SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0105 * SpaceNews 05-Jan-98 * BID: $SPC0105 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 5, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * SPUTNIK-40 NEWS * =================== Reports received from across the globe confirm that the Sputnik-40/RS-17 satellite has gone silent. Sputnik-40 was released from the Mir space station on 03-Nov-97, and was operational up until the end of 1997. The satellite remained operational for a period of time that exceeded all expectations. Reception of its beacon transmitter was confirmed by ground stations worldwide using even very modest receiving equipment. * AO-16 S-BAND NEWS * ===================== Jim White, WD0E, recently reported that AMSAT-OSCAR-16's S-Band beacon transmitter has been turned off. Several weeks ago spacecraft controllers had it on for some testing and confirmed that the satellite does not have the power budget to keep the S-Band beacon and the 70 cm transmitter on at a power level that supports entry level ground station operations. The 437.05 MHz 70-cm transmitter has to be run at about 0.5 watts to allow the S-Band transmitter to remain on. Any higher than that and the spacecraft software turns the S-Band transmitter off to maintain a safe battery voltage. Ground stations interested in testing S-band receive equipment can use either the DOVE-OSCAR-17 S-Band transmitter on 2401.220 MHz or the UoSAT-OSCAR-11 S-Band transmitter. * MIR NEWS * ============ The Orbital Report On-Line reports that a TsSKB-Progress Soyuz U vehicle was launched from Baykonur, Kazakhstan, on 20-Dec-97, to loft the Progress M37 cargo spacecraft to the Mir space station. The 7,195-kg spacecraft, carrying 2,500 kg of supplies, docked with the station on 22-Dec-97. The 72-kg Inspektor sub-satellite failed shortly after deployment from the Progress M36 cargo spacecraft leaving the Mir space station on 17-Dec-97. The US $15-million spacecraft built by Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) of Bremen, Germany, was intended to maneuver around the station for a 30-hour external inspection mission. Unfortunately, due to a faulty attitude sensor, the Inspektor pointed its camera in the wrong direction and could not image the station. Miles Mann, WF1F, reports that Mir's 2-meter amateur radio station was temporarily moved from the core module and installed in the Priroda module. This move was performed to take advantage of the backup triband antenna shared with the SAFEX II 70-cm FM repeater installed on Mir. Although a new packet radio TNC was installed on Mir several weeks ago, not all the TNC parameters have been properly configured. MIREX has asked that ground stations monitoring the Mir Personal Message System (PMS) to please be patient while the necessary adjustments are made. The SAFEX repeater has been active on an intermittent basis. Last week, the crew turned off the PL tone feature of the repeater, thereby making it easier for weak stations to access the repeater. This change also makes the repeater to transmit static for long periods of time followed by short time-outs. Users are asked to compensate for Doppler Shift for EACH transmission. The following chart may be used as a guide: Downlink Uplink split 437.959 MHz 435.741 MHz 2.218 MHz 437.958 MHz 435.742 MHz 2.216 MHz 437.956 MHz 435.744 MHz 2.212 MHz 437.954 MHz 435.746 MHz 2.208 MHz 437.952 MHz 435.748 MHz 2.204 MHz 437.950 MHz 435.750 MHz 2.200 MHz 437.948 MHz 435.752 MHz 2.196 MHz 437.946 MHz 435.754 MHz 2.192 MHz 437.944 MHz 435.756 MHz 2.188 MHz 437.942 MHz 435.758 MHz 2.184 MHz 437.941 MHz 435.759 MHz 2.182 MHz The following list of Mir Personal Message System (PMS) commands was provided by Franscisco Costa, CT1EAT: B(ye) PBBS WILL DISCONNECT J(heard) CALLSIGNS WITH DAYSTAMP J S(hort) HEARD CALLSIGNS ONLY J L(ong) CALLSIGNS WITH DAYSTAMP AND VIAS L [x [y]] [;] LIST MESSAGES x THRU y YOU CAN READ L <|> call LIST MESSAGES FROM OR TO CALL LB LIST BULLETINS LC [cat] LIST CATEGORIES LL n LIST LAST n MESSAGES LM(ine) LIST UNREAD MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU LO [+|-] LISTING ORDER LT LIST TRAFFIC LTn DISPLAY LOCATION TEXT n=1-4 K(ill) n DELETE MESSAGE NUMBER n KM(ine) DELETE ALL READ MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU R(ead) n DISPLAY MESSAGE NUMBER n RH n DISPLAY MESSAGE n WITH HEADERS RM(ine) READ ALL MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU S(end) call SEND MESSAGE TO callsign S[B|P|T] call SEND BULLETIN, PRIVATE, or TRAFFIC The following are recent Keplerian element sets for objects associated with the Mir orbital complex: Mir 1 16609U 86017A 97364.16806649 .00004676 00000-0 59811-4 0 1299 2 16609 51.6564 180.2236 0008405 141.2766 218.8871 15.61383798677621 Kvant-1 1 17845U 87030A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 2578 2 17845 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161611681 Kvant-2 1 20335U 89093A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 1161 2 20335 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161460692 Kristall 1 20635U 90048A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 9085 2 20635 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161431525 Spektr 1 23579U 95024A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 8702 2 23579 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161149004 Priroda 1 23848U 96023A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 5573 2 23848 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161 96093 Soyuz TM-26 1 24886U 97038A 97363.84804617 -.00003495 00000-0 -34026-4 0 1490 2 24886 51.6524 181.8393 0008131 139.2043 220.9250 15.61370161 22848 Progress M-36 1 25002U 97058A 97353.15925557 .00046901 00000-0 54332-3 0 939 2 25002 51.6555 235.6836 0008759 96.9780 263.2219 15.61299636 11655 * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: KB2SFD WA3YDZ KB5YZG * 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX