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[jamsat-news:1341] * SpaceNews 02-Oct-00 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1002
* SpaceNews 02-Oct-00 *
BID: $SPC1002
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY OCTOBER 2, 2000
* NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES IN ORBIT *
===================================
New Saudi, Italian, and Malaysian Amataur radio satellites were launched
on 26-Sep-00 at 10:05 UTC.
Over the past weekend, controllers have been detumbling the Malaysian
TiungSat satellite to prepare it for nadir stabilization.
The first payload was activated on Friday. This was the CEDEX payload for
gathering radiation data, and is very similar to the CEDEX developped for
P3D (actually the P3D CEDEX was developped first, and the TiungSat CEDEX
is the next revision). Once the attitude is stabilized, further payload
testing will be completed.
The downlink frequency is 437.325 MHz. Note that the object number seems
to have changed recently to 26546 (from 26548). This is normal following
a launch as NASA doesn't know what the spacecraft are.
A number of reports have been received from Amateur radio operators who
copied signals from TIUNGSAT-1 shortly after launch. The satellite was
heard transmitting telemetry data at 9600 baud using FSK and the AX.25
protocol.
Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, reported having success by tracking TIUNGSAT-1 using
the following 2-line Keplerian data element set:
UNK
1 26548U 00057D 00270.88684091 .00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 35
2 26548 64.5565 190.2492 0008527 92.0809 268.1214 14.75411801 56
Both the Saudisat birds have been turned on and are running their initial
housekeeping tasks. Please note that the downlinks are on only when the
spacecraft are over ground stations that are participating in the
commissioning process (Riyadh, Washington, DC, and Denver).
Downlinks are as follows:
Saudisat-1: 436.775 MHz
Saudisat-2: 437.075 MHz
9600 baud FSK transmissions are currently taking place on these frequencies.
Reception reports should be directed to Jim White, WD0E, via e-mail at:
wd0e@amsat.org.
[Info via Chris Jackson, G7UPN, and Jim White, WD0E]
* PHASE 3D HALLOWEEN LAUNCH *
=============================
AMSAT-DL Executive Vice President Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, has informed the
AMSAT News Service that an official launch date has now been assigned to
Ariane Flight 507 and the launch of Phase 3D. "Arianespace and AMSAT-DL
are pleased to announce that the official date of launch for Ariane Flight
507, on which P3D will fly, has been brought forward to October 31, 2000,"
said DB2OS, adding, "this is the start of the launch window and is the
first date at which the launch could take place."
Currently, the RUDAK team, the RF team and members of the electronics
team from AMSAT-NA have returned home after completing their work. The
electronics team members from Europe are preparing to leave as this aspect
of the launch preparation work is also complete. Five of the six bays
around the satellite have had their covers installed for the final time
and the sixth bay has been prepared for loading of the satellite fuel.
That task should be completed shortly.
The thermal blanket additions have also been completed. Final tests have
been made on several detectors (such as the sun sensor) and Peter reports
"all is well in this area." At this time the solar cells are being
mounted on the satellite and will be connected to the battery chargers.
Guelzow told ANS that satellite operators planning to use Phase 3D after
launch are reminded that it could be a few months after launch before the
bird is ready for standard operation. Several things will determine this
time frame, including orbit parameters (such as the work that will be needed
to nudge P3D into its final elliptical orbit). DB2OS added, "that satellite
operators worldwide can rest assured that every effort will be made to
initiate operations at the first possible opportunity consistent with
flight operations.'
The launch team has established an Internet web site that includes
photographs of the team preparing the satellite. The visit the site,
point your browser to:
http://www.amsat-dl.org/launch/
[Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service]
* STS-92 ORBITAL DATA *
=======================
The following is the nominal State Vector and Keplerian Elements for Space
Shuttle mission STS-92. The vector data comes from NASA; the Keplerian
Elements that follow were computed from the vector.
This file may be read by VEC2TLE version 9648 to update your Keplerian
Elements text file.
Vector format = 10117
Satellite Name: STS-92
Catalog Number: 99992
Epoch MET: 0.03388303241
0/00:48:47.494 MET
EFG E: 1631791.393471 ft
F: 19762741.827654 ft
G: -9449969.492566 ft
Edot: -16521.230762 ft/s
Fdot: -6592.979646 ft/s
Gdot: -16498.961429 ft/s
ndot/2 (drag): 0.00039546673 rev/day^2
nddt/6: 6.51424E-09 rev/day^3
Bstar: 5.39629E-05 1/Earth Radii
Elset #: 1
Rev @ Epoch: 1.59327298595
Launch Scheduled: 2000-OCT-06 0138:38 UTC
Note that 99992 is a temporary Catalog Number. A permanent Catalog
Number and International Designator will be assigned when STS-92 is
launched.
The following Keplerian elements were computed by VEC2TLE from this
vector, using a 0.5 drag multiplier:
STS-92
1 99992U 00280.10237840 .00039547 65142-8 53963-4 0 11
2 99992 51.5770 294.9715 0068674 8.7269 204.8296 16.00722458 12
VEC2TLE may be downloaded from <http://www.mindspring.com/~n2wwd>.
[Info via Ken Ernandes, N2WWD]
* SUNSAT NEWS *
===============
SUNSAT (SO-35) will be in its Parrot Repeater Mode for voice passes
during the UN World Space Week from 4 to 10 October 2000. In this
mode, SUNSAT continuously cycles through a 10 second recording (single
tone to indicate the start) and playback (double tone) period. The
up and downlinks will both be 145.825 MHz.
At all other times SUNSAT will digipeat AX.25 UI packets in Mode B.
The uplink for both 1200 bit/s and 9600 bit/s data is 436.291 MHz.
Data from both uplinks are digipeated at 9600 bit/s on the 145.825
MHz downlink. Set your unproto paths to SUNSAT or APRSAT.
The complete voice schedule for the next few weeks can be found on
the SUNSAT web page at <http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za/ham.htm>. Please
note that the voice passes just prior to the parrot operations (on
the 2nd and 3rd of October) may also be changed to Mode B (uplink
436.291 MHz, downlink 145.825 MHz). The parrot repeater schedule
follows below. All times are in UTC.
Japan
04/10/2000 09:06
05/10/2000 08:25
06/10/2000 07:45
07/10/2000 08:44
08/10/2000 08:04
09/10/2000 09:03
10/10/2000 08:23
Australasia
04/10/2000 07:46
05/10/2000 07:04
06/10/2000 08:06
07/10/2000 05:46
08/10/2000 08:25
09/10/2000 07:43
10/10/2000 07:01
South-Eastern Asia
04/10/2000 10:54
05/10/2000 11:52
06/10/2000 11:12
07/10/2000 12:11
08/10/2000 11:31
09/10/2000 10:51
10/10/2000 11:49
Southern Africa
04/10/2000 16:04
05/10/2000 15:24
06/10/2000 14:44
07/10/2000 15:42
08/10/2000 15:02
09/10/2000 16:01
10/10/2000 15:21
Europe
04/10/2000 17:22
05/10/2000 16:42
06/10/2000 17:41
07/10/2000 17:01
08/10/2000 18:00
09/10/2000 17:20
10/10/2000 16:39
South America
04/10/2000 21:00
05/10/2000 20:20
06/10/2000 21:18
07/10/2000 20:38
08/10/2000 21:37
09/10/2000 20:57
10/10/2000 20:17
North America
05/10/2000 00:04
05/10/2000 23:24
07/10/2000 00:23
07/10/2000 23:43
09/10/2000 00:42
10/10/2000 00:02
10/10/2000 23:22
[Info via Johann Lochner, ZR1CBC]
* NEW DSP-12 FIRMWARE AVAILABLE *
=================================
Bent Bagger, OZ6BL reports that now is the time to dust of that DSP-12
that is sitting on your shelf and prepare for the upcoming launch of P3D.
Bent has uploaded a modified version of the 400 baud PSK modem for the
DSP-12 to the following URL:
ftp://ftp.tapr.org/dsp/Motorola/dsp56001/dsp-12
The modification consists of a change to the software so that it sends 514
bytes rather than 512 to the listening program. The CRC bytes will be
transmitted to the listening program.
The modified modem has been tested by Stacey Mills, W4SM, and he has this
to say about the modem:
"I burned the new eproms and checked out the 400 baud PSK demodulator with
514 byte capacity. It works very well... Actually, very, very well. In
fact, doing some tests with some 400 baud PSK wave files that I have
generated, having a calibrated background noise, the DSP-12 functioned as
well or better than any other modem I have tested."
The file gce201.zip contains the following files:
READ.ME
GCE.V40 - Executable that may be downloaded to the DSP-12
GCE.B - PROM image for the B-PROM. Checksum: $1900
GCE.D - PROM image for the D-PROM. Checksum: $5000
GCE.F - PROM image for the F-PROM. Checksum: $4900
[Info via Bent Bagger, OZ6BL]
* 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 @ WB2COP.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET: kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE: KITSAT-OSCAR-25
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/EX
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