_                    
                                                         |_|                   
      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  ***                        <)                     
 

STOP PRESS

We have just heard the good news from the Mitsubishi factory that the very first deployment test of the real MUSES-B 8m antenna went successfully!

USUDA TRACKING STATION

Manufacturing of the 10m diameter VSOP tracking station antenna by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Melco) has been completed. The antenna is now being transferred to the Usuda Deep Space Center. The Usuda dish is one of 5 tracking stations around the world to be used for up-linking the reference frequency to the VSOP satellite, and for receiving the real-time down-linked data from the satellite. The antenna will be assembled at Usuda over the next few months.

VSOP ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY

The VSOP Announcement of Opportunity (AO) and Proposer's Guide are nearing completion. Pending approval of the documents by the relevant authorities, the documents should be ready for release sometime towards the end of this month. More details in the next VSOP news.

M-V ROCKET TESTS

A test firing of the third stage of the M-V rocket took place on Tuesday the 25th of April at the ISAS test facility in Noshiro. The firing, which lasted 108 seconds, was the second test firing of the third stage, and was, like the first test, a success. A meeting to review the progress of M-V-1, *the* M-V that will be used to launch MUSES-B, the VSOP satellite, will be held at ISAS later this month. Further M-V tests are scheduled for later in the year: the second test of the first stage is planned for June, and the second test of the kick-motor is slated for October.

Phil Edwards in VSOG finished his 12 month term in ISAS, and returned to Australia. But this is definitely not a firing test -- he can stay another 10 months in ISAS starting from the beginning of next August. His launch test to Australia was safe and successful!

GOLDEN WEEK

The first week in May is `Golden Week' in Japan. (NASA colleagues, on learning this, assumed it was being held in honor of Dan Goldin, NASA administrator!) Golden Week is a seven day period with no less than four public holidays: April 29th is Green Day, May 3rd is Constitution Memorial Day and May 5th is Childrens Day. Following the passage of a law a dozen or so years ago that any day sandwiched between two public holidays must become a public holiday, May 4th has become Citizens Day!

 
 
       Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi