karn (03/23/83)
UOSAT SPACECRAFT CONTROL CENTRE
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY, GUILDFORD, SURREY, ENGLAND
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UOSAT SPACECRAFT OPERATIONAL STATUS:
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**** UOSAT BULLETIN-17 1500 GMT 18 MARCH 1983 ****
** S/C NEWS **
FOLLOWING PRECISE NAVIGATION ANALYSIS AND ATTITUDE MANOEUVRES
DURING MARCH 3-6TH, UOSAT WAS SUCCESSFULLY ORIENTED IN THE
CORRECT MANNER AND TIME FOR GRAVITY GRADIENT STABILISATION.
BOOM DEPLOYMENT COMMENCED OVER SURREY AT 03:58:15 GMT. AT
04:00:35 HIGH SPEED DATA INDICATED THE CABLES FROM THE
SPACECRAFT TO THE TIP-MASS MAGNETOMETER ON THE END OF THE BOOM
TO HAVE SNAGGED AND BOOM DEPLOYMENT WAS HALTED IMMEDIATELY AT
ONE METRE EXTENSION. THE NAVIGATION AND ATTITUDE OF UOSAT WAS
SO PRECISE HOWEVER THAT THE SPACECRAFT SUCCEEDED IN BECOMING
GRAVITY-GRADIENT STABILISED FOR APPROX ONE DAY EVEN THOUGH THE
BOOM WAS ONLY EXTENDED 1 RATHER THAN 4M. THE GRADUAL INCREASE
IN Z-SPIN CAUSED UOSAT TO SLIP OUT OF LOCK ON 8 MARCH.
DETAILED ANALYSIS IS UNDER WAY AND ATTEMPTS WILL BE MADE TO
RELEASE THE CABLES.
** THANKS FOR FEEDBACK **
W4AUZ, I.CLINE, WA6VRC, K1KSY, N5AHD, WB4KGY, G8EDG, W7AVE,
KA9Q/2, G6ESK, G6BTU, G8NEF, G8NOB
** POST BOX **
PLEASE SEND RAW TELEMETRY AND COMPUTER DUMP DATA RECEIVED FROM
ORBITS 7770 TO 7865 FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS.
*SPACECRAFT ORBITAL DATA*
ORBITS FOR 18TH MARCH
UOSAT OSCAR-8 NOAA-7
ORBIT NO : 8000 25654 8939
EQX TIME : 14:12:56 15:00:43 14:23:08 GMT
EQX LONG : 345.6 181.8 357.7 DEG.W
MEAN HGT : 505.6 905.0 850.0 KM
PERIOD : 94.7279624 103.1672360 101.9113575 MINS
P-DRAG : 5.718E-05 2.166E-06 7.500E-06 *N-REF
LONG INC : 23.6815572 25.7936732 25.4882122 DEGS
L-DRAG : 1.438E-05 7.030E-07 2.000E-07 *N-REF
QSL/POST CARDS CONFIRMING RECEPTION OF UOSAT DATA INCLUDING
STATION DETAILS WOULD BE APPRECIATED FOR SURVEY OF NO. AND
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF ACTIVE STATION)
SEND TO: DR.M.N.SWEETING, UOSAT CONTROL CENTRE - THANK YOU