SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.01 TECHSAT-1 & UNAMSAT-1 LOST HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 091.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 1, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-091.01 Explaination Of Tragic Loss Of TECHSAT AND UNAMSAT ANS has received additional information regarding the loss of TECHSAT-1 and UNAMSAT-1. As reported earlier, the flight was on a converted ICBM. Liftoff and following events apparently were nominal until the time came for the 5th stage to fire. All stages are reportedly solid-fuel rockets. After that time, is said that signals were lost. It is not known whether any salvage will be attempted. It is speculated that everything burned up in re-entry as the flight was in the vicinity of 600 km altitude, although slow, at the time of failure. This was, apparently, the first time that a fifth stage has been attached in this flight configuration although the fifth stage module has reportedly flown on other missions as an add-on stage. TECHSAT and UNAMSAT are said to have been accompanied, on the flight, by two Russian satellites. It had been reported previously that TECHSAT and UNAMSAT were to remain attached to a RESURS-class spacecraft in orbit, but that was apparently for an earlier flight configuration which was changed some months ago. It is now reported that the payloads were all separately attached to the upper stage of the launch vehicle. AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan (W3XO) expressed deep sorrow over this substantial loss to all of those who worked so hard to design and construct these spacecraft, and to the entire amateur satellite community worldwide. He said that he had dispatched E-Mail messages of condolences to the appropriate parties. [The ANS wishes to thank Richard Limbear (G3RWL) and AMSAT-UK for the material used in the preparation of this bulletin. ] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.02 RS-15 OBJECT NUMBER CONFUSION HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 091.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 1, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-091.02 G3IOR Explains Early Confusion Over RS-15 Object Number It is now apparent as to why reports of many other objects emanating from the RS-15 ROKOT launch appeared, and as to why NORAD/NASA and RS3A were so far out with the earlier Keplerian Element data on RS-15. Three and a half hours after launch, while over USA, the third stage of the ROKOT launch vehicle exploded violently, scattering fragments up to thirty feet in size in RS-15's orbital path. Some of these would have given far better RADAR reflectivity than the actual RS-15 satellite itself. RS-15 will probably be safe from any collision and ensuing damage, as the fragmentary sections will have a far lower mass to drag coefficient ratio than the satellite, so causing them to drop quickly from RS-15's path. While there is lots of activity from both Europe and North America on the new satellite, only five stations are on from Africa, very few from Asia, and according to HB9AOZ none from South America. Hanspeter spent some time while there listening to the downlink, and failed to find a single South American station. Very few Russian area stations are active, some 5% of those that used RS-8 etc. The latest indications are that RS-15 goes into intermittent beacon and transponder operation within three minutes of entering eclipse, where one month ago it was twelve minutes. While a part of this is the use of excessive uplink powers by many inexperienced stations, it could be that the battery is deteriorating. Answers are awaited from RA3AT of the RS3A command station on this. [The ANS (AMSAT News Service) would like to thank Pat Gowen (G3IOR) for this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.03 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 091.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 1, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-091.03 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 01-APR-95 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: The Mode Schedule from 20-FEB-95 until 22-MAY-95 will be: Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 190 |Omnis : MA 250 to MA 140 Mode-BS : MA 190 to MA 218 | Mode-S : MA 218 to MA 220 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 220 to MA 230 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-B : MA 230 to MA 256 | Blon/Blat 230/0 Note: The Mode-B beacon is ON during the Mode-S transponder operations only. Please do NOT uplink to the B transponder during Mode S only, as it inter- feres with Mode-S operations. [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] AO-27: NM1K, using AO-27, worked several stations this past week and reported good signals on all contacts. [NM1K] RS-15: NM1K reports a lots of DX to report this past week including some of the following stations: EB8CHG (Canary Islands), PB0AJV (Netherlands), SM6HQ (Sweden), XE1KK (Mexico). [NM1K] RS-10: NM1K worked in one pass this past week making contacts with the following stations: WA4LHH, FG5CI, KC4GCK, and VE3USC. NM1K also reports that the RS-10 Robot is alive and well. He suggests that you try calling it. [NM1K] AO-10: This past week N2MUC reports they he has been working AO-10 with 10 watts output for at least 2 hours on its way to apogee. His uplink antenna is an M**2 18 element horizontal Yagi. Downlink antenna is Cuscraft 20 element (RHP) Yagi. N2MUC says his station consist of two very old Kenwoods, a TR-9130 and TR-9500. [N2MUC] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) NEEDS YOUR HELP! The ANS looking for volun- teers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this weekly bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ N0QCU. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX