ANDE-MAA /RAFT status as of            2100z on 22 December 2006
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                                                          WB4APR

RAFT:  Concentrated on RAFT, since all the noise would
wake up ANDE anyway and the internet would capture any telemetry
packets.  Got good logon into RAFT and lots of pings.  ALL OK
there.  She seems like a healthy spacecraft.  Voice spoke to me 
too.  Donno why it seemed nearly impossible yesterday.

ANDE woke up and we got 8 packets from her, but not one of them
was the SOLAR one.  Now it is in the dark over Europe and of
course, as luck would have it, they get a solar one.  But I did
attempt a LOGON to ANDE towards the end of the pass and it
responded immediately with a successful logon.  Caught me so
much by surprise, I lost a few seconds... Then I turned on 10
sec telemetry, but then had LOS... 

Good news is that the 10 sec rate didn't keep it alive beyond
its normal go-to-sleep-when-not-in-use circuits.  So when it got
to Europe 20 minutes later, it was asleep again.  That is a GOOD
test and lets us know that the power system will go to sleep and
Last the mission even with hanging commands.

SUMMARY:  It's a great Day.  Both ANDE-MAA and RAFT appear
normal on good high elevation passes. Logon and command/control
of both spacecraft are nominal on those passes.  Volts, currents
and temps are fine.  My guess is that ANDE is outta-tha-can,
since its signal levels are about what I expected.  But then,
on-the-other-hand the can could make a nice cavity resonator too
and give some good signals in some directions...  Oh, ANDE-2
(side B) also woke up, got 2 of 4 telemetry packets (but again,
not a solar one and it was over Europe at the time in the dark
anyway)...

P.S.  On the next pass at the very end got a +X solar sensor
seeing about 10% of sun illumination, just as it was entering
eclipse.  But there was one 2 mins earlier with XYZ dark and
ANDE was in the sun.  Would be a coincidence for XYZ to all
point to black space and none at earth or sun.  Oh, half of
earth was in the dark, so this could still happen.  SO still no
proof about being out of the can.  Also, ANDE continues  to
cool.  Its down to -10 on the  outside and +5 in the core, and
this is at the end of the day side pass.

> 21st at 1822z Temp was that of CAPE inside payload bay.
> 21st at 2202z Temp 25 C
> 22nd at 1616z Temp 17 C
> 22nd at 1925z Temp  6 C at end of sun side
> 22nd at 2234z Temp -9 C in 40% of eclipse

Also, we are getting good telemetry capture via the internet and
our team of volunteer groundstations, so we can keep an eye on
it via the WEB.

PLANS:  We do not intend to go after NMARS until they separate 
enough so that pass times do not overlap.  I need undivided attention
horizon to horizon to try to work on NMARS.

Bob Bruninga
USNA Satellite Lab