_                   
                                                         |_|                  
      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

The restoration of HALCA's on-board system will take place on October 29th. Preparations will commence on the 28th with the HALCA being oriented to its safe-hold attitude, and then placed in the safe-hold slow spin about the sun-spacecraft axis. On the 29th HALCA will be "re-booted", with its status monitored closely over the twelve hour period before and after the re-boot. HALCA will be kept in a slow spin until the current eclipse cycle ends on November 4th. This will be followed by the restarting and checking of the various on-board systems, with observing scheduled to re-start on November 9th.

AO2 FEEDBACK TO P.I.s

After re-observing with HALCA has resumed, the schedule for the next few months will be reconsidered. The remainder of the AO1 schedule and whole AO2 schedule will be reviewed and by late November all AO2 PI's (or their designated contact person) will be contacted with results of the Scientific Review Committee's ranking of their proposal and, where appropriate, tentative dates for their observations.

HALCA CALIBRATION

HALCA system temperature files are now available for nearly all General Observing Time VSOP observations. PI's may access their calibration data from /astro/halca/vsop/obs/HALCAcal.html and links therein.

EVN/JIVE SYMPOSIUM

The Fourth EVN/JIVE VLBI Symposium was held at Dwingeloo last week, with VSOG team member Jim Lovell presenting a talk on the "Overview and Current Status of the VSOP Mission". The symposium coincided with the inauguration of the new EVN MkIV Data Processor at JIVE, and our congratulations to all those associated with its development. We look forward to the day when VSOP fringes will appear at this new correlator!

VSOG MEMBERS

The VSOP Science Operations Group has been boosted recently by the addition of a number of new members. Eric (Zhi-Qiang) Shen has taken up a "Center of Excellence" fellowship at the National Astronomical Observatory and will be with the VSOG team for at least one year. Denise Gabuzda arrived in Japan last month to join the Mitaka group for four months. Two weeks ago, Max Avruch arrived from MIT to begin a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)/ National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship. And last but not least, Glen Langston arrived from Green Bank earlier this month to take up a visiting professorship position at ISAS. Glen's arrival in Japan coincided with a big fall in the value of the US dollar compared to the yen, prompting speculation as to what might happen when Glen returns to the USA in six months time!

 
                Editors: Phil Edwards and Hirax Hirabayashi