[jamsat-news:1825] ANS-215 AMSAT Weekly Bulletin

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-215


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:
*  ARISS chairman promoted at NASA
*  NASA Teams with Local Libraries
*  Mars Closing In
*  FCC Hikes Vanity Fee
*  Space Agencies Team Up in Satellite Launch Project
*  Expedition 8 Crew Named
*  Canadian Space Agency Celebrates 1000 Days in Space
*  Canada-U.S. Satellite gets a Triple Brain Transplant
*  Teen Astronomers at Brussels Planetarium Speak via Ham Radio with ISS
*  ARISS Contact Schedule



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.01
ARISS chairman promoted at NASA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.01 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.01

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank
Bauer, KA3HDO, has been promoted to the highest technical rank
accorded a NASA scientist or engineer. Bauer, who works at NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center in Maryland, now is a Special Technical--or ST--in
recognition of his record of exceptional technical achievement in the
field of guidance, navigation and control. Bauer's promotion came
through in time for him to be appointed to the NASA deputy
administrator's new blue ribbon panel, "Alternatives to the Orbital
Space Plane." Bernard Seery, chief of the Mission Engineering and
Systems Analysis Division in the Applied Engineering
and Technology Directorate, said Bauer's new ST rank formally
recognizes him as a lead guidance, navigation and control expert at the
Agency level. ARISS is an international program with participation by
ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]



/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.02
NASA Teams with Local Libraries

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003

To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.02

NASA and the American Library Association have partnered to create a
one-of-a-kind interactive space research exhibit.  This, as part of a
new program called NASA @ your library.

The unique exhibit will tour 120 public libraries in five regions
across the nation for the next two years.  It will feature special
presentations specifically created to expose people of all ages 
to NASA research in the areas of health, home and transportation, 
agriculture and environment, and commerce.

The program was recently launched at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in
Baltimore.  NASA @ your library was created to inspire more
participation at public libraries, raise awareness and encourage 
interest in science.

[ANS thanks Amateur Radio Newsline for the above information.]


/EX




SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.03
Mars Closing In

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.03 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.03

This August, scientists and amateur astronomers will benefit from the
spectacular view of Mars as it appears bigger and brighter than ever
before, revealing its reflective south polar cap and whirling dust
clouds.

On August 27, 2003, the fourth planet from the sun will be less than
55.76 million kilometers (34.65 million miles) away from the Earth. In
comparison to the space between your house and your neighbor's yard,
that may seem like a large distance, but Mars was about five times that
distance from Earth only six months ago.

Although Mars will be closest on August 27, astronomers suggest viewing
the planet earlier, as dust storm season is just beginning on the red
planet and can obstruct a more detailed view.

Mars will not make another neighborly visit this close until 2287.


[ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information.]



/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.04
FCC Hikes Vanity Fee

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.04 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.04

The FCC has announced that the new Amateur Radio vanity call sign
regulatory fee of $16.30 for the 10-year license term will go into
effect September 9. Applicants for amateur vanity call signs will
continue to pay the $14.50 fee per vanity call sign application until
the new fee goes into effect. The FCC says it expects to collect close
to $160,000 from 9800 Amateur Radio vanity call sign applicants during
Fiscal Year 2003. That's up by almost $30,000 and 800 applications from
FY2002.

Further details on the FCC's position and response to amateur requests
to eliminate the fee can be found on  ARRL's website: http://www.arrl.org/


[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]


/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.05
Space Agencies Team Up in Satellite Launch Project

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.05 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.05

Europe's Arianespace, Boeing Launch Services of the United States and
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have signed an agreement that will
enable clients to make emergency use of satellite launchers from any
one of the three companies, Arianespace said Wednesday.

"This alliance will allow each company to continue to sell its
individual launch services and to promote its own launchers," it said
in a statement.

But the agreement, worked out following negotiations in Tokyo and Los
Angeles, also provides a "back-up" in case of technical problems with
one launcher, with clients entitled to seek the immediate services of
either of the other two companies.


[ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information.]



/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.06
Expedition 8 Crew Named

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.06 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003

To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.06

The crew of the International Space Station marked 1,000 days of people
living aboard the station on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the two men who have been training for months to be the next
space-station crew have been assigned to the job officially.

Mike Foale, a British-born American, will serve as commander of the
two-man crew. Russian Alexander Kaleri will be the flight engineer and
the commander of the Russian Soyuz, which will take them to the outpost
Oct. 18.

On the flight, they'll be accompanied by Spaniard Pedro Duque. The
European Space Agency astronaut will visit the station for a few days,
then return to Earth with the current crew, Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu,
who have been aboard since April. They will return in the Soyuz that
took Lu and Malenchenko to the station.

Foale and Kaleri were the backup crew for Lu and Malenchenko. Their
backup crew will be NASA astronaut Bill McArthur, who has been on three
shuttle missions, and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev.


[ANS thanks Florida Today for the above information.]



/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.07
Canadian Space Agency Celebrates 1000 Days in Space

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.07 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.07

July 30th marked the 1000th day of human presence aboard the
International Space Station (ISS), a platform for scientific
experiments and observation of Earth and space.

"The milestone marked by the 1000th day of human presence aboard the
largest international scientific program ever undertaken is testament
of the cooperation of Canada and its partners, the U.S., Russia, Japan
and eleven European countries, helped in no small part by the Canadian
Space Agency," said CSA President Marc Garneau.

Canadian technology is playing a key role in the building of the ISS,
through the use of the Canadarm2 and its mobile base system that allows
it to move around the station. "Dextre" a multi-function two armed
robot when launched in 2005 or later will perform precision ISS
assembly tasks reducing the need for spacewalks by astronauts.



[ANS thanks Canadian Space Agency for the above information.]



/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.08
Canada-U.S. Satellite gets a Triple Brain Transplant

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.08 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.08

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite has been
given a new lease on life following the successful implementation of
new software in three on-board computers controlling the precision
pointing of the telescope.

For the past two years, engineers and scientists at the Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland, at Orbital Sciences Corporation in
Dulles, Virginia, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, and at the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Quebec,
have worked together to change the flight software used for science
observations. The three spacecraft computers - the Attitude Control
System, the Instrument Data System, and the processor on the Fine Error
Sensor (FES) guide camera, provided by the Canadian Space Agency - all
received new software directly in space via up-links established in
mid-April 2003.

FUSE can now operate without gyroscopes with no degradation in science
data quality and only a slight loss of observation scheduling
efficiency. The gyroscopes aboard FUSE do not move the satellite, 
but they provide information on how the spacecraft is moving or 
drifting over time.

[ANS thanks Canadian Space Agency for the above information.]



/EX





SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.09
Teen Astronomers at Brussels Planetarium Speak via Ham Radio with ISS

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.09 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.09

Teenaged members of an amateur astronomers' club enjoyed an opportunity
to speak via ham radio with someone in space July 24. The Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact originated at
Brussels Planetarium, an annex of the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
Contact participants got to ask 13 questions of astronaut Ed Lu,
KC5WKJ, at the controls of NA1SS aboard the ISS. In response to one
youth's question, Lu said he and the Expedition 7 crew commander,
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, get along well in part
because they have been in space together before. Lu said if others were
able to share his and Malenchenko's perspective on Earth the
experience might contribute to world peace.

Handling Earth station duties for the contact was Gerald Klatzko,
ZS6BTD, in Johannesburg, South Africa. An MCI teleconferencing circuit
provided two-way audio between South Africa and the Brussels
Planetarium, where the teenagers and ARISS Vice Chairman Gaston
Bertels, ON4WF, used a speakerphone. MCI also provided streaming audio
to the Web. The planetarium's public address system made contact audio
available for an audience of about 100 people, Bertels said.

Two TV and one radio station covered the event and interviewed the
teenaged astronomers afterward. The Belga press agency also was on
hand. In the planetarium, the participants and those looking on could
see the ISS replicated on the planetarium's hemispheric dome.

ARISS is an international project with participation by ARRL, AMSAT and
NASA.


[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]


/EX





SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.10
ARISS Contact Schedule and Successful School List updated 2003-07-31

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.10 From AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD.  August 9, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-215.10

The International Space School contact this Friday will be on the web.
Go to the announcements page for complete instructions.

Check out Ed Lu's webpage: http://www.edlu.com/

The latest ARISS announcement and successful school list is now
available on the ARISS web site.  Several ways to get there.

Latest ARISS announcements and news can be found at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt

Successful school list is at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf

or
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov

If the GSFC website is having problems, then go directly to the RAC
site.

click on English
you are now at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/
click on News.


[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, for the above information.]



/EX


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This week's ANS Editor:
Scott Lindsey-Stevens, N3ASA
n3asa@amsat.org


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