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  1. SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0117                                                        
  2. * SpaceNews 17-Jan-94 *                                                         
  3.                                                                                 
  4. BID: $SPC0117                                                                   
  5.                                                                                 
  6.                                                                                 
  7.                                =========                                        
  8.                                SpaceNews                                        
  9.                                =========                                        
  10.                                                                                 
  11.                                                                                 
  12.                         MONDAY JANUARY 17, 1994                                 
  13.                                                                                 
  14.                                                                                 
  15. SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It is         
  16. published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution.          
  17.                                                                                 
  18.                                                                                 
  19. * SUN AND MOON KEPS *                                                           
  20. =====================                                                           
  21. By popular demand, here are Keplerian element sets in the NASA 2-line           
  22. format that will allow some satellite tracking programs to track the sun        
  23. and moon:                                                                       
  24.                                                                                 
  25. SUN                                                                             
  26. 1 00001U          90  1.00000000 0.00000000           00000-0 0     3           
  27. 2 00001  23.4406   0.0000 0167133 282.7685 357.6205  0.00273778 19890           
  28.                                                                                 
  29. MOON                                                                            
  30. 1 00002U          93360.00000000 0.00000000           00000-0 0     5           
  31. 2 00002  22.4297 346.9573 0408130 180.3337 265.5319  0.03574900304251           
  32.                                                                                 
  33. Caution should be exercised when using these element sets for several           
  34. reasons.  First of all, these elements will cause some programs to crash        
  35. or produce erroneous outputs due to the unusually low values of mean motion     
  36. (and correspondingly high values of semi-major axis).  Secondly, satellite      
  37. tracking software ignores satellite mass since their mass is negligible when    
  38. compared with the Earth's mass.  The situation is not as simple when            
  39. tracking massive objects such as the sun or moon.  In addition, the rising      
  40. and setting times for the sun and moon are defined by edge of the visible       
  41. disk, whereas the elements presented above track the center of the disk.        
  42. Effects due to atmospheric refraction could result in additional errors in      
  43. the prediction of local rising and setting times.                               
  44.                                                                                 
  45.                                                                                 
  46. * STS-58 ORBITAL DATA *                                                         
  47. =======================                                                         
  48.                                                                                 
  49. The following Keplerian orbital data set is valid for an on-time launch         
  50. of 24-Jan-94 at 14:53 UTC:                                                      
  51.                                                                                 
  52. Satellite: STS-58                                                               
  53. Catalog number: 00058                                                           
  54. Epoch time:      94024.67747791   =    (24-JAN-94 16:15:34.09 UTC)              
  55. Element set:     005                                                            
  56. Inclination:       39.0114 deg                                                  
  57. RA of node:       124.6663 deg           Space Shuttle Flight STS-58            
  58. Eccentricity:     .0007676              Prelaunch Element set JSC-005           
  59. Arg of perigee:   272.4217 deg          Launch:  24-JAN-94  14:53 UTC           
  60. Mean anomaly:      87.5676 deg                                                  
  61. Mean motion:   15.96123499 rev/day           Gil Carman, WA5NOM                 
  62. Decay rate:    1.19475e-03 rev/day*2      NASA Johnson Space Center             
  63. Epoch rev:               2                                                      
  64.                                                                                 
  65. [Info via Gary Morris, KK6YB]                                                   
  66.                                                                                 
  67.                                                                                 
  68. * SUPERBALL HAS THREE-HOUR LIFE *                                               
  69. =================================                                               
  70. Some days go better than others.  Superball 1-94, the balloon carrying          
  71. amateur radio telemetry and ATV had a life of about three hours.  Here is       
  72. a report for those who were following the event.                                
  73.                                                                                 
  74. Launch took place Friday, January 7, at 0926 MST (1626z).  Final payload        
  75. checkout was done, the amount of helium required for 120,000 feet was           
  76. metered in, and the launch took place with all systems looking good.  The       
  77. balloon headed northeast as expected.  Telemetry was copied on both 2 and       
  78. 15 meters, and ATV sent back video of the balloon.                              
  79.                                                                                 
  80. The balloon began to change course, as expected, as it came out of the          
  81. Troposphere and reached higher layers.  At about 1204 MST (1804 UTC) the        
  82. balloon unexpectedly burst.  A quick drop in the differential pressure          
  83. (difference between inside and outside pressures) from 1.11 to 0.03 was         
  84. one of the first clues that something had changed radically.  Hams in           
  85. eastern Utah actually watched the rupture on ATV and later saw the parachute    
  86. deploy.  GPS readings stabilized at about 1430 MST (2130z), and the package     
  87. is believed to have come to rest at that time.                                  
  88.                                                                                 
  89. Telemetry on 15 meters was copied in Ohio with an RST of 579 after the          
  90. package came to rest.  This leads to the inference that it probably landed      
  91. in a tree with the 15-meter antenna in a favorable position.  The landing       
  92. site is in Utah's Uinta Mountains in the neighborhood of Wolf Creek Summit,     
  93. a 9500-foot pass.  Plans were made to locate and retrieve the payload with      
  94. the help of snowmobiles and the Wasatch County Search and Rescue Team.          
  95.                                                                                 
  96. The reason for the rupture is still uncertain, but one possibility is that      
  97. turbulence in the troposphere caused severe twisting and kept the balloon       
  98. from unfurling properly as it gained altitude.  This, in turn, kept the         
  99. helium from spreading through the balloon properly and resulted in too high     
  100. a differential pressure.  The twisting phenomenon was viewed on ATV.            
  101.                                                                                 
  102. The GPS receiver performed well reporting latitude and longitude, but           
  103. apparently satellite geometry was not favorable for good altitude readings.     
  104. The initial altitude readings were spurious (e.g. 149 meters, which is          
  105. below ground level in Utah).  Later the altitude was reported as "999" which    
  106. is the receiver's indication that good data is not available.  Other            
  107. indications, however, lead the team to believe that the balloon had reached     
  108. an altitude of about 100,000 feet at the time of rupture.                       
  109.                                                                                 
  110. Thanks to the many who helped copy data, relay messages, locate snowmobiles,    
  111. and record launch and ATV video.                                                
  112.                                                                                 
  113. Telemetry logs and video tapes are solicited.  E-mail to:                       
  114. WB7QBC@uugate.aim.utah.edu, or or U.S. mail to:                                 
  115.                                                                                 
  116. John Luker, WB7QBC                                                              
  117. 1226 West 725 North                                                             
  118. Clearfield, UT, 84015                                                           
  119.                                                                                 
  120.                                                                                 
  121. * FO-20 OPERATION SCHEDULE *                                                    
  122. ============================                                                    
  123. The FO-20 operation schedule is follows.  Analog transponder and digital        
  124. transponder will be ON for a week respectively as they were since last          
  125.                                                                                 
  126. December.                                                                       
  127.                                                                                 
  128. Analog mode:                                                                    
  129. 12-Jan-94 07:30 UTC -to- 19-Jan-94 07:50 UTC                                    
  130. 26-Jan-94 08:20 UTC -to- 02-Feb-94 06:50 UTC                                    
  131. 09-Feb-94 07:15 UTC -to- 16-Feb-94 07:40 UTC                                    
  132. 23-Feb-94 08:05 UTC -to- 02-Mar-94 06:40 UTC                                    
  133. 09-Mar-94 07:05 UTC -to- 16-Mar-94 07:30 UTC                                    
  134. 23-Mar-94 07:52 UTC -to- 30-Mar-94 08:15 UTC                                    
  135.                                                                                 
  136. Digital mode:                                                                   
  137. Unless otherwise noted above.                                                   
  138.                                                                                 
  139. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK]                                                
  140.                                                                                 
  141.                                                                                 
  142. * MIR NEWS *                                                                    
  143. ============                                                                    
  144. On Dec 31, 1993, the following digital voice message was sent my Mir on         
  145. 145.550 MHz FM:                                                                 
  146.                                                                                 
  147. "There are two men in space.  This is crew fourteen of Russian Mir Space        
  148. Station: Vasily Zibliev and Aleksandr Serebrov.  And now orbiting the Earth.    
  149. We send our wishes of Happy New Year, peace, good health and prosperity to      
  150. people of all countries and all nations of our planet."                         
  151.                                                                                 
  152. [Info via Markku, OH8UV]                                                        
  153.                                                                                 
  154.                                                                                 
  155. * CORRECTION *                                                                  
  156. ==============                                                                  
  157. NASA TV has moved to Spacenet 2, transponder 9, not 5 as reported last          
  158. week.  Thanks to Dave Larson for the correction.                                
  159.                                                                                 
  160.                                                                                 
  161. * THANKS! *                                                                     
  162. ===========                                                                     
  163. Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation regarding SpaceNews,      
  164. especially:                                                                     
  165.                                                                                 
  166.                 Kit Richards    Donald Scott    G7MIZ                           
  167.                                                                                 
  168.                                                                                 
  169. * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *                                                     
  170. ===========================                                                     
  171. Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any        
  172. of the following paths:                                                         
  173.                                                                                 
  174. FAX      : 1-908-747-7107                                                       
  175. PACKET   : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA                                              
  176. INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.ocpt.ccur.com  -or- kd2bd@amsat.org                     
  177.                                                                                 
  178. MAIL     : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD                                            
  179.            Department of Engineering and Technology                             
  180.            Advanced Technology Center                                           
  181.            Brookdale Community College                                          
  182.            Lincroft, New Jersey  07738                                          
  183.            U.S.A.                                                               
  184.                                                                                 
  185.                                                                                 
  186.        <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>         
  187.                                                                                 
  188. /EX                                                                             
  189.