SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0519 * SpaceNews 19-May-97 * BID: $SPC0519 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MAY 19, 1997 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * STS-84 NEWS * =============== Atlantis launched successfully on its journey to the Mir space station on schedule at 03:07:48 central time (08:07:48 UTC) Thursday morning. The prime payload on the sixth Shuttle-Mir docking mission is astronaut Mike Foale, who will take over for Jerry Linenger to extend the American mission to the Mir for another four-and-a-half months. Foale will spend more than four months on the orbiting Russian facility. He will return to Earth on Space Shuttle Mission STS-86, scheduled for launch in late September. Atlantis will again be carrying the Spacehab module in the payload bay of the orbiter. The double module configuration will house experiments to be performed by Atlantis' crew along with logistics equipment to be transferred to Mir. The STS-84 mission is scheduled to last 9 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes. Atlantis is due to land back at Kennedy Space Center on May 24 at about 7:52 a.m. EDT (11:52 UTC). The STS-84 mission is part of the shuttle-Mir program, which is a precursor to the International Space Station and consists of nine shuttle-Mir dockings and seven long-duration flights of U.S. astronauts aboard the Russian space station. The U.S. astronauts will launch and land on a shuttle and serve as Mir crew members while the Mir cosmonauts use their traditional Soyuz vehicle for launch and landing. This series of missions will expand U.S. research on Mir by providing resupply materials for experiments to be performed aboard the station as well as returning experiment samples and data to Earth. The STS-84 mission and the work performed by Mike Foale during his time on the Mir station will include investigations in the fields of advanced technology, Earth sciences, fundamental biology, human life sciences, International Space Station risk mitigation, microgravity sciences, and space sciences. STS-84 will involve the transfer of 7314 pounds of water and logistics to and from the Mir. During the docked phase, 1025 pounds of water, 844.9 pounds of U.S. science equipment, 2576.4 pounds of Russian logistics along with 392.7 pounds of miscellaneous material will be transferred to Mir. Returning to Earth aboard Atlantis will be 897.4 pounds of U.S. science material, 1171.2 pounds of Russian logistics, 30 pounds of ESA material and 376.4 pounds of miscellaneous material. STS-84 is the 19th flight of Atlantis and the 84th mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. [Info via NASA] * MIREX NEWS * ============== The MIREX group will be conducting one school schedule during the STS-84 to Mir mission. STS-84 is not a SAREX mission. The Shuttle will not be carrying any Amateur Radio equipment on board the shuttle. However, there will be one school schedule with the Hellenic American school in Lowell Mass while the Shuttle is docked to the space station Mir. The crew on Mir will be using the Kenwood TM-733 transceiver on board Mir to talk to the children. Shuttle pilot Charles Precourt will be answering questions from a group of 15 children during the 10 minute schedule. This is only the second time a school schedule have ever been performed while the shuttle is docked to the Mir space station. The first took place during STS-71, when MIREX linked the Peter Noyles school in Sudbury Mass to Astronaut Charlie Preocurt while on Mir. A temporary 2-meter station was installed at the school this weekend and tested. After the schedule, audio (.wav) files will be posted to the MIREX web page. The STS-84/Mir combination should be visible during the early morning hours over the United States. [Info via Miles Mann] * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= During the period 16-Apr to 14-May, reliable signals have been received from OSCAR-11's 145.826 MHz beacon. The UHF beacon on 435.025 was also heard on Wednesday April 30 at 15:40 UTC, when the satellite was being commanded by ground control. Binary WOD continued after the satellite had been switched back to 145 MHz. Mirek OK2AKQ has heard the Mode-S beacon. Here is his very detailed report: Date: 27-Apr-97 Rev #: 70383 Eq. Freq.: 2401500 kHz -------------------------------------------------------------------- UTC LO LA AZ EL Range Dopp | MONITORING HH : MM deg km Hz | RST Freq. ----------------------------------------------------|--------------- 15 : 40 7 27 202 2 2758 49403 | 559 2401.549 15 : 41 6 31 207 6 2403 47494 | 4 15 : 42 5 35 214 10 2070 44366 | 3 2401.540 15 : 43 4 38 223 15 1776 39261 | 7 2401.534 15 : 44 3 42 237 19 1544 31033 | 5 15 : 45 2 45 255 23 1405 18541 | 6 15 : 46 1 49 275 23 1389 2203 | 5 2401.501 15 : 47 359 53 294 20 1498 -14664 | 6 2401.475 15 : 48 357 56 308 16 1710 -28235 | 7 15 : 49 355 60 319 11 1990 -37406 | 7 2401.467 15 : 50 353 63 326 7 2313 -43126 | 7 2401.463 15 : 51 350 67 332 3 2662 -46616 | 4 2401.461 Mirek's equipment, which uses a 55 cm dish with a two turn helix and low noise converter was described in detail in AMSAT-DL Journal (December 1993), and in OSCAR News 104, December 1994. It is interesting to compare this report with a similar one dated 12 December 1995 (before the beacon partially failed) when the signal levels ranged from S8 to S9 for similar ranges. Thanks Mirek for all your reports. OSCAR-11 telemetry has been nominal. The battery voltage has recently improved to around 13.9 volts, and the internal temperatures have continued to fall due to solar eclipses. The battery temperature is now 4 degrees C or 18 degrees below the full sunlight condition. Two WOD surveys have been transmitted of channels 0, 10, 20, 30 (-Y, +Y, -X, +X solar array currents. These show the eclipses, and pulsing of the array currents as the satellite rotates. If one listens to the downlink signal during the WOD transmission, one can hear a sudden additional tone as lines containing the constant block of numbers (eg. 0DF5175175175175F) representing zero current are transmitted. Three AMSAT bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded the the satellite. Topics have included the UNAMSAT failure, RS-16 news, shuttle and MIR news. Bulletins always include current Keplerian elements for OSCAR-11, and often for satellites featured in the bulletin. The operating schedule remains unchanged: ASCII status (210 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY SEU (30 seconds) ASCII TLM (90 seconds) ASCII WOD (120 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY ENG (30 seconds) There have been several recent inquiries about suitable software for decoding the ASCII telemetry received from OSCAR-11. The recommended program is TLM2.EXE by Craig Underwood of the University of Surrey. The program is fully described in the book "Decoding Telemetry from the Amateur Satellites", by G. Gould Smith, WA4SXM, which is essential reading for telemetry enthusiasts. Both the program and book may be available from your local AMSAT office. In case of difficulties, contact the AMSAT-UK office, e-mail: 100024.614@compuserve.com. Listeners living in the UK may have an old BBC computer, which may be used for decoding OSCAR-11 without the need for any external interfaces or hardware. The AMSAT-UK BBC library contains several suitable programs. Details are available through Clive Wallis via e-mail at: g3cwv@amsat.org (NOT the AMSAT-UK office!). Clive Wallis has now put a simple OSCAR-11 telemetry decoding program on his OSCAR-11 web site. It is written in BBC BASIC, but the package includes a small interpreter which enables the program to be run on any PC. Being written in BASIC, the program can easily be changed to suit individual needs, and is recommended to those wishing to experiment. Status decoding is included, and data from several channels may be combined. Examples of this feature are the calculation of total magnetic field, angle, and BCR efficiency. Please note that a capture program such a CTERM will also be required, which may also be downloaded from: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ [Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV (g3cwv@amsat.org)] * AMSAT/ARRL WORKSHOP PLANNED * =============================== Fried Heyn, the ARRL Southwest Division Director reminds us that an AMSAT/ARRL Workshop is planned for the Southwestern Division Convention on 12-14 September 1997 at the Riverside Convention Center, Riverside, California between 1:00 PM and 6:00 PM on Friday the 12th. Anyone needing more information should contact Rosalie White (WA1STO) at ARRL Headquarters. * AO-27 NEWS * ============== The AMRAD-OSCAR-27 downlink frequency changed from 436.800 MHz to 436.792 MHz on 01-Apr-97. Further information on AO-27 may be found at: http://www.umbra.com/sats/ * 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