Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Aug 17 2018 11:34 am
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2129, for Friday, August 17, 2018
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2129, with a release date
of Friday, August 17, 2018, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Packet radio is returning to the
International Space Station. In India, hams help a family
reunite - and a special report on NASA's newly launched solar
probe.
All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2129, comes
your way right now.
**
BILLBOARD CART
**
NASA'S SOLAR PROBE BEGINS ITS JOURNEY
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We begin this week with our eyes turned to the
sun, and NASA's recently launched solar probe. With that special
report, we welcome the newest member of our Newsline team, Science
Editor, Dr. Tamitha Skov, WX6SWW.
TAMITHA SKOV'S REPORT: The NASA Parker Solar Probe successfully
launched on a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral
on Aug. 12, 2018. The probe was named after one of the founding
fathers of Space Weather science, Dr. Eugene Parker, who at a young
91 years old, was in attendance.
Dubbed, "The mission to touch the Sun," The Parker Solar Probe is
viewed by many scientists as a miracle mission, as NASA has been
flirting with the idea of a solar probe since the 1960s. Until
recently, the technology required to make the journey, and survive
while grazing the hot solar atmosphere meant the mission was too
costly to design. Even today, the probe is poised to set many new
records. It will be the closest we have ever come to the Sun, at
3.8 million miles, it will fly the fastest we have ever gone, at
430,000 mph, and it will survive temperatures over 3 million degrees
Fahrenheit, the hottest environment we have ever known.
Indeed, the corona is hot, even 300 times hotter than the surface
of the Sun.
But, the tenuous region called the "corona," where the Sun's
atmosphere changes into a driving solar wind, is a mysterious place,
and it has refused to give up its secrets to the casual observer.
Data from this region is critical to advancing models of the solar
corona, and the solar wind, and will extend scientists' ability to
predict the intensity of space weather. Events such as solar storms,
solar radio bursts, and radiation storms, can impact radio and
satellite communications, causing radio blackouts, as well as
disrupting emergency communications, and GPS navigation on the ground.
The probe's first close pass of the Sun will be in November 2018, with
23 ever-closer passes over the next 7 years. When the probe finally
runs out of fuel some 10-20 years in the future, it will fall into the
Sun and burn up -- all except for the carbon-based heat shield. Long
after the probe is gone, that carbon disk will continue orbiting the
Sun for many generations to come.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Dr. Tamitha Skov, WX6SWW.
**
PACKET RADIO RETURNING SOON TO SPACE STATION
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In just a few short months, something else will be
heading into space: packet radio for the International Space Station.
Robert Broomhead, VK3DN, has that report.
ROBERT: It looks like APRS and packet radio will be back aboard the
International Space Station sooner rather than later. NASA has given
the go-ahead for the launch of a new packet module to replace the one
that died aboard the space station in July of last year. The module
has been outfitted with a new battery, and given sufficient testing
to verify that it is operational. A request has been made to send it
up as part of the manifest for supply mission 71P, which could come
as early as the 31st of October, with a projected docking on November
2nd. Meanwhile, the ARISS hardware team has been working on the space
station's new Interoperable Radio System, which it now hopes can be
deployed in early 2019. As for the packet module, the crew will make
an attempt to get that installed as time permits. ARISS reports that
it is expected to be operational by late November.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Robert Broomhead, VK3DN.
