SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1116 * SpaceNews 16-Nov-98 * BID: $SPC1116 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY NOVEMBER 16, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * LEONIDS NEWS * ================ On 1998-Nov-17, scientists from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Space Sciences Laboratory in Huntsville, Ala., plan to launch a weather balloon carrying a digital camera to about 100,000 feet for a clearer view of the Leonids Meteor Shower. The Leonids meteor storm is expected to be the most spectacular in years. Scientists will launch the balloon sometime near midnight from Marshall's Atmospheric Research Facility, dependent upon weather conditions. Both still images and low-resolution television captured by the on-board camera will be available online at the Space Sciences Laboratory Web site at: http://science.nasa.gov/ Live downlink television also will be carried on cable TV channel 58 over amateur radio frequency 426.250 MHz. A special set-up must be followed, and viewing instructions will be available at the Space Sciences Laboratory Web site. For more information, contact Tim Tyson with Marshall's Media Relations Office at (256) 544-0994 or (256) 544-0034. For an electronic version of this advisory or more information, visit Marshall's News Center Web site at: http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news [Info from Ron Baalke via Gregory Beat] * LEONIDS ATV BALLOON FLIGHT * ============================== This is to alert you all to a balloon flight that will be flown to look at the Leonid Meteor Storm that will be happening on November 17th. As a result it will be an unusual NIGHT flight....or rather a "wee hour of the morning flight" An ATV (amateur television) equipped balloon flight will take place on 1998-Nov-17 during the expected peak of the Leonids meteor storm. The balloon package will carry a light intensified camera to look at the meteor trails from the stratosphere, and will be carried aloft by a 3000 gram balloon, which may reach as high as 120,000 feet in altitude. The balloon will transmit video on 426.250 MHz using horizontal polarization using the callsign KE4ROC. The package will also carry a 144.390 MHz APRS Packet Radio GPS system, and a 28.322 MHz (or 28.800 MHz) CW transmitter transmitting a series of fast beeps. The package is expected to be deployed near Atlanta, Georgia at 2:30 AM EST on Tuesday morning. The duration of the flight is expected to be about 3 hours. [Info via Bill Brown, WB8ELK] * SEDSAT-1 NEWS * ================= SEDSAT-1 was copied on Sunday in Aurora, Colorado, USA on orbit 309 by Rick, KB0VBZ. 13 packet bursts were copied on one pass. The center frequency that produced the best reception was 437.914 MHz. [Info via Rick Elverum, KB0VBZ] * AMSAT-OSCAR-10 NEWS * ======================= AO-10 continues to function well, with the exception of the usual QSB which is better or worse at different portions of the orbit. Strong signals were heard over the weekend, event out at apogee. James Miller and Stacey Mills have obtained additional ranging values and have "tweaked" the AO-10 keps. An updated set of elements is provided below. The initial set Stacey posted had a typo which set the value of decay to "0.0 e0", which, of course is mathmatically equal to "1". The decay rate should be set to zero for these elements. Satellite: AO-10 Catalog number: 14129 Epoch time: 98 318.86783 Inclination: 26.7600 deg RA of node: 58.4820 deg Eccentricity: 0.59972 Arg of perigee: 265.8370 deg Mean anomaly: 216.5650 deg Mean motion: 2.05838221 rev/day Decay rate: 0.00 rev/day^2 The article James wrote describing ranging can be found in the AMSAT Journal (US) Vol 20 No.5, Sep/Oct 1997 and elsewhere, and the article can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/a123.zip [Info via Stacey E. Mills, W4SM] * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= It has been another uneventful month for OSCAR-11. During the period 1998-Oct-14 to 1998-Nov-15, reasonable signals have been received from OSCAR-11's 145.826 MHz beacon. Telemetry has been nominal, and the battery voltage is now usually around 13.9 volts. The internal temperatures have been almost constant and are now 10.2 C and 8.0 C for battery and telemetry electronics respectively. They appear to have reached a maximum value, and are now expected to fall slowly. The present length of solar eclipses appears to be about optimum for OSCAR-11, maintaining an adequate power budget, while not allowing internal temperatures to rise to excessive levels. A single WOD survey, of channels 1, 2, 3, 61 (magnetometers) dated 1998-Oct-10 has been transmitted by the satellite. This current WOD starts at the normal time of 00:00:05 UTC. Recently the magnetorquer spin correction counters have been of interest. Normally, the negative spin counter increments at very roughly half the rate of the Z-axis counter. Over the last two months there have been very few spin counter increments, although the spin period is nominal. OSCAR-11's operating schedule remains 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) The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and frequencies of all the amateur radio satellites. There are additional status blocks after each bulletin is transmitted, and between ASCII TLM and WOD. The Mode-S beacon is ON, transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but telemetry indicates that it has partially failed, and delivering half power. This beacon is a useful test source for those testing Mode-S converters, prior to the launch of P3-D. It is considerably weaker than DOVE, which should be used for initial testing. Any reports of reception of OSCAR-11's 2401 MHz beacon should be directed to Clive Wallis via e-mail: g3cwv@amsat.org. OSCAR-11's 435.025 MHz beacon is normally OFF, however it can sometimes be heard when the satellite is being commanded by ground control, ie. within range of Guildford, UK. When the 435 MHz beacon is transmitting, the 145 MHz beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly binary. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting an OSCAR-11 Web site maintained by Clive Wallis. The web site contains details of hardware required and some software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD (whole orbit data) from the OSCAR-11 satellite. There is an archive of raw data (mainly WOD) for analysis, which is continually being expanded as new data is captured. Also included are some audio files, examples of each type of data transmitted by OSCAR-11. Each one plays for about ten seconds. There are also examples of Mode-S reception. All the audio files are compressed (zipped), so that they can be played off-line. These should help listeners identify the various types of data, and give an indication of the signal quality required for successful decoding. The URL is: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ [Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV] * SPUTNIK-41 NEWS * =================== Sputnik 41 was successfully deployed from the space station Mir last week, and reception of its 2-meter FM beacon transmitter was confirmed almost immediately after its deployment. Sputnik 41 is similar to Sputnik 40 launched from Mir last year. It is a small replica of the original Sputnik spacecraft launched 41 years ago. It is just under 8 inches in diameter and weighs almost 9 pounds. It carries a 200-mW FM transmitter that transmits on or about 145.812 MHz, and is easily heard with modest receiving equipment. The spacecraft has no solar cells, and is powered completely by storage batteries. Its expected operational lifetime is dictated by the life of its storage batteries, and is expected to be approximately 30 days. Sputnik 41 transmits a series of "beeps" (similar to the original Sputnik satellite) whose audio frequency is related to the spacecraft's internal temperature. It also transmits stored voice messages in several different languages. Listeners who successfully hear Sputnik 41 may sent their reception reports to: AMSAT-France RS-18 QSL Manager 14 bis rue des Gourlis 92 500 Rueil-Malmaison France and have their reports confirmed with a QSL card. A self-addressed envelope and International Reply Coupon (IRC) (available at many post offices) should be included with your report. * 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet (and beyond) since 1987 -=>> /EX