[jamsat-news:3102] ANS-239 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-239

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 at amsat.org

*******************************************************************
* Reminder: Ballots for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Election  *
* are due by mail by the close of business on Sepetember 15, 2012 *
*******************************************************************

In this edition:

* AMSAT 2012 Space Symposium On-Line Registration Opens
* AMSAT 2012 Space Symposium Second Call for Papers
* Rooms Still Available for AMSAT-UK Colloquium
* Successful ARISS Contacts With Australia and Japan
* South Africa University CubeSat With HF Beacon to Launch in November
* Mars Landing Received Signals Recording Posted On-Line
* Check Your Keps - ISS Orbit Successfully Readjusted
* Help Wanted: AMSAT News Service Rotating Editor Positions Available
* NASA Announces SpaceX Cargo Missions to ISS Begin in October
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-239.01
ANS-239 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 239.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 26, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-239.01


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AMSAT 2012 Space Symposium On-Line Registration Opens

AMSAT announces that the registration for the 2012 AMSAT Space 
Symposium, to be held on Friday, October 26th through Sunday, 
October 28th is now open on-line. A mail-in option is also
available those preferring this approach.

See the AMSAT Web Store to complete your on-line registration:
http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ - then click on the "AMSAT 2012 
Symposium" item in the top left box on your web browser.

Downloadable paper registration forms in MS-Word format and 
PDF format are available on the 2012 Symposium page: 
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php

Prices for the Symposium are:
+ Symposium Registration including Proceedings
  o Through September 23, 2012:  $ 45.00
  o Starting September 24, 2012: $ 50.00
  o At the Door:                 $ 55.00

+ Saturday Evening Banquet       $ 45.00

+ Sunday Morning Area Coordinators’ Breakfast $ 15.00

+ Monday (Oct 29) bus trip to KSC and entrance ticket $ 100.00

The Symposium weekend will feature:

+ Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations
+ Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World
+ Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members
+ Meet Board Members and Officers
+ Annual General Membership Meeting
+ Annual Banquet-Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes

The Symposium Hotel is the Holiday Inn at Orlando-International 
Airport is located one mile from the Orlando International Airport 
(MCO). The AMSAT discount rate is $99 + taxes per night. The reser-
vation block code used when calling the hotel directly is AMT.

The hotel telephone number is 407-851-6400. The Symposium Committee 
recommends you make reservations by calling the hotel directly rather
than through the Web. Cutoff date for reservations is Oct 6, 2012. 
The direct link to the hotel web page is: 
http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/orlando/mcoap/hoteldetail 

The hotel offers free Internet connection and free airport shuttle. 
When you arrive at the Orlando Airport call 407-709-5310 to request 
the shuttle.

The Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the closest to the Sympos-
ium and is served by most major air carriers. The hotel address is: 
5750 T.G. Lee Blvd – Orlando, FL 32822. A map link is included on 
the hotel web page.

[ANS thanks the 2012 Symposium Committee for the above information]


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AMSAT 2012 Space Symposium Second Call for Papers

Symposium Proceedings Editor, Dan Schultz, N8FGV issued the second 
Call For Papers for the 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium 
to be held in Orlando, Florida on the weekend of October 26-28, 2012. 

Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presenta-
tions are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite
community:

+ Papers for publication in the Proceedings

+ Symposium Presentations

+ Poster Presentations

+ Equipment and Operating Demonstrations

Dan requests a tentative title of your presentation as soon as poss-
ible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion in 
the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan 
Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv@amsat.org

The Symposium Committee still has prime slots available on the speak-
er's schedule. The AMSAT Symposium depends on YOU to make it happen, 
without speakers there is no Symposium. 

Please consider doing a presentation, even if you have never done 
so in the past. We are especially interested in papers and present-
ations involving our educational partnerships with K-12 and univer-
sity level classrooms. Education is quickly becoming critical for 
our future rides to space.

[ANS thanks 2012 Symposium Proceedings Editor Dan Schultz, N8FGV for
 the above information]


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Rooms Still Available for AMSAT-UK Colloquium

AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim List, G3WGM says, "There are still rooms avail-
able at the hotel at which the AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held on 
September 14, 15 and 16. The location of the Colloquium is at the 
Holiday Inn, Guildford, Surry, UK. TO BE SURE OF A ROOM AT THE HOTEL 
YOU SHOULD BOOK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID DISSAPPOINTMENT!"

The Colloquium is a truly international event and will include:

+ New this year will be guided tours of the new SSTL satellite cons-
  truction facility, the Kepler Building, including a view of the 
  clean rooms. This facility has been open less than a year, and is 
  hugely impressive! Numbers on the tours are limited and strictly 
  first come first served basis. Detailed timings to follow.

+ Presentations by experts from AMSAT-SA, AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-DL on 
  their current spacecraft projects.

+ CubeSat presentations on UKube-1, STRaND-1, STRaND-2 and, of 
  course the FUNcube-1 project.

+ We will be including an exclusive roundup of a number of new live 
  and potential spacecraft projects that are under investigation 
  and/or development.

+ Additionally a number of presentations are planned covering new 
  communications techniques and similar futuristic topics.

+ Plus all  the usual networking opportunities, the gala dinner and 
  auction/raffle, plus the opportunity to operate the sophisticated 
  groundstation in the GB4FUN mobile demonstration module.

Exclusive New Product Launch at AMSAT-UK Colloquium
---------------------------------------------------
AMSAT-UK are delighted to announce that Howard Long, G6LVB, will be 
present at the Colloquium this year and will be launching a new "FUN-
cube Dongle PRO-PLUS" during his presentation. 

Full technical details have been embargoed until his talk and we are 
not permitted to steal his thunder by releasing further details of 
this new product in advance. Attendees at the Colloquium will there-
fore be the first to learn about Howard's latest development which 
will further advance the applications for SDR devices.

Further details are at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/9565#more-9565 - and
at - http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve.

You can book online using PayPal or Credit Card at:
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/catalog/browse 

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim List, G3WGM and Trevor, M5AKA for 
 the above information]


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Successful ARISS Contacts With Australia and Japan

An ARISS contact was held with students at the Kangaroo Inn Area 
School in Kangaroo Inn, South Australia on Tuesday, August 14 via 
station W6SRJ in California. ISS astronaut Sunita Williams, KD5PLB 
participated in the session, answering over 20 questions posed by 
the students. Nearly 90 visitors attended the event, including local 
politician Mitch Williams and his wife, the ABC (Australian Broad-
casting Corporation) radio network, WIN 8 regional TV and represent-
atives from three newspapers. The contact complemented a science 
curriculum covering space and space exploration.

On Thursday, August 16, an ARISS contact was held between students 
attending Wada Elementary School in Nagawa Town, Japan and Akihiko 
Hoshide, KE5DNI, aboard the Space Station, which highlighted a com-
prehensive education plan covering space, astronomy and radio com-
munications. The event drew an audience of approximately 120 students 
and guests and garnered extensive media coverage including six tele-
vision stations and five newspapers.

US East Coast ARISS Contact September 1
---------------------------------------
An ARISS contact with the National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, 
Maryland is planned for Saturday, September 1 at 15:09:11 UTC. This
42° elevation pass with a direct contact via K3CUJ should be heard
along the US East Coast on the 145.800 MHz downlink.

[ANS thanks Carol Jackson, KB3LKI, and Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the 
 above information]


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South Africa University CubeSat With HF Beacon to Launch in November

South African Radio League, SARL News reports that a new CubeSat de-
signed and built by students at the Cape Peninsular University of 
Technology in Bellville will be launched towards the end of November.

Known by its engineering name ZACube-1, the satellite will be shipped 
in the next few weeks to Holland where it will be integrated with two 
other CubeSats in the launch carrier before being shipped for inte-
grating with the DNEPR rocket, joining up to 18 other amateur radio
satellites on this launch. (See: http://www.uk.amsat.org/7717)

ZACube-1 carries a HF transmitter operating on 14.099 MHz which will 
be used for characterization of Hermanus Magnetic Observatory’s Dual 
Auroral Radar Network antenna at SANAE base in Antarctica.

Also aboard ZACube-1 will be a small camera and a telemetry transmit-
ter. Monitor this link at SARL for the audio of an interview with the
satellite's project leader:
http://www.amateurradio.org.za/Amateur%20Radio%20TODAY.htm
SA AMSAT has also posted detailed news at:
http://tinyurl.com/ZACube

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel list these 
frequencies: 
+ Beacon    14.099 MHz 
+ Uplink   145.860 MHz
+ Downlink 437.345 MHz.

[ANS thanks SA AMSAT, SARL, and AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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Mars Landing Received Signals Recording Posted On-Line

An interesting article posted at UniverseToday.com tells more of 
the technical details of the Entry, Descent, Landing (EDL) phase 
when the Curiosity Mars Rover landed on Mars. The article also 
provides a link to the X-band radio signals received during land-
ing.

With a 14 minute radio delay because of the distance between Earth 
and Mars, how did the JPL team know what was happening on Mars?

UniverseToday describes the signaling process between Mars and 
Earth: (http://tinyurl.com/MarsEDLTones - universetoday.com)

The Mars Science Lander sent out different tones for each event 
that happened, and 128 distinct tones indicated when steps in the 
process were activated; one sound indicated the parachute deployed, 
while another signaled that the vehicle was in powered flight, and 
still another that the Sky Crane had been activated. These sounds 
were a series of basic, special individual radio tones.

They were simple tones, transmitted in X-band, comparable to sema-
phore codes, rather than full telemetry. The Deep Space Network 
listened for these direct-to-Earth transmissions. However, Earth 
went out of view of the spacecraft, "setting" below the Martian hor-
izon, partway through the descent, so the X-band tones were not 
available for confirming the final steps in descent and landing. 
By then, the bent-pipe relay of telemetry via the Odyssey space-
craft had begun.

Also listening was the Mars Express spacecraft. It recorded about 20 
minutes of the rover’s transmissions and tones. ESA engineers have 
now put together an audio reproduction, compressing the 20 minutes 
into about 19 seconds of audio that humans can hear that are a "faith-
ful reproduction of the ‘sound’ of the NASA mission’s arrival at Mars 
and its seven-minute plunge to the Red Planet’s surface," the Europ-
ean Space Agency team wrote. You can listen to the audio on this link:
http://blogs.esa.int/mex/files/2012/08/Audio_MELACOM_B_MSL_EDL.mp3

[ANS thanks UniverseToday.com for the above information]


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Check Your Keps - ISS Orbit Successfully Readjusted

Space-Travel.com reported on August 22that Europe's ATV-3 unmanned 
supply spacecraft has raised the International Space Station's orbit 
to about 261 miles.

The successful orbital readjustment follows a failed attempt August
15 when the ATV-3's engines shut down prematurely because of an in-
crease in temperature on one of the units, leaving the ISS short of 
its intended orbital height, RIA Novosti reported.

The orbit adjustment Wednesday was done in two stages, with the 
ATV-3 engines firing for 348 seconds to lift the orbit to 257 miles 
followed by another burn four hours later that brought the space 
station to its final altitude.

The maneuver was to prepare for the return to earth of Russia's 
Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft on September 17 and the docking of 
the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the ISS on October 15.

Original news item published at:
http://tinyurl.com/ISS-Reboost (www.space-travel.com)

[ANS thanks Spece-Travel.com for the above information]


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Help Wanted: AMSAT News Service Rotating Editor Positions Available

The AMSAT News Service (ANS) is responsible for researching, writing, 
editing, and publishing the weekly amateur satellite news bulletins. 

After the passing of Dee, NB2F, we currently have a two editors who 
take a turn weekly to publish the bulletins. With the addition of a 
volunteer, or two, this would generally involve taking a turn about 
every 3 to 4 weeks.

At present we a looking for interested satellite enthusiasts to join 
the ANS editorial team. Professional writing/editing experience is 
NOT a requirement. Your interest and enthusiasm in following and 
reporting on amateur radio in space will get you started! The ANS 
Editor team helps each other by rounding up items of interest. Plus 
we receive submitted items for publication ... so you won't be left
all alone!

If you can commit to working on the bulletins for a week on a rotat-
ing basis please reply via e-mail to AMSAT News Service Editor 
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM via k9jkm@amsat.org.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President User Services, Gould Smith, WA4SXM
 for the above information]


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NASA Announces SpaceX Cargo Missions to ISS Begin in October
 
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced 
Thursday [August 23, 2012] new milestones in the nation's commercial 
space initiatives from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 
The latest advances made by NASA's commercial space partners pave 
the way for the first contracted flight of cargo to the International 
Space Station (ISS) this fall and mark progress toward a launch of 
astronauts from U.S. soil in the next 5 years.

Bolden announced Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has complet-
ed its Space Act Agreement with NASA for Commercial Orbital Transpor-
tation Services (COTS). SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first of 
its 12 contracted cargo flights to the space station from Cape Cana-
veral in October, under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services Program.

Through the COTS program, NASA provides investments to stimulate the 
American commercial space industry. As part of its COTS partnership, 
SpaceX became the first commercial company to resupply the space 
station in May, successfully launching its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon 
spacecraft to the orbiting complex. During the historic mission, the 
Dragon was captured by astronauts using the station's robot arm, un-
loaded and safely returned to Earth carrying experiments conducted 
aboard ISS. Later this winter, Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to carry 
out its first test flight under COTS.

The full NASA press release can be found on-line at:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew-cargo-milestones.html

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ AMSAT joins all of the spacefaring people of Earth in remembering
  a hero for mankind on the passing on August 25 of Neil Armstrong, 
  the first man to walk on the Moon. Armstrong was 82.

+ AMSAT has received the sad news of the passing QST Managing Edi-
  tor Joel P. Kleinman, N1BKE, of Meriden, Connecticut. Joel died 
  from injuries received during a house fire. He was 64. Kleinman 
  was responsible for the coordination, organization, control and 
  completion of all aspects of QST's editorial content each month. 
  Kleinman's wife Jayne survived the fire, but is currently in the 
  intensive care unit of a local hospital. The ARRL is collecting 
  condolence messages to forward on to Joel's family. If you would 
  like send a message, please email it to: news@arrl.org.

+ Members of the Grupo DX Caracas announced their YW5B DXpedition to
  La Blanquilla Island (SA-037) between August 21-27. Activity will 
  be on 160-2 meters using CW, SSB, FM, Satellites and the Digital 
  modes. QSL Manager is DM4TI with instructions on his QRZ.com page. 
  (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1075)

+ A video about the amateur radio F-1 CubeSat that is due to be 
  deployed from the International Space Station in September by 
  Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI using the ISS Kibo 
  robot arm can be viewed on the AMSAT-UK web at: 
  http://www.uk.amsat.org/9746
  It was broadcast on the Vietnamese TV station VTC2 and features 
  interviews with Thu Trong Vu XV9AA, Hong Thai Pham and Pham Quang 
  Hung along with a graphics clip showing the proposed deployment of 
  the CubeSat. Part of the interview is held on the roof of the FPT 
  university and shows the antenna array that will be used to command 
  the F-1 CubeSat.

+ Scouts from all over the United States came to this year's Space 
  Jam 6 sponsored by Crew 272 and Troop 17 where a ARISS contact 
  with the ISS was held. Scouts talked with Japanese (JAXA) Astro-
  naut Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI using the WB9SA Satellite Communica-
  tions Ham Radio Station on August 5, 2012. Watch on-line at:
  http://tinyurl.com/SpaceJam6-ARISS-Contact (www.southgatearc.org)

+ Photos from Mars keep coming in. An HD quality video of Curiosity's
  descent was assembled from full-resolution 1600×1200 frames from
  the MARDI descent imager. It also shows the best views yet of the 
  heat shield impact on the surface of Mars:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gZX5GRPnd4U

+ Add this to your wish list - a personal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle 
  (UAV) is now available. The drone in this video one uses a 2.4 GHz 
  WiFi connection to an iPhone or iPad: 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IkvGvaNnMJM
  http://tinyurl.com/Personal-UAV (Southgate ARC)

+ Watch a video by KB3TQO posted on Southgate that shows a simple 
  way to launch amateur radio antennas into the trees, really high.
  He demonstrates his homemade, bicycle pump powered, air cannon at: 
  http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/antenna_cannon_video.htm

+ The team from Mars Express put this great video together which 
  shows what Mars looks like from above, during an elliptical orbit. 
  They created it using 600 individual still images captured by the 
  Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC), and it shows the view from a visit-
  ing spacecraft’s slow descent from high above the planet, then 
  speeds up during closest approach, and then slows down again as 
  the orbital distance increases. Orbit Mars via your browser at:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v06EmDQcsy0

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom net date is Thursday, August 30, at
  8 PM EDT (UTC-4 UTC) on the 146.97 MHz MBARC Repeater (PL 100). 
  An echolink connection is available on the N2EYH-L node. More 
  information at: http://www.hvsatcom.org. (Stu, WA2BSS)

+ NASA announced that for its 50th anniversary celebration it will 
  be opening its gates for ‘virtual tours’ through a partnership 
  with Google Maps and its Street View feature. With over 6,000 
  panoramic images of the space center you are only a click away 
  at: http://tinyurl.com/SpaceCenterStreetView (maps.google.com)

+ Do you want to live on Mars time? There’s an App for that now.
  Read the article at http://tinyurl.com/MarsTimeApp to decide which
  one is right for you. (UniverseToday)

+ Photos showing the deployment of the small Russian Sfera satellite 
  from the Space Station by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, 
  Expedition 32 commander, during this week's EVA can be seen at:
  http://www.onorbit.com/node/4890.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]


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/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT 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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT 
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership 
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students 
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. 
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership 
information. And with that, please keep in mind the August 16 - 17 
temperatures measured by NASA’s Curiosity rover reported that ground
temperature ranged between minus 131.8° F to +37° F; air temperature 
in Gale Crater ranged between minus 103° F and +28° F. That’s what 
being 50% farther from the sun than Earth will do for you.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org



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