SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0408 * SpaceNews 08-Apr-96 * BID: $SPC0408 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 8, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial distribution. * MIR NEWS * ============ Just a reminder that Mir has once again become active with a communications downlink on 143.625 MHz when over the United States mainland. Strong signals can be copied from Mir on this frequency. In other Mir news, Shannon Lucid has been heard making frequent Amateur Radio contacts on 145.550 MHz. It is also interesting to monitor both 143.625 MHz and 145.550 MHz during a Mir pass. Sometimes Shannon can be heard in the background on 143.625 MHz as she works stations on 145.550 MHz. Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW, reports that the Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS), along with NASA and the Russian Space Agency have agreed to send the CBS World News Report and presumably some other CBS News reports to Shannon Lucid during her stay on the Russian space station MIR. CBS announced that they would be continuing to send news updates to MIR for the next two years to allow future astronauts and cosmonauts to keep up with current events. * SSTV ON OSCAR-13 * ==================== Slow-scan television (SSTV) communications have been taking place on AMSAT-OSCAR-13 for a number of years. Signals are reported to be very strong prior to and immediately after scheduled Mode S periods. SSTV quality is directly dependent on signal strength so now is the time get your best pictures on the air. Slow scanners are invited to join the SSTV sessions on OSCAR-13, which take place on a downlink frequency of 145.955 MHz. An SSTV net meets at 45 minutes before Mode S, and on Mode B following Mode S on Saturdays and Sundays. This is NOT a formal net. Feel free to join the group at any time, but DO ask for your turn in the queue. Join these sessions or contact wb6llo@amsat.org for other skeds and he will coordinate your efforts. For those not familiar with satellite SSTV, operation is simplicity itself. Before transmitting your picture, send a brief description of what you are about to send and indicate the mode. When on the receive end, tune to what you assume to be a normal voice pitch. [Info via Dave Guimont] * AMSAT-OSCAR-13 SCHEDULE * =========================== The re-orientation to attitude ALON/ALAT 180/0 is complete, and the new transponder schedule is now in place: M QST ** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE ** 1996 Mar 30 - 1996 Jun 17 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 70 | Mode-BS : MA 70 to MA 120 | Mode-S : MA 120 to MA 122 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 122 to MA 140 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-BS : MA 140 to MA 180 | Alon/Alat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Move to attitude 220/0, Jun 17 Omnis : MA 230 to MA 25 | Note that the higher powered engineering beacon 145.985 MHz is ON for two periods: MA 0 - 25 and MA 90-100. [Info via James Miller, G3RUH] * AMSAT CALL FOR PAPERS * ========================= The 1996 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium will be held on November 8-10, 1996 at the Holiday Inn, City Center in Tucson, AZ. This is the first call for papers to authors who wish to submit papers for this event. As always, the scope of the papers should be on topics of interest to the amateur satellite service. Topics may include, but are certainly not limited to: The Life and Times of AO-13 Building a Phase-3D Ground Station Phase-3D Construction Topics DSP-93 Integration AMSAT Field Operations What's Next for AMSAT After Phase-3D? We also would like to solicit topics from the AMSAT community. In other words, what topics would YOU like to see presented at this year's Annual Meeting? Abstracts from authors should be submitted by June 15, 1996. Final versions of all papers should be received by August 15, 1996. Submissions and inquiries should be made to Dave Burnett, WD8KRV: By Internet: wd8krv@amsat.org By Mail: G. D. Burnett 4809 E. Pima #223 Tucson, AZ 85712 Information about the Annual Meeting home page will be included in a future announcement. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting! 73, Dave Burnett WD8KRV wd8krv@amsat.org * LINUX IN SPACE FOLLOW-UP * ============================ Astronaut Dr. Ronald Parise, WA4SIR, has provided some details regarding use of the Linux operating system on Space Shuttle during mission STS-75. According to Ron, Linux was used on an IBM Thinkpad laptop computer in support of the tether experiments carried on STS-75. Since the ground based applications to control those experiments ran on a DEC Alpha, a 64-bit computer made by Digital Equipment Corporation, it was a simple matter to port those applications to a Linux system for use on a laptop carried on the Space Shuttle. Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, reports that Ron Parise uses Linux on his PCs at home and also installed it at the WA3NAN club station network at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland. Another report carried on Usenet indicated that X-Window System based software running under the Linux operating system was used on the Space Shuttle to display acceleration data from the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) to the crew during crew exercise periods in the microgravity science phase of the mission. * SpaceNews AVAILABILITY * ========================== SpaceNews is available regularly on Usenet in the rec.radio.info, rec.radio.amateur.misc, and sci.space.news newsgroups, and on packet radio BBSs worldwide as well as the AMSAT-OSCAR-16 Pacsat satellite. It can also be retrieved using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) at pilot.njin.net (128.6.7.38) from the /pub/SpaceNews subdirectory. You may also "finger magliaco@pilot.njin.net" for a copy of the latest issue, or access it via the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/pilot.njin.net/magliaco/w. * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX