SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0515 * SpaceNews 15-May-00 * BID: $SPC0515 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MAY 15, 2000 * STS-101 NEWS * ================ Space Shuttle Atlantis is being prepared for launch to the International Space Station on 18-May-2000 at 10:38 UTC. This will be Atantis' forth launch attempt for this mission, with earlier attempts having been scrubbed due to either poor weather at the launch site or at alternate emergency landing sites. As in the case of the earlier attempts, the Shuttle has only a five minute launch window. If all goes as planned, the Shuttle is expected to dock with the International Space Station on 21-May-2000 at 04:32 UTC, and return to Earth on 29-May-2000 at 06:18 UTC. * NEW OSCAR NUMBERS ASSIGNED * ============================== AMSAT-NA President Keith Baker, KB1SF, recently announced the assignment of several new OSCAR numbers. The new numbers were assigned to the Amateur Radio satellites launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 27, 2000. The launch was aboard an Orbital Sciences Minotaur launch vehicle. OSCAR numbers are issued by AMSAT-NA at the request of Project OSCAR - which built and launched the first Amateur Radio satellites beginning with OSCAR-1 in 1961. In order to qualify for an OSCAR designation, certain specified criteria must be met, the most important of which are set fourth in a document issued by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) - entitled 'Information Paper for Perspective Owners and Operators of Satellites Intended for Operation in the Amateur Satellite Service'. Information on this document is available on the IARU Internet web site and also through a link from the AMSAT-NA web page. The IARU document is based on a similar document published earlier by AMSAT-NA. Other criteria include the need for a written request by the person or organization responsible for the satellite to be submitted to AMSAT-NA. This request must include information about the satellite (such as frequencies and orbit) as well as a statement that the requirements of the IARU document have been and are being met. The following OSCAR information is provided relative to the latest number designations: JAWSAT (which stands for Joint Air Force Weber Satellite), in addition to its own electronic payload, consisted of a structure on which were mounted a number of other spacecraft. These small satellites were ejected from JAWSAT itself. Among these were the several Amateur Radio satellites - which have now received OSCAR numbers. ASUSat, built at Arizona State University, is now also known as Arizona State OSCAR-37, or AO-37. OPAL, built at Stanford University in California, is designated OPAL OSCAR-38, or OO-38. JAWSAT, built at Weber State University in Utah, is designated Weber OSCAR-39, or WO-39. [Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service] * AMSAT-OSCAR-16 NEWS * ======================= Tomas Orzaez Rigo, EB6WQ, reports that he has been active on OSCAR-16, using the satellite as a digipeater, but has not observed much in the way of similar activity. Tomas has been active on late passes over Europe. If anyone is interested in contacting Tomas to set up a schedule, he may be reached by e-mail at: tom@redestb.es [Info via Tomas, EB6WQ] * SPEAKERS SOUGHT * =================== AMSAT-UK's Colloquium at the end of July) is quickly approaching, and there are still vacancies for speakers. One specific subject that some attendees have said they would like to hear about is 38k4-related subjects (how to modify the rig, software, modems, etc.). Guidelines for speakers can be found at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/speakers.htm [Info via Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL (g3rwl@amsat.org)] * FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS * ====================== FO-29's command station has announced that the satellite will stay in Mode JA until Thursday June 8th. The satellite should have been switched into Mode JD 1200 on Monday May 8th according to earlier plans. However, the command station could not change the operation mode of the bird due to the heavy ground QRM. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * FIRST INTERNET NODE IN SPACE * ================================ NASA recently demonstrated the ability to use standard Internet protocols to communicate with an orbiting spacecraft (just like any node on the Internet). Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center working with the Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI) project - have completed the first step in extending Internet access to future spacecraft. AMSAT-NA's Ron Parise, WA4SIR, is one of the driving forces in the project. NASA has been developing this project by working with UoSAT-12, a spacecraft built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL). UoSAT-12 is also known as UO-36 by the Amateur Radio community and carries a number of imaging payloads, digital store-and-forward communications and mode L/S transponders in addition to its commercial payload. Engineers from the GSFC successfully used standard Internet PING packets to communicate with UoSAT-12 through a ground station in Surrey, England. This is the first time that a spacecraft ever had its own Internet address and was a fully compliant active node on the world-wide web. Subsequent tests will expand on the basic network capabilities established and will demonstrate the use of standard Internet applications to support normal spacecraft operations. Automatic spacecraft clock synchronization will be demonstrated using Network Time Protocol (NTP), reliable file transfer will be demonstrated using standard File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and finally, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) will be used to demonstrate automated file store-and-forward. Future tests are planned to incorporate technologies required to support full operational deployment of Internet protocols on future space missions. More information about this new development is available at: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/internet-00l.html [Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service] * SpaceNews NEWS * ================== My apologies for the "sparse" releases of SpaceNews over the past several weeks. Time normally devoted to SpaceNews creation and distribution was deferred to several other writing projects, including articles for "Linux Journal" magazine (Tracking Satellites With PREDICT), "ATV Quarterly" (KD2BD Video Operated Relay), and "Monitoring Times" (Phase 3D: Amateur Radio's Next Generation Satellite). * 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/ MAIL: John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. PACKET: KD2BD @ N2TDU.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