SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0102
* SpaceNews 02-Jan-95 *


BID: $SPC0102


                               =========
                               SpaceNews
                               =========


                        MONDAY JANUARY 2, 1995


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It is
published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution.


* A NEW STAR IS BORN! *
=======================
On December 26, 1994 at 03:00 UTC, the RS-15 Amateur Satellite was launched
into space from the Baykonur space center in Russia on a "Rokot" rocket
booster.

The satellite is a spherical-like unit about 1 meter in diameter and 70 kg
in weight.  On board the satellite, there is a Mode A transponder and two
CW beacons, one of which consists of a broadcast bulletin board with 2
kilobytes of storage space.  A remote control system and telemetry system
also exist on the satellite.  RS-15 does not have not orientation or
attitude stabilization systems.

All the electronics onboard the satellite was designed and built by a group
of Radio Amateurs from the town of Kaluga (180 km SW of Moscow) under the
leaderships of Aleksander Papkov.  The work was coordinated and supervised
by NILAKT POSTO (aero-cosmic laboratory), Moscow, under the direction of
Valentin Yamnikov.  Full control of RS-15 as well as RS-10/11 and RS-12/13
is implemented by the RS3A control station at Moscow (headed by Leonid
Maksakov).

RS-15 transponder bandplan and data:

Uplink:    145.858 - 145.898 MHz  -  approx. 100 Watts EIRP
Downlink:   29.354 -  29.394 MHz  -  up to 5 Watts
Beacon 1:   29.3525 MHz  - 0.4/1.2 Watts
Beacon 2:   29.3987 MHz  - 0.4/1.2 Watts

RS-15 Orbital data:

Orbit number:                 3
Apogee:                       2165 km.
Perigee:                      1885 km.
Period:                     127.45 min.
Inclination:                 64.59 deg.
Time of ascent node:       8:56:17 utc
Longitude of ascent node:    54.243 deg. West.

More information about RS-15 will be given after a complete testing of all
systems.  Please send your reports and comments to the control station:

RS3A
P.O. Box 59, Moscow 105122,           Internet E-mail: rsgroup@olymp.msk.su
Russia;                               Packet: RS3A @ RS3A.MSK.RUS.EU
Fax: 7+095-916-2949;

[Info via RS3A]


* FIRST CONTACTS VIA RS-15 *
============================
Jim, N2NRD reports that his first QSO on the new Russian satellite was
with K6GZ at 22:25z on December 26.  Jim notes that the time between passes
is just over 2 hours and comments that it can be confusing with RS-10/11
going over at the same time, working the West Coast on RS-15 when the
Midwest and East Coast are in the window on RS-10/11.

Oscar, DJ0MY, reports monitoring RS-15 over eastern Europe between 13:41
UTC (AOS) until 14:10 UTC (LOS) on the same day of RS-15's launch.  The
signal strength comparable to that of RS10/11 and RS12/13.  Oscar reported
hearing on the main beacon CW 29.352 MHz uding this pass.

During this pass, Oscar could not monitor any Amateur Radio activity on
the transponder passband.  Only Andy, RS3A, at the Russian command station
was calling CQ around 29.358 MHz in CW.

DJ0MY reports making the first European SSB QSO via RS-15 on 26-Dec-94 at
16:07 UTC on 29.375 MHz with EB8CHG, Werner on the Canary Islands from his
QTH near Hannover in Northern Germany.  Both stations where the only ones
using SSB at that time.  There where other two stations operating in CW in
the lower portion of the transponder passband.

[Info via ANS and DJ0MY]


* RS-15 OBSERVATIONS *
======================
Richard, G3RWL points out that the orbit of RS-15 is not sun-synchronous.
As such, passes will not occur around the same time everyday, but will
precess a small amount each day.  The result is that in about three weeks
time, the passes will come up about four hours earlier than they do at
present.

G3RWL also reports that RS-15's telemetry seems to be composed of sixteen
groups with the callsign RS15 as a separator.  The groups consist of three
letters and two figures.  He has also heard high-speed telemetry which
*might* be the 1100 baud speed that fits the casette port on some Russian
computers.  Hi-speed data appears to be sent by ground command - it doesn't
come down regularly.

KA1LMX provided the following 2-line element set for tracking the RS-15
satellite:

RS-15
1 23439U 94085A   94361.17042135 -.00000043  00000-0  00000 0 0    81
2 23439  64.8325 173.1633 0187416 292.2585  65.8559 11.27110522   128


* THANKS! *
===========
Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews,
especially:

        N1MDZ    N2GGQ    G3IOR    IW4CQI    EI6EH    F9XG

All the best wishes for a great 1995 from KD2BD!  :-)


* 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
PACKET    : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET  : kd2bd@amsat.org -or- magliaco@pilot.njin.net
SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19

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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