SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0429 * SpaceNews 29-Apr-96 * BID: $SPC0429 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 29, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * WEBERSAT NEWS * ================= WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 experienced a software crash at 05:50:11 UTC on 17-Apr-96. Initial operating software has been reloaded by groundstation controllers, and the satellite is currently transmitting telemetry, OBC status, and beacon frames on a downlink of 437.102 MHz using right-hand circular polarization. The digipeater is temporarily off the air. Russ Tillman, KC5JVB, reported that the WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 and LUSAT-OSCAR-19 microsatellites passed within 0.26 kilometers of one another on 23-Apr-96 at 02:03:33 UTC. The satellites are moving away from each other at a rate of 13.15 meters per second, although it will be some time before they move far enough apart so that their passes don't overlap at groundstations. WO-18 and LO-19 were launched together with UO-14, UO-15, AO-16, and DO-17 on 22-Jan-90. As a result of this and their spring-loaded deployment method, they share similar orbits. * STS-77 NEWS * =============== Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, reports that OMS-2 orbital data for US Space Shuttle mission STS-77 is available from the AMSAT-NA World Wide Web site at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html A full set of STS-77 nominal state vectors may be downloaded from the State Vector Tutorial page, that may be accessed by a link from the Shuttle Orbital Data page or at the following URL: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/vectors.html The following Keplerian orbital elements for STS-77 were provided by Gary Morris, KK6YB: STS-77 1 99977U 96137.46937884 .00003995 00000-0 89987-5 0 12 2 99977 39.0081 270.8449 0008171 270.3851 295.4207 15.96521956 10 Satellite: STS-77 Catalog number: 99977 Epoch time: 96137.46937884 Element set: 1 Inclination: 39.0081 deg RA of node: 270.8449 deg Eccentricity: 0.0008171 Arg of perigee: 270.3851 deg Mean anomaly: 295.4207 deg Mean motion: 15.96521956 rev/day Decay rate: 3.99534e-05 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 1 This data assumes a scheduled launch time of 16-May-96 at 10:32 UTC. * NEW FODTRACK ON KO-25 * ========================= Manfred, XQ2FOD, has announced the release of the latest version of his FodTrack satellite tracking program. FodTrack controls the Yaesu G5400 and G5600 AZ/EL satellite antenna rotators through simple hardware interfaces. The new version also includes improved control of ICOM transceivers, speeds up control of Yaesu transceivers, adds frequency parking for ICOM and Kenwood (Yaesu doesn't need this) transceivers, and fixes a division-by-zero bug. FodTrack was recently uploaded to the KITSAT-OSCAR-25 satellite where it is available as file number A165. * SpaceNews AVAILABILITY * ========================== SpaceNews is available regularly on Usenet in the rec.radio.info, rec.radio.amateur.misc, and sci.space.news newsgroups, and on packet radio BBSs worldwide as well as the AMSAT-OSCAR-16 Pacsat satellite. It may also be retrieved using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) at pilot.njin.net (128.6.7.38) from the /pub/SpaceNews subdirectory. Internet users may also "finger magliaco@pilot.njin.net" for a copy of the latest issue, or access it via the World Wide Web at: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/pilot.njin.net/magliaco/w. * 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 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX