| |
K5ARH > SAREX 10.07.97 03:08l 118 Lines 5457 Bytes #-10402 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : STS-94.012
Read: GUEST OE7FMI
Subj: STS-94 SAREX Bulletin 12
Path: DB0RGB<DB0MAK<DB0SON<DB0SIF<DB0SRS<DB0MW<DB0AIS<DB0NDK<DB0ACH<DB0ACC<
ON4RAT<ON1ANR<PI8HWB<PI8VAD<PI8VNW<PE0MAR<VK5ASF<PP5BLU<WB0TAX<K5ARH
Sent: 970709/1410z @:K5ARH.#LFT.LA.USA.NOAM #:44422 $:sts-94.012
Silver Spring, Maryland USA
Tuesday, July 8, 1997 @ 2000 UTC
SAREX Packet Coming Up
The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) team has been authorized
to set up for packet operations, due to enough cryo margins.
Essentially, the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) science
team is giving SAREX the needed energy out of their excess reserves.
As Philip Chien, KC4YER, out of an STS-94 press conference explains it,
the shuttle program allocated the MSL folks a certain amount of energy
for the 16 day mission. The MSL managers had decided ahead of time
that if the shuttle launched on the first attempt (which it did) then
they would use the excess kilowatt-hours (the margin to allow for
boil off while the shuttle sits on the pad) for higher power runs
rather than additional science-days in orbit on an extended mission.
As the shuttle sits on the pad the cryos boil off, Phil continues,
and there's always the chance that it would be three days before a
launch is successful (e.g., two weather delays then the launch). So
it isn't guaranteed, but when the shuttle launches on the first try,
there is additional cryo for energy needs. That can be used either
for an additional science day or for higher power operations. MSL
chose the later.
The SAREX team and many others are thankful to the Microgravity
Science Laboratory team for their decision.
Meanwhile, additional thanks goes to PLT Susan Still who is
troubleshooting a missing RS-232 cable for the packet system.
Ground based Amateur Radio operators will hear the W5RRR-1 packet
robot once the cable workaround is made. Do not be surprised if
you see the previous "STS-83" in its beacon. SAREX packet
operations will not be held up for the reprogramming of a
memory location.
The shuttle also had successful opportunities to talk to fellow
astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on the Russian space station Mir.
Shuttle Commander Jim Halsell, KC5RNI, talked to Mike during the
contacts. The first ship-to-ship SAREX/MIREX contact occurred
on Saturday July 5 at 12:02 UTC (MET 3/18:49). This contact was
conducted over the Indian Ocean and lasted 30-45 seconds. The second
MIR/Columbia conjunction occurred over the Pacific Ocean at 13:36 UTC
(MET 3/19:34). Will Marchant, KC6ROL, reported that this contact also
lasted about 30 to 45 seconds. He stated that the shuttle crew could
hear MIR for a lot longer due to MIR's better antenna and higher power
radio. Pilot Susan Still reported observing MIR through binoculars
while the ham radio contact was underway. Mr. Marchant, who was in the
Customer Support Room of the STS-94 Mission Control Center for AMSAT
during the two contacts said, "The shuttle crew sounded pretty excited
on the air-to-ground communications loop about their contact". The
crew shared this excitement with fellow astronaut Bill McArthur, KC5ACR,
who was CAPCOM during the contacts.
Mir came over Houston's horizon shortly before 19:00 UTC today and Matt
Bordelon, KC5BTL, made contact from JSC club station W5RRR with Mike
Foale. Phil Chien describes that the shuttle was then patched in on
the air-to-ground circuit.
CDR Jim Halsell, Payload Commander Janice Voss (KC5BTK) and Mission
Specialist Mike Gernhardt spoke with Mike Foale during this 10-minute
opportunity. At the time of the conversation, the two spacecraft were
about 1,100 miles apart with Mir tracking southeast from Canada over
much of the mid-western United States before passing over Florida and
the Atlantic Ocean. Columbia, meanwhile, was skirting the coast of
Central America and crossing over the northern portions of South
America throughout the conversation. The astronauts discussed the
docking of the Progress resupply vehicle to Mir, with Foale's Mir 23
crew mate Alexander Lazutkin announcing that "Christmas had arrived."
Foale also invited Columbia's crew over for a cup of tea, after a
fresh supply arrived on the Progress.
This unique event happened during a prescheduled Mars Pathfinder
briefing and most of the public missed the exciting news.
Other Columbia-Mir conjunctions will be possible through the mission
but whether another contact is attempted depends on the Columbia and
Mir work schedules.
Here is the current Columbia orbital element set courtesy Gil Carman,
WA5NOM, in Houston.
STS-94
1 24849U 97032A 97189.64131886 .00018750 00000-0 55762-4 0 9102
2 24849 28.4701 329.3665 0003962 51.8300 308.2834 15.90439666 1112
Satellite: STS-94
Catalog number: 24849
Epoch time: 97189.64131886 = yrday.fracday
Element set: 910
Inclination: 28.4701 deg
RA of node: 329.3665 deg
Eccentricity: .0003962
Arg of perigee: 51.8300 deg
Mean anomaly: 308.2834 deg
Mean motion: 15.90439666 rev/day
Decay rate: 1.87500E-04 rev/day^2
Epoch rev: 111
Checksum: 323
CORRECTION: SAREX Bulletin 7 should have stated regarding the
LTMS school contact, "on Rev 35 through telebridge ground station
N6IZW in San Diego" and not Rev 34. The typo was corrected in
time for the ANS-187 bulletin submission.
[Radio amateurs are encouraged to relay these SAREX bulletins to
their local packet BBS as long as the Bulletin IDentification (BID)
is preserved. The BID is the character string beginning with the
dollar sign ($), for example as in "SB SAREX @ AMSAT $STS-94.012"
without the quotation marks.]
Submitted by Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, for Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, and the
SAREX Working Group.
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
