SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0117                                                        
* SpaceNews 17-Jan-94 *                                                         
                                                                                
BID: $SPC0117                                                                   
                                                                                
                                                                                
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                               SpaceNews                                        
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                        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.                                                               
                                                                                
                                                                                
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