SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.01 AMSAT-NA REPRESENTATIVES ATTEND JAMSAT MEETING HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.01 Bill Tynan W3XO AMSAT-NA President and Keith Baker KB1SF Executive Vice President journeyed to Japan the week of March 12 to represent AMSAT-NA and the International Phase 3D Project at the JAMSAT Annual Meeting held in the city of Kyoto March 16 and 17. They presented a joint talk on Phase 3D and its status to the assembled group, which was translated into Japanese by JAMSAT's President Tak Okamoto JA2PKI. In turn, Hiroyuki Ohata JM3MAJ presented an update on JAMSAT's SCOPE camera project due to fly on Phase 3D. While in Japan, W3XO and KB1SF also met with officials of JARL (The Japan Amateur Radio League) and the JAIA (The Japanese Amateur Radio Industries Association, providing both groups with information on Phase 3D's capabilities and status. Both Keith and Bill expressed their appreciation for the fine treatment they received from the JAMSAT members. On return, they said that they considered it a very successful trip, as well as being most pleasant.. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.02 L BAND ANTENNA REFLECTORS AND OTHER PHASE 3D COMPONENTS ARRIVE IN ORLANDO HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.02 The L Band Antenna Reflectors, produced in France, arrived at the Phase 3D Integration Laboratory site in Orlando, Florida in very good condition, March 18th. Dick Jansson AMSAT-NA's Vice President for Engineering expressed appreciation to Bernard Pidoux F6BVP and the French AMSAT group for their collective effort in producing these parts and noted that the addition of France brings to fourteen the number of countries participating in the Phase 3D Project. Also arriving recently were the completed flight-ready solar panels from Germany, one of the X-Band horns from Finland and the two SBSs from Utah. The flight main battery and the X-Band TWTA, are in Germany awaiting shipment. ANS thanks Dick Jansson WD4FAB for this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.03 SURREY SATELLITE SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.03 The 11th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th July 1996. Thursday will be devoted to international/IARU matters and other subjects will be structured across the following three days. There will also be the usual social events including: Command Station visits, the Annual Dinner and Auction, AMSAT-UK AGM, and other light-hearted fun. A final call from AMSAT-UK to invite authors to submit papers, about amateur radio space and associated activities, for this event has been issued. It is normally preferred that authors present the papers themselves rather than having someone unacquainted with the authors' work read them in the authors' absence. Abstracts of Papers for presentation should be submitted by 15th May 1996; full submissions need to be received by 15th June 1996. Meeting this date is required in order to be included in the "proceedings" document which will be published in time for attendees to receive it at the event. Electronic submissions should be sent to: Chris Jackson, G7UPN via Internet at: G7UPN@amsat.org or direct on UO-22. Submissions by mail should be sent to: Chris Jackson, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, University Of Surrey, Guildford, England GU2 5XH Proposals for the following subject matter have already been received: IARU; Processing of UoSAT log files; GPS; EME; VHF, UHF & Microwave antennas. Up to date information can about the Colloquium can be accessed via Internet at the University of Surrey web site; the URL is: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/new/amateur/colloquium.html AMSAT-UK looks forward to welcoming visitors from overseas. All other inquiries regarding Colloquium 96 should be addressed to: The AMSAT-UK Office: 94 Herongate Road Wanstead Park London E12 5EQ. ANS thanks Richard W L Limebear G3RWL, Communications Officer AMSAT-UK for this bulletin information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.04 KEPLER MIRROR EUROPEAN DATABASE OPENED HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.04 The Satellite radio-Amateurs Service, Amateur Astronomers, Radio Astronomers, professional Astronomers, from Mecanic and Acoustic laboratory (LMA), a french public scientific research center, has open a Keplerian mirror Internet FTP anonymous service. This new service opened Oct-27-95, to offer: Kelso database (2Lines amateur, weather, synchro) Molczan database (1300, 2Lines satellites) NASA database (2Lines MIR and exotic satellites) AMSAT database (2Lines SHUTTLEs) SpaceNews (KD2BD satellite amateur news) ANS (Amsat.org, bulletin in English and French language) Traject (MIR route) Jonathan's.S.R (Space news activity) Comet (Flash orbital parameters in Solar system) Ephemerid (Solar planetary satellites, comet) Access via: Internet ftp anonymous (tcp/ip) Address: alphalma.cnrs-mrs.fr (192.134.96.21) Login: anonymous Password: your e-mail address or call, please. Directory name: astro One can also connect by WWW at: ftp://alphalma.cnrs-mrs.fr (not http) The alternate European ftp anonymous access to another independent database is: ftp.physics.ox.ac.uk /pub/sat Sysops: fb1rci@lma.cnrs-mrs.fr piraux@lma.cnrs-mrs.fr7 ANS thanks FB1RCI for this information /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.05 COMET HYAKUTAKE WEB SITE OPENED HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.05 Great starting WEB Site for Comet Hyakutake to be visible this week. http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/tips.html ANS thanks Bill NJ1H for this information /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.06 TSS A SUCCESS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.06 Dennis Wingo KD4ETA says that "from an amateur radio perspective TSS was a success". He notes that it demonstrated that it will be possible, in the future, to put up a long wire antenna in space for Ionospheric research into hf propagation. TSS also conclusively proved that it is possible to generate electricity (3600 volts at .5 amp) simply by moving a wire through the earth's magnetic field. This can help lower the costs of the international space station by a) putting current into the tether will allow for a robust without having to ferry expensive fuel up to the station. b) allow the Shuttle to save fuel by using a tethered deboost from station that will both move the station up to a higher orbit (saving fuel) and deboost the orbiter (again without using fuel) c) allow the return of experiment samples and the burn up of trash by using the deboosting properties of a tether. This will increase the productivity of experiments on the station (shorten the turn around from the STS 90 period) and will lower the logistics requirements on the Shuttle for cargo. Also unintentionally TSS proved the feasibility of boosting a payload into a higher orbit without the use of dangerous upper stages loaded with fuel. TSS was hardly a failure, according to Dennis. The principal loss, he noted, was the 154 million Dollar TSS end mass that performed flawlessly during the deployment and was paid for by the Italian government not NASA or the U.S. Taxpayers. KD4ETA concludes by noting that the next major AMSAT sponsored LEO communications satellite, SEDSAT, will be boosted to its final orbit on Shuttle Mission STS 85 in the summer of next year by a tether system deployed from the orbiter. ANS thanks Dennis Wingo, SEDSAT 1 Project Manager, for this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.07 SHUTTLE MISSION INFORMATION AVAILABLE VIA INTERNET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.07 Information on STS-76, the third docking mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle and the Russian MIR space station, is available to the media and general public over the Internet. The primary source for mission information is the NASA Shuttle Web, part of the World Wide Web. This site contains information on the crew and their mission and will be regularly updated with status reports, photos and video clips throughout the flight. The NASA Shuttle Web's address is: http://shuttle.nasa.gov If that address is busy or unavailable, shuttle information is available through the Office of Space Flight home page: http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/ A description of the mission in Spanish is available at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/spanish/76facts2.htm Once the Space Shuttle docks with MIR, information on the joint mission can be found at: http://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov/ This site will discuss the cooperation, investigations and operational activities of NASA astronauts as they begin their consecutive stays aboard MIR. General information on NASA and its programs is available through the NASA home page and the NASA Public Affairs home page: http://www.nasa.gov and http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/hqpao/hqpao_home.html Information on other current NASA activities is available through the Today@NASA page: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/NewsRoom/today.html Information is also available from the NASA Headquarters FTP server, ftp.hq.nasa.gov. Log in as anonymous and go to the directory /pub/pao. NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. ANS thanks Pat Kilroy WA8LAQ for this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-082.08 SATELLITE STATUS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 082.08 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-082.08 WO-18 POSITION TRACKING The following is being sent this week by the WEBERSAT ground team: 16-Mar-96 *Collecting and Sending WOD Week1: Arrays Ch# 26 27 28 29 2A 2B *Photo 9/13 -- New Image *Monday, New Spectrum *APR Activity Encouraged This information comes from IK3WVJ & KB7KCL. The Chaminade School group at WA6BYE expect to soon be sending POSIT packets via WEBERSAT during the daytime passes. They ask that they be informed via WO-18 or on PACSAT if they are seen. ANS Thanks Dave Reeves KF6PJ for this news item AO-13 With AMSAT OSCAR-13 soon returning to improved orientation, WB6LLO says it is planned to resume SSTV activity in the satellite. Slow scanners are invited to join the SSTV sessions on AO-13 on a frequency of 145.955. The net meets at 45 minutes before Mode S, and on Mode B following Mode S on Saturdays and Sundays. This is NOT a formal net. Those interested may join the group at any time, but are asked to wait their turn in the queue. To join these sessions, contact wb6llo@amsat.org and he will coordinate your efforts. For those not familiar with satellite SSTV, operation is simplicity itself. Before transmitting your picture send a brief description of what you are about to send and indicate the mode. When on the receive end, tune to what you assume the normal voice to be. ANS thanks Dave Guimont WB6LLO for this news bulletin. /EX