
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0109
* SpaceNews 09-Jan-95 *
 
 
BID: $SPC0109
 
 
                               =========
                               SpaceNews
                               =========
 
 
                        MONDAY JANUARY 9, 1995
 
 
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It is
published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution.
 
 
* NOAA-14 LAUNCHED! *
=====================
NOAA -J (NOAA 14) was successfully launched on Friday 30-Dec-94 at 
02:02 PST from Vandenberg AFB atop an Atlas-E booster.  The burn was 
nominal for a 870 km near polar orbit inclined 98 degrees.
 
Dallas Remote Imaging Group member Richard Allen, W5SXD, of Houston, Texas 
provided the following report on NOAA-14:
 
The 1800Z pass of NOAA-14 was heard in Houston.  The beacon on 137.770 MHz
was heard well and my HRPT system locked on at 1698.0 MHz for the first
half of the pass.  It appears that the element set that I posted earlier 
is very good.  I manually rocked my antenna around the computer generated 
position and the signal level dropped in all directions.  I got carrier 
lock and bit-sync but no frame sync.  This is what I usually see when 
NOAA-10 is transmitting LAC downlinks.  I did not try to observe the eye
pattern but I'll do that on the next orbit.  Nothing was heard on either 
137.5 or 137.62 APT downlink frequencies.  Dave Briggs at NOAA SatOps again 
verified that the downlink should be 1698/ 137.5.  This matches my HRPT 
observation at least and is in agreement with the odd/even pairing used on 
NOAA-9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
 
The following element set was received from NOAA/GFSC for NOAA-14.
                GCC DEC 30, 1994  12:48:35Z
 NOAA-14
1 23455U 94 89  A 94364.46369541 -.00000019  00000-0  00000+0 0    17
2 23455  98.8951 303.4851 0010197 320.7071  39.3363 14.11138330    05
 
[Info via Jeff Wallach]
 
 
* AO-13 NEWS *
==============
QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE ***  1994 Dec 19 - Feb 20
Mode-B  : MA   0 to MA 100 | Omnis   : MA 230  to MA  25
Mode-BS : MA 100 to MA 130 |
Mode-S  : MA 130 to MA 132 |<- S beacon only
Mode-S  : MA 132 to MA 155 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF
Mode-S  : MA 155 to MA 160 |<- S beacon only
Mode-BS : MA 160 to MA 180 | Alon/Alat 180/0
Mode-B  : MA 180 to MA 256 | Move to attitude 230/0, Feb 20
 
[Info via Wayne, WA2N]
 
 
* RS-15 NEWS * 
==============
The following data on RS-15's orbit came from Ken Ernandes N2WWD via Ray
Soifer W2RS.  Based on some AOS, TCA and LOS findings Ken made up a Keplerian
element set to match the claimed Boxing Day launch.  These have since been
'tweaked' a few times to correct the slight discrepancies found, but the
latest set are are still running true within +/- 20 seconds after four days
of use.  The original state vector from which Ken derived the Keps came from
his own modelling assuming a 26th December 1994 03:00 UTC launch time is as
follows:
 
Vector format = 10107
Satellite Name:         RS-15
Catalog Number:         99915
Epoch MET:                  0.04004629630
                           0/00:57:40.000 MET
EFG E:                       -3698.189817 km
    F:                       -4493.256940 km
    G:                       -6027.203350 km
    Edot:                     5.466925217 km/s
    Fdot:                     0.509012470 km/s
    Gdot:                    -3.733879490 km/s
ndot/2 (drag):              0.00000000458 rev/day^2
nddt/6:                       0.00000E+00 rev/day^3
Bstar:                        1.27563E-05 1/Earth Radii
Elset #:                                2
Rev @ Epoch:                1.64733102495
 
The latest recommended working set, which should still hold well for a
further ten days (until NASA/NORAD are able to sort out which specific
object is being tracked) are:
 
RS-15             (Epoch)         (Decay)
1 99915U          94360.16222500  .00000000  00000-0  13414-4 0    26
2 99915  64.5927 174.9040 0173416 233.4418   0.0000 11.27220872    13
         (Incl)  (RA)     (Ecc)   (A of P)   (MA)   (MM)
 
The latest NASA KEPS for the object we believe to be RS-15 (which is not
the first that was listed as such) are:
 
RS-15
1 23440U          94361.79150546  -.00000043  00000-0  00000+ 0    26
2 23440  64.8297 172.1572 0188748  292.0126  66.1014 11.27113018  197
 
This set shows a lag behind the Doppler tracking by some 2.5 minutes, so
it's best to keep to the first set given above e.g. 1 99915U for now.
 
The TLM beacon on 29.352 MHz is VERY strong, sending .."MMW14 INW11 ..etc..
RS15".  The transponder uplink:downlink translation figure is ca. 116.504,
e.g. f uplink - 116.504 = downlink, downlink + 116.504 = uplink.
 
At times the satellite (considering the distance and the inverse square
law) is very sensitive, and the noise floor is clearly audible.  10w ERP
provided G3IOR a downlink signal that was 6db above the noise.  No more 
than 100w ERP (10w to 8 elements) is needed for uplink.  Best and most 
QSB free downlink resulted by employing vertical polarization at most 
attitudes, and was even better than RHCP and LHCP, but this may change with 
time.  Horizontal polarization gave by far the weakest signal and deepest 
fades.  RS-15 is tumbling and toppling, showing spin fading at some 1 cps, 
sounding rather like AO-13 can.  Despite RS-15 non-stabilization, this 
should slowly subside.
 
[Info via G3IOR]
 
 
* H-II LAUNCH DELAY *
=====================
A NASDA press release issued on 27-Dec-94 reported that the launch of the 
Japanese H-II third vehicle has been postponed because a leakage was 
detected in a pipe of Reaction Control System (RCS).
 
The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the New Energy and 
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the National 
Space Development Agency (NASDA) have been engaged in flight operation of 
the vehicle toward the launch on Feb. 1, 1995.
 
The new operation schedule would be decided early in January when the 
repair work would have been finished.
 
[Info via Yoshiro Yamada]
  
 
* SpaceNews ON-LINE! *
======================
There are several ways of accessing SpaceNews on the Internet.  Those with 
e-mail capabilities can receive the latest issue of SpaceNews by sending an 
empty mail message to the following address:
 
        infobot@infomania.com
 
The message must contain a subject line that reads: 
 
        #FINGER magliaco@pilot.njin.net
 
A ham-radio callsign look up can be performed by changing the subject to:
 
        #CALLSIGN W6VIO
 
Those with direct access to the Internet can use the finger command to
receive the latest SpaceNews issue:
 
        finger magliaco@pilot.njin.net
 
SpaceNews may also be accessed using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) by
issuing the command:
 
        ftp pilot.njin.net
 
Archives of past issues, satellite-related software, GIF images, and 
other information is available under the /pub/SpaceNews subdirectory.
A new addition to this site is an education subdirectory that carries
recent issues of "Education News" by Tom Davis, IK3WVJ/EA2CLS/KB7HTA.
 
 
* THANKS! *  
===========
Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation and holiday
greetings to SpaceNews, especially:
 
        GM1KJF    N1HID    VU2LBW    WA2GSY    RK3KPK    AA6TA    KF8BEX
 
 
* 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.
 
 
       <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> 
 
/EX

