SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0117 * SpaceNews 17-Jan-94 * BID: $SPC0117 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 17, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * SUN AND MOON KEPS * ===================== By popular demand, here are Keplerian element sets in the NASA 2-line format that will allow some satellite tracking programs to track the sun and moon: SUN 1 00001U 90 1.00000000 0.00000000 00000-0 0 3 2 00001 23.4406 0.0000 0167133 282.7685 357.6205 0.00273778 19890 MOON 1 00002U 93360.00000000 0.00000000 00000-0 0 5 2 00002 22.4297 346.9573 0408130 180.3337 265.5319 0.03574900304251 Caution should be exercised when using these element sets for several reasons. First of all, these elements will cause some programs to crash or produce erroneous outputs due to the unusually low values of mean motion (and correspondingly high values of semi-major axis). Secondly, satellite tracking software ignores satellite mass since their mass is negligible when compared with the Earth's mass. The situation is not as simple when tracking massive objects such as the sun or moon. In addition, the rising and setting times for the sun and moon are defined by edge of the visible disk, whereas the elements presented above track the center of the disk. Effects due to atmospheric refraction could result in additional errors in the prediction of local rising and setting times. * STS-58 ORBITAL DATA * ======================= The following Keplerian orbital data set is valid for an on-time launch of 24-Jan-94 at 14:53 UTC: Satellite: STS-58 Catalog number: 00058 Epoch time: 94024.67747791 = (24-JAN-94 16:15:34.09 UTC) Element set: 005 Inclination: 39.0114 deg RA of node: 124.6663 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-58 Eccentricity: .0007676 Prelaunch Element set JSC-005 Arg of perigee: 272.4217 deg Launch: 24-JAN-94 14:53 UTC Mean anomaly: 87.5676 deg Mean motion: 15.96123499 rev/day Gil Carman, WA5NOM Decay rate: 1.19475e-03 rev/day*2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 2 [Info via Gary Morris, KK6YB] * SUPERBALL HAS THREE-HOUR LIFE * ================================= Some days go better than others. Superball 1-94, the balloon carrying amateur radio telemetry and ATV had a life of about three hours. Here is a report for those who were following the event. Launch took place Friday, January 7, at 0926 MST (1626z). Final payload checkout was done, the amount of helium required for 120,000 feet was metered in, and the launch took place with all systems looking good. The balloon headed northeast as expected. Telemetry was copied on both 2 and 15 meters, and ATV sent back video of the balloon. The balloon began to change course, as expected, as it came out of the Troposphere and reached higher layers. At about 1204 MST (1804 UTC) the balloon unexpectedly burst. A quick drop in the differential pressure (difference between inside and outside pressures) from 1.11 to 0.03 was one of the first clues that something had changed radically. Hams in eastern Utah actually watched the rupture on ATV and later saw the parachute deploy. GPS readings stabilized at about 1430 MST (2130z), and the package is believed to have come to rest at that time. Telemetry on 15 meters was copied in Ohio with an RST of 579 after the package came to rest. This leads to the inference that it probably landed in a tree with the 15-meter antenna in a favorable position. The landing site is in Utah's Uinta Mountains in the neighborhood of Wolf Creek Summit, a 9500-foot pass. Plans were made to locate and retrieve the payload with the help of snowmobiles and the Wasatch County Search and Rescue Team. The reason for the rupture is still uncertain, but one possibility is that turbulence in the troposphere caused severe twisting and kept the balloon from unfurling properly as it gained altitude. This, in turn, kept the helium from spreading through the balloon properly and resulted in too high a differential pressure. The twisting phenomenon was viewed on ATV. The GPS receiver performed well reporting latitude and longitude, but apparently satellite geometry was not favorable for good altitude readings. The initial altitude readings were spurious (e.g. 149 meters, which is below ground level in Utah). Later the altitude was reported as "999" which is the receiver's indication that good data is not available. Other indications, however, lead the team to believe that the balloon had reached an altitude of about 100,000 feet at the time of rupture. Thanks to the many who helped copy data, relay messages, locate snowmobiles, and record launch and ATV video. Telemetry logs and video tapes are solicited. E-mail to: WB7QBC@uugate.aim.utah.edu, or or U.S. mail to: John Luker, WB7QBC 1226 West 725 North Clearfield, UT, 84015 * FO-20 OPERATION SCHEDULE * ============================ The FO-20 operation schedule is follows. Analog transponder and digital transponder will be ON for a week respectively as they were since last December. Analog mode: 12-Jan-94 07:30 UTC -to- 19-Jan-94 07:50 UTC 26-Jan-94 08:20 UTC -to- 02-Feb-94 06:50 UTC 09-Feb-94 07:15 UTC -to- 16-Feb-94 07:40 UTC 23-Feb-94 08:05 UTC -to- 02-Mar-94 06:40 UTC 09-Mar-94 07:05 UTC -to- 16-Mar-94 07:30 UTC 23-Mar-94 07:52 UTC -to- 30-Mar-94 08:15 UTC Digital mode: Unless otherwise noted above. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * MIR NEWS * ============ On Dec 31, 1993, the following digital voice message was sent my Mir on 145.550 MHz FM: "There are two men in space. This is crew fourteen of Russian Mir Space Station: Vasily Zibliev and Aleksandr Serebrov. And now orbiting the Earth. We send our wishes of Happy New Year, peace, good health and prosperity to people of all countries and all nations of our planet." [Info via Markku, OH8UV] * CORRECTION * ============== NASA TV has moved to Spacenet 2, transponder 9, not 5 as reported last week. Thanks to Dave Larson for the correction. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation regarding SpaceNews, especially: Kit Richards Donald Scott G7MIZ * 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 @ N2KZH.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