_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      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  ***                        <)                    

HALCA STATUS

Plans for recovering HALCA are now well advanced. The safest way to restore the on-board system to its normal operating mode requires "resetting" the system during the upcoming series of eclipses. On the one hand, there is a desire to do this as soon as possible, yet on the other hand there is the thought that the operation should be done at the end of the eclipse period so that HALCA will be able to "recuperate" in full sunlight. The final decision has been to do the recovery operation during the eclipse period on a day when there are two long Kagoshima tracking passes so that the satellite can be commanded and its status monitored over a long period. The three dates being considered are the 20th, 24th and 29th of October. It is thus planned to resume observing after the eclipse period ends in early November.

AO2 FEEDBACK TO P.I.s

It had been planned to contact all Principal Investigators (or their designated contact person) in mid-September regarding the results of the AO2 Scientific Review Committee meeting. The relative rating of the proposal was determined during the SRC meeting, but of more relevance is the likelihood that a given experiment will be observed. Detailed long-term schedules were being generated to allow a good estimate of which experiments could be carried out, but with HALCA having been "off-air" for the last month, these simulations have needed to be redone. The revised timescale for contacting PIs with AO2 results will be announced in the next newsletter.

A tentative observing schedule between Nov. 4 and Jan. 31 is available from the VSOP website, however this schedule was made before observing with HALCA was stopped and will need some modification after the recovery of HALCA.

SCIENCE

The paper "Overview and First Results of the Very Long Baseline Interferometry Space Observatory Programme" was published in the 18th September issue of the journal Science. After a brief review of the technical details of the mission, four of the first VSOP images of active galactic nuclei are presented. As befitting a large international endeavour like the VSOP project, the paper has a large author list, headed by the Project Scientist, H. Hirabayashi, and Project Manager, H. Hirosawa.

IAF MEETING

The 49th International Astronautical Federation Congress was held this week in Melbourne, Australia. During session Q.1 "Space Based Astronomy", VSOP Project Manager Prof. H. Hirosawa gave a presentation on "The Space VLBI Satellite HALCA and its Engineering Accomplishments", and Dr. David Jauncey followed with a talk on Australian participation in the VSOP mission.

 
                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi