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| Previous Issue | Number 30 | 22nd December 1995 | Following Issue |
TRACKING SUPPORT
A meeting was held earlier this week at ISAS between the ISAS orbital determination group and their JPL colleagues to discuss JPL tracking support of ISAS missions. MUSES-B was among the satellites discussed: the planned JPL tracking support for the VSOP satellite will be for the all-important first 24 hours after launch.
INTEGRATION TESTING
Final integration testing continues at ISAS. Several sub-contractors have announced they won't have components ready to meet the current schedule, with delays of up to two weeks expected. Ways of re-arranging the schedule to accommodate these changes with a minimum of impact on the total schedule are being investigated. This week saw the 45 cm diameter Ku band antenna attached to the satellite and commanded `remotely' to point at various tracking stations.
VSOP NEWS
This is the last VSOP news for this year. The first issue of 1996 will be distributed on Friday the 12th of January.
SEASON'S GREETINGS
The Japanese `alphabet' does not differentiate between the English letters `r' and `l' -- hence the occasional difficulty encountered by Japanese in spelling English words with these letters. The story goes that, many years ago, one year Santa Claus found a sign hanging above the fire-place in a Japanese house proclaiming "Merry Chlistmas". On his way back up to the waiting reindeer Santa penned a short correction which has now become synonymous with Christmas greetings... Noel!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi