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[jamsat-news:739] * SpaceNews 12-Jan-98 *


SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0112
* SpaceNews 12-Jan-98 *

BID: $SPC0112

                               =========
                               SpaceNews
                               =========

                        MONDAY JANUARY 12, 1998

SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.

* SPUTNIK-40/RS-17 NEWS *
=========================
Officals report that after operating for 55 days, the Sputnik-40/RS-17
satellite has gone silent.  Sputnik-40/RS-17 was launched by Russian
Cosmonauts from the Space Station Mir on 04-Nov-97, and transmitted
a low-power VHF-FM beacon signal on 145.820 MHz.  The satellite was
built by students, and launched to help celebrate the 40th anniversary
of the launch of the original Sputnik satellite, and the dawn of the
space age.  Sputnik-40/RS-17 continued to operate under lithium battery
power until 29-Dec-97, almost four weeks longer than designers had
anticipated.

* RS-12 NEWS *
==============
Pat, G3IOR, has reported through Ray, W2RS, that the RS-12 satellite has
been placed in Mode KA (2-meters + 15-meters up, 10-meters down).  As a
result of this change, look for increased activity on RS-12, particularly
among groundstations without VHF radio equipment.

G3IOR also reported that RS-12's ROBOT 15-meter uplink suffers from an
unexplained deep signal fade that has a period of about four seconds.
This phenomenon is seen only on through the ROBOT, and not when operating
through the analog transponder.

* STS-89 NEWS *
===============
Ken Ernandes has uploaded STS-89 nominal orbital data to the AMSAT-NA Web
site.  This data represents the initial planned orbit for STS-89 based on
a planned launch time of: 23-Jan-98 at 02:48:16 UTC

The AMSAT Web site data will be updated to reflect any changes to the
planned orbit including those due to changes in the launch time.  As always,
this data will also be maintained during the mission with data reflecting
the actual orbit of the STS-89 spacecraft and the Shuttle/Mir complex.
The AMSAT Web site Shuttle Orbital Data is at:

        http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html

The alternate Web site for Shuttle orbital data is:

        http://www.mindspring.com/~n2wwd

The STS-89 nominal two-line Keplerian elements are:

STS-89
1 99989U          98023.14663194  .00037821  59761-8  88592-4 0    17
2 99989  51.6623  59.5301 0017156 330.4488 219.0071 15.95897611    15

Note that "99989" is a temporary catalog number.  A permanent catalog
number and international designator will be assigned after STS-89 has
actually been launched.

Also, since the Space Shuttle will be launched into a high inclination
orbit during nighttime hours, persons living along the east coast of the
US may have a chance to see the glow of the Shuttle's engines prior to main
engine cutoff (MECO) as it travels in a northerly direction, up the coast.

* MIR NEWS *
============
The following graph by Jean-Claude, FB1RCI depicts the orbital altitude
of the Mir space station based on the Mean Motion of the spacecraft.
An increase in Mean Motion corresponds to a decrease in mean orbital
altitude.  The slow decay in altitude is probably the result of
atmospheric drag.

          TIME ORBIT REVOLUTION (summary)   MIR Complex 16609
                 (Period day = 280/1997 to day = 02/1998)

    revolution/day
          I
 15.5500  I
          I
 15.5600  I
          I
 15.5700  I
          I
 15.5800  I
          I
          I
 15.6000  I-------------------_____________________
          I                                        --------------------
          I
 15.6500  I                                                       Epoch time
          I____x__________x__________x__________x__________x__________x___
              Aug        Sep       Oct         Nov        Dec        Jan

Docking Soyuz TM26, 07-Aug-97
Docking STS-86, 28-Sep-97
Docking Progress M36, 07-Oct-97

* FO-29 NEWS *
==============
The following FUJI-OSCAR-29 transponder operating schedule comes by way
of "JARL News" via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK:

        09-Jan-98 @ 07:14 UTC   Mode JD 1200 bps
        23-Jan-98 @ 08:30 UTC   Mode JA
        30-Jan-98 @ 07:24 UTC   Mode JD 9600 bps
        06-Feb-98 @ 08:00 UTC   Mode JA
        20-Feb-98 @ 07:34 UTC   Digi-talker
        27-Feb-98 @ 08:13 UTC   Mode JA

* 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25

       <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>

/EX

--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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