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ARLS006 SAREX To Fly In June
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Space Bulletin 006 ARLS006
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT May 26, 1995
To all radio amateurs
SB SPACE ARL ARLS006
ARLS006 SAREX To Fly In June
The Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment, or SAREX, will be carried on
the 100th US human space mission when the Space Shuttle Discovery
launches on June 8, 1995 at 1326 UTC. The mission is designated
STS-70, and the crew includes one Amateur Radio-licensed astronaut,
Mission Specialist Donald A. Thomas, KC5FVF. The crew has scheduled
voice contacts with 8 school groups in the US and one in Argentina.
Landing is targeted for June 16 at 1136 UTC at the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
On this mission, the SAREX hardware will be flown in configuration C
which includes 2 meter FM voice and packet. Amateurs should use the
usual frequency set to make random SAREX contacts. The astronauts
will operate split, transmitting and receiving on separate
frequencies. Please do not transmit on the shuttle's downlink
frequency. The downlink is your receiving frequency. The uplink is
your transmitting frequency. The FM voice downlink is 145.55 MHz.
The FM voice uplinks are 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97 and 144.99
MHz. The crew will not favor any of the uplink frequencies, so your
ability to communicate with SAREX will be the ''luck of the draw.'' To
avoid causing interference to other stations, transmit only when the
shuttle is within range and when the SAREX station is on the air.
The crew will use KC5FVF as the primary voice call sign. On packet,
use W5RRR-1 to log a contact on the SAREX ROBOT.
The following Keplerian tracking elements were provided by Gil
Carman, WA5NOM, of the NASA Johnson Space Center:
STS-70
1 99970U 95160.80510237 .00017899 00000-0 55675-4 0 123
2 99970 28.4680 279.2253 0016417 154.9557 205.1895 15.89705110 219
Satellite: STS-70
Catalog number: 99970
Epoch time: 95160.80510237 = (09-Jun-95 19:19:20.84 UTC)
Element set: 012
Inclination: 28.4680 deg
RA of node: 279.2253 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-70
Eccentricity: .0016417 Prelaunch element set JSC-012
Arg of perigee: 154.9557 deg Launch: 08-Jun-95 13:26:00 UTC
Mean anomaly: 205.1895 deg
Mean motion: 15.89705110 rev/day Gil Carman
Decay rate: 1.7899e-04 rev/day sq NASA Johnson Space Center
Epoch rev: 21
Checksum: 316
Send reports and QSLs to ARRL EAD, STS-70, 225 Main Street,
Newington CT 06111-1494 USA. Include the mission number, date, time
in UTC, frequency and mode in your report. You must also include a
self-addressed stamped business-sized envelope if you wish to
receive a card. The Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club in Sterling, VA
has generously volunteered to manage the cards for this mission.
The flight will highlight the deployment of a sixth Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite. Once deployed, an engine on the satellite will
boost it into a geostationary orbit. The TDRS System provides NASA
with communication and tracking capability to meet its mission
support requirements.
SAREX will also be carried on mission STS-71, which is scheduled for
no earlier than June 23. During that mission, the Shuttle Atlantis
will rendezvous and, for the first time, dock with the Russian Space
Station Mir. The shuttle will carry two new Mir crew members (Mir
19) to the station, and return to Earth with the three Mir 18 crew
members, including US astronaut Norm Thagard.
For more information on SAREX, contact the ARRL Educational
Activities Department.
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/EX
