AMSAT NEWS SERVICE<br />ANS-349<br /><br />ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America,<br />The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a<br />worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in<br />designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital<br />Amateur Radio satellites.<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.01<br />WEEKLY OPERATING UPDATE<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.01 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.01<br /><br />** ANS welcomes the opportunity to publish your good news of success in<br />working a new satellite, new DX, new mode, etc. We also print reports<br />about what space related activities your local satellite groups and ham<br />clubs are doing. Send your operating reports to JoAnne (wb9jej@amsat.org)<br />and they will be printed here.<br /><br />** Bruce Paige KK5DO, AMSAT Awards Manager, says that congratulations go<br />out to Karl Sandstrom, K5MAN, for earning his Oscar Sexagesimal Award. He<br />is receipient #125. To see this award and a list of other awards, visit<br />
http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html.<br /><br />** Butch KF4HR reported his success with AO-40 last Sunday. He wrote,<br />"I finally was able to become operational on AO-40 this evening. I heard<br />a couple copyable QSO's and even some SSTV. I also was able to hear my<br />return signal too, but just above the noise." His station equipment in-<br />cludes a Yaesu FT-736R, Kuhne 2.4ghz down converter, 24dbi (~3'x2')<br />bar-b-que<br />dish with a linear feed for receive. KLM 435-40CX 40 element circular yagi<br />for uplink. His power output is about 25 watts with about 20 watts arriving<br />at the antenna.<br /><br />Butch mentioned his plans to try to improve both his downlink and uplink<br />signal, "Since the signals were very weak (S0 to S1) and headphones were a<br />must." He is exloring options for a dish at 2.4 GHz. Stating his plans for<br />improving his uplink signal, Butch wrote, "I realize I was somewhat light on<br />the uplink power and have a brick amp to improve that, but more importantly<br />I'd like to improve my receive side first."<br /><br />[ANS thanks KK5DO, and congratulates K5MAN and KF4HR for this week's<br />operating news.]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.02<br />Sapphire Status<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.02 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.02<br /><br />Currently, Sapphire is not an active APRS digipeater; we're having some<br />problems with the receiver/TNC (we have not been able to pinpoint the<br />problem in the receive chain) and he is not listening to ground<br />commands. The most likely remedy is a hard reset (which we have been<br />unable to force from the ground), though we are hopeful that a 'natural'<br />radiation-induced crash of the on-board software will take place ...<br />someday.<br /><br />That being said, you are free to attempt digipeating -- if successful,<br />then a reset has taken place when we weren't looking. If you are able<br />to pull off a digipeat, please let myself & Bob Bruninga know. Also, in<br />its current state, Sapphire broadcasts a short CW pulse every 20 seconds<br />on 437.1 MHz; changes to the pulse period (or the absence of pulses) are<br />also noteworthy events.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Mike Swartwout, KE6YNJ, Sapphire Operations Lead for this<br />information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.03<br />Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2002-12-07 07:00 UTC<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.03 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.03<br /><br />The ARISS (a joint effort of AMSAT, the ARRL, NASA, the ARISS international<br />partners including Canada, Russia, the European Partners, and Japan)<br />operations team wishes to announce the following very tentative schedule for<br />ARISS school contacts. This schedule is very fluid and may change at the<br />last minute. Remember that amateur radio use on the ISS is considered<br />secondary. Please check the various AMSAT and ARISS webpages for the latest<br />announcements. Changes from the last announcement are noted with (***).<br />Also, please check MSNBC.com for possible live retransmissions<br />(
http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp). Listen for the ISS on the downlink<br />of 145.80 MHz.<br /><br />For information about educational materials available from ISS partner space<br />Agencies, please refer to links on the ARISS Frequently Asked Questions<br />page.<br /><br />If you are interested in supporting an ARISS contact, then you must fill<br />in an application. The ARISS operations mentor team will not accept a<br />direct request to support an ARISS contact.<br /><br />You should also note that many schools think that they can request a<br />specific date and time. It does not work that way. Once an application<br />has been accepted, the ARISS mentors will work with the school to<br />determine a mutually agreeable date.<br /><br />Websites that may be of interest include:<br /><br />
http://www.arrl.org/sarex<br />
http://www.arrl.org/ariss<br />
http://www.amsat.org<br />
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov<br />
http://spacelink.nasa.gov/index.html<br />
http://ehb2.gsfc.nasa.gov/edcats/educator_guide/<br /><br />Your completely filled out application should be returned to the<br />nearest coordinating ARISS region if your specific region is not<br />listed. E-mail is the preferred method of submitting an application.<br /><br />Here are the email addresses:<br />ARISS-Canada and all other countries not covered: ve2ka@rac.ca (Daniel<br />Lamoureux VE2KA)<br />ARISS-Europe: jh.hahn@gmx.net (J. Hahn, DL3LUM / PA1MUC)<br />ARISS-Japan and all Region 3 countries: iaru-r3@jarl.or.jp (Keigo Komuro<br />JA1KAB)<br />ARISS-Russia: n2ww@attbi.com (Valerie Agabekov N2WW/UA6HZ)<br />ARISS-USA: ARISS@arrl.org (The American Radio Relay League)<br /><br />Thank you ISS Expedition 5 crew:<br />Peggy Whitson KC5ZTD<br />Sergei Treschev RZ3FU<br />Valeri Korzun RZ3FK<br /><br />We appreciate your efforts! Thanks again for a job well done! (***)<br /><br />ISS Expedition 6 crew:<br />Kenneth Bowersox KD5JBP<br />Nikolai Budarin RV3FB<br />Donald Pettit KD5MDT<br /><br />Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois direct via AJ9N<br />1st choice 2002-12-29 18:21 UTC (***)<br />2nd choice 2002-12-30 17:25 UTC (***)<br />3rd choice 2002-12-19 16:22 UTC (***)<br />4th choice 2002-12-22 15:12 UTC (***)<br />Look for possible live streaming video, the website is<br />
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org<br /><br />Cape Cod National Seashore, Wellfleet, MA, Direct via KM1CC<br />TBD week of 2003-01-13<br /><br />World Scout Jamboree 2003, Sattahip, Thailand, Direct via E20AJ<br />TBD from 2002-12-28 to 2003-01-07<br /><br />Hochwald-Gymnasium, Wadern, Germany, Direct via DN1TA<br />TBD 2003-02 (***)<br /><br />Cowichan Secondary School, Duncan, BC, Canada, Direct via VE7POH<br />TBD after 2003-01-20<br /><br />The latest ARISS announcement and successful school list in now available on<br />the ARISS web site. Several ways to get there.<br />
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov<br />click on English (sorry I don't know French)<br />you are now at
http://www.rac.ca/ariss.htm<br />click on News<br /><br />Currently the ARISS operations team has a list of over 60 schools that we<br />hope will be able to have a contact during 2002-2003. As the schedule<br />becomes more solidified, we will be letting everyone know. Current plans<br />call for an average of one scheduled school contact per week.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, One of the ARISS operation team mentors<br />for this information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.04<br />ARISS MEETS IN WASHINGTON<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.04 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.04<br /><br />It may have been snowing outside, but that did not stop ham radio<br />delegations from descending on the Washinton D-C area for the Winter 2002<br />meeting to plan the future of ARISS and manned ham radio on board the<br />International Space Station. Roy Neal, K6DUE, was there and filed back<br />this report:<br /><br />THE DELEGATES AND REPRESENTATIVES OF ARISS MET AT THE GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT<br />CENTER, NEAR THE NATION'S CAPITOL.THEY DECIDED THAT 2 THOUSAND AND TWO WAS<br />A GOOD YEAR FOR THE SPACE STATION. IT GREW RAPIDLY AND IS WORKING WELL.<br />THE SAME IS<br />TRUE OF ARISS.<br /><br />THERE WERE MANY EXCELLENT CONTACTS WITH SCHOOLS ALL OVER THE WORLD,<br />INCLUDING EUROPE, SOUTH AFRICA AND JAPAN. GROUND STATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA,<br />AUSTRALIA AND HAWAII WORKED VERY WELL IN MAKING THOSE CONTACTS .<br /><br />PACKET HAS BEEN BROUGHT ON LINE AND SEVERAL THOUSAND VERY<br />SATISFIED USERS ARE MAKING THE MOST OF IT.<br /><br />FOUR EXTERNAL ANTENNAS WERE INSTALLED LAST YEAR. A<br />MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT THAT GAVE ARISS THE CAPABILITY OF<br />OPERATING ALMOST ANY FREQUENCY FROM 20 METERS UP INTO THE<br />GIGAHERTZ RANGE.<br /><br />AMONG ITS PROBLEMS, THE SPACE STATION HAS A CREW OF ONLY<br />THREE ASTRONAUTS AND COSMONAUTS., INSTEAD OF SEVEN AS<br />ORIGINALLY PLANNED. THAT SEVERELY LIMITS OPERATING TIME FOR AMATEUR<br />RADIO. THE ARISS DELEGATES WERE TOLD THAT THE INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS HOPE<br />TO INCREASE CREW SIZE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. HOPEFULLY A LOT MORE AIR TIME<br />WILL BE AVAILABLE.<br /><br />HAM RADIO ON THE SPACE STATION PLANS FOR THE NEXT PHASE CALL FOR EXPANSION<br />TO 70 CENTIMETER OPERATION AND A SECOND STATION ON THE AIR. THIS WOULD<br />OPEN THE DOOR TO FULL DUPLEX OPERATION. AT A FUTURE DATE IT MIGHT EVEN<br />ALLOW STUDENTS TO RECEIVE PICTURES ON 70 CM WHILE TALKING ON 2 METERS!<br /><br />WORK WILL CONTINUE, TESTING SLOW SCAN TELEVISION AND SPACE<br />CAM HARDWARE, HOPEFUL OF GETTING BOTH THESE PROJECTS ON THE AIR PERHAPS<br />BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.<br /><br />MANY OTHER EXCITING, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS WERE<br />DISCUSSED. THEY WILL BE REPORTED HERE ON NEWSLINE DURING THE COMING<br />YEAR AS THE ARISS TEAM CONTINUES BUILDING ITS HAM RADIO STATION IN ORBIT.<br /><br />[ANS thanks ROY NEAL, K6DUE and AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE for this information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.05<br />Teacher to Fly in Space<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.05 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.05<br /><br />NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today announced that Barbara Morgan, the<br />agency¹s first Educator Astronaut, has been assigned as a crewmember on a<br />November 2003 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.<br /><br />Today's announcement was highlighted with a ceremony at the Maryland Science<br />Center in Baltimore and fulfills the Administrator¹s commitment earlier this<br />year to send an educator into space in a renewed mission to inspire a new<br />generation of explorers. Morgan's flight represents the first of what is<br />expected to be many flights as part of a new Educator Astronaut program,<br />which will be unveiled in early 2003.<br /><br />"NASA has a responsibility to cultivate a new generation of scientists and<br />engineers," said Administrator O'Keefe. "Education has always been a part of<br />NASA's mission, but we have renewed our commitment to get students excited<br />about science and mathematics. The Educator Astronaut program will use our<br />unique position in space to help advance our nation's education goals," he<br />explained.<br /><br />Morgan's assigned mission, STS-118, has as its primary objectives to install<br />additional truss segments that will increase power and communications to the<br />International Space Station, and to deliver additional supplies for the<br />Station's crew. Morgan will participate in a number of educational events<br />from space and be actively involved in the flight as a fully trained NASA<br />astronaut.<br /><br />Commander Scott J. Kelly (Cmdr., USN) will lead the six-member STS-118 crew.<br />Charles O. Hobaugh (Lt. Col., USMC) serves as the Space Shuttle's pilot.<br />Veteran NASA astronaut Dr. Scott E. Parazynski will be making his fifth<br />space<br />flight. The Canadian Space Agency's Dr. David R. Williams will return to<br />space<br />for a second time, and Lisa M. Nowak (Cmdr., USN) will -- like Morgan --<br />make<br />her first flight into space.<br /><br />A native of McCall, Idaho, Morgan was selected in 1985 as the backup<br />candidate<br />for the Teacher in Space program. Following the Challenger accident, the<br />program<br />was suspended and Morgan worked with NASA¹s Education Office, meeting with<br />teachers and students across the country to share her space training<br />experiences<br />and their relevance to the classroom and America¹s future.<br /><br />In the fall of 1986 Morgan returned to teaching at McCall-Donnelly<br />Elementary<br />School in Idaho, but continued to travel the country in support of NASA¹s<br />education<br />efforts. In January 1998, she was selected by NASA to complete her astronaut<br />training. For more than a year, Morgan has served as a spacecraft<br />communicator, or<br />CAPCOM, in Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston,<br />providing the<br />voice link between the flight control team and crews orbiting in space.<br /><br />"Barbara's commitment and dedication to education is an inspiration to<br />teachers<br />across the country," concluded Administrator O'Keefe. "She embodies the<br />spirit and<br />desire of this agency to get students excited about space again, and I'm<br />pleased<br />that she'll be able to fulfill that mission from orbit aboard the Space<br />Shuttle<br />and the International Space Station," he said.<br /><br />Additional information about Barbara Morgan and the International Space<br />Station is<br />available on the Internet at:<br />
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/morgan.htm and<br />
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov<br /><br />Information on NASA's extensive education programs is available on the web<br />at:<br />
http://education.nasa.gov/<br /><br />[ANS thanks NASA News for this information ]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.06<br />AO-40 RUDAK Status<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.06 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.06<br /><br />RUDAK will be on for 72 minutes (16 MA units) from MA 136 to 152 on selected<br />orbits over RUDAK command stations. The tasks to be accomplished are<br />discussed<br />in Jim White's post as below. Note that the middle beacon and passbands will<br />be<br />off during RUDAK sessions.<br />--W4SM for the AO-40 / RUDAK Command Teams<br /><br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />----<br /><br />We will be resuming RUDAK work on AO-40 soon with a short (about 1 hour)<br />window<br />during orbits when the satellite is in view of the command stations in<br />Colorado<br />and Alabama. RUDAK will be on only on those orbits.<br /><br />The objectives of this series of RUDAK windows are to do some further<br />testing in<br />preparation for implementing DSP based digital links to RUDAK that ground<br />stations<br />with modest equipment can use as well as to gather data from the radiation<br />experiment (CEDEX). Additionally, if time allows, further work to collect<br />good<br />pictures from SCOPE may be undertaken. The objective of the SCOPE work is to<br />compress pictures on-board to reduce the file sizes and it possible to<br />routinely<br />take pictures, and implement a scheduler so the earth can be imaged when the<br />satellite is not in view of a command station. New command software will<br />also<br />be tested.<br /><br />The window is being constrained to about 70 minutes and only when in view of<br />the command stations in order to limit the impact on transponder operations.<br /><br />Stacey has announced the implementation of the RUDAK windows in the<br />scheduler.<br />Please see the FAQ at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/ao40/ao40-faq.html for<br />further information about AO-40 and RUDAK.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Jim White of the RUDAK Command Team WD0E@amsat.org for this<br />information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.07<br />Arianne Launch Failure<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.07 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.07<br /><br />The maiden flight of a new heavyweight European space rocket failed<br />Wednesday just three minutes after takeoff when its burners cut out,<br />the director general of Arianespace said. Jean-Yves Le Gall immediately<br />apologized to customers for the failure of the Ariane rocket, which was<br />carrying two satellites: a Hotbird TM7 for the European telecoms<br />consortium Eutelsat and Stentor, an experimental communications satellite<br />for the French space research institute CNES.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Space Daily for this information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-349.08<br />First satellite for Algeria in Surrey's Disaster Monitoring Constellation<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 349.08 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. DECEMBER 15, 2002<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-349.08<br /><br />Thursday 28th November 2002<br />Surrey, England<br />~~~~~~~~~~~~<br /><br />28th November 2002 AlSAT-1, the first of a five-microsatellite<br />constellation,<br />has been successfully launched today for SSTL's Algerian customer, CNTS.<br /><br />The launch, into a 700km sun-synchronous orbit onboard a Kosmos 3-M rocket<br />from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, took place on schedule at<br />06:07hs GMT today in thick snow and temperatures around -20oC. This is<br />Algeria's<br />first satellite and marks the country's commitment to participating in space<br />and international co-operation. AlSAT-1 also initiates the launch of the<br />first<br />ever microsatellite constellation dedicated to disaster monitoring.<br /><br />AlSAT-1 will be joined in orbit by a further four Surrey-built<br />microsatellites<br />to be launched in mid-2003. AlSAT-1 encompasses the latest in small<br />satellite<br />technology from SSTL, providing extremely wide swath (600km) 32-metre<br />multispectral imaging and 1 GByte solid state recorders for high capacity<br />onboard storage of image data and transmission to ground at S-band. With<br />just a<br />single satellite in orbit it is possible to image the same area anywhere in<br />the<br />world at least every four days. When the complete constellation is<br />operational<br />it will provide a daily imaging revisit capability worldwide - a major<br />factor<br />for disaster relief agencies. The remaining four microsatellites are also<br />being<br />built at SSTL in collaboration with Nigeria, Turkey and the UK.<br /><br />At the launch site, the CEO of SSTL (Prof Sir Martin Sweeting) and the<br />Director<br />of CNTS (Dr Azzedine Oussedik) observed the lift-off and were able to relay<br />the<br />countdown 'on-line' to SSTL and CNTS staff in Guildford (UK) and Arzew<br />(Algeria).<br />Dr Oussedik said: "Algeria is proud to join the community of space faring<br />nations<br />and to have this opportunity by working with Surrey and the UK to achieve<br />our first<br />satellite in orbit. This project has trained Algerian specialists to bring<br />the<br />benefits of space to our nation and its people." Speaking in the sub-zero<br />arctic<br />temperature, Sir Martin said: "SSTL is also proud to achieve a successful<br />launch<br />for our Algerian customer and at the same time mark the 21st Surrey<br />satellite in<br />orbit. The UK, Algerian and Russian teams worked extremely well together to<br />achieve<br />today's launch - the first DMC mission in the international constellation".<br /><br />Some 30 minutes after launch, the AlSAT-1 spacecraft was released into<br />orbit, and 3<br />hours later the CNTS command station in Algeria activated the satellite and<br />started<br />the process of commissioning it for full operation.<br /><br />Pictures available at:
http://www.sstl.co.uk/primages/AlSAT_integration.jpg<br />and<br />
http://www.sstl.co.uk/primages/Kosmos_raised.jpg<br /><br />[ANS Thanks Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting OBE, G3YJO for this information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br />Thanks and 73,<br />This weeks ANS Editor:<br />Dave Johnson G4DPZ<br />g4dpz@amsat.org
