
                              =========
                              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 <UI C>:
++ Hi, this is the RUDAK-II experiment on AMSAT OSCAR 21 ++

RUDAK2>BEACON <UI C>:
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:

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MAIL     : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD
           Department of Engineering and Technology
           Advanced Technology Center
           Brookdale Community College
           Lincroft, New Jersey  07738
           U.S.A.


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