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[jamsat-news:651] * SpaceNews 29-Sep-97 *

SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0929
* SpaceNews 29-Sep-97 *


BID: $SPC0929


			       =========
			       SpaceNews
			       =========


			MONDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 1997


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.



* MIR/ATLANTIS DOCKING SUCCESSFUL *
===================================
Space Shuttle "Atlantis" successfully docked with the Mir space station on
27-Sep-97.  Astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, will return to the US on Atlantis,
and his work on Mir will be continued by Astronaut Dave Wolf, who was brought
to Mir by the Space Shuttle.  In addition to exchanging crew members, the
docking mission also transferred supplies between both spacecraft.

The nighttime launch of Atlantis was visible to many living along the east
coast of the United States on the evening of 25-Sep-97 (26-Sep-97 UTC).
Main engine cutoff (MECO) appeared to occur just off the east coast of
New Jersey.


* RS-12 IN MODE A *
===================
The RS-12 satellite has switched its transponder to Mode A (145.910 MHz to
145.950 MHz up, 29.410 MHz to 29.450 MHz down.


* SINGLE YAGI EME *
===================
On the morning of 21-Sep-97, Dave Blaschke, W5UN, and Graham Daubney,
F/G8MBI, achieved the first single-yagi to single-yagi EME QSO in history.
Ths historic contact took place on 144.028 MHz.

W5UN used an old KLM 17LBX antenna (one of the few that survived the
destruction of a tornado when part of his first array) and F/G8MBI used
one of Mike Stahl's 2M-8WLs.  Both stations were running maximum
legal power and neither employed ground gain.  Success was achieved
on the third schedule attempt.

Congratulations to both on this historic achievement.

[Info via Ray, W2RS]


* SPUTNIK SPECIAL EVENT *
=========================
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, MX1ASE and
GX0AUK will be on voice mode for 24 hours on all available satellites
starting on Saturday 04-Oct-97.  Operations will continue as time permits
until 2359 UTC on 03-Oct-97, the 40th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 2.

Joining the event will be Leo Labutin, UA3CR, and Andy Miranov, RK3KPK, from
the Russian Satellite Ground Station near Moscow.  Andy will be active on the
RS birds using CW, and Leo will be active on both voice and CW on FO-20 and
FO-29.  Organizers thank the JARL for their help in switching FO-29 to Mode JA
on Saturday 04-Oct-97 for the event.

Prefered downlinks for the event are as follows.  On:

	AO-10:  	145.910 MHz
	RS-12:  	145.910/29.430 MHz
	RS-15:  	29.370 MHz
	FO-20/29:	435.860 MHz
	AO-27:		436.800 MHz

Stations participating in the special event will call "CQ SPUTNIK".

A contact with any of the participating calls and you can apply for a
limited edition Anniversary Award Certificate.  The certificate is A4
in size, printed in color, and endorsed with your name or callsign.

Applications may be obtained from:

	John Heath, G7HIA
	Chestnuts
	Desford Lane
	Kirkby Mallory
	Leicestershire LE9 7QF
	ENGLAND

Please e-mail John at 100675.3601@compuserve.com for details.


[Info via John Heath, G7HIA]


* ARIANE 5 LAUNCH DELAY *
=========================
An Orbital Report On-Line special report dated 24-Sep-97 reports that the
second Ariane 5 qualification flight (L502 vehicle/V101 flight) has been
postponed to 15-Oct-97 at the earliest.  The launch campaign will be put
on hold on 26-Sep-97 and resume 7 days before launch with the propellant
filling of the Storable Propellant upper Stage (EPS).  The launcher,
already fully integrated in Kourou, is ready for the final phase of
the launch campaign.

This 2-week delay is required to complete the qualification of the vehicle's
flight software.  Moreover, simulations have shown that oscillations might
appear in the Vulcain engine's Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system and
increase the consumption of hydraulic fluid by the actuators.

There is little concern regarding actual early depletion of the hydraulic
fluid reserve during flight but in some scenarios, these oscillations could
cause the consumption to exceed the large margins specifically set for this
qualification flight.  These margins should be eased on future commercial
missions.

CNES, the French space agency, and the European Space Agency are currently
reviewing the computational model used for the simulation.  If the risk of
oscillations is assessed, a filter might be introduced in the electronics
of the Vulcain's TVC system in order to suppress unwanted oscillations.
This modification would require additional qualification tests and could
result in an additional one to two-week delay.

[Info via the Orbital On-Line Report]


* KO-23 NEWS *
==============
The KITSAT-OSCAR-23 satellite is currently experiencing some heat-induced
signal distortion of its downlink signal.  The spacecraft is currently in
full sunlight, and eclipses will not begin again until 08-Oct-97.  Until
that time, many groundstations will experience difficulty copying KO-23's
9600 bit per second downlink signal.

[Info via Stacy E. Mills, M.D. (W4SM)]


* ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 NEWS *
=========================
Following the summer holidays, the ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 satellite was returned
to the air.  Controllers will try to load BBS software on the satellite
soon.  In the meantime, the satellite is transmitting the following beacon
message (using 1200 bps BPSK):

	*** 26th September 1997 *** Happy birthday ITAMSAT!
	Today IO-26 is 4 years old and all sub-systems are OK
	Best wishes from the IT-AMSAT team


[Info via Daniele, IK2XRO, and Piercarlo, IW2EGC, of the ITAMSAT Command Team]


* MIR FREQUENCY CHANGE NEWS *
=============================
The MIREX three week 70-cm experiment was very successful.  The experiment
ran from 08-Sep-97 through 28-Sep-97, and MIREX was able to gather some
interesting data as a result of the experiment.  Mir PMS and voice operations
have now returned to 145.985 MHz simplex FM.  Some preliminary results have
concluded that the Mir crew did not experience any interference caused by
other equipment on Mir to the 70-cm Amateur Radio Station.  Over 110
different stations from around the world successfully contacted the
Mir PMS while it was active on the 70-cm band.  70-cm transmissions from
Mir did not appear to cause any interference to any equipment on Mir,
and simple groundstations were proven to be able to contact Mir on
voice provided that adjustments for Doppler shift were made on the
ground.

More information will be made available once survey data from groundstations
who attempted contact with Mir on 70-cm is compiled.

[Info via Miles Mann, WF1F]


* 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, LUSAT-OSCAR-19, KITSAT-OSCAR-25


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