SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0112 * SpaceNews 12-Jan-98 * BID: $SPC0112 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 12, 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/RS-17 NEWS * ========================= Officals report that after operating for 55 days, the Sputnik-40/RS-17 satellite has gone silent. Sputnik-40/RS-17 was launched by Russian Cosmonauts from the Space Station Mir on 04-Nov-97, and transmitted a low-power VHF-FM beacon signal on 145.820 MHz. The satellite was built by students, and launched to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the launch of the original Sputnik satellite, and the dawn of the space age. Sputnik-40/RS-17 continued to operate under lithium battery power until 29-Dec-97, almost four weeks longer than designers had anticipated. * RS-12 NEWS * ============== Pat, G3IOR, has reported through Ray, W2RS, that the RS-12 satellite has been placed in Mode KA (2-meters + 15-meters up, 10-meters down). As a result of this change, look for increased activity on RS-12, particularly among groundstations without VHF radio equipment. G3IOR also reported that RS-12's ROBOT 15-meter uplink suffers from an unexplained deep signal fade that has a period of about four seconds. This phenomenon is seen only on through the ROBOT, and not when operating through the analog transponder. * STS-89 NEWS * =============== Ken Ernandes has uploaded STS-89 nominal orbital data to the AMSAT-NA Web site. This data represents the initial planned orbit for STS-89 based on a planned launch time of: 23-Jan-98 at 02:48:16 UTC The AMSAT Web site data will be updated to reflect any changes to the planned orbit including those due to changes in the launch time. As always, this data will also be maintained during the mission with data reflecting the actual orbit of the STS-89 spacecraft and the Shuttle/Mir complex. The AMSAT Web site Shuttle Orbital Data is at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html The alternate Web site for Shuttle orbital data is: http://www.mindspring.com/~n2wwd The STS-89 nominal two-line Keplerian elements are: STS-89 1 99989U 98023.14663194 .00037821 59761-8 88592-4 0 17 2 99989 51.6623 59.5301 0017156 330.4488 219.0071 15.95897611 15 Note that "99989" is a temporary catalog number. A permanent catalog number and international designator will be assigned after STS-89 has actually been launched. Also, since the Space Shuttle will be launched into a high inclination orbit during nighttime hours, persons living along the east coast of the US may have a chance to see the glow of the Shuttle's engines prior to main engine cutoff (MECO) as it travels in a northerly direction, up the coast. * MIR NEWS * ============ The following graph by Jean-Claude, FB1RCI depicts the orbital altitude of the Mir space station based on the Mean Motion of the spacecraft. An increase in Mean Motion corresponds to a decrease in mean orbital altitude. The slow decay in altitude is probably the result of atmospheric drag. TIME ORBIT REVOLUTION (summary) MIR Complex 16609 (Period day = 280/1997 to day = 02/1998) revolution/day I 15.5500 I I 15.5600 I I 15.5700 I I 15.5800 I I I 15.6000 I-------------------_____________________ I -------------------- I 15.6500 I Epoch time I____x__________x__________x__________x__________x__________x___ Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Docking Soyuz TM26, 07-Aug-97 Docking STS-86, 28-Sep-97 Docking Progress M36, 07-Oct-97 * FO-29 NEWS * ============== The following FUJI-OSCAR-29 transponder operating schedule comes by way of "JARL News" via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK: 09-Jan-98 @ 07:14 UTC Mode JD 1200 bps 23-Jan-98 @ 08:30 UTC Mode JA 30-Jan-98 @ 07:24 UTC Mode JD 9600 bps 06-Feb-98 @ 08:00 UTC Mode JA 20-Feb-98 @ 07:34 UTC Digi-talker 27-Feb-98 @ 08:13 UTC Mode JA * 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