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[jamsat-news:1270] * SpaceNews 15-May-00 *
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
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/EX
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