SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1107 * SpaceNews 07-Nov-94 * BID: $SPC1107 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY NOVEMBER 7, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * SPACE CALENDAR * ================== Nov 02-04 Taurids Meteor Shower Nov 02 - Soyuz TM-19 Landing (Russian) Nov 03 - Solar Eclipse, Visible from South America Nov 05 - Ulysses, End of 1st Solar Passage (-70.29 degrees latitude) Nov 14 - 25th Anniversary (1969), Apollo 12 Launch Nov 16-18 - Leonids Meteor Shower Nov 20 - Edwin Hubble's 105th Birthday (1889) Nov 28 - 30th Anniversary (1964), Mariner 4 Launch (Mars Flyby Mission) [Info via Ron Baalke @ the JPL] * APT NEWS * ============ Observed at station 50.7 NLat, 7.1 ELon, OCT 23, 1994: NOAA-9: APT 137.62 On NOAA-10: APT 137.50 On NOAA-11: APT 137.62 Burst On, no AVHRR NOAA-12: APT 137.50 On Meteor 3-5: APT 137.85 On Okean 7-1 APT 137.40 Sometimes On NOAA-11 imaging is dead. Okean 1-7 started APT during rev. #176 over the Black Sea at 13h 11min 10sec UT ascending. Peter Henne copied a very dark vis-image 240 lpm from a max elevation of 12 deg, that showed the spacecraft clock was working at 973 mins after midnight moscow-time = 16h13mins Moscow-time = 13.13 UT. During the next rev #177, APT was OFF. [Info via Peter Henne @ German Nat. Research Center for Comp. Science] * SSTL NEWS * ============= Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) operates a command and control centre in support of the following eight satellite missions at its headquarters in the Centre for Satellite Engineering Research located on the campus of the University of Surrey in Guildford, Surrey, England. Currently the command and control centre is supporting an average of 65 satellite passes a day. The command and control centre, a highly automated system designed by engineers at SSTL, collects telemetry data from the spacecraft platform and downloads housekeeping, experiment and point-to- point communications data autonomously from each of the UoSAT class micro- satellites during every transit as they pass over the United Kingdom. In addition to autonomous operations, controllers at SSTL perform routine maintenance and upkeep operations as well as exercise experiments onboard the spacecraft under manual control on a daily basis. Here is the status of the various UoSAT/SSTL missions as of 15:00 UTC 31-Oct-94: UoSAT-2 Object Number 14781 Orbit: 655.7 x 671.1 km @ 97.78 degrees inclination Spacecraft data is transmitted on a downlink frequency of 145.825 MHz. In addition, a secondary unmodulated beacon is operated on 'S' band at 2401.5 MHz with an output power of 180 mW. The spacecraft has operated nominally during this reporting period. The data transmitted by the FORTH DIARY on the downlink includes: binary telemetry, binary WOD, and ASCII bulletin material. UoSAT-2 has completed in excess of 57,000 orbits of the Earth to date. UoSAT-3 Object Number 20437 Orbit: 784.4 x 800.0 km @ 98.58 degrees inclination UoSAT-3 supports both a store-and-forward communications system and a number of onboard experiments including: the Total Dose Experiment (TDE) & the Cosmic Particle Experiment (CPE). The spacecraft has operated nominally throughout the reporting period and has completed over 817 days of successful operation since the last software reload of the onboard computer's multitasking system. UoSAT-3 has complete in excess of 24,900 orbits of the Earth to date. UoSAT-5 Object Number 21575 Orbit: 763.7 x 773.5 km @ 98.42 degrees inclination UoSAT-5 operates in the amateur satellite service providing store-and- forward communications capability to radio amateurs world-wide. In addition, a number of space science and imaging experiments including: the Solar Cell Experiment (SCTE), the Total Dose Experiment (TDE) & the Earth Imaging System (EIS) are operated onboard the spacecraft. The spacecraft has completed over 529 days of successful operation since the last software reload of the onboard computer's multitasking system. The spacecraft has operated nominally throughout this reporting period. The spacecraft has now completed in excess of 17,000 orbits of the Earth to date. S80/T Object Number 22078 Orbit: 1302.5 x 1327.8 km @ 66.08 degrees inclination S80/T is operated under contract to the French Space Agency CNES. S80/T carries aboard both a store-and-forward communications system and a payload comprised of a transponder system designed to monitor activity in the newly allocated WARC VHF LEO satellite band. During September the spacecraft underwent a complete reload of all flight software. Over 391K of flight code was loaded into the onboard computer during two consecutive transits over the United Kingdom. This reload was necessary due to an anomaly detected by ground controllers in the RAMDISK of the onboard computer system. The anomaly was associated with a wide variation in operating temperature experienced by the spacecraft as it passed through a relatively wide range of eclipse periods in a relatively short span of time (a period of a several days). Spacecraft operations returned to normal following the reload and the spacecraft has completed over 49 days of successful operation since that time. This spacecraft has now completed in excess of 10,000 orbits of the Earth to date. PoSAT-1 Object Number 22829 Orbit: 791.1 x 805.4 km @ 98.64 degrees inclination Operational responsibility for the PoSAT-1 mission is shared jointly between controllers at the PoSAT control centre in Sintra, Portugal and at SSTL. Controllers at both sites monitor platform data and coordinate the operation of various experiments aboard the spacecraft on a daily basis. The PoSAT-1 command and control centre was installed by SSTL in 1993 prior to the successful launch of PoSAT-1 as part of a technology transfer agreement with the PoSAT consortium. The PoSAT-1 spacecraft supports a store-and-forward communications system along with a wide spectrum of onboard experiments including: the GPS experiment, Earth Imaging System (EIS), the Star Imaging System (SIS), the Digital Signal Processing Experiment (DSPE), the Cosmic Particle Experiment (CPE) & the Total Dose Experiment (TDE). PoSAT-1's imaging system is comprised of two Earth imaging sensors: one wide field, (1000 x 1500 km) and one narrow field, (100 x 150 km) in addition to one Star imaging sensor. The imaging system aboard PoSAT-1 is exercised daily as ground controllers select target areas which are scheduled into the transputer system aboard the spacecraft for imaging as the spacecraft passes along its orbit path. To date, in excess of 1100 images have been captured by both PoSAT-1's EIS & SIS systems. The spacecraft has completed over 95 days of successful operation since the last software reload of the onboard computer's multitasking system. PoSAT-1 has completed in excess of 5,700 orbits of the Earth to date. Healthsat-2 Object Number 22827 Orbit: 792.5 x 805.3 km @ 98.64 degrees inclination Healthsat-2 operates a store-and-forward communications system for use by various humanitarian and medical groups around the world. The spacecraft has completed over 270 days of successful operation since the last software reload of the onboard computer's multitasking system. Ground controllers successfully tested the 38K4 kbaud downlink system aboard Healthsat-2 last week. Healthsat-2 has completed in excess of 5700 orbits of the Earth to date. Kitsat-1 Object Number 22077 Orbit: 1304.5 x 1328.1 km @ 66.08 degrees inclination Kitsat-1 operates a store-and-forward communications system and a selection of onboard experiments for use in the amateur satellite service. Radio amateurs the world over make use of this system on a daily basis. Primary spacecraft commanding is the responsibility of controllers at KIAST in Taejon, South Korea. SSTL controllers monitor the spacecraft as part of their daily operations routine. The spacecraft has been observed to be operating nominally during this reporting period. Kitsat-1 has completed in excess of 10,000 orbits of the Earth to date. Kitsat-2 Object Number 22830 Orbit: 790.3 x 806.1 km @ 98.54 degrees inclination Like Kitsat-1, the Kitsat-2 spacecraft supports both a store-and-forward communications system and various onboard experiments for use in the amateur satellite service. As with Kitsat-1, the command and control of Kitsat-2 is managed from KIAST in Taejon, South Korea. Kitsat-2 has been monitored by SSTL controllers throughout the repoting period and has been observed to be operating nominally during this reporting period. Kitsat-2 has completed in excess of 5,700 orbits of the Earth to date. [Info via Jeff Ward] * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the following paths: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 PACKET : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com -or- kd2bd@amsat.org SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX