SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1205 * SpaceNews 05-Dec-94 * BID: $SPC1205 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY DECEMBER 5, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * NOAA-J LAUNCH NEWS * ====================== The launch of the NOAA-J satellite planned for 04-Dec-94 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California has been delayed until 06-Dec-94 at 02:00 Pacific Time. NOAA-J will provide information about the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, including location and size of severe storms, temperatures of the atmosphere, sea and land, the size of the ozone hole, and the location and amount of dust from volcanoes, which can cause hazards to airplanes. The spacecraft will circle the Earth every 102 minutes from a distance of 541 statute miles. The satellite will be known as NOAA-14 in orbit. NOAA assigns a letter to its satellites before launch, and a number once the satellite has achieved orbit. NOAA-J will carry seven scientific instruments and two for search and rescue. NOAA currently operates two polar-orbiting satellites, NOAA-11 and NOAA-12. NOAA-J will replace NOAA-11, which was launched in 1988. NOAA-13, launched in August 1993, suffered a power failure 12 days after launch, and all attempts to command the spacecraft have been unsuccessful. The NOAA-J spacecraft was built by the Martin Marietta/Astro Space, Princeton, New Jersey. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt maryland is responsible for the construction, integration, and launch of the satellite. Operational control of the spacecraft moves to NOAA after it is checked out in orbit. [Info via NOAA/NASA] * GURWIN-1 LAUNCH NEWS * ======================== The launch of the Gurwin-1 Israeli Amateur Radio satellite has been set for 25-Mar-95, according to 4X1AS. Orbital details are not available, but the satellite will be flying piggyback on a Russian Resurs (remote sensing) flight. Gurwin-1 will carry a 9600 baud BBS "Pacsat-style" transponder with a 70-cm downlink and six uplinks, three on 2-meters and three on 23-cm. [Info via Richard, G3RWL] * SpaceNews NEWS * ================== Pedro Jose Ruiz, EA4ADD, reports that SpaceNews is occasionally available in the Spanish language. SpaceNews is downloaded via satellite by EA4RJ in Madrid who performs the translation and distributes "Noticias del Espacio" around Spain and LATNET on the Amateur Packet Radio Network. * NEWS CORRECTION * =================== Bob McGwier, N4HY, reports that the Alpha spacecraft mentioned in last week's SpaceNews needs a higher inclination, rather than a higher altitude orbit. Bob pointed out that that this is great news for hams. A launch from Russia or Kazakhstan would insure at least a 52 degree orbital inclination. High inclination orbits are accessible from every corner of the Earth regardless of orbital altitude. [Info via N4HY] * RUSSIAN SPACE NEWS * ====================== Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has secured agreement in principle >From President Bill Clinton to put a Ukrainian aboard a U.S. space shuttle flight, the head of Ukraine's space agency said. Andriy Zhalko-Titarenko said Kuchma, a rocket technology specialist, worked out the accord in conjunction with an agreement to develop space cooperation signed 22-Nov-94 during the Ukrainian leader's visit to Washington. "The Ukraine must work out a program before the end of next March for a flight by a Ukrainian cosmonuat on the space shuttle," he told journalists on November 22nd. "This is not merely an idea for a Ukrainian to appear in national costume in orbit. We must have a scientific program and only then can we send him up. We have the possibility and we have ideas, lots of ideas. We must find a cosmonaut." The Ukraine has a highly developed space technology inherited from Soviet times and produces some of the world's most effective rocket launchers, such as the Zenit and the Cyclon. Kuchma was director for 10 years of the Yuzhmash plant in the city of Dnipropetrovsk which produced both rocket launchers for the Soviet space program and some of the most sophisticated nuclear missiles in the Kremlin arsenal. Since being elected in July, Kuchma has stressed space technology as a key field in which Ukraine can be competitive on world markets. The United States had refused to cooperate to any extent with Ukraine on space technology before the former Soviet republic signed an international agreement last May on transferring high technology to third parties. Zhalko-Titarenko said the Ukrainian parliament's vote two weeks ago to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) had also been well received by the U.S. space industry. He said the agreement entered into on November 22nd covered a wide range of scientific fields but, most importantly, would give the Ukraine access to world markets for satellite launches and a vital source of convertible currency. Contacts with one U.S. firm, he said, had already produced a preliminary agreement to launch 24 satellites. "Together, the Ukraine and the United States have the most modern technologies in this field. It is in the interests of both to give the Ukrainian rocket industy the benefit of the market," he said. "This industry exists outside politics and employs 200,000 highly qualified workers. If they cannot find commercial application in the Western world, they will find it elsewhere -- not in the Western world." Zhalko-Titarenko said the Ukraine was less successful in seeking cooperation with France, which saw Ukrainian launchers as a competitor for the European Ariane rocket. But he said cooperation with Russia was vital to maintain key links within the Soviet space program and prevent duplication in a very expensive field. Ukrainian experts, he said, were working on the Alpha space station project being developed with U.S. help. "Neither of us can break these links now. It is a matter of time and money", he said. "If we build in the Ukraine with alternatives to Russian parts and if Russians build without our parts, we will both be thrown out of the world market." [Info via Alex, UA3APH] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who sent messages of appreciation for SpaceNews, especially: KD3OA ZS6BMN PP8DA TG9IKE WG0I * 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 @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA <---------------- Note the change!! 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