SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0605 * SpaceNews 05-Jun-00 * BID: $SPC0605 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JUNE 5, 2000 * MIR NEWS * ============ Several news agencies are reporting that the Mir mission control center is planning to put the orbiting space station on autopilot in the near future. Apparently, disruptions in financing for the next mission and uncertain future prospects are the main reasons for the decision. Cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri will return to Earth about mid-June, first closing down the station and switching the flight control systems from the on-board computer to an analog system. No additional flight crews are scheduled to visit the station until much later this year, at the earliest. The orbiter has been raised to an operational orbit of 375 to 390 km. Mission control reports they will not need to perform any orbit maneuvers until early 2001. Amateur Radio activity aboard the station has been limited during this mission. No ham radio activity has been reported from the orbiter during the last several weeks. [Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service] * PHASE 3D TRANSPONDER UPDATE * =============================== A while ago it was decided to use a two letter designator instead of the old single letter transponder mode designators on P3-D, simply because there are so many different combinations of receivers and transmitters possible. The first letter stands for the uplink, the second letter for the downlink. Letter Frequency Remarks ---------------------------------------------------------------- T 21 MHz Uplink only H 24 MHz Uplink only V 145 MHz Uplink and Downlink U 435 MHz Uplink and Downlink L 1.2 GHz Two Uplinks only, L1 and L2 S 2.4 GHz Two Uplinks and two Downlinks, S1 and S2 C 5.6 GHz Uplink only X 10 GHz Downlink only K 24 GHz Downlink only These letter assignments are consistent with the usual microwave band designations, where "K" for example means 18-26.5 GHz. Unfortunately, the HF bands do not have such fancy letters, so Matjaz Vidmar S53MV was allowed to decide since he built the 21 and 24 MHz receivers for P3-D. He commented that the Russian satellites used "T" for their 21 MHz transponder and suggested doing the same. There was no letter for the 24 MHz RX, however, so the letter "H" was picked for this band. [Info via Peter DB2OS, Freddy ON6UG, and Matjaz S53MV] * PHASE 3D LAUNCH NEWS * ======================== The long-awaited launch of the Phase 3D satellite is currently scheduled for Ariane mission AR507, which is scheduled for lift-off no earlier than the middle of September 2000. It was previously believed that the launch would occur in July. [Info via Peter, DB2OS] * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * ====================== The FO-29 command station of the JARL has announced the following operating schedule for the satellite: May 8 (Mon) - June 7 (Wed) : Mode JA June 8 (Thu) - June 12 (Mon) : Digitalker June 13 (Tue) - July 2 (Sun) : Mode JA The most significant change in this schedule is the addition of the "Digitalker" mode in which the satellite transmits stored audio messages uplinked by controllers. The Digitalker on FO-29 can be easily copied on FM receivers tuned to 435.910 MHz (+/- doppler). [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * AMSAT-OSCAR-10 NEWS * ======================= Rudolf, ZR6JRN in South Africa reports that the AO-10 satellite was performing well during the weekend of 26-28-May-2000. Rudolf reported contacting DC3ZB, M1CMH/P, EA7AEB, G3WFM, DD7VW, F1BEV, OE3VID, and OH5LK, all with good signals. * SpaceNews NEWS * ================== Just a friendly reminder that SpaceNews is available from a wide variety of electronic sources on a regular basis. The latest issue can be usually be found at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/news/SpaceNews An archive of past issues is available at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/news/spc2000.html Another index of past issues is available at: http://www.geocities.com/~ik1sld/spacenews.htm A French translation of SpaceNews is available at: http://www.geocities.com/ve2trv/space.htm SpaceNews is also available via the KITSAT-OSCAR-25 digital communication satellite, the Amateur Packet Radio Network, and the fido7.su.hamradio Usenet newsgroup. SpaceNews may also be received via e-mail by subscribing to AMSAT-NA's ANS mailing list service. The ANS mailing list relays official AMSAT-NA News Service Bulletins as well as SpaceNews to all subscribers. 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