SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0421 * SpaceNews 21-Apr-97 * BID: $SPC0421 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 21, 1997 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * GOES-K READY FOR LAUNCH * =========================== The launch of the GOES-K weather satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 1 rocket (AC-79) is scheduled for April 24. Liftoff is targeted to occur at the opening of a launch window which extends from 1:50 - 3:09 a.m. EDT (0550 to 0709 UTC), a duration of one hour and 19 minutes. Launch will occur from Pad B at Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. GOES-K is the third spacecraft to be launched in the new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites for NOAA. The spacecraft is a three-axis internally stabilized weather satellite which has the dual capability of providing pictures while performing atmospheric sounding at the same time. Once in orbit the spacecraft is to be designated GOES-10. AC-79 marks the final launch of an Atlas 1 rocket, a derivative of the original Atlas Centaur developed by NASA which had its first successful launch in 1963. Future launches of GOES weather satellites in the current series will be on Atlas II vehicles. NASA Television will carry live the GOES-K/AC-79 Prelaunch Press Conference on Tuesday, April 22 starting at 1 p.m. (1700 UTC). NASA Television is available on the GE-2 satellite, Transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West. [NASA Press Release via Larry Van Horn] * OSCAR-10 NEWS * ================= Several users of the AMSAT-OSCAR-10 Mode B communications transponder have reported some frequency instability ("FMing") of downlink signals and the beacon during use. This is probably due to a lack of illumination on the spacecraft's solar panels. Users are asked to refrain from using AO-10 during such periods. * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= It has been a quiet month on OSCAR-11. During the period 19-Mar to 16-Apr, good steady signals have been received from OSCAR-11's 145.826 MHz beacon. Recent telemetry shows that the increasing solar eclipses have continued to reduce the internal temperatures by a further four degrees, now about 12 degrees C below the full sunlight condition. The battery voltage continues to be rather low, in the range 13.3 to 13.8 volts. The single WOD survey of channels 40, 50, 52, 63, (Array voltage, battery charge, battery voltage, BCR status) dated 22-Feb has been transmitted during this period. A short file of this WOD is available from the Clive Wallis's OSCAR-11 WWW site, and will be updated when the WOD is changed and the maximum amount of data has been received. Two AMSAT bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded. Topics have included RS-16 / Zeya information and a Phase-3D progress report. Bulletins always include current Keplerian elements for OSCAR-11, and often for satellites featured in the bulletin. 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) OSCAR-11 can be heard on 145.825 MHz. Modulation is 1200 baud AFSK, with tones of 1200/2400 Hz. There have been many designs for suitable decoders, including the high performance correlation demodulator (used by ground control), designed by James Miller G3RUH. However, the simplest way is to use an old telephone modem that uses Bell 202 or V23 tones. It is essential to invert the modem's output signal before feeding it into the computer. It is also possible to use a BAYCOM type modem which does not require any output inversion. Just connect its output to RXD instead of CTS. Another way is to use a HAMCOM interface instead of a modem. A small program called EM1200M2.COM (which is part of EMBAYCOM) emulates a modem on port 2. Port 1 is used for the terminal display program. Unfortunately, this method uses two COM ports, and can be a little tricky to wire up. For ASCII, the serial port should be set to 1200,E,7,1. If the port is set up to eight bits, then some filtering of the data will be requiredi before it can be displayed. Further information and software is contained in file CTERM.ZIP, which can be downloaded from the following URL: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ [Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV g3cwv@amsat.org] * 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