SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS037
ARLS037 Sputnik PS2 possibly SK

ZCZC AS37
QST de W1AW
Space Bulletin 037  ARLS037
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT  December 31, 1997
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS037
ARLS037 Sputnik PS2 possibly SK

Reports from around the world appear to confirm that the Sputnik PS2
mini-satellite has stopped transmitting.  The beacon signal from the
working model of the original Sputnik 1 satellite was last monitored
on December 29 or 30.  The lithium battery-powered 200 mW
transmitter had continued working for eight weeks after its launch
by hand from the Russian Mir space station on November 3,
transmitting a beep-beep tone on 145.82 MHz, and many hams around
the globe had continued to track the satellite's progress.  The
frequency of the tone indicated the satellite's internal
temperature.  Recent reports from stations monitoring the Sputnik
PS2 indicated its signals were getting weaker.

Students from the FR5KJ radio club at Jules Reydellet College in St
Denis, Reunion Island, and at the Polytechnic Laboratory of Nalchik
Kabardine in Russia cooperated in building the mini-Sputnik.  The
Russian students built the satellite body, while the French students
fabricated the transmitter inside.  Two working models of the
Sputnik were assembled and transported to Mir, but only one was
launched.  The Sputnik PS2, also called RS-17, surpassed the life of
its original namesake by several weeks.  The little satellite was a
one-third scale model of the original and had been estimated to
remain in operation for approximately 40 days.

As of December 31, the satellite had not been officially declared
dead, however.
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/EX