[jamsat-news:2104] ANS-275

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-275

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.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor@amsat.org


In this edition:

* AMSAT BoD, Annual Meeting, and Eagle Satellite Team Meeting
* SSETI Launch Delay
* ARISS Status
* AMSAT AWARDS This Week
* ISS Status Report
* Solar Eclipse, an eye feast
* Delphi-C3 newsletter available
* Informal MSN Chat Group For ISS and PCSAT2
* Amateur Radio Operators Copy MRO at 14 Million Kilometers Distance

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.01
AMSAT BoD, Annual Meeting, and Eagle Satellite Team Meeting

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.01
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.01

Rick Hambly, W2GPS, AMSAT-NA President, reminds all members that the 2005
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 6th and
ending at noon on Friday, October 7th. The AMSAT Annual Meeting will follow
later on Friday.  An Eagle satellite design team meeting will follow on
Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, October 7th through the 9th. These
are open meetings and all AMSAT members and guests are invited to attend.
We are staying at the Wyndham Pittsburgh Airport Hotel located near the
Pittsburgh International Airport. The phone number of the hotel is
412-788-8800.

[ANS thanks Rick, W2GPS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.02
SSETI Launch Delay

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.02
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.02

Unfortunately, the SSETI team has learned this past week that
they have an INDEFINITE launch delay.

This is due to one of the spacecraft on the launch, "SINAH",
having suffered a significant failure and not being ready to
fly.

Early indications suggest that a delay of at least one month may
be expected, but this has not been confirmed at press time.

The SSETI launch campaign team will make the spacecraft and the
ground support equipment safe and then return to the UK.

This is, of course, very unfortunate, but it is not critical!
The spacecraft can easily wait for the new launch date without
any significant problems, with the SSETI team looking forward to
liftoff and orbit as soon as can be done.

[ANS thanks Graham, UA/G3VZV for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.03
ARISS Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.03
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.03
ARISS Status
September 30, 2005




1.	Upcoming School Contacts with Space Tourist
Space Tourist Greg Olsen will fly with the Expedition 12 crew slated to
launch on October 1. He plans to make three ARISS contacts during his 8
day visit on board the ISS.   The tentative dates and times for these
contacts follow.
On Wednesday, October 5 at 16:58 UTC, Olsen will speak to students at
Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey.  [Note change]-This
contact will not be direct but will be a telebridge via NN1SS.

Students from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York will speak
to the space traveler via the telebridge station,VK5ZAI, in Australia.
The contact is scheduled for Thursday, October 6 at 15:07 UTC.

Olsen will speak to the students at Ridgefield Park High School in
Ridgefield Park, New Jersey via the telebridge station, ZS6BTD, in South
Africa.  The contact will take place on Friday, October 7 at 13:32 UTC.


2.	SuitSat Video

A video covering the SuitSat project is available on the AMSAT website.
See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/videoNews.php

3.	AMSAT 2005 Meetings

The 2005 AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held on Thursday and
Friday, October 6 7 at the Wyndham Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. This
conference will be followed by both the AMSAT Annual Meeting, and the
Eagle satellite team meeting which will be held on Friday afternoon
through Sunday morning, October 7 9.

4.	Astronaut Training Status

Mission Specialist Bob Behnken completed two sessions of amateur radio
training at JSC. He is currently preparing to take his technicianÃÔ exam.

(ANS Thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for this information)

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.04
ARISS Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.04
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.04
ARISS Status
September 27, 2005

This week, congrats go out to all of the following.

Phillip Crawford, W9DQ, Satellite Communication Achievement Award #421
and South Africa AMSAT Satellite Communication Achievement Award #US90

To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com

73...bruce


(ANS Thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, for this information)
/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.05

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.05
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 30, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.05
ISS Status Report
September 30, 2005


*International Space Station Status Report #05-46*
*9 a.m. CDT Friday, Sept. 30, 2005*
*Expedition 11 Crew*

Preparations for arrival of the next crew of the space station,
scientific activities and maintenance highlighted this week's activities
aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John
Phillips also spent some time packing up for their own return home,
readying their launch and entry suits. They checked out the Soyuz
spacecraft that brought them to the station April 16 to make sure it is
ready to take them back to Earth.

The 12th crew of the station, Commander and NASA Science Officer William
McArthur and Valery Tokarev, flight engineer and Soyuz commander, are
scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight
at about 10:55 p.m. CDT. NASA Television coverage of the launch will
begin at 10 p.m.

The new crew is scheduled to dock with the station a little after 12:30
a.m. on Monday. NASA Television coverage of the docking will begin at
11p.m. Sunday.

With the Expedition 12 crew will be spaceflight participant Gregory
Olsen, an American businessman traveling to the station under a contract
with the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will spend about eight days on
the station and return to Earth with Krikalev and Phillips. Their
landing is scheduled for about 8:10 p.m. CDT Oct. 10 on the steppes of
Kazakhstan.

Thursday managers at Mission Control Moscow said launch preparations
were moving along flawlessly. Managers at Mission Control Houston said
the station was ready to receive the new crew.

McArthur and Tokarev will spend the eight days they will share with
their predecessors aboard the station in intensive handover briefings,
learning about the spacecraft's systems, processes, procedures,
scientific experiments, the location of equipment and supplies. In
short, they will be trying to learn all they still need to know before
they begin their months in orbit alone.

Krikalev and Phillips began the week with NASA flight controllers in
Moscow exercising primary mission control. Mission Control Houston and
the rest of Johnson Space Center were closed because of the threat of
Hurricane Rita. Houston flight controllers resumed normal operations at
9 a.m. Monday.

On Tuesday Krikalev and Phillips each spent more than an hour
familiarizing themselves with Olsen's scientific experiments. On
Wednesday they continued preparations for arrival of the new crew, and
on Thursday did predocking tests and more preparation for their own
departure. Phillips regenerated METOX carbon dioxide absorbing
cartridges for U.S. spacesuits. McArthur and Tokarev have a spacewalk
scheduled in those suits in November.

Today's schedule includes maintenance of the Elektron oxygen generating
system, functioning again after Krikalev replaced its liquids unit two
weeks ago.

For information on the crew's activities aboard the station, future
launch dates, and station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the
Earth, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

The next station status report will be issued this evening, after the
Expedition 12 launch.

(ANS Thanks Arthur, N1ORC for this information)

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.06

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.06
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 30, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.06
Solar Eclipse
September 30, 2005


On Monday October 3, 2005, there will be a solar eclipse encompassing
Europe, Asia & most of Africa.  It will start early am and move across
the continents rather quickly.  There are many web sites with exact
information and you should search for them to obtain this data.
These are natural phenomena's that are spectacular and a miraculous
thing to observe. If you are lucky enough to be in this path, you'll
begin to understand what happens when a satellite is in "eclipse!"

(Submitted by Dee, NB2F, thanks.)
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.07
Delfi-C3 Newsletter Available

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.07

The latest edition of the Delfi-C3 Newsletter is available on-line.
Delfi-C3 is a cubesat project being built by aerospace engineering
students and professors at Aerospace Engineering at Delft University
of Technology in the Netherlands.

Interested amateur radio operators can subscribe to the newsletter:
http://www.delfic3.nl/newsletter/

Full coverage of the Delfi-C3 project is on-line at:
http://www.delfic3.nl

[ANS thanks the Delfi-C3 team for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.08
Informal MSN Chat Group For ISS and PCSAT2

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.08
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.08

Cor, PD0RKC, invites amateur radio operators who are interested in
ISS and PCSAT2 activity to join his informal chat group at
http://www.msn.com.

Discussions include ISS activity, trackings-aprs-packet-software,
and ISS news.  For more details about this group contact Cor at his
MSN e-mail address:  isszarya (at) hotmail.com.

[ANS thanks Cor, PD0RKC for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-275.09
Amateur Radio Operators Copy MRO at 14 Million Kilometers Distance

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 275.09
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-275.09

The Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter, presently enroute to Mars in an
interplanetary orbit 14 million kilometers from Earth, activated
its Electra UHF Relay system operating at 437.1 MHz on September 21
and September 22.  Andy, N9AB successfully detected this weak signal
using his amateur radio station and DSP software to perform FFT
analysis.

Andy has written a very nice report on his detection of MRO which can be
found on-line at: http://members.verizon.net/~km1p/N9AB_MRO_Report.pdf

Viktor, OE1VKW reports his success at receiving the MRO at:
http://cacofonix.nt.tuwien.ac.at/~oe1vkw/MRO/rcv22905.htm

[ANS Andy, N9AB, Joe, KM1P, and Viktor, OE1VKW for the above information]

/EX

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
NB2F at amsat dot org
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