[jamsat-news:1879] ANS-11 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE

ANS-11

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America,
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a
worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in
designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital
Amateur Radio satellites.


In this edition:
* Space Shuttle Columbia Crew Memorialized On Mars
* AMSAT Awards
* Echo Launch Campaign Status
* Beagle 2 Report Mentions AMSAT
* AO-40 Quick-Status
* ARISS Status
* K6DUE ISS Commemorative Event Certificates


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.01
Space Shuttle Columbia Crew Memorialized On Mars

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.01

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today announced plans to name the landing
site of the Mars Spirit Rover in honor of the astronauts who died in the
tragic accident of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February. The area in the
vast flatland of the Gusev Crater where Spirit landed this weekend will be
called the Columbia Memorial Station.

Since its historic landing, Spirit has been sending extraordinary images of
its new surroundings on the red planet over the past few days. Among them,
an image of a memorial plaque placed on the spacecraft to Columbia's
astronauts and the STS-107 mission.

The plaque is mounted on the back of Spirit's high-gain antenna, a
disc-shaped tool used for communicating directly with Earth. The plaque is
aluminum and approximately six inches in diameter. The memorial plaque was
attached March 28, 2003, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Chris Voorhees and Peter Illsley, Mars
Exploration Rover engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., designed the plaque.

"During this time of great joy for NASA, the Mars Exploration Rover team and
the entire NASA family paused to remember our lost colleagues from the
Columbia mission. To venture into space, into the unknown, is a calling
heard by the bravest, most dedicated individuals," said NASA Administrator
Sean O'Keefe. "As team members gazed at Mars through Spirit's eyes, the
Columbia memorial appeared in images returned to Earth, a fitting tribute to
their own spirit and dedication. Spirit carries the dream of exploration the
brave astronauts of Columbia held in their hearts."

Spirit successfully landed on Mars Jan. 3. It will spend the next three
months exploring the barren landscape to determine if Mars was ever watery
and suitable to sustain life. Spirit's twin, Opportunity, will reach Mars on
Jan. 25 to begin a similar examination of a site on the opposite side of
the planet.

[ANS thanks NASA News for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.02
AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.02

Congrats go out to those that have recently made their very first satellite
QSO. May they have many more years of fun on the satellites.

Bob Koulouris, SV1SWE
Glenn Graf, KB1GUE


Congrats go out to all of the following for earning their Oscar Satellite
Communications Achievement Award.

#391  KB1GUE Glenn Graf     01-Jan-04
#392  N9KQQ  Ted Carlson    07-Jan-04


Congrats also go out to the following for earning their South Africa
Communications Achievement Award.

#US79   N9KQQ Ted Carlson 4-Jan-04

and...finally, Congrats to Emily Clarke, W0EEC, for earning her 3,000th
endorsement to the W4AMI award and to Karl Sandsrtom, K5MAN, for earning his
5,000 W4AMI certificate number 16.

To see all the awards and a list of those earning the awards, visit
http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html

73...Bruce

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.03
Echo Launch Campaign Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.03 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.03

As of 8th January the Echo Launch Campaign had received $46,945, according
to the 'thermometer' on the 'www.amsat.org' web page. The target is
$110,000.
More details can be found at: 'www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/echo/index.html'

[ANS thanks AMSAT.org webmaster for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.04
Beagle 2 Report Mentions AMSAT

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.04

From 'SpaceDaily.com':

'The Monty Python song "always look on the bright side of life" comes to
mind as we contemplate the apparent loss of the Beagle 2 Mars lander. By
now, repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft have failed, and it seems
reasonable to conclude that we will never hear from it.

We have lost much science and adventure along with the lander, but the
Beagle 2 project is more than just the hardware that was deposited on the
surface.  Beagle 2 has been a mission that has been underway for years, and
has generated interesting results throughout its course.

The Beagle 2 team, headed by Professor Colin Pillinger, has pioneered new
ground in developing planetary missions. Their innovations have appeared in
everything from funding strategies to media campaigns. Along the way, they
have recruited individuals ranging from modern artists and pop stars to
amateur spaceflight engineers who have modified devices such as dental
drills for use on Mars.

Some of this maverick engineering has been demonstrated in the past with
small satellite groups such as Amsat, well known for their amateur radio
satellites. But nobody has previously taken such planning all the way to
Mars.'

The full article can be found at:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/beagle2-04b.html

[ANS thanks Peter, VK1KEP, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.05
AO-40 Quick-Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.05 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.05

Actual data from AO-40 telemetry:
2004 Jan 7 / Jan 8
Orbit 1464
ALON/ALAT 341 / 0

The U,L1 -> S2 passbands are now active from MA 20 to 140
Please run low power and stay well clear of the beacon.
Thanks.

[ANS thanks W4SM, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.06
ARISS Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.06 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.06

1. Ohio School Contact Successful:
On January 2, Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio experienced a successful
ARISS contact with astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC.  The Gilmour students asked
12 questions of Foale.  Fifty people were in the audience during the
contact.
At least one newspaper and FOX TV covered the event.

2. Upcoming School Contacts:
The next ARISS contact is scheduled for Armstrong Middle School in  Flint,
Michigan.  The contact will take place January 12, 2004.

3. ARRL Article on Foale's Contacts for Roy Neal, K6DUE, Event:
ARRL published an article entitled, "ISS Commander Gets on the Air with New
Ham Gear," in their weekly ARRL Letter.
See: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/04/0102/

4. ARISS Paper to be Published
ARISS Chairman, Frank Bauer, received an inquiry from the magazine, CQ VHF
to publish the paper written on the Phase 2 Hardware entitled, "Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station- Phase 2 Hardware System."  The
magazine, CQ VHF, is a USA-based Amateur Radio magazine that caters to
Amateur Radio development and operations at VHF frequencies and above.  The
paper and photos were submitted and will be published in the winter edition
of CQ VHF.
To view the paper, see:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/Papers/Phase 2 AGM03Final.pdf

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-11.07
K6DUE ISS Commemorative Event Certificates

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.07 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.07

Astronaut Mike Foale was active during a North America and Europe pass on
Saturday December 6. Numerous ham radio operators in these parts of the
world made contact with Mike Foale or heard the ISS downlink. Those who
heard or worked the ISS qualify for a special ISS Commemorative Certificate.

Instructions on receiving an ISS special event certificate follows:

1) Please send an 9 inch by 12 inch (minimum) envelope for your certificate
with adequate postage or IRCs included. Smaller envelopes will result in
your certificate getting folded (not a pretty sight).

2) Include your name, callsign and whether you worked ISS or heard ISS.

3) Send your QSL/SWL information with the envelope to your ARISS QSL
distributor in your area (Americas, Europe, Japan, or Russia). See the
ARISS Web Page for more details: www.rac.ca/ariss

Please note that this process will take several weeks. The plan is to get a
bulk listing of QSLs/SWLs so that the calls can be added to the certificate
prior to printing. We will then bulk mail these certificates to the QSL
distributors. The distributors will then mail the certificates to you.

[ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, for the above information]

/EX


In addition to regular membership, AMSAT-NA offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to
AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT-NA Office.

AMSAT-NA has developed an on-line volunteer survey, designed to identify the
interests and skills of those who may be available to directly help in
efforts to develop the amateur satellite program. The survey is designed to
be completed and returned on-line, and takes only a few minutes to fill out.
To request the survey, simply send an e-mail request to:
volunteer at amsat.org

73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Dave Johnson, G4DPZ, g4dpz@amsat.org, www.g4dpz.com

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