AMSAT NEWS SERVICE<br />ANS-215<br /><br /><br />ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North<br />America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the<br />activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an<br />active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating<br />through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.<br /><br /><br />In this edition:<br />* ARISS chairman promoted at NASA<br />* NASA Teams with Local Libraries<br />* Mars Closing In<br />* FCC Hikes Vanity Fee<br />* Space Agencies Team Up in Satellite Launch Project<br />* Expedition 8 Crew Named<br />* Canadian Space Agency Celebrates 1000 Days in Space<br />* Canada-U.S. Satellite gets a Triple Brain Transplant<br />* Teen Astronomers at Brussels Planetarium Speak via Ham Radio with ISS<br />* ARISS Contact Schedule<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.01<br />ARISS chairman promoted at NASA<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.01 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.01<br /><br />Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank<br />Bauer, KA3HDO, has been promoted to the highest technical rank<br />accorded a NASA scientist or engineer. Bauer, who works at NASA Goddard<br />Space Flight Center in Maryland, now is a Special Technical--or ST--in<br />recognition of his record of exceptional technical achievement in the<br />field of guidance, navigation and control. Bauer's promotion came<br />through in time for him to be appointed to the NASA deputy<br />administrator's new blue ribbon panel, "Alternatives to the Orbital<br />Space Plane." Bernard Seery, chief of the Mission Engineering and<br />Systems Analysis Division in the Applied Engineering<br />and Technology Directorate, said Bauer's new ST rank formally<br />recognizes him as a lead guidance, navigation and control expert at the<br />Agency level. ARISS is an international program with participation by<br />ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.<br /><br />[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.02<br />NASA Teams with Local Libraries<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.02 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br /><br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.02<br /><br />NASA and the American Library Association have partnered to create a<br />one-of-a-kind interactive space research exhibit. This, as part of a<br />new program called NASA @ your library.<br /><br />The unique exhibit will tour 120 public libraries in five regions<br />across the nation for the next two years. It will feature special<br />presentations specifically created to expose people of all ages <br />to NASA research in the areas of health, home and transportation, <br />agriculture and environment, and commerce.<br /><br />The program was recently launched at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in<br />Baltimore. NASA @ your library was created to inspire more<br />participation at public libraries, raise awareness and encourage <br />interest in science.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Amateur Radio Newsline for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.03<br />Mars Closing In<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.03 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.03<br /><br />This August, scientists and amateur astronomers will benefit from the<br />spectacular view of Mars as it appears bigger and brighter than ever<br />before, revealing its reflective south polar cap and whirling dust<br />clouds.<br /><br />On August 27, 2003, the fourth planet from the sun will be less than<br />55.76 million kilometers (34.65 million miles) away from the Earth. In<br />comparison to the space between your house and your neighbor's yard,<br />that may seem like a large distance, but Mars was about five times that<br />distance from Earth only six months ago.<br /><br />Although Mars will be closest on August 27, astronomers suggest viewing<br />the planet earlier, as dust storm season is just beginning on the red<br />planet and can obstruct a more detailed view.<br /><br />Mars will not make another neighborly visit this close until 2287.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.04<br />FCC Hikes Vanity Fee<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.04 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.04<br /><br />The FCC has announced that the new Amateur Radio vanity call sign<br />regulatory fee of $16.30 for the 10-year license term will go into<br />effect September 9. Applicants for amateur vanity call signs will<br />continue to pay the $14.50 fee per vanity call sign application until<br />the new fee goes into effect. The FCC says it expects to collect close<br />to $160,000 from 9800 Amateur Radio vanity call sign applicants during<br />Fiscal Year 2003. That's up by almost $30,000 and 800 applications from<br />FY2002.<br /><br />Further details on the FCC's position and response to amateur requests<br />to eliminate the fee can be found on ARRL's website:
http://www.arrl.org/<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.05<br />Space Agencies Team Up in Satellite Launch Project<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.05 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.05<br /><br />Europe's Arianespace, Boeing Launch Services of the United States and<br />Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have signed an agreement that will<br />enable clients to make emergency use of satellite launchers from any<br />one of the three companies, Arianespace said Wednesday.<br /><br />"This alliance will allow each company to continue to sell its<br />individual launch services and to promote its own launchers," it said<br />in a statement.<br /><br />But the agreement, worked out following negotiations in Tokyo and Los<br />Angeles, also provides a "back-up" in case of technical problems with<br />one launcher, with clients entitled to seek the immediate services of<br />either of the other two companies.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.06<br />Expedition 8 Crew Named<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.06 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br /><br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.06<br /><br />The crew of the International Space Station marked 1,000 days of people<br />living aboard the station on Tuesday.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the two men who have been training for months to be the next<br />space-station crew have been assigned to the job officially.<br /><br />Mike Foale, a British-born American, will serve as commander of the<br />two-man crew. Russian Alexander Kaleri will be the flight engineer and<br />the commander of the Russian Soyuz, which will take them to the outpost<br />Oct. 18.<br /><br />On the flight, they'll be accompanied by Spaniard Pedro Duque. The<br />European Space Agency astronaut will visit the station for a few days,<br />then return to Earth with the current crew, Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu,<br />who have been aboard since April. They will return in the Soyuz that<br />took Lu and Malenchenko to the station.<br /><br />Foale and Kaleri were the backup crew for Lu and Malenchenko. Their<br />backup crew will be NASA astronaut Bill McArthur, who has been on three<br />shuttle missions, and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks Florida Today for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.07<br />Canadian Space Agency Celebrates 1000 Days in Space<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.07 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.07<br /><br />July 30th marked the 1000th day of human presence aboard the<br />International Space Station (ISS), a platform for scientific<br />experiments and observation of Earth and space.<br /><br />"The milestone marked by the 1000th day of human presence aboard the<br />largest international scientific program ever undertaken is testament<br />of the cooperation of Canada and its partners, the U.S., Russia, Japan<br />and eleven European countries, helped in no small part by the Canadian<br />Space Agency," said CSA President Marc Garneau.<br /><br />Canadian technology is playing a key role in the building of the ISS,<br />through the use of the Canadarm2 and its mobile base system that allows<br />it to move around the station. "Dextre" a multi-function two armed<br />robot when launched in 2005 or later will perform precision ISS<br />assembly tasks reducing the need for spacewalks by astronauts.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks Canadian Space Agency for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.08<br />Canada-U.S. Satellite gets a Triple Brain Transplant<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.08 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.08<br /><br />The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite has been<br />given a new lease on life following the successful implementation of<br />new software in three on-board computers controlling the precision<br />pointing of the telescope.<br /><br />For the past two years, engineers and scientists at the Johns Hopkins<br />University in Baltimore, Maryland, at Orbital Sciences Corporation in<br />Dulles, Virginia, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,<br />Maryland, and at the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Quebec,<br />have worked together to change the flight software used for science<br />observations. The three spacecraft computers - the Attitude Control<br />System, the Instrument Data System, and the processor on the Fine Error<br />Sensor (FES) guide camera, provided by the Canadian Space Agency - all<br />received new software directly in space via up-links established in<br />mid-April 2003.<br /><br />FUSE can now operate without gyroscopes with no degradation in science<br />data quality and only a slight loss of observation scheduling<br />efficiency. The gyroscopes aboard FUSE do not move the satellite, <br />but they provide information on how the spacecraft is moving or <br />drifting over time.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Canadian Space Agency for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.09<br />Teen Astronomers at Brussels Planetarium Speak via Ham Radio with ISS<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.09 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.09<br /><br />Teenaged members of an amateur astronomers' club enjoyed an opportunity<br />to speak via ham radio with someone in space July 24. The Amateur<br />Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact originated at<br />Brussels Planetarium, an annex of the Royal Observatory of Belgium.<br />Contact participants got to ask 13 questions of astronaut Ed Lu,<br />KC5WKJ, at the controls of NA1SS aboard the ISS. In response to one<br />youth's question, Lu said he and the Expedition 7 crew commander,<br />Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, get along well in part<br />because they have been in space together before. Lu said if others were<br />able to share his and Malenchenko's perspective on Earth the<br />experience might contribute to world peace.<br /><br />Handling Earth station duties for the contact was Gerald Klatzko,<br />ZS6BTD, in Johannesburg, South Africa. An MCI teleconferencing circuit<br />provided two-way audio between South Africa and the Brussels<br />Planetarium, where the teenagers and ARISS Vice Chairman Gaston<br />Bertels, ON4WF, used a speakerphone. MCI also provided streaming audio<br />to the Web. The planetarium's public address system made contact audio<br />available for an audience of about 100 people, Bertels said.<br /><br />Two TV and one radio station covered the event and interviewed the<br />teenaged astronomers afterward. The Belga press agency also was on<br />hand. In the planetarium, the participants and those looking on could<br />see the ISS replicated on the planetarium's hemispheric dome.<br /><br />ARISS is an international project with participation by ARRL, AMSAT and<br />NASA.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.10<br />ARISS Contact Schedule and Successful School List updated 2003-07-31<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.10 From AMSAT HQ<br /><br />SILVER SPRING, MD. August 9, 2003<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-215.10<br /><br />The International Space School contact this Friday will be on the web.<br />Go to the announcements page for complete instructions.<br /><br />Check out Ed Lu's webpage:
http://www.edlu.com/<br /><br />The latest ARISS announcement and successful school list is now<br />available on the ARISS web site. Several ways to get there.<br /><br />Latest ARISS announcements and news can be found at<br />
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt<br /><br />Successful school list is at<br />
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf<br /><br />or<br />
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov<br /><br />If the GSFC website is having problems, then go directly to the RAC<br />site.<br /><br />click on English<br />you are now at
http://www.rac.ca/ariss/<br />click on News.<br /><br /><br />[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, for the above information.]<br /><br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />ANS is released worldwide via the AMSAT ANS e-mail reflector and a live<br />radiocast on the AMSAT-NA 20-meter net held each Sunday on 14.282 MHz.<br />Pre-net operations start at 18:00 UTC, with current ANS bulletins<br />transmitted to the eastern U.S. at 19:00 UTC and to the western<br />U.S. at 19:30 UTC.<br /><br />Information on AMSAT-NA is available at the following URL:<br />
http://www.amsat.org<br /><br /><br />This week's ANS Editor:<br />Scott Lindsey-Stevens, N3ASA<br />n3asa@amsat.org
