SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0111 * SpaceNews 11-Jan-99 * BID: $SPC0111 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 11, 1999 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * SUNSAT LAUNCH NEWS * ====================== South Africa's first satellite, SUNSAT, will be launched on 1999-Jan-14 from Van den Berg Airforce Base, California. Live coverage will be broadcast by ZS6SRL on shortwave and various Amateur frequencies. The shortwave broadcast will run from 10:00 UTC until 11:30 on the following frequencies: 31 meters 9525 kHz 100 kW Omni Directional antenna 16 meters 17870 kHz 250 kW beamed 19 degrees 13 meters 21530 kHz 500 kW beamed 340 degrees SUNSAT was built by students at the University of Stellenbosch who have done the detailed design and software development, while system level design was carried out by lecturers, some of whom have studied at the Universities of Surrey, Stanford and MIT. SUNSAT has several payloads with two of the focus areas on Amateur Radio and School Science projects. In addition, SUNSAT will carry experiments for NASA as well as an experimental pushbroom earth imaging camera. The transmission will carry background interviews and live coverage from the launch site. The basic Amateur payload carried on SUNSAT will include the following: * Two meter FM Parrot Repeater - This unit will operate on 145.825 MHz using NBFM voice with 3 kHz peak deviation * 1200 Baud packet radio capability AFSK store and forward mailbox * 9600 Baud (G3RUH) packet capability FSK store and forward mailbox Radio clubs in South Africa who would like an audio feed of the launch program to retransmit on their local repeaters should send their requests to sarlnews@intekom.co.za or by fax to 031 765-6456 before 1999-Jan-10. [Info via SARL News and Eric Rosenberg] * OSCAR-10 DATA * ================= The following updated Keplerian orbital elements have been provided by Stacey Mills, W4SM: Satellite: AO-10 Catalog number: 14129 Epoch time: 99006.12821000 Element set: 003 Inclination: 27.343 deg RA of node: 49.882 deg Eccentricity: 0.60113 Arg of perigee: 279.883 deg Mean anomaly: 68.131 deg Mean motion: 2.05837888 rev/day Decay rate: 0.0 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 11705 Checksum: 240 AO-10 1 14129U 00 0 0 99006.12821000 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0031 2 14129 027.3430 049.8820 6011300 279.8830 068.1310 02.05837888117059 * 1999 SIDERIAL TIME CONSTANT * =============================== I forgot to mention this last week, but the siderial time constant for 1999 is: 0.275613. This constant is needed by some old satellite tracking programs. * KITSAT-OSCAR-23 NEWS * ======================== Spacecraft controller report that KITSAT-OSCAR-23's TX0 transmitter "tripped" recently for unknown reasons. It should be back on the air as this issue goes to press. * SPUTNIK-41/RS-18 DECAY * ========================== Ken, N1WED pointed out that the Goddard Space Flight Center's Sixty Day Decay Forecast Report dated 1998-Dec-21 indicated that Sputnik-41/RS-18 was to re-enter the earth's atmosphere on 1999-Jan-07. * MIR/APRS SCHOOL CLUB ROUNDUP * ================================ The annual ARRL School Club Roundup (SCR) event runs from 8 to 13 Feb 1999 and has the objective to get as many SCHOOLS on the air as possible (all bands all modes). Coincidentally, the Space station MIR's orbit during that week is over the USA during school hours and so makes an ideal opportunity for the students to participate in satellite communications as well. As part of the ongoing APRS/MIR/School experiments, MIREX's Dr. Larsen has endorsed the maximum participation of all schools to use the MIR digipeater to exchange communications between schools during this week long event (do not connect to MIR). APRS style (UI) operations can handle as many as 100 stations per pass, so any school with a 2 meter FM radio, omni whip antenna and a TNC should be successful on 145.985 MHz. The APRS/MIR portion of this event is NOT A CONTEST, but an opportunity for students and schools to learn about space communications. Everyone is encouraged to contact a local school science teacher and schedule a time period during that week when you can help set up and/or operate a school club station. Even if you cannot transmit for some reason, the LIVE MIR downlink is always visible on the Naval Academy's MIREX web page: http://web.usna.mil/~bruninga/mirex.html This page shows the results of last years APRS/MIR testing and will be updated with specific details about the SCR event (if any). The ARRL School Club Roundup contest is described on page 92 of QST January, 1999 or see http://www.arrl.org/contests. [Info via Bob, WB4APR] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation for SpaceNews, especially: N2GJ RW3DZ G3IOR ZS6OUN N8UAD EI9ESB TG9SO * 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet (and beyond) since 1987 -=>> /EX