SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.01 ARIANE-5 LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-078601 An Arianespace Ariane-5 launch vehicle recently completed a successful launch from the Kourou, French Guiana complex, located off the northern shoulder of South America. The success of this launch is very important to the eventual Ariane-5 ride that Phase 3-D will undergo. The Ariane-5 rocket is the centerpiece of Europe's commercial launch effort and is the second successful mission for the powerful rocket. In addition, this is the third successful launch of this year for Arianespace. Two Ariane-4 rockets were launched in January and February. Four additional Ariane-5 launches are scheduled for this year, with the next Ariane-5 launch scheduled for May 23, 2000. The recent launch placed two commercial satellites into orbit exactly 34 minutes after liftoff. The total payload was about five tons. A 2.7-ton satellite owned by WorldSpace Corporation will transmit digital radio programs and an Indian Space Research Organization satellite will be used in a telecommunications role. The Ariane-5 rocket is almost double the weight and power of the very successful Ariane-4 rocket. The Ariane-5 launch vehicle will eventually be able to carry space exploration modules and will also serve the International Space Station. [ANS thanks Florida Today and Arianespace for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.02 RETURN TO MIR ON SCHEDULE AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-086.02 Several news agencies (including Reuters) are reporting that all systems are go for cosmonauts to return to the abandoned Mir space station. Bolstered by deep pride in its long history of space exploration, Russia will launch a new crew on April 4th to the orbiting Mir station, which had previously been slated to see retirement by crashing into the atmosphere at about the same time. "There will be a lot of work to do when they get there but until then all we have had to do is to turn on the computer and we've done that,'' said Viktor Blagov, Mir's deputy flight director. Yuri Grigoriyev, deputy head designer at the Energiya space corporation that owns Mir, said the latest crew will be aboard the station for about 45 days, but that the journey could be extended by a month or so. Acting President Vladimir Putin has backed Mir's revival, but space officials say it remains unclear whether space will remain a priority for this new administration. "We have not had a single government that did not promise its support,'' said Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, "but our budget is still not enough and financial questions remain.'' It is hoped that the Amateur Radio equipment aboard Mir is still functional -- and will be activated during this mission. Stay tuned to ANS for further details. [ANS thanks Reuters and Florida Today for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.03 AMATEUR SATELLITE GUIDE UPDATE UNDERWAY HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-086.03 ANS principal satellite investigator Mike Seguin, N1JEZ, is in the process of updating 'The Amateur Satellite Resource Guide'. The guide (available from AMSAT-NA) has proven to be a valuable resource for satellite operators, both old and new alike. Several satellite operators have mentioned to ANS how helpful the publication is -- including Beau, N1MJD, who told ANS that "the Amateur Satellite Resource Guide is a must have tool for the birds." The guide (along with several other satellite publications) will be featured at the AMSAT-NA booth during the upcoming Dayton Hamfest. Mike is interested in hearing from anyone who has found any additional source of satellite information that has proven to be helpful to them in any way. Mike reports that "these resources can be almost anything, such as books, periodicals, e-mail, FTP sites, web resources, newsgroups and on-line sources and links to both HF and VHF nets". Mike tells ANS that if "a satellite operator has a favorite, I'd want to be sure I've included it in the Resource Guide." N1JEZ can be reached at the following e-mail address: n1jez@amsat.org [ANS thanks ANS principal satellite investigator Mike Seguin, N1JEZ for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.04 ANS IN BRIEF HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-086.04 ANS news in brief this week includes the following: ** The first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid has been renamed to honor geologist Eugene M. Shoemaker. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft, which has been circling the asteroid 433 Eros since February 14th, will now be known as NEAR Shoemaker. The official announcement was made on March 14th at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. -S&T ** NASA managers announced recently that the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory will be de-orbited on June 3rd. At a press conference in Washington, D.C., NASA explained that the mission was nominally for 5 years, but it has provided valuable data for nearly 9 years. However, mission guidelines dictated that should one of the spacecraft's three gyroscopes fail, the mission would be terminated and CGRO would be de-orbited. These conditions have recently happened -NASA ** ANS mistakenly reported last week that at the upcoming AMSAT-UK Colloquium unpresented papers would be presented at the Colloquium in the original author's absence. This is not correct. The Colloquium will accept unpresented papers but they will not be presented. Unpresented papers will (however) be included in the Proceedings document. ANS is sorry for any confusion this may have caused. -NN0DJ ** The Space Shuttle Atlantis has started the roll out to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. The 3-mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building will mark a major milestone in the final preparations for launch of the next Shuttle mission, STS-101, currently targeted for a date no-earlier-than April 17, 2000. -NASA ** Our skies could soon be home to special airships able to provide local and regional telecommunication services, Earth observation services, along with atmospheric and astronomical observations. The European Space Agency, together with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany, Lindstrand Balloons Ltd. of the United Kingdom and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, have completed a first assessment of a concept for High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) aerostatic craft. Positioned in the stratosphere in a region of space where no aircraft or satellites fly and with an operational lifetime ranging from months to years, this may be an interesting opportunity for Amateur Radio transponders (says NN0DJ)! -ESA ** Kimio, JA9BOH, is now on his way back to Japan and has supplied both pictures of his 8J1 QTH along with tapes of EME signals heard or worked as 8J1RL. In addition, the AO-10 antennas and operating shack is featured. Mike, VK2FLR, has placed this information on the web at the following URL: http://www.minecost.com/hamstuff/8j1rl/8j1rl.htm. -Mike, VK2FLR ** Near Space Balloon Group's Orion capsule (N3KKM-11) launched recently from Edgerton, Kansas reached a maximum altitude of over 98,000 feet. The payload was found later in a clearing 153 miles from the launch point and about 1 mile in from the nearest road. The onboard simplex voice repeater was used from North Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illionis, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. -Bill, N3KKM ** Some doorstep astronomy from ANS: Have you been watching the Big Dipper yet this spring? Look for it high in the northeast during most evenings; it's standing upright on its bent handle. Its top two stars, the Pointers, point lower left toward Polaris, the rather dim North Star. -S&T --ANS BULLETIN END--- /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.05 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 1 AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-086.05 RADIO SPORT RS-13 Uplink 21.260 to 21.300 MHz CW/SSB Uplink 145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 29.460 to 29.500 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB Beacon 29.458 MHz Robot Uplink 145.840 MHz Robot Downlink 29.504 MHz Operational, in mode-KA with a 10-meter downlink and a 15-meter and 2-meter uplink. AC5DK's RS-12/13 Satellite Operators Page: http://www.qsl.net/ac5dk/rs1213/rs1213.html RADIO SPORT RS-15 Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB Beacon 29.352 MHz (intermittent) SSB meeting frequency 29.380 MHz (unofficial) Semi-operational, mode-A, using a 2-meter uplink and a 10-meter downlink. Mike, N1JEZ, reports RS-15 is currently operating with an active beacon, but it's an unmodulated carrier on for 5 seconds then off for 2 seconds, continually repeating the cycle. The transponder is only active when the beacon is on! Despite this Mike reports downlink signals were S-3 to S-5. Dave, WB6LLO, has operating information for both RS-15 and RS-13 on his web site. In addition to satellite data, antenna information for mode-A operation is also featured. The WB6LLO web site URL is: http://home.san.rr.com/doguimont/uploads OSCAR 10 AO-10 Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB Beacon 145.810 MHz (unmodulated carrier) Semi-operational, mode-B. AO-10 has been locked into a 70-cm uplink and a 2-meter downlink for several years. DX continues to be worked (and heard) on AO-10. W4SM has more information about the satellite at the following URL: http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html [ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM, for his AO-10 status information and web site] AMRAD AO-27 Uplink 145.850 MHz FM Downlink 436.795 MHz FM Operational, mode J. Tony, W7EWC, tells ANS he plans to be active on AO-27 from the Bahamas as W7EWC/C6A during the entire month of March. An AO-27 question-and-answer page is available on the AMSAT-NA web site. Ray, W2RS, recently updated the information. The URL is: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/intro/ao27faq.html AO-27 uses a method called Timed Eclipse Power Regulation (TEPR) to regulate the on-board batteries. In simple terms, TEPR times how long the satellite has been in an eclipse (or in the sun) and decides what subsystems to turn on or off. The AO-27 pages on the AMSAT-NA web site include an explanation of AO-27 operations (at): http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/ao27.html Chuck, KM4NZ, recently reset the TEPR states on AO-27 (on 03/19/2000). TEPR 4 is 28 - TEPR 5 is 64 [ANS thanks Chuck Wyrick, KM4NZ, and Michael Wyrick, N4USI, for AO-27 information] UO-14 Uplink 145.975 MHz FM Downlink 435.070 MHz FM Operational, mode J. Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO reported on the AMSAT bulletin board that UO-14 --launched in January 1990-- spent its first 18 months in orbit operating as an Amateur Radio store-and-forward satellite. It was then switched for use by Volunteers in Technical Assistance, who used it for medical messaging into Africa. "Since the computer which is used for store-and-forward communications is no longer able to perform that task, UO-14 is no longer usable in this mode," reported G7UPN. "It is, however, possible to use the satellite as a single-channel FM voice repeater, and I have configured the satellite to do this." Tim, KG8OC, has updated the Michigan AMSAT Information Site with UO-14 information, point your web browser to the following URL: http://www.qsl.net/kg8oc [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, for UO-14 information] SUNSAT SO-35 Operational. SunSat has been in mode-B (FM) using an uplink of 436.291 MHz (+/- doppler) and a 145.825 MHz downlink. SunSat was launched February 23, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, recently celebrating its first year in orbit. The SunSat package includes 1200 and 9600 baud digital store-and-forward capability and a voice 'parrot' repeater system that will be used primarily for educational demonstrations. The satellite has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive systems. Due to an improvement in its power budget, SunSat's Mode B repeater will now also be enabled on most weekday evenings (except Monday). A schedule of the active passes can be found at: http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za/ham1.htm GPS data is currently collected on Mondays. It takes as much as twelve hours to fully recover the state of charge after these experiments. For more information on SunSat, visit the following URL: http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za A summary of the active modes and frequency allocations for SunSat is available at the following URL: http://esl.ee.sun.ac.za/~lochner/sunsat/modes.html [ANS thanks Garth Milne ZR1AFH, for this information] JAS-1b FO-20 Uplink 145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB Operational. FO-20 is in mode JA continuously. JAS-1b (FO-20) was launched in February 1990 and continues to function quite well. [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for the FO-20 status reports] JAS-2 FO-29 Voice/CW Mode JA Uplink 145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB Operational, rotated with digital mode and digi-talker. JAS-2 was successfully launched on August 17, 1996, by an H-II launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center. Mineo, JE9PEL, recently downloaded FO-29 telemetry and reported the results on the AMSAT-BB. Digital Mode JD Uplink 145.850 145.870 145.910 MHz FM Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK Digitalker 435.910 MHz Operational, rotated with analog mode and digi-talker. Mike, KF4FDJ, has put together a very informative document on FO-29, addressing analog, digital and digi-talker modes. To obtain a copy e-mail Mike at: kf4fdj@amsat.org Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the FO-29 operational schedule (announced by the JARL) is as follows: March 25-April 2nd - JA Mineo, JE9PEL, has updated his FO-29 satellite telemetry analysis program. The software will automatically analyze all digital telemetry from the satellite such as current, voltage and temperature. The JE9PEL FO-29/software update is available at: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for the FO-29 status reports] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 2 AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-086.06 KITSAT KO-23 Uplink 145.900 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK Downlink 435.175 MHz FM Operational. AA7KC reports KO-23 was non-operational for a brief period. Jim says KO-23 left the air with the last data received on 3/23/00. Mike, N1JEZ, reports that KO-23 was back in action at 11:20 UTC on 03/27/00. KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, reports (from the KO-23 control team) that part of the problem with non-operation has been the power budget aboard the satellite. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, and KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, for KO-23 status information] KITSAT KO-25 Uplink 145.980 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK Downlink 436.500 MHz FM Operational. Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-25 is operational "and receiving a good amount of traffic with a high downlink efficiency." [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for KO-25 status information] UOSAT UO-22 Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK Downlink 435.120 MHz FM Operational. Chris Jackson, G7UPN, reports to ANS that UO-22 has now entered full sunlight and the temperatures have increased considerably. Controllers have turned the satellite upside down to point the critical systems to cold space. This has reduced the temperature on various systems (such as the batteries) by between 5 and 10 degrees. The unfortunate by-product of this is that the downlink is now quite weak. The satellite will remain in full sunlight until late March, when controllers will turn it back 'over' again. According to G7UPN "over the next few years this situation will become worse as the no-eclipse periods become longer." Only the 145.900 MHz receiver is usable for communications at the moment. More information on the satellite is available at the following URL: http://www.sstl.co.uk/ [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for UO-22 status information] OSCAR-11 Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 baud AFSK Mode-S Beacon 2401.500 MHz Operational. OSCAR-11 celebrated its sixteenth birthday on March 1, 2000. During the period of 15-February to 16-March - good signals have been received from the 145 MHz beacon. Battery voltage during daylight passes has been unchanged. The average DC value observed was 13.8 volts, with a range of 13.4 to 14.1 volts. The internal satellite temperatures have decreased by one degree Celsius. They are now 3.8C and 2.2C for battery and telemetry electronics respectively. A single WOD survey of channels 10, 20, 30 and 40 has been transmitted. The operating schedule is as follows: 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 active amateur radio satellites. More information on OSCAR-11 is available at the following URL: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ [ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for OSCAR-11 status information] LUSAT LO-19 Uplink 145.84 145.86 145.88 145.90 MHz FM using 1200 baud Manchester FSK CW downlink 437.125 MHz Digital downlink 437.150 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK Currently semi-operational. The CW beacon is sending eight telemetry channels and one status channel. Currently, no BBS service is available. The digipeater is active. Mineo, JE9PEL, has recorded LO-19 CW and PSK telemetry and placed the information on his Internet homepage site at: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ General information and telemetry samples can be found at: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/lo19.htm [ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for LO-19 status information] PACSAT AO-16 Uplink 145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM using 1200 baud Manchester FSK Downlink 437.025 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK Mode-S Beacon 2401.1428 MHz Semi-operational. Russ, WJ9F, reports ground stations are currently running memory Test software on the satellite. In addition to the memory testing, the spacecraft spin rate around the vertical (Z) axis has created a less than ideal condition for battery charging. The S-band transmitter is currently off. Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the AO-16 signal is weaker than before but perfectly decodable. The JJ1WTK spin rate measurement is also on going. The current spin rate is about 18 revolutions per minute. General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu A complete collection of WOD graphics corresponding to the year of 1998 can be found at: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/wod1998.zip [ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for AO-16 status information] TMSAT-1 TO-31 Uplink 145.925 MHz 9600 baud FSK Downlink 436.925 MHz 9600 baud FSK Operational. ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits the processing of image files from TO-31. It has been posted to the AMSAT-NA FTP site at the following URL: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/wisp Many of the high-resolution color images transmitted by TMSAT are compressed using a UoSAT compression format. This format is supported by the VK5HI CCD display program. [ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for TO-31 status information] UoSAT-12 UO-36 Uplink 145.960 MHz 9600 baud FSK Downlink 437.025 MHz 437.400 MHz UoSAT-12 was successfully launched on April 21, 1999 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome. UO-36 carries a number of imaging payloads, digital store-and-forward communications and mode L/S transponders. The BBS is open, although uploading may be disabled at times. UO-36 ground control finished Merlion operations recently with limited coverage over the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The operations generated a carrier at about 1-watt of power on 2401 MHz. The VK5HI viewer shareware is available on the AMSAT-NA web site at the following URL: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/display/ccddsp97-119.zip Further information on UO-36 is available from: http://www.sstl.co.uk/ [ANS thanks Chris G7UPN/ZL2TPO, and the University of Surrey for this information] ITAMSAT IO-26 Uplink 145.875 145.900 145.925 145.950 MHz FM 1200 baud Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB Semi-operational, the digipeater function is on. IO-26 was launched on the September 26, 1993. Alberto, I2KBD, reports IO-26 has been opened to APRS use. [ANS thanks ITAMSAT Project Manager Alberto E. Zagni, I2KBD, for this information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 3 AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-086.07 THE FOLLOWING ARE IN ORBIT BUT ARE NON-OPERATIONAL AT THIS TIME: RADIO SPORT RS-12 Uplink 21.210 to 21.250 MHz CW/SSB Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 29.410 to 29.450 MHz CW/SSB Downlink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Beacon 29.408 MHz Robot Uplink 21.129 MHz Robot Downlink 29.454 MHz Non-operational. No operation in 2000 has been observed. TECHSAT-1B GO-32 Downlink 435.225 MHz using HDLC telemetry Efforts were reported to be underway to bring GO-32 on line, however no additional information has been received by ANS (the last report was dated November 1999). The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998. Last reported, the satellite does not have a continuos beacon, but does transmit a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for a continuous 3 seconds in length), on 435.225 MHz. The TechSat team has constructed a home page about TechSat. To view the site, point your web browser to: http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/ PANSAT PO-34 Uplink/downlink frequencies have never been released. The satellite is not currently available for general uplink transmissions. PanSat, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched from the shuttle Discovery (during STS-95) on October 29, 1998. At the time of launch, PanSat spread-spectrum digital transponders were promised to be available to Amateur Radio operators along with software to utilize this technology. To date, this has not happened. For more information, visit the official PanSat web site at: http://www.sp.nps.navy.mil/pansat/ PanSat was the featured cover article on the July/August 1999 issue of the AMSAT-NA Journal (written by KD6DRA and N7HPR). [ANS thanks Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, for this information] MIR SPACE STATION Ham radio activity aboard the Mir space station came to a close on August 28, 1999 as the crew returned to Earth, leaving the station unmanned. Mir is in a stable orbit with only essential systems running. All Amateur Radio activities have ceased. Current Amateur Radio equipment aboard Mir includes: MIR SAFEX II 70-cm Repeater Uplink 435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz Downlink 437.950 MHz FM Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed. MIR SAFEX II 70-cm QSO Mode Uplink 435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz Downlink 437.925 MHz FM Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed. MIR PERSONAL MESSAGE SYSTEM (PMS) Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK Not operational. DOVE DO-17 Downlink 145.825 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK 2401.220 MHz Non-operational. DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not responded to ground station control. No additional information is available at this time. WEBERSAT WO-18 Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB 1200 baud PSK AX.25 Non-operational. WO-18 is reported to be in MBL mode after a software crash. No additional information is available at this time. SEDSAT-1 SO-33 Downlink 437.910 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions and image and transponder recovery efforts have been unsuccessful. SedSat-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite number one, was successfully launched and placed in orbit on Saturday, October 24, 1998. SedSat-1 has downlinked months worth of telemetry data on the performance of its electrical power system parameters. The Nickel Metal Hydride batteries on the spacecraft were experimental and experienced some abuse due to a power negative situation. This information has provided NASA with useful information. With the exception of the imaging system and the use of the transponders, SedSat-1 has been judged a success. For more information on SedSat-1 visit the satellite web site at the following URL: http://www.seds.org/sedsat No additional information is available at this time. /EX