SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0317 * SpaceNews 17-Mar-97 * BID: $SPC0317 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MARCH 17, 1997 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * SAREX TO FLY ON STS-83 * ========================== STS-83 is scheduled to launch on April 3rd, 1997 at approximately 2:01 p.m. EST (1901 UTC). The launch window is 2 hours 30 minutes long. STS-83 will include a SAREX package. The following information will aid in communicating with the shuttle. The SAREX Working Group has designated the following frequencies during the STS-83 mission: FM Voice Downlink: (Worldwide) 145.55 MHz FM Voice Uplink: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, and 144.99 MHz FM Voice Uplink: (Europe only) 144.70, 144.75, and 144.80 MHz FM Packet Downlink: 145.55 MHz (if packet is on the air) FM Packet Uplink: 144.49 MHz (if packet is on the air) CONFIGURATION: Officially, the SAREX hardware will be flown in configuration B (voice only, battery operation). The SAREX equipment on-board STS-83 includes the Motorola 2 meter FM hand-held transceiver, 15 spare batteries, a window antenna, SAREX headset assembly, personal recorder and the required interconnecting cables. Since STS-83 is an extended duration flight with power hungry primary experiments, the power allocated for SAREX is 0 watts. The SAREX team is also flying a Heathkit Packet Radio TNC for potential use later in the flight. In the event that power conservation measures are successful, the mission control team will advise SAREX and the astronauts to initiate use of the Packet Radio system which also includes one of the Shuttle Laptop computers. Please stay tuned to official SAREX and AMSAT news sources during the mission for late breaking news regarding packet operation. CALL SIGNS: FM voice call signs: KC5RNI, KC5BTK and KC5FVF FM packet call sign: W5RRR-1 (If turned on during the flight) CREW MEMBERS (titles and Amateur Radio call signs): James D. Halsell, Commander, KC5RNI Susan L. Still, Pilot Janice E. Voss, Payload Commander, KC5BTK Donald A. Thomas, Mission Specialist, KC5FVF Michael L. Gerhardt, Mission Specialist Roger Crouch, Payload Specialist Greg Linteris, Payload Specialist QSLs: Send reports and QSLs to ARRL EAD, STS-83 QSL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494, USA. Include the following information in your QSL or report: STS-83, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (FM, voice or packet). In addition, you must also include a SASE using a large, business- sized envelope if you wish to receive a card. The following is a prelaunch Keplerian element set for STS-83, provided by Gil Carman, WA5NOM, of the NASA Johnson Space Center: STS-83 1 99983U 97093.96818645 .00020853 00000-0 62025-4 0 36 2 99983 28.4669 306.6090 0004357 294.3836 65.6533 15.90889019 45 Satellite: STS-83 Catalog number: 99983 Epoch time: 97093.96818645 = (03-Apr-97 23:14:11.309 UTC) Element set: 003 Inclination: 28.4669 deg RA of node: 306.6090 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-83 Eccentricity: .0004357 Prelaunch element set JSC-003 Arg of perigee: 294.3836 deg Launch: 03-Apr-97 19:01:00 UTC Mean anomaly: 65.6533 deg Mean motion: 15.90889019 rev/day Gil Carman Decay rate: 2.0853e-04 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 4 Checksum: 348 Deorbit: 19-Apr-97 10:37 UTC (orbit 250) Landing: 19-Apr-97 11:37 UTC (orbit 251) [Info via the AMSAT News Service] * LINUX TO FLY ON STS-83 * ========================== The Linux operating system will again ride into space in support of a US Space Shuttle mission. Bruce Perens reports that a Debian distribution of Linux will be used on Shuttle mission STS-83 as part of a hydroponics experiment. The hydroponics experiment will test the feasibility of growing plants without soil in space that could eventually provide oxygen and food to astronauts. Sebastian Kuzminsky, an engineer working on the computer that controls the experiment which is operated by Biosciences Corporation said, "The experiment studies the growth of plants in microgravity. It uses a miniature 486 PC-compatible computer, the Ampro CoreModule 4DXi. Debian GNU/Linux is loaded on this system in place of DOS or Windows. The fragility and power drain of disk drives ruled them out for this experiment, and a solid-state disk replacement from the SanDisk company is used in their place. The entire system uses only 10 watts". The primary role of Linux in the hydroponics experiment on STS-83 is to control water and light for the growing plants as well as send telemetry and video of the plants to scientists on the ground. Linux is a commercial-free operating system designed over the past several years by programmers using the Internet to exchange their ideas and code. It offers features (including AX.25 packet radio networking) and capabilities unmatched by commercial operating systems at any price. Linux was successfully used during Shuttle mission STS-75 in support of the tether experiments carried out on that mission. The ground-based software designed for the tether experiments was originally written on a 64-bit DEC Alpha computer running Digital Unix, and as Linux is similar to Unix in design and structure, it was a simple matter to port the software from the Alpha to a 32-bit IBM Thinkpad laptop running Linux that was carried on the Shuttle. More information on Linux may be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.linux.org * RS-12 REPORT * ================ Rusty, NM1K, reports that RS-12 has been very active with stations on DXpeditions to the Caribbean during the recent ARRL DX and 160 Meter contests. Over the past week, Rusty worked PJ2MI, YV5ABH, V26NA, VP2EV, CY1TX, TI5RLI, and DL4NCF/HI9 as well as DL7PR and N2SQW and KA2FPZ who were on AO10 when RS12 went by. * RS-16 NEWS * ============== Stan Cameron, VE6AMB, and Yoshio Esaki, JA6BX, reported an absence of the 29 MHz beacon and strong reception of RS-16's UHF beacon on 435.504 MHz last week. No reception of signals within the Mode A transponder have yet been reported. * UO-11 S-BAND RECEPTION * ========================== Fernando Costarelli, LU1HKO, reported reception of UoSAT-OSCAR-11's S-band beacon earlier this month from grid square FF78vn. Fernando reports the signal is very poor and consists of an unmodulated carrier. The "UoSAT Spacecraft Booklet" lists UO-11's SHF beacon as operating on a frequency of 2401.5 MHz. * 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