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[jamsat-news:1004] * SpaceNews 11-Jan-99 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0111
* SpaceNews 11-Jan-99 *
BID: $SPC0111
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY JANUARY 11, 1998
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.
* SUNSAT LAUNCH NEWS *
======================
South Africa's first satellite, SUNSAT, will be launched on
1999-Jan-14 from Van den Berg Airforce Base, California. Live
coverage will be broadcast by ZS6SRL on shortwave and various
Amateur frequencies. The shortwave broadcast will run from 10:00 UTC
until 11:30 on the following frequencies:
31 meters 9525 kHz 100 kW Omni Directional antenna
16 meters 17870 kHz 250 kW beamed 19 degrees
13 meters 21530 kHz 500 kW beamed 340 degrees
SUNSAT was built by students at the University of Stellenbosch who have
done the detailed design and software development, while system level
design was carried out by lecturers, some of whom have studied at the
Universities of Surrey, Stanford and MIT.
SUNSAT has several payloads with two of the focus areas on Amateur
Radio and School Science projects. In addition, SUNSAT will carry
experiments for NASA as well as an experimental pushbroom earth
imaging camera.
The transmission will carry background interviews and live coverage
from the launch site.
The basic Amateur payload carried on SUNSAT will include the following:
* Two meter FM Parrot Repeater - This unit will operate on 145.825 MHz
using NBFM voice with 3 kHz peak deviation
* 1200 Baud packet radio capability AFSK store and forward mailbox
* 9600 Baud (G3RUH) packet capability FSK store and forward mailbox
Radio clubs in South Africa who would like an audio feed of the launch
program to retransmit on their local repeaters should send their
requests to sarlnews@intekom.co.za or by fax to 031 765-6456 before
1999-Jan-10.
[Info via SARL News and Eric Rosenberg]
* OSCAR-10 DATA *
=================
The following updated Keplerian orbital elements have been provided by
Stacey Mills, W4SM:
Satellite: AO-10
Catalog number: 14129
Epoch time: 99006.12821000
Element set: 003
Inclination: 27.343 deg
RA of node: 49.882 deg
Eccentricity: 0.60113
Arg of perigee: 279.883 deg
Mean anomaly: 68.131 deg
Mean motion: 2.05837888 rev/day
Decay rate: 0.0 rev/day^2
Epoch rev: 11705
Checksum: 240
AO-10
1 14129U 00 0 0 99006.12821000 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0031
2 14129 027.3430 049.8820 6011300 279.8830 068.1310 02.05837888117059
* 1999 SIDERIAL TIME CONSTANT *
===============================
I forgot to mention this last week, but the siderial time constant
for 1999 is: 0.275613. This constant is needed by some old satellite
tracking programs.
* KITSAT-OSCAR-23 NEWS *
========================
Spacecraft controller report that KITSAT-OSCAR-23's TX0 transmitter
"tripped" recently for unknown reasons. It should be back on the air
as this issue goes to press.
* SPUTNIK-41/RS-18 DECAY *
==========================
Ken, N1WED pointed out that the Goddard Space Flight Center's Sixty Day
Decay Forecast Report dated 1998-Dec-21 indicated that Sputnik-41/RS-18
was to re-enter the earth's atmosphere on 1999-Jan-07.
* MIR/APRS SCHOOL CLUB ROUNDUP *
================================
The annual ARRL School Club Roundup (SCR) event runs from 8 to 13
Feb 1999 and has the objective to get as many SCHOOLS on the air as
possible (all bands all modes). Coincidentally, the Space station MIR's
orbit during that week is over the USA during school hours and so makes
an ideal opportunity for the students to participate in satellite
communications as well.
As part of the ongoing APRS/MIR/School experiments, MIREX's Dr. Larsen
has endorsed the maximum participation of all schools to use the MIR
digipeater to exchange communications between schools during this week
long event (do not connect to MIR). APRS style (UI) operations can handle
as many as 100 stations per pass, so any school with a 2 meter FM radio,
omni whip antenna and a TNC should be successful on 145.985 MHz. The
APRS/MIR portion of this event is NOT A CONTEST, but an opportunity
for students and schools to learn about space communications.
Everyone is encouraged to contact a local school science teacher and
schedule a time period during that week when you can help set up and/or
operate a school club station. Even if you cannot transmit for some
reason, the LIVE MIR downlink is always visible on the Naval Academy's
MIREX web page:
http://web.usna.mil/~bruninga/mirex.html
This page shows the results of last years APRS/MIR testing and will be
updated with specific details about the SCR event (if any).
The ARRL School Club Roundup contest is described on page 92 of QST
January, 1999 or see http://www.arrl.org/contests.
[Info via Bob, WB4APR]
* THANKS! *
===========
Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation for SpaceNews,
especially:
N2GJ RW3DZ G3IOR ZS6OUN N8UAD EI9ESB TG9SO
* 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
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