SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1021 * SpaceNews 21-Oct-96 * BID: $SPC1021 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY OCTOBER 21, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= During the last month (18 September to 16 October) good, steady signals have been received from OSCAR-11 on 145.826 MHz. The cure for the shut-down problem has been successful, and no shut-downs have been observed. There has been a small rise in the internal temperatures, which are now within about one degree of the maximum values recorded in January. A single set of WOD, channels 0, 10, 20, 30, solar array currents, dated 17-September, has been transmitted. Analysis of the WOD, shows that the satellite is in continuous sunlight, but there is a once per orbit dip in total current. The magnitude and duration of the dip is reduced from that seen in the previous WOD (dated 01-September). This is probably due to a reduction of the partial eclipses of the sun. News bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded most weekends. Topics have included OSCAR-11 shut-down cure, WA2LQQ Obituary, and an Ariane 5 report. The bulletin available on 16-Oct-96 (which is slightly corrupted), reviewed the current amateur satellites. The operating schedule is unchanged. ASCII status (210 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY SEU (30 seconds) ASCII TLM (90 seconds) ASCII WOD (120 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY ENG (30 seconds) There are also two additional status blocks between repeats of the bulletin, and between ASCII TLM and WOD. [Info via Clive, G3CWV @ GB7ZPU / g3cwv@amsat.org] * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * ====================== Controllers report that FUJI-OSCAR-29 will be in digital mode from 15-Oct-96. The operation may be interrupted sometime without notice. Digitalker tests will be carried out from 09-Nov-96. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * OSCAR-13 NEWS * ================= AO-13 telemetry watchers know that the Whole Orbit Data (WOD) collection has been in use recently to collect solar panel temperature as the satellite flies though the upper atmosphere. A recent plot from one of these WODs is available at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/pantemp.zip (17K) Note that perigee is now down to 140 km, and a temperature rise of 10 degrees C on solar panel #1 can now be seen in the WOD plot as the satellite encounters perigee. The data is at 1 MA intervals, the gridding is at 0.5 steps. The general temperature rise is due to radiation from the warm Earth. The sudden rise of 10 degrees C is due to frictional heating in the upper atmosphere. The WOD format, which is very simple, can be found at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/spec_wod.doc (4K) Another file: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/heat.zip (12K) shows similar data collected from live telemetry at 30s intervals. Perigee eclipses begin Tuesday: Entry Exit DUR IN OUT DATE HHMM.SS HHMM.SS min ONO MA MA ============================================================ 1996 Oct 22 [Tue] 2233:26 2237:00 4 6404 253 254 1996 Oct 23 [Wed] 2032:10 2038:57 7 6406 252 255 1996 Oct 24 [Thu] 0731:49 0739:41 8 6407 252 255 1996 Oct 24 [Thu] 1831:33 1840:21 9 6408 252 255 1996 Oct 25 [Fri] 0531:20 0540:58 10 6409 252 255 1996 Oct 25 [Fri] 1631:10 1641:32 10 6410 251 255 1996 Oct 26 [Sat] 0331:03 0342:06 11 6411 251 0 1996 Oct 26 [Sat] 1430:58 1442:38 12 6412 251 0 1996 Oct 27 [Sun] 0130:54 0143:09 12 6413 251 0 1996 Oct 27 [Sun] 1230:52 1243:40 13 6414 251 0 1996 Oct 27 [Sun] 2330:51 2344:09 13 6415 251 0 etc and continue until re-entry. In the next few weeks, the solar panels will be very cold and cooling down during perigee, leading to some unusual temperature profiles as they momentarily heat up again. [Info via James R. Miller, G3RUH] * NEW STSORBIT RELEASE * ======================== David H. Ransom, Jr. announces the release of STSORBIT PLUS Version 9643. The key feature of this latest release is the user-selected complementary tracking option for amateur radio use. Complementary (inverted) tracking may be selected from the tracking display. Should a station realize that a tracking pass will be interrupted by a mechanical Azimuth Stop, the program may be commanded to "flip" the Azimuth and Elevation rotor angles with a single keystroke. The resulting C_Az and C_El values provide equivalent antenna pointing angles for satellite tracking and allow continuous tracking throughout the pass. The continuous tracking is provided since the mechanical azimuth stop is flipped 180 degrees from the rotor inversion. Complementary tracking in STSPLUS provides amateur satellite operators with a low-cost implementation of a proven tracking technique. STSORBIT PLUS is available from the RPV Astronomy BBS at (310) 541-7299 and from the following Internet site: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dcottle/files/ At both sites, the filenames for the complete package are: SOP9643A.ZIP and SOP9643B.ZIP. [Info via David H. Ransom, Jr.] * GROVE EXPO NEWS * =================== October 18th to the 20th marked the seventh annual Grove Communications Expo. This year's event was held at the Atlanta Airport Hilton in Atlanta, Georgia, and featured an emphasis on satellite communications, in addition to more traditional terrestrial monitoring activities. This year's event featured lectures on satellite topics by Keith Baker (KB1SF), Donald Dickerson, Stephen M. Dye, Dr. TS Kelso, John A. Magliacane (KD2BD), Ken Reitz (KS4ZR), Keith Stein, Tom Taylor (KE4SMG), and Dr. Jeff Wallach (N5ITU). The highlight of the event was the Saturday night banquet that featured keynote speaker Dr. Ron Parise (WA4SIR), payload specialist for Space Shuttle missions STS-35 and STS-67. Ron presented an interesting slide show, and his narrative covered topics including his work in ultraviolet astronomy, space shuttle transportation in general, and SAREX activity on the space shuttle. Ron brought along a tape recording containing SAREX communications made from the Space Shuttle. The tape clearly demonstrated just how difficult it is to copy narrow band FM signals on the Space Shuttle under "high volume" conditions. Over 170 people attended the banquet, making it one of the most successful Communication Expos sponsored by Grove Enterprises. Further information on the event may be obtained at: http://www.grove.net. * 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