========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 5, 1993 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * STS-56 SAREX NEWS * ===================== Lou McFadin reports the launch of STS-56 has been delayed one day to April 7 at 05:31 UTC. The following are pre-launch Keplerian elements for STS-56: STS-56 1 00056U 93 97.29005902 .00055200 00000-0 16200-3 0 47 2 00056 57.0020 178.1670 0011289 286.7156 73.2672 15.91759473 23 Satellite: STS-56 Catalog number: 00056 Epoch time: 93097.29005902 = (07 APR 93 06:57:41.10 UTC) Element set: JSC-004 Inclination: 57.0020 deg RA of node: 178.1670 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-56 Eccentricity: .0011289 Prelaunch Keplerian Elements Arg of perigee: 286.7156 deg Launch: 07 APR 93 05:31 UTC Mean anomaly: 73.2672 deg Mean motion: 15.91759473 rev/day G. L. Carman Decay rate: 5.52000e-04 rev/day*2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 2 The latest word as of 14:17 UTC 4/1/93 is that there will be an attempt to hold to the 4/6/93 launch date. This set of keps is for the present planned date of 4/7/93. This question should be resolved within 24 hours. It would be best to plan for flexibility. Ken Cameron, KB5AWP, will be the Commander for the STS-56 shuttle mission on its 9 day mission. The rare night launch from the Kennedy Space Center will place the space shuttle Discovery in a 57 degree (high inclination) orbit. The Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Sciences (ATLAS-2) spacelab payload is the second in a series of missions to measure the long-term variability in the total energy radiated by the Sun and study its interaction with the Earth's atmosphere. The first ATLAS flew on the STS-45 mission in March 1992 (also a SAREX flight). This Spacelab mission uses pallet-mounted hardware in the Shuttle payload bay to study the Earth's atmosphere and variables in the solar spectrum. Four of the five crew members are currently licensed. The fifth crew member, Steve Oswald, passed his exam and is waiting for his callsign. The five crew members on this mission include Commander Cameron, KB5AWP, Pilot Steve Oswald, Mission Specialist Ken Cockrell, KB5UAH, Mission Specialist Mike Foale, KB5UAC, and Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ. STS-56 will carry SAREX configuration D. Configuration D includes 2-meter FM voice, packet, SSTV and 70 cm ATV (receive only). The primary voice callsign for this mission will be KB5AWP. Since this is a high inclination orbit, direct school contacts will be planned. Most SAREX operations are split-frequency. One frequency is used for "downlink" (the astronauts transmit to Earth stations) and a separate frequency is used for the "uplink" (Earth stations transmit to the astronauts). The following frequencies are used for two-way FM VOICE communications with the Shuttle astronauts: Downlink Worldwide: 145.55 MHz Uplinks Europe: 144.70, 144.75 and 144.80 MHz Rest of world: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97 and 144.99 MHz Note: The crew will not favor any specific uplink frequency, so your ability to communicate with SAREX will be the "luck of the draw." The following frequencies are used for PACKET communications with the Shuttle: Downlink: 145.55 MHz Uplink: 144.49 MHz For all operations, Earth stations should listen to the downlink frequency and transmit only when the Shuttle is in range and the astronauts are on the air. Listen for any instructions from the astronauts as to specific uplink frequencies in use during the current pass. In addition, listen to the uplink frequencies before transmitting to avoid interference to other users. And, as always, please DO NOT transmit on the SAREX downlink frequency of 145.550 MHz! [Info via Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, V.P. for Manned Space Programs] * OSCAR-13 NEWS * ================= QST de G3RUH 1993 Mar 19. To further encourage users, Mode S is now ON for an additional 20 MA units, i.e. MA 100 - MA 135. MA 100-120 you will have to endure the coupling from Mode-B users operating at 145.880 - 145.920 MHz. Either work around them, or use as LSB test signals. MA 120-130 is Mode S transponder exclusive (plus B beacon). MA 130-135 is mode S beacon (plus mode-L transponder). 73 de James G3RUH, Graham VK5AGR and Peter DB2OS *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1993 Mar 19 - May 10 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 100 ! Mode-BS : MA 100 to MA 120 !<- S transponder; B trsp. is ON Mode-S : MA 120 to MA 130 !<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-LS : MA 130 to MA 135 !<- S beacon + L transponder Mode-JL : MA 135 to MA 150 ! Alon/Alat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 150 to MA 256 ! Move to attitude 210/0, May 10 Please don't uplink to B, MA 120-130. It interferes with mode S. [Info via James Miller, G3RUH] * ISAS NEWS * ============= According to the evening 1993 March 25 edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun, a leading paper in Japan, the Space Activities Commission (SAC) issued its 1993 launch schedule. ISAS needs more time to develop new M-V rocket, the launches by M-V will be delayed as follows: MUSES-B (1994->1995) PLANET-B (1996->1996) no change due to limited launch window) LUNAR-A (1995->1997) The fiscal year in Japan starts on April 1st each year. SAC coordinates NASDA and ISAS, two space agencies in Japan. ISAS engages in science while NASDA pursues applications. The M-V is about 2.5 times than ISAS' largest M-3SII in launch capability. Lunar-A: Will elucidate the crust structure and thermal construction of the moon's interior. MUSES-B: (Mu Space Engineering Satellite-B): Studies the large precision development structure, mechanism and radiowave astronomical observations as space VLBI. PLANET-B: Will be placed in Mars orbit to study the structure and motions of the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar winds. LUNAR-A: Will study the crust and the thermal structure of the moon. [Info via Yoshiro Yamada] * AO-21 NEWS * ============== AMSAT-OSCAR-21's RUDAK transponder is currently offering a healthy mix of FM voice repeater operation, along with a digital voice message in both English and German, in addition to AX.25 telemetry frames. The following AO-21 RUDAK schedule was copied by KD2BD on 01-Apr-93: RUDAK2>BEACON : ++ Hi, this is the RUDAK-II experiment on AMSAT OSCAR 21 ++ RUDAK2>BEACON : RUDAK-II Schedule: Downlink 145.987 UTC (Min. MOD 10) Beacon Mode Uplink/MHz 0...4 FM Repeater 435.016 5...7 Digital Voice no 8...9 AFSK Telemetry no * COMMAND ERROR FOILS DOHOP * ============================= G0NKA and G3IOR advise that due to an apparent error at the Russian military station GCC which commands RS14/AO21's "host" spacecraft, INFORMATOR-1, the DoHop test which had been scheduled for 28 March did not take place. The command station turned on the satellite's 2m CW beacon but Mode B Transponder 2 was not enabled as had been planned. Several G stations, including G4CUO and G3IOR, were heard in the USA around the times originally scheduled for DoHop, but these were transmitting on 2m directly through RS10. Theirs was an accomplishment nonetheless, since RS10 was slightly below the horizon in the UK when their downlink signals were heard in the US. Additional DoHop tests are planned in the coming months. [Info via Ray Soifer, W2RS] * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the following paths: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 UUCP : ...catfish.ocpt.ccur.com!ka2qhd!kd2bd PACKET : KD2BD @ NN2Z.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.ocpt.ccur.com -or- kd2bd@amsat.org MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX