_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      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  ***                        <)                    
                                                                              

OBSERVATIONS

The HALCA In-Orbit Checkout has recently included 1.6 and 5 GHz observations made for a detailed cross-check of the Mitaka and Penticton correlators. Once the VLBA-->VSOP tape translator at Mitaka becomes fully operational, similar cross-checks will be made with the Socorro correlator. The number of General Observing Time observations is slowly being increased, and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page has been added to the VSOP WWW site to cover the scheduling, calibration and analysis of VSOP observations.

ECLIPSES

As mentioned in VSOP news no. 69, HALCA is currently undergoing a long series of solar eclipses, in which the solar radiation reaching the satellite is eclipsed by the Earth. The monotony of the one-eclipse-per-orbit cycle was broken on October 1st with an extra -- and longer -- eclipse in which the sun's light was blocked by the moon. As with every other eclipse, the on-board systems were shut down before the eclipse started, and restarted when the solar panels were fully illuminated again.

NAGOYA COSPAR

The 32nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly will be held in Nagoya, Japan from the 12th to the 19th of July, 1998. `VSOP Results and the Future of Space VLBI' is Symposium E1.3 of the Assembly and will be held over 1.5 days on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th. COSPAR Information Bulletin no. 139, a special issue containing the first circular for the Assembly, was mailed out earlier this month. For those not on the mailing list: the deadline for the receipt of Abstracts, and also for applications for financial support is 9 January 1998. For pre-registration and hotel reservations, the deadline is 1 May 1988. Further details are available from http://www.copernicus.org/COSPAR/COSPAR.html
(COSPAR is the acronym of the Committee on Space Research.)

SPORTS & OLYMPICS

Friday October the 10th was a National holiday in Japan -- `Tai-iku no hi' or Sports Day. Many schools in Japan hold their annual Sports Day in the weeks preceding this day. The holiday was established to commemorate the Tokyo Olympic Games, which were held from the 10th to the 24th of October, 1964. The Winter Olympics will be held next year in Japan in Nagano Prefecture (see http://www.nagano.olympic.org/ for details). Nagano Prefecture is perhaps better known to readers as the home of both the Nobeyama Radio Observatory and the Usuda Deep Space Center. The Winter Olympics will run from the 7th to the 22nd of February. It is not known whether February 7th will become a National holiday as a result!

 
                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi