_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      V   V   SSSS   OOO   PPPP                 \__      |_|      __/         
      V   V  S      O   O  P   P                   --____/ \____--            
      V   V   SSS   O   O  PPPP                    _ _ _ --- _ _ _            
       V V       S  O   O  P                      |_|_|_|  @|_|_|_|           
        V    SSSS    OOO   P                             o-o                  
                                                          /                   
      ***  N    E    W    S  ***                        <)                    

AO5

Potential proposers are reminded that the deadline for proposals for the fifth Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is February 1st. The AO, Proposer's Guide, and Cover Sheets are all available from the AO page on the VSOP web site (/astro/halca/vsop/AO.html). Proposals submitted by the February 1 deadline may be scheduled as early as May.

FUTURE SPACE VLBI MISSIONS

The current status of planning towards a next generation space VLBI mission was described to a packed house at the domestic space science review meeting at ISAS earlier this month, with presentations by Prof. Hirabayashi (mission overview), Prof. Natori (antenna design), Y. Murata (science subsystem), S. Kameno (science goals) and D. Murphy (international collaborations). These issues (and more) were then thrashed out in more detail this week during a three day meeting at ISAS with participants from ISAS, NAO and colleagues from the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia. Possible contributions to future missions were discussed, and progres made with planning the preparation of proposals for the next space VLBI mission.

VSOG STAFFING

The VSOG team have been boosted with the arrival of Satoko Sawada-Satoh at ISAS this month to take up a Center of Excellence (COE) fellowship. Sawada-Satoh-san was previously at the National Astronomical Observatory working on the VERA project.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

With an increasing number of VSOP-related publications appearing in press and on pre-print servers, we will start featuring one or two published or accepted papers in most issues of VSOP news. The first paper in the VSOP special edition of Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan is a detailed overview of the VSOP mission. "The VLBI Space Observatory Programme and the Radio-Astronomical Satellite HALCA" by Hirabayashi et al, appears in PASJ vol. 52, pp. 955-965. Reprints of this paper are available upon request to the VSOP news editors at the e-mail addresses given below. Investigators with papers accepted for publication or appearing in press are also encouraged to contact the editors with details.

SUMO

Winner of the "Hatsu basho" (the January sumo tournament) was Takanohana, who finally prevailed in a deciding bout against fellow yokozuna Musashimaru. The win was Takanohana's first victory in over two years. However, bigger sumo news followed the basho with the announcement by Akebono of his retirement. On-going knee injuries were the main reason behind Akebono's decision, however Akebono is retiring on a high note, having won two of his last three tournaments.

                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi