SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0313 * SpaceNews 13-Mar-00 * BID: $SPC0313 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MARCH 13, 2000 * PHASE 3D TENTATIVE LAUNCH * ============================= AMSAT-DL's Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, broke the exciting Phase 3D news on February 29th, telling the Amateur Radio satellite community (via the AMSAT BB) that "it's official" -- the Phase 3D next-generation Amateur Radio satellite has been tentatively scheduled for launch in late July! The launch information is included in the Provisional Ariane Launch Manifest for February through July of this year. The manifest appears in the February edition of the Arianespace newsletter. The ARRL reports that if the schedule holds, the Phase 3D satellite would be sent aloft on Ariane 507, flight V132. AMSAT-NA President Keith Baker, KB1SF, was delighted with the news, "slowly but surely, Phase 3-D is moving ever closer to a launch. To finally see it listed on a launch manifest is a major milestone. Needless to say, we're most grateful for all the outstanding support we've been getting from the fine people at Arianespace!" Former AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO, echoed the statements, adding, "the recent news that Phase 3D has been designated for launch on AR-507 was indeed gratifying to all who have waited so long to hear such tidings. As the President of AMSAT-NA during much of the time the spacecraft was being constructed at our Orlando facility, I am especially pleased that the hard work of so many, for so long, is now coming to fruition. I look forward to meeting many of my friends on Phase 3D once it becomes operational." The Arianespace manifest identifies the other possible payloads aboard flight 507 as the PAS-1R (Europe Star) package and the STRV-1C/1D package. A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first suitable Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October. The satellite is now at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. More information about the launch can be found at: http://www.arianespace.com/news_espace.html [Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service] * HAM LICENSE ISSUED FOR ISS * ============================== Members of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team in the U.S. received word from the Russian team that a Russian station license has been granted for the ISS Ham Radio station. This license is valid for all amateur radio hardware that will be located in the Russian Segment. It will support the operation and use of the ham radio station in all of the Russian provided segments of ISS. This includes the FGB (or Zarya) module that is currently on-orbit and the Zvezda Service Module that is planned for launch this summer. For more information on the ISS assembly sequence, see: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/index.html During a recent telephone, AMSAT-RU team member Sergej Samburov, RK3DR, informed the U.S. Ham Technical Team that the Russian Federation Communications Oversight Commission has granted a license to operate a "Ham Radio Station of the Highest Public Usage Category" for the ISS Russian Segment. The ARISS US team received a copy of the license on March 2. Since that time, NASA has translated the Russian Cyrillic to English for the team. Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-International Administrative Chairman explains that "This specific license enables the on-orbit ISS crews to operate all amateur radio modes and bands. It is a critical step in our future operations of ham radio on ISS. We are excited that the Russian team have made significant progress and now have our first license in place." Sergej Samburov explained to the ham team that this license is required before any ham radio equipment can be installed in the Russian Segment. The station license call sign is RZ3DZR. It was issued on March 2, 2000 and is valid until March 2, 2005. The ARISS International team is working on a long term plan for a single, international ISS station license. This will allow all the international crew members to operate different hardware that will comprise the ham radio station in any part of the ISS without third party restrictions in their country. This was discussed at the ARISS meeting in Surrey, England in July 1998 and at the IARU Satellite Meeting during the 1999 AMSAT-NA symposium in San Diego, California. It is also an agenda topic for the upcoming ARISS meeting that will be held near Amsterdam later this month. The ARISS team is working with the IARU to develop a long term, international solution. In the meantime, the team is pursuing licenses in each of the member countries. The U.S. team will soon apply for a station license to allow Bill Shepard, KD5GSL, to use the station later this year. In the meantime, the ARISS team is working with the ISS Space Agency partners to prepare the crew and hardware for use later this year. [Info via Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO of the ARISS International Team] * SEDSAT-1 NEWS * ================= The SEDSAT team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) would like to thank everyone for their support of the SEDSAT-1 (SO-33) satellite program. Suggestions of how this program can be improved are being requested. The team is evaluating the current status of the entire program. With the help provided by the many who help gathered SEDSat telemetry, over 18,000 lines of telemetry have been accumulated. The telemetry can be accessed through the SEDSat database (see the UAH-SEDS website): http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/ Chris Lewicki dutifully kept the database updated for over a year. He deserves a great amount of thanks. The solar panel data as well as the battery data is very useful. A graduate student, Daniel Slosberg, is currently conducting a comprehensive study of the data. He is studying the efficiency of the solar panels and the durability of the batteries. The help provided in gathering the telemetry has greatly helped the SEDSAT team's ability to accumulate such a great amount of data. They are looking forward to continued support in gathering the data. Being that SEDSat has been a fairly successful student built satellite, the team would like to continue gathering as much of her telemetry as possible. If you can suggest ways we can achieve this goal, please let the team know. Although SEDSAT is not receiving TX, her telemetry package can be received on 437.910 MHz. To be able to decipher the data, you will need to download the most recent copy of the ground station software, SGS 20 from: http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/SGS20.zip Please see the SEDSAT main page for a more complete description of the software: http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/ If you are receiving SEDSAT telemetry, please send it to: telemetry@seds.org [Info via Jason Rupert, UAH-SEDS, rupertj@email.uah.edu] * EUROPEAN SATGATE SOUGHT * =========================== Andrew, G8TZJ reports that the satgate network is in need of a new satgate in Europe, in or near Belgium, Holland, Germany or Poland. Ideally, a satgate should run Wisp and FBB on a single PC or via a LAN between 2 PCs, so as to be able to automatically transfer packet mail between Wisp and FBB and your local packet network. If you are interested or want to know more, please send Andrew a message via UO-22, KO-25, or by any of the following routes: Packet: G8TZJ @ GB7FYL.#16.GBR.EU Email: g8tzj@lancaster.ac.uk [Info via Andrew, G8TZJ] * IRIDIUM SERVICE TO CLOSE * ============================ Motorola reported that on Monday, March 6, 2000, Iridium LLC was authorized to use cash collateral to continue operations through March 17, 2000. Iridium LLC will continue its efforts to find a qualified buyer. However, unless a qualified buyer comes forward and provides additional funding by March 15, 2000, Motorola does not expect Iridium service to be available after 11:59 PM (EST) on March 17, 2000. In the meantime, Motorola will continue its support for Iridium LLC, the gateways, service providers, and all current customers and subscribers. * 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/ MAIL: John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. PACKET: KD2BD @ N2TDU.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