SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0812 * SpaceNews 12-Aug-96 * BID: $SPC0812 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY AUGUST 12, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * SPACE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY * ================================ Recently Karen, RA3APW, and Leo, UA3CR, were invited by Serge Krikalev, U5MIR, and Serge Samburov, RV3DR, to visit the Russian Space Control Center. U5MIR is currently the deputy chief of Russian space flights and RV3DR is the manager of the Russian space amateur radio program. They were able to have a long talk about future amateur experiments in space, particularly relating to digital radio networking. Karen brought up the possibility of marrying the existing PACSAT protocols and hardware with amateur TCP/IP networking protocols. He suggested that if this combination were put into place on the oribiter and also at amateur Internet/satellite gateways around the world, perhaps one in each time zone, it could be possible to maintain fulltime IP connectivity with the orbiting MIR. In addition to offering continuous IP access to MIR from anywhere in the amateur world, such an experiment might be useful for discovering and developing necessary protocols for mobile IP operation; an area where amateurs might have considerable interest and one where we may be able to contribute significantly to the state of the art. Because much, if not all, of the required hardware is already in use, the bulk of the initial task would seem to be in adapting software to allow running IP over PACSAT. Karen and other Russian amateurs are interested in this project. U5MIR and RV3DR, are supportive of the concept and there would be licensed amateurs aboard the spacecraft. U5MIR is scheduled to be on board the next generation of spacecraft, the ALPHA, which is an international space project. He is interested in applying this idea to ALPHA flights. A group of Russian amateurs have begun to design low cost satellite ground station hardware for use at the gatways. They are seeking comments on the idea and others to help in making it a reality. Clearly the project will require the help and cooperation of amateurs worldwide. If you are interested in helping to further develop this project please contact Karen, RA3APW, at: karen@gw.ra3apw.ampr.org or sysop@ampr.demos.su or via KO-23, KO-25 satellites Also, if you know of someone who might be interested and able to help, please forward this note to them. [This note was written and posted for RA3APW by N6GN and relayed by WD3Q] * RECENT DISCOVERY ABOUT MARS * =============================== HOUSTON (Reuter) - U.S. scientists have found evidence of possible life on Mars in remains from a Martian meteorite, NASA officials said Tuesday. "NASA has made a startling discovery that points to the possibility that a primitive form of microscopic life may have existed on Mars more than three billion years ago," NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said. NASA said in a statement that scientists from the space agency and Stanford University have discovered "strong circumstantial evidence of possible early Martian life, including microfossil remains found in a Martian meteorite." The scientists based their theory of life on Mars on an examination of an ancient Martian meteorite that landed on Earth 13,000 years ago, he said. "I want everybody to know that we are not talking about 'little green men,'" Goldin said. "These are extremely small, single-cell structures that somewhat resemble bacteria on Earth. There is no evidence or suggestion that any higher life form ever existed on Mars." (from these findings -ED) The scientists plan to publish their findings in the Aug. 16 issue of Science magazine. [Info via Eric Shapow] * JAS-2 NEWS * ============== The countdown continues toward the 17-Aug-96 launch of NASDA's H-II 4F/ Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS). The third Japanese Amateur Satellite (JAS-2) will get a piggy-back ride on this flight. JAS-2 carries an improved attitude control system (wheel mode spin) as well as a faster modem (9600 bps). [Info via Tak Okamoto, JA2PKI of JAMSAT] * OSCAR STATUS * ================ AMSAT-OSCAR-10 has been reported to have entered a "sleep period" under which solar illumination on its solar panels is misaligned and is not sufficient to support transponder operations. AO-10 typically undergoes such periods during the February-March and August-September time periods. AO-10's transponder should be avoided if either the beacon is not heard, or if downlink signals are found to be "FMing". AMSAT-OSCAR-16 and LUSAT-OSCAR-19 continue to perform well as fileservers in space. Both satellites are tracking closely to one another, and so they are currently sharing very similar footprints and access periods. WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 is in MBL mode as work continues to reload its operating software and recommence Earth imaging routines. ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 is currently transmitting STATUS, LSTAT, BCRXMT, TLM, TIME, and beacon frames on a downlink frequency of 435.820 MHz using 1200 bit per second BPSK modulation. On 10-Aug-96 at 14:55 UTC during a pass in range of KD2BD on the east coast of New Jersey, ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 reported a kernel uptime of 69 days, 19 hours, and 24 minutes. The ASCII beacon text read as follows: IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : ** 31st July 1996 ** IHT 3.1 is running. Digipeater is OFF. Operations in progress. 73 de ITAMSAT Command team. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: F1JEK W3PK KC5EYC HB9RHV * 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