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[jamsat-news:953] * SpaceNews 26-Oct-98 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1026
* SpaceNews 26-Oct-98 *
BID: $SPC1026
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY OCTOBER 26, 1998
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.
* SEDSAT-1 LAUNCHED *
=====================
A new amateur radio satellite was launched as a secondary payload along
with NASA's Deep Space 1 probe on a Delta 2 rocket from the Kennedy Space
Center at 12:08:00.502 UTC on Saturday 1998-Oct-24. Chris Lewicki, KC7NYV,
SEDSAT Program Manager, reported that the SEDSAT-1 ground station crew at
the University of Arizona in Tucson had a number of problems during the
satellite's first pass over the ground station, but the satellite team in
Florida had audio confirmation of telemetry sometime later in the duration
of their pass.
On the second orbit, the team in Tucson was able to verify the audio of the
SEDSAT heartbeat, but weren't able to decode the digital telemetry other
than the packets similar to the following (the first packet received and
decoded):
SEDSAT-1*>TIME-1:
Uptime is 000/01:48:01
By this time, the team in Florida no longer had radio access and Chris Bond
suggested a mode change to KISS on the TNC, and on the third pass the team
successfully received the full heartbeat and decoded it to reveal that the
satellite was operating at a nominal main voltage, reasonable temperatures,
sucessfull bootups of various processes, but slightly more power drained than
expected.
The following two-line element set can be used to track SEDSAT-1, although
the AOS and LOS times are reported to be in error of about 50 seconds. The
object number may also change.
SEDSAT 1
1 25507U 9860B 98297.56693868 .00000215 00000-0 00000-0 0 32
2 25507 31.4370 33.8868 0360000 250.2325 171.5630 14.23776070 14
9600 baud FSK telemetry has been copied by Rick, KB0VBZ, between 437.925 MHz
and 437.905 MHz.
The satellite contains both Mode A and a Mode L linear communication
transponders in addition to earth imaging equipment. The approximate
frequencies for each transponder as reported in the past by Dr. Mark Maier
are as follows:
Mode-L
Uplink 1268.175 to 1268.250 MHz
Downlink 437.850 to 438.000 MHz
FSK, 9600 baud
Mode-A
Uplink 145.915 to 145.975 MHz
Downlink 29.350 to 29.420 MHz
An internet web page describing SEDSAT-1 may be accessed at the following URL:
http://www.seds.org/sedsat
* TECHSAT-1 NEWS *
==================
4X1AS has reported through G3RWL that the TECHSAT-1 command team has a
manpower problem in that only several people are currently working on
commissioning the satellite for general use. One key player recently
went on a two week holiday and has not yet returned after one month's time.
Some problems with satellite's operational software were also reported.
Some code re-writing is taking place, and work on a 5 megabyte telemetry
program is also reportedly underway.
[Info via Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL]
* 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
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Internet : kd2bd@amsat.org | Voice : +1.732.224.2948
Satellite : AO-16, LO-19, KO-25 | Morse : -.- -.. ..--- -... -..
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