_                    
                                                         |_|                   
      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  ***                        <)                     
 

TWO MONTHS TO GO...

The deadline for proposals for Phase 1 General Observing Time observations with the VSOP satellite and ground radio telescopes is Friday 17th November. And as proposals must be mailed to reach ISAS by that day, there are less than two months left!

SURVEY WORKING GROUP MEETING

The SWG meeting was held at ISAS on the 5th and 6th of this month. Over forty people attended the meeting, with sixteen having made the trip from abroad. The first day was spent discussing various concepts for the AGN and maser surveys, which provided plenty of food for thought at the meeting dinner that evening. The second day started with presentations on the various resources available to, and required by, the surveys. The second afternoon was spent debating the various proposals and converging on a general consensus as to the shape of the surveys. A summary of the meeting has been posted on both the VSOP World Wide Web site (reached through either the Whats New page or the Survey Program page) and the VSOP ftp site in the pub/surveys directory.

SAD NEWS

We were very saddened to hear of the untimely death of Dr Alexei Gvamichava, RadioAstron Technical Manager. The VSOP team extends to Alexei's family and all the RadioAstron team its deep sympathy and condolences.

NEW ASCA MEMBERS?

Why have Murata-san, Kobayashi-san and Kameno-san been working so hard for the X-ray satellite ASCA letely? Have they defected to higher energies in the electromagnetic spectrum? No, the answer is simple: in order to learn some of the details of satellite operations, in particular the satellite commanding procedures from the Sagamihara Operations Centre to the Kagoshima Space Centre, VSOP team members have been helping the ASCA team over the last few weeks. ASCA team scientists usually take one-week shifts working on operations, and it is envisaged that after launch the VSOP team will do the same.

A NEW CLASS OF RADIO SOURCE?

The award for best joke of the SWG meeting goes to Esko Valtaoja. In describing the pitfalls of conducting a survey program without ground-based monitoring support, Esko gave the illustration of a new class of radio sources waiting to be `discovered'. These, he suggested, could be called HIghly RAdiating unknown sources -- HIRAXes!

 
 
       Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi