SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0915 * SpaceNews 15-Sep-97 * BID: $SPC0915 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * A CHAT WITH MIR * =================== Tom Daniels, N3CXP, of Allentown, Pennsylvania spoke to Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on board the space station Mir on 07-Sep-97 at 12:30 UTC. The following is a transcript of Tom's conversation with the American working on Mir: N3CXP: How's the MIR? R0MIR: Were finally getting the place in shape again. We've been in a state of complete turmoil here for the last month or so - with the EVAs and just want to clean up the house so we have some cool air flying and the fans and filters are clean. We are reviewing a lot of the recordings that we took from during the EVA. We're running around the station trying to find windows to take shots. N3CXP: Were you able to repair the leak in the module that was having all the problems? R0MIR: Negative on that, unfortunately we learned a lot but didn't win. Basically, Anatole dug away and dug away in the piece that was suspected to have the hole and found a pretty clean hole under the insulation and some bent tubing on the outside but inside it was just clean.. So we then moved on to the solar array mounts where the solat array extends into the body of the module. There's a powerful motor.. about two foot into diameter and that motor is bent by about a centimeter on and it's clearance with the bearings is out on one side by about a centimeter...there was a very, very large impact with that part of the structure and it is mounted directly to the pressure hull, so our feeling is maybe, there is a hole in the hull, deep down in that motor bay. N3CXP: Mike, this is the first time we've worked. UHF is a pleasure right now, without competing with a whole lot of stuff. We're located in Allentown, Pennsylvania and with you directly to our north over Canada the range is about 1200 miles. R0MIR: Well Tom, it is a pleasure to talk to you and I have a big feeling of guilt really, that I haven't worked 2 meter voice over the U.S. much. Mostly it was because when we are using two meters vhf through the station com system, it actually stop the receiver from picking up 2 meter com, so I've been forced to use 70-cm a lot for packet, however when I tried 2-m voice with people, the QRM is so intense I cannot make out who is talking to me, and people hear me, but every call gets jumped on and I cannot write it down or even log it. Over. N3CXP: UHF is great here. I've programmed in the various doppler corrections and the next step is to get some computer control over it. Have you have many other voice contacts here on 70-cm yet? R0MIR: No this is the first time I talked here on voice, I only switched to this channel this morning, and I heard someone over in New Zealand. People are having some trouble with the doppler. It will take some time for themi to get it down, but it's probably a good experiment for everybody. N3CXP: We'll it's fun for me, I can vouch for that! R0MIR: And for me too. Tell me, do think it's widely known that we switched to 70-cm? N3CXP: No, I don't think so. It won't take long, however. There aren't as many hams who have the capability for doppler correction, however. I found it on the e-mail mailing list for Mir. R0MIR: It sad to exclude people, however it was getting to the point that I didn't work it (voice) at all because it was getting frustrating for me. Over. N3CXP: I can believe that. You're at four degrees Mike. It was certainly a pleasure, reminescent of chats with Sergei Krialev. 73's. It was a pleasure working you, and you're down at three degrees. N3CXP good morning. R0MIR: And this is R0MIR, clear with N3CXP a pleasure Tom and catch you again! Over. N3CXP: 73's I hope to work you again, Mike. Have a nice day! [Info via Tom Daniels, N3CXP (n3cxp@prolog.net)] * MIR NEWS * ============ The latest news regarding operations on the Mir space station is provided by astronaut Mike Foale via the Amateur Radio station onboard the orbital complex: Stat : PR Posted : 09/07/97 19:59 To : N6CO From : R0MIR @ BBS : BID : Subject: Mir Status Anatoli and I had the pleasure of doing the EVA on Saturday, while most of the world was occupied with the sad loss of Princess Dianna and her funeral, about which we are also very sad. During the EVA, Anatoli worked much longer than planned to be sure that under the buckled radiator panels there is no deformation of the pressure hull of Spekter. After moving to the area of the broken solar array motor drive foundation, we found that it was significantly out of alinement, suggesting there could be substantial damage under the motor, and therefore the pressure hull. More EVA will be required to investigate futher this area. Anatoli was successfull in aligning the working arrays properly to the sun, so that Mir can now fly in a power efficient attitude without effecting the on-orbit resource of the Soyuz spacecraft, because of higher than desirable temperatures of the H2O2 fuel in the descent module. Personally, this EVA was very rewarding for me, and was different in many ways, from my first spacewalk on Shuttle. The suit is well suited to working on Mir, and allowed me to use three attachment tethers for translation, the whole time. On shuttle, I was mostly translated around on the end of the arm - this time I was the driver, moving Anatoli around on the end of the Strela 20m crane. I will remember the views of the Earth and Milky Way, and station, in the light of a sickle moon, for ever. These night views were possible, because the only external lights we had were those mounted on our helmets, and which I could turn off when appropriate. I hope more people in the future, and many more supporters of human space flight, will one day get the chance to have such experiences as I have been lucky to be granted. Mike. KB5UAC. [Info received via Dr. Dave Larsen, N6CO] * MIR PMS REMINDERS * ===================== The 70-cm experiment with the Mir PMS is currently in progress. The PMS will be on 437.650 MHz FM simplex until 28-Sep-97 after which it will be switched back to 145.985 MHz FM simplex. The same rules for working the PMS on 2-meters apply to 70-cm UHF operations. When voice is in use: 1. Compensate for Doppler shift. Transceivers that tune in 5 kHz steps can be used for FM voice communications if compensation is made for the effects of Doppler shift. 2. Wait for the crew member to call "CQ", before calling Mir on voice. The crew members are NOT contesters, and prefer to chat with one station at a time for 5-8 minutes. When you hear "CQ", transmit your callsign once, then wait a few seconds and transmit your callsign again. If the crew member hears you, he will call you by your callsign. If they answer a different station, then you must wait until the next "CQ". 3. DO NOT attempt a packet radio connection with Mir when a member of the Mir crew is active on voice. 4. Reminder: The crew is normally on voice only during weekends and other off-duty hours (Moscow time). When packet radio is in use: 1. Compensate for Doppler shift. (Sorry, transceivers that tune in 5 kHz steps cannot work packet reliably.) 2. The modem port (R0MIR) is a dead port. DO NOT connect to R0MIR regardless of the "Welcome from the Mir crew" message that is transmitted periodically from this port. 3. The PMS port (R0MIR-1) is connected to the single user electronic mailbox within the PacComm TNC carried aboard the Mir space station. Only ONE station can connect to the mailbox at a time. All others must wait until the station using the mailbox finishes and logs off. 4. DO NOT use the Mir packet station as a digipeater to transmit beacons, CQs, or attempt connections with other groundstations. The MIREX team has tested the digipeat function of the Mir packet station and found it offers poor performance, and causes damaging interference to users of the Mir PMS. 5. DO NOT call Mir on voice if packet is heard on its downlink frequency. [Info via Miles Mann, WF1F] * PHASE 3-D UPDATE * ==================== It was announced earlier that due to the necessity of performing a number of significant structural modifications to the Phase 3D spaceframe made necessary by a late change in ESA launch environment specifications, the schedule for the launch of Ariane 502 and the Phase 3D schedule were no longer compatible. Unfortunately, that situation has not changed. As a result, ESA has concluded that Phase 3D would not be able to fly on Ariane 502. This announcement prompted several derogatory comments regarding ESA and its action to be posted to AMSAT-NA's Internet open mail service, AMSAT-BB. It must be emphasized that such comments do not represent the opinions of AMSAT-NA or any other AMSAT organization. More important, they may be harmful to on-going efforts to identify another launch for Phase 3D. It should be remembered, and appreciated, that ESA has been very supportive of AMSAT for almost twenty years. The first Phase 3 satellite was a passenger on an Ariane vehicle which, unfortunately, ended in a launch failure in 1980. ESA made amends for this loss by launching AO-10 three years later. This was followed by AO-13 in 1988, the four Microsats and two UoSats in 1990, and later, KO-23, KO-25, IO-26 and AO-27. All of these satellites were launched by ESA on Ariane vehicles, so it is clear that since the early 80s, the European Space Agency has been responsible for the launch of ALL the long life amateur spacecraft, other than those orbited by the Russians and the Japanese. There is no reason to believe that ESA's support for AMSAT projects has waned. The decision made with respect to Phase 3D is apparently one of schedule incompatibility only. It should be clear to everyone that it is vital to ESA that the Ariane 502 flight goes well, and that it is launched in accordance with the established schedule, if at all possible. Needless to say, it is also in AMSAT's best interest that it is a great success, even without Phase 3D aboard. A Phase 3D Program Board meeting was held at the Orlando Phase 3D Integration Lab Saturday August 30, during which similar sentiments were expressed. Participants in that meeting were AMSAT-DL President and Phase 3D Project Leader Dr. Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC, Werner Haas DJ5KQ AMSAT-DL Vice President, Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, representing the Command Station Team, Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ, AMSAT-UK Secretary, Joel Harrison, W5ZN, representing ARRL, Keith Baker KB1SF AMSAT-NA Executive Vice President and Bill Tynan W3XO AMSAT-NA President. The Program Board is the body which will establish broad policies with respect to the Operation of Phase 3D, once it is safely in orbit and checked out. In addition to reviewing the launch situation, the meeting dealt with mechanisms for communicating board recommendations to the Command Station Team and the current status of the spacecraft. It was noted that the structural modifications, already mentioned, have had a significant impact on the schedule, just as they were expected to. For example, electronic modules have had to be installed and un-installed several times in order to conduct both electronic testing and perform the drilling and riveting necessary to complete the structural modifications. Not surprisingly, this process has been quite time consuming. Nevertheless, the Board was informed that the structural work should be completed soon. In addition to the schedule slippage the structural modifications have caused, it has been estimated that they have cost about $25,000 over and above expenses previously contemplated. Other recent events at the Orlando facility involved a two week visit by a contingent of folks from Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Japan to accomplish much of the electronic integration work. Just prior to that, the RUDAK team were there to install and check out that interesting and important sub-system. The Program Board issued a statement saying that it is imperative that all of us do everything we can to promote the successful launch of Phase 3D, particularly being especially careful of what we say on public forums such as AMSAT-BB or in letters to the editors of various magazines. It was emphasized that all of us should avoid doing anything that could possibly hinder Phase 3D Project Leader and AMSAT-DL President Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC in his continuing negotiations with ESA representatives. [Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service] * ORBITAL MECHANICS ON THE WEB * ================================ David Eagle has produced a group of Web pages that describe orbital mechanics using MATLAB software. The URL for David's orbital mechanics page is: http://cdeagle.cnchost.com/om-matlab.html In addtion, pages dealing with celestial computing, orbital mechanics with the personal computer (OMPC), numerical predicition of orbital events (NPOE), and other computer programs can be found at: http://members.tripod.com/~cdeagle/ * MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR NEWS * ============================= The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft entered orbit around Mars on Friday at 01:30 UTC. Internet Web sites carrying Mars Global Surveyor news include: http://dhcom.com/mars/ http://www-d2x.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ * 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