Mars’s moon Phobos. It also carries China’s first Mars probe, a Mars orbiter called Yinghuo-1. The launch is just after 3:00 pm Tuesday, November 8 EST (November 9, Moscow Time). One report gave the time as 00:26 Moscow Time on November 9, which converts to 3:26 pm EST November 8 (now that Moscow decided not to return to standard time), although Spaceflightnow.com reports the launch time as 2016:03 GMT (3:16:03 pm EST) November 8. Russia has been jinxed at Mars, with none of the many Mars probes it has launched since the 1960s being a complete success, and the partial successes quite modest. Its most recent Mars probe, Mars-96, was launched in 1996 and failed to leave Earth orbit. (Editor’s note: The time of launch was given as 4:26 pm EST in an earlier version of this article, but that did not reflect the recent decision by Moscow to remain on summer time.)
Tuesday-Wednesday, November 8-9
- National Research Council (NRC) Space Studies Board (SSB), Irvine, CA (no details have been posted on the SSB website other than the date and location)
Wednesday, November 9
- Secure World Foundation, China’s Space-Based Surveillance Activities, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 11:00 am – 1:00 pm EST
- Mark Albrecht Lecture on his new book Falling Back to Earth: A First Hand Account of the Great Space Race and the End of the Cold War, George Washington University’s (GWU’s) Elliot School Lindner Family Commons, 1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC, 5:30 pm EST
Wednesday-Thursday, November 9-10
- Explore Mars Inc., Woman and Mars conference, GWU Jack Morton Auditorium, 805 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC
- National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Board, Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria, VA, Washington Ballroom
Thursday, November 10
- AIAA National Capital Section luncheon with Kathy Sullivan, NOAA, Pier 7 restaurant, 650 Water Street, Washington, DC, 11:30 am EST
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