_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      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  ***                        <)                    
                                                                              

AO1 PI LETTER

The PIs (or their contact persons) of all AO1 proposals were e-mailed at the end of January with details of which of their experiments would be scheduled during the AO1 period. Any PI/contact person who did not receive this e-mail should contact the VSOG (vsog@vsop.isas.ac.jp) as soon as possible.

AO2 PROPOSER'S GUIDE

The VSOP Proposer's Guide, revised for the second Announcement of Opportunity period, is now available from the VSOP WWW and ftp sites. Proposers are strongly advised to read the VSOP Proposer's Guide, as it provides the technical information necessary to prepare a proposal for VSOP observations. The Guide is available as a single gzip-ed postscript file, or in three parts in case problems are encountered with the single large file.

HALCA STATUS

As noted last issue, the first anniversary of HALCA's launch took place on February 12th. Initially, it seemed as though the satellite would not be on its best behaviour for celebrating the event, as HALCA started the week in safe-hold mode! Several observations were postponed while HALCA was retrieved from safe-hold, and a recalcitrant reaction wheel warmed up and finally retarted. HALCA has since experienced two eclipses of the Sun by the Moon (on the same day at the solar eclipse seen from Earth), with no problems encountered.

VSOP INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE COUNCIL (VISC)

Last week the VISC held a one day meeting in conjunction with RadioAstron International Science Council and Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) Panel 3 meetings. The meetings were hosted by Prof. Busca at the Neuchatel Observatory in Switzerland. The VISC reviewed progress with the mission since their last meeting, and noted several areas where action was required.

ISAS and MITAKA ADDRESSES

At the beginning of February, the Japanese postal code system was revamped with all postal codes now having seven digits. The new ISAS code is 229-8510, and the code for the National Astronomical Observatory at Mitaka is 181-8588.

CONGRATULATIONS

HALCA's first birthday was closely followed by the first `two-tape' fringes at the JIVE correlator. Fringes were detected on February 18th at 6cm between Effelsberg and Medicina. Congratulations to all involved!

 
                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi