SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0127 * SpaceNews 27-Jan-97 * BID: $SPC0127 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 27, 1997 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * DELTA ROCKET EXPLOSION * ========================== CAPE CANAVERAL AIR STATION, Fla. (AFNS) -- In the aftermath of the Jan. 17 explosion of a Delta II rocket from Pad 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Station, base officials have made a preliminary visual assessment of damage, with cost estimates not yet available. Damage to the Delta pad area can best be described as fragmented -- some areas impacted worse than others, with some areas untouched. Damage included: * Of the 30 or so cars in the Complex 17 parking lot, about 20 cars sustained varying levels of damage with some completely destroyed. * The Horizontal Processing Facility sustained some damage with the rocket segment inside untouched. * Of the 20 to 30 administrative trailers in the pad area, four were completely destroyed from fire. Included was the McDonnell Douglas conference trailer, and the director of operations trailer. The main squadron administrative building made of cinder block sustained some damage from flying debris and overpressure from the blast. * The blockhouse that houses personnel critical to the launch, sustained some damage. The concrete building, with several-inch-thick walls and buffeted with sand bags, successfully protected the 73 personnel inside from flying debris. Some smoke seeped into the blockhouse likely from damaged cable from the 17A launch pad; however, personnel were equipped with portable breathing apparatus and are fully trained to use these items in the event of an emergency anywhere, anytime they are on the launch complex. * No fuel storage vessels were seriously damaged. * The launch pad/tower area did not appear to have any substantial damage; however, there was more obvious damage to the fiber optic cables that run from the 17A launch pad to the blockhouse in a ground level cable way. * Nearby launch Complex 17B appears to have no damage. It was undergoing construction with no launch vehicle on the pad. * There is minimal damage to the nearby Space and Missile Museum and no apparent damage to exhibits. * The inactive blockhouse nearby at complex 18 was impacted by debris and the full extent of damage has not been determined. Most debris flew from the launch pad toward the ocean. The Delta launch pads are located at what may be considered the tip of the cape. Lt Col TS Kelso, PhD Deputy Research Coordinator Air University E-Mail: tkelso@max1.au.af.mil [Info relayed via Larry Van Horn] * WEBERSAT NEWS * ================= WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 has resumed picture transmissions on 70-cm. The satellite was copied on Monday 20-Jan-97 with good signals. The following packet frames contain text information relating to the status of the satellite: WEBER>TIME : WEB: uptime is 39/22:50:24. Time is Mon Jan 20 18:41:10 1997 WEBER>CAST : 18-Jan-97 Gathering/Sending Week 1 WOD 0x26 -X Array Cur 0x27 +X Array Cur 0x28 -Y Array Cur 0x29 +Y Array Cur 0x2A -Z Array Cur 0x2B +Z Array Cur Broadcasting New Photos 73,IK3WVJ * MICROSAT ANNIVERSARY * ======================== Amateur satellites UoSAT-OSCAR-14, UoSAT-OSCAR-15, PACSAT-OSCAR-16, DOVE-OSCAR-17, WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18, and LUSAT-OSCAR-19 were launched together from Kourou, French Guiana on 22-Jan-90. UoSAT-OSCAR-15 experienced a hardware failure shortly after its first day in orbit, and DOVE-OSCAR-17 suffers from low modulation on its S-band downlink, but by and large, these satellites are performing well after seven years of use in space. PACSAT-OSCAR-16, for example, has been operating flawlessly for over 850 days since its last OBC reload. Although no longer operational, Australis-OSCAR-5 celebrated its 27th birthday on 23-Jan-97. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to those who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: WA1JVV RN6BL * 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