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[jamsat-news:1243] * SpaceNews 13-Mar-00 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0313
* SpaceNews 13-Mar-00 *
BID: $SPC0313
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY MARCH 13, 2000
* PHASE 3D TENTATIVE LAUNCH *
=============================
AMSAT-DL's Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, broke the exciting Phase 3D news
on February 29th, telling the Amateur Radio satellite community (via the
AMSAT BB) that "it's official" -- the Phase 3D next-generation Amateur
Radio satellite has been tentatively scheduled for launch in late July!
The launch information is included in the Provisional Ariane Launch
Manifest for February through July of this year. The manifest appears
in the February edition of the Arianespace newsletter. The ARRL reports
that if the schedule holds, the Phase 3D satellite would be sent aloft
on Ariane 507, flight V132.
AMSAT-NA President Keith Baker, KB1SF, was delighted with the news,
"slowly but surely, Phase 3-D is moving ever closer to a launch. To
finally see it listed on a launch manifest is a major milestone. Needless
to say, we're most grateful for all the outstanding support we've been
getting from the fine people at Arianespace!" Former AMSAT-NA President
Bill Tynan, W3XO, echoed the statements, adding, "the recent news that
Phase 3D has been designated for launch on AR-507 was indeed gratifying
to all who have waited so long to hear such tidings. As the President
of AMSAT-NA during much of the time the spacecraft was being constructed
at our Orlando facility, I am especially pleased that the hard work of
so many, for so long, is now coming to fruition. I look forward to
meeting many of my friends on Phase 3D once it becomes operational."
The Arianespace manifest identifies the other possible payloads aboard
flight 507 as the PAS-1R (Europe Star) package and the STRV-1C/1D
package.
A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first suitable
Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October. The satellite is now at
the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
More information about the launch can be found at:
http://www.arianespace.com/news_espace.html
[Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service]
* HAM LICENSE ISSUED FOR ISS *
==============================
Members of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
team in the U.S. received word from the Russian team that a Russian station
license has been granted for the ISS Ham Radio station. This license is
valid for all amateur radio hardware that will be located in the Russian
Segment. It will support the operation and use of the ham radio station
in all of the Russian provided segments of ISS. This includes the FGB (or
Zarya) module that is currently on-orbit and the Zvezda Service Module that
is planned for launch this summer.
For more information on the ISS assembly sequence, see:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/index.html
During a recent telephone, AMSAT-RU team member Sergej Samburov, RK3DR,
informed the U.S. Ham Technical Team that the Russian Federation
Communications Oversight Commission has granted a license to operate a
"Ham Radio Station of the Highest Public Usage Category" for the ISS
Russian Segment. The ARISS US team received a copy of the license on
March 2. Since that time, NASA has translated the Russian Cyrillic to
English for the team.
Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-International Administrative Chairman explains
that "This specific license enables the on-orbit ISS crews to operate
all amateur radio modes and bands. It is a critical step in our future
operations of ham radio on ISS. We are excited that the Russian team have
made significant progress and now have our first license in place."
Sergej Samburov explained to the ham team that this license is required
before any ham radio equipment can be installed in the Russian Segment.
The station license call sign is RZ3DZR. It was issued on March 2, 2000
and is valid until March 2, 2005.
The ARISS International team is working on a long term plan for a single,
international ISS station license. This will allow all the international
crew members to operate different hardware that will comprise the ham radio
station in any part of the ISS without third party restrictions in their
country. This was discussed at the ARISS meeting in Surrey, England in
July 1998 and at the IARU Satellite Meeting during the 1999 AMSAT-NA
symposium in San Diego, California. It is also an agenda topic for
the upcoming ARISS meeting that will be held near Amsterdam later this
month. The ARISS team is working with the IARU to develop a long term,
international solution. In the meantime, the team is pursuing licenses in
each of the member countries. The U.S. team will soon apply for a station
license to allow Bill Shepard, KD5GSL, to use the station later this year.
In the meantime, the ARISS team is working with the ISS Space Agency
partners to prepare the crew and hardware for use later this year.
[Info via Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO of the ARISS International Team]
* SEDSAT-1 NEWS *
=================
The SEDSAT team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) would
like to thank everyone for their support of the SEDSAT-1 (SO-33) satellite
program. Suggestions of how this program can be improved are being requested.
The team is evaluating the current status of the entire program. With the
help provided by the many who help gathered SEDSat telemetry, over 18,000
lines of telemetry have been accumulated. The telemetry can be accessed
through the SEDSat database (see the UAH-SEDS website):
http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/
Chris Lewicki dutifully kept the database updated for over a year. He
deserves a great amount of thanks. The solar panel data as well as the
battery data is very useful. A graduate student, Daniel Slosberg, is
currently conducting a comprehensive study of the data. He is studying
the efficiency of the solar panels and the durability of the batteries.
The help provided in gathering the telemetry has greatly helped the
SEDSAT team's ability to accumulate such a great amount of data. They
are looking forward to continued support in gathering the data. Being
that SEDSat has been a fairly successful student built satellite, the
team would like to continue gathering as much of her telemetry as
possible. If you can suggest ways we can achieve this goal, please
let the team know. Although SEDSAT is not receiving TX, her telemetry
package can be received on 437.910 MHz. To be able to decipher the
data, you will need to download the most recent copy of the ground
station software, SGS 20 from:
http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/SGS20.zip
Please see the SEDSAT main page for a more complete description of the
software:
http://uah.seds.org/projects/sedsat/
If you are receiving SEDSAT telemetry, please send it to:
telemetry@seds.org
[Info via Jason Rupert, UAH-SEDS, rupertj@email.uah.edu]
* EUROPEAN SATGATE SOUGHT *
===========================
Andrew, G8TZJ reports that the satgate network is in need of a new satgate
in Europe, in or near Belgium, Holland, Germany or Poland. Ideally, a
satgate should run Wisp and FBB on a single PC or via a LAN between 2 PCs,
so as to be able to automatically transfer packet mail between Wisp and
FBB and your local packet network.
If you are interested or want to know more, please send Andrew a message
via UO-22, KO-25, or by any of the following routes:
Packet: G8TZJ @ GB7FYL.#16.GBR.EU
Email: g8tzj@lancaster.ac.uk
[Info via Andrew, G8TZJ]
* IRIDIUM SERVICE TO CLOSE *
============================
Motorola reported that on Monday, March 6, 2000, Iridium LLC was authorized
to use cash collateral to continue operations through March 17, 2000.
Iridium LLC will continue its efforts to find a qualified buyer. However,
unless a qualified buyer comes forward and provides additional funding by
March 15, 2000, Motorola does not expect Iridium service to be available
after 11:59 PM (EST) on March 17, 2000. In the meantime, Motorola will
continue its support for Iridium LLC, the gateways, service providers,
and all current customers and subscribers.
* 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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