Orbit issue 93 (March 2012)

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Editorial

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 93 March 2012

A Society Treasure

Patron: Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

I first met Harvey Duncan in 1995 when soon after I had joined our Society, he approached me when I offered my services as a possible new Editor. We lived relatively close to each other as my home was then near Dundee and as a pair of teachers, space stamp collectors and plain speaking dour Scots we hit it off straight away.

COMMITTEE Chair : Margaret Morris, 55 Canniesburn Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland G61 1RX (E-mail: mmorris671@aol.com)

Since then we met at least once a year either at stamp fairs in Perth or when he would call in to see me in my new home near Fochabers as he visited friends in Strathspey. I always admired his generosity, modesty, his pawky humour and his unfailingly positive outlook on life, despite the personal tragedy he had suffered in becoming a widower far earlier than he might have expected to.

Hon. Secretary: Brian J.Lockyer, 21, Exford Close,Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset BS23 4RE (E-mail : b.lockyer365@btinternet.com)

Hon .Treasurer: Eve Archer, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Mosstodloch, Moray.

Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail: evearcher9@aol.com)

Harvey contributed to the welfare of our Society in many ways—as Treasurer who remitted office with the accounts in very good heart, as the original postal packet organiser, as compiler of superb award-winning space stamp checklists published in parts with this journal and latterly as indexer of all the articles. In this latter capacity you can imagine his “joy” when he realised I had numbered consecutive issues “85” in March and June 2010—”What the blazes were you thinking of….etc” and then a smirk down the phone as he worked out a way to get round that problem.

Orbit : Editor Jeff Dugdale, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Mosstodloch, Moray.

Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail: jefforbited@aol.com)

Webmaster Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Road, Walkington, Dublin 12 (E-mail: dclarke36@gmail.com)

Postal Auction Organiser: David Saunders, 42 Burnet Road, Bradwell, Great Yarmouth. NR31 8SL. (E-mail davidsaunders1@hotmail.co.uk)

I last saw him in October at Scottish Congress in Perth when we shared a “news” over some lunch. Stamps were his life once he was on his own and I know how much fulfilment being a member of philatelic societies brought him. I shall miss him very much.

Overseas Representatives: Australia: Charles Bromser, 37 Bridport Street, Melbourne 3205.

Belgium : Jűrgen P. Esders, Rue Paul Devigne 21-27, Boite 6, 1030 Bruxelles Eire:Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Rd, Walkinstown. Dublin 12.

France: Jean-Louis Lafon, 23 Rue de Mercantour, 78310 Maurepas Russia: Mikhail Vorobyov, 31-12 Krupskaya Str, Kostroma United States: Dr Ben Ramkissoon, Linda Valley Villa #236 11075 Benton Street Loma Linda CA 92354-3182

ASSS website at URL: http://www.astrospacestampsociety.com/ astrospacestampsociety@gmail.com ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Members in UK—£15

Life Members: UK - George Spiteri, Ian Ridpath, Margaret Morris, Michael Packham, Dr W.R. Withey, Jillian Wood. Derek Clarke (Eire,) Charles Bromser (Australia.) Tom Baughn (U.S.A.,) Ross Smith (Australia,) Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong.)

Mohammed K.Safdar (Saudi Arabia)

in Europe (EU and non-EU) - €30 Elsewhere - $45 equivalent Juniors (under 18) £6.50

ADVERTISING RATES We invite advertisers to use ORBIT to reach AstroPhilatelic enthusiasts worldwide. If readers have a commercial source they think they would like others to benefit from please let the firm know of us:. Rates are: Full page Display - £24 Half Page - £12 Quarter Page £6 One eighth of a page - £4.

Camera ready copy required with remittance by the above stated copy deadline for inclusion in our next edition.

Copy Deadline for the June 2012 issue is May 14th by which time all material intended for publication should be with the Editor.

© Copyright 2012 The Astro Space Stamp Society. No article contained herein may be reproduced without prior permission of the Author and the Society.

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Harvey Duncan 1935 — 2012

In his Editorial, Jeff Dugdale has provided a personal and moving obituary for our late Treasurer, Harvey Duncan. Although I did not know Harvey as well as Jeff did, I felt I would like to add a few words of my own in appreciation.

Harvey was a very keen collector of Space and Astronomy stamps and it was fitting that his fine display on Halley's Comet was exhibited at STAMPEX in London. He was a good supporter of his local club, the Falkirk & District Philatelic Society, and a good turnout of the members attended his funeral. The ceremony took place in the calm and beautiful surroundings of the Falkirk Crematorium on Saturday 3rd March and several members of the ASSS travelled a very considerable distance to be present. I was so pleased to meet Harvey's two fine sons and to thank them for all that Harvey had done for our Society.

Members will be pleased to learn that at the funeral a collection in aid of Cancer Relief UK was taken which raised over £450, £100 of which was donated on behalf of the Society.

Members will also be relieved to know that there is continuity as Jeff Dugdale's wife, Eve Archer, a professional accountant, has kindly agreed to take on Treasurership of our Society. We thank her most sincerely for this.

Margaret Morris

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MA7— Mercury 7 24 May 1962

Above checklist extracted from Harvey Duncan’s US Manned Spaceflight checklists issued with Orbit #43 (October 1999) Left extract from The Observer’s Spaceflight Directory by Reg Turnill (Warne 1978) Cover designed by ASSS member Kenneth Woods of Bristol

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Also Mongolia 1969, Sharjah 1970 Paraguay 1967 and Rep of Guinea 1999

M. Scott Carpenter (b. 1.5.1925) Some memoirs have revived the simmering controversy over who or what, exactly, was to blame for the overshoot of Aurora 7 in its return to earth, suggesting, for example, that Carpenter was distracted by the science and engineering experiments dictated by the flight plan and by the well-reported fireflies phenomenon. Yet fuel consumption and other aspects of the vehicle operation were, during Project Mercury, as much, if not more, the responsibility of the ground controllers. Moreover, hardware malfunctions went unidentified, while organizational tensions between the astronaut office and the flight controller office — tensions that NASA did not resolve until the later Gemini and Apollo programs — may account for much of the latter-day criticism of Carpenter's performance during his flight.

Carpenter's right index finger was wounded by the toxic spines of a scorpion fish. He returned to work at NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, then returned to the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project in 1967, based in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III. In the aftermath of aquanaut Berry L. Cannon's death while attempting to repair a leak in SEALAB III, Carpenter volunteered to dive down to SEALAB and help return it to the surface, although SEALAB was ultimately salvaged in a less hazardous way. Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969, after which he founded Sea Sciences, Inc., a corporation for developing programs for utilizing ocean resources and improving environmental health

Carpenter (pictured above in more recent times) never flew another mission in space. After taking a leave of absence from the astronaut corps in the fall of 1963 to train for and participate in the Navy's SEALAB program, Carpenter sustained a medically grounding injury to his left arm in a motorbike accident. After failing to regain mobility in his arm after two surgical interventions (in 1964 and 1967), Carpenter was ruled ineligible for spaceflight. He resigned from NASA in August 1967In July 1964 in Bermuda, In 1965, for SEALAB II, he spent 28 days living on the ocean floor off the coast of California. During the SEALAB II mission,

Carpenter has been married and divorced three times. He married Rene Louise Price in 1948. In 1972, he married Maria Roach, daughter of film producer Hal Roach. He married Barbara Curtin in 1988. He has four children from his first marriage: Marc Scott, Kristen Elaine, Candace Noxon, and Robyn Jay. He also has two children from his second marriage: Matthew Scott and filmmaker Nicholas Andre, and one child from his third marriage, Zachary Scott.

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The types of topographical features on Mars are manifold comprising in addition to craters catenae (lines of craters), chaos (broken terrain), chasma, colles (hills) dorsa (ridges) fossa (ditches) labyrinthus (canyon complex), mensae (small plateaux) mons, mountains/volcanoes) patera (low lying plains), planitiae (impact basins) plana (plateaux) rupes (cliffs) terrae (lands) tholi (domed hills) valles (valleys) and vastitas (extensive plain)…..

The Naming of Craters : Mars

As you will infer only the larger craters (diam. 150 km+) are consistently named after famous personalities, mainly scientists or sci-fi writers some of whom are commemorated in stamps shown here but if smaller than 60km in diameter after towns/cities on Earth like Amsterdam or Belz which is in the Ukraine.

Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) French Physicist, Nobel laureate on France 1946

Nicolaus Copernicus (14731543) Polish astronomer on Soviet Union 1973

Jean-Dominique Cassini (16251712) Italian/French mathematician on Tchad 2009

Camille Flammarion (18421925) French astronomer on France 1956

Galle Crater on the edge of Argyre Planitia (above right) is named after Johann Gottfried Galle (1812-1910) the German astronomer and first person to view the planet Neptune—and know what he was looking at—using Le Verrier’s calculations.

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Photo mosaic map and illustrations of craters taken from Universe (ed. Martin Rees) (Dorling Kindersley 2005) and

the features tables from Phillip’s Atlas of the Universe (ed. Patrick Moore 1999)

George Ellery Hale (1868-1938) American solar astronomer, on Nicaragua 1994

Christiaan Huygens (1629-95) Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist on Guinea 2007

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) Norwegian explorer scientist on Norway 1961

Sir Isaac Newton (16421727) English physicist, mathematician and astronomer on Poland 1959

Sir Frederick William Herschel (1738-1822) German-born British astronomer on Mali 1981

Giovanni Schiaparelli (18351910) Italian astronomer whose comments on “canals” on Mars were misinterpreted—on Hungary 1974

Percival Lowell (1855-1916) American astronomer, who fuelled speculation about “canals” on Mars on Nicaragua 1994

Urbain Le Verrier (1811-77) French astronomer on France 1958

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) German mathematician and astronomer on Czech Rep 2009

Claudius Ptolemaeus (90168 AD) ancient astronomer on Liberia 1973

M.V.Lomonsov (1711-65) Russian scientist, writer and polymath on Romania 1947

Angelo Secchi (1818-78) Italian astronomer on Vatican City 1978

A selection of other large craters is named after astronomers for whom no stamp has yet been issued - Gerard de Vaucouleurs (1917-95), M.A.Kowalski (1821-84), Bernard Lyot (1897—1932) J.H.Schroeter (1745—1816) ….and M.K.Tikhonravov (1900-74) Soviet spacecraft and rocket designer

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Italy and the Shuttle : 1 - Spacelab The launch of the last Space Shuttle, the 37th and last launch to the International Space Station (ISS), has been important also for Italy: not only because the mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello but also because it marks 30 years of fruitful Italian cooperation with NASA. We want now to review the thirty-years successful experience which greatly contributed to the growth of the European Space and paved the way for Italy actively and effectively entering the fascinating human space flight adventure.

by Umberto Cavallaro*

According to Ernesto Vallerani (pictured) “After the conquest of the Moon, followed too early by the lost interest in continued human exploration, the USA administration decided to abandon the adventure of the space exploration and to focus on “useful” space applications. At that time Europe was quite technologically backward and this pause was heaven-sent and allowed old country to gain time, to develop its own capabilities and to actively enter the space business”.

The willingness to cooperate with allied countries was potentially total. It was however necessary to identify an area of cooperation as far as possible “self-standing” – thus fully integrated in the complex project – where to concentrate the interest of the European partners (mainly British, French, German and Italian) which were initially dissipating their energies in limited technological areas, pursuing small technological niches, of specific interest for their national industries.

“Italian Industry has been at home with the Space Shuttle since the very beginning of its history,” recalled Luigi Quaglino, the Vice-President of Thales Alenia Space, (pictured above at the event) when introducing the “STS135 Launch” event, held on July 8th in Turin at the TAS-I plant – “Since then as many as 62 Shuttle missions, out of 135, have delivered the space systems and flight units born in Italy. Thanks to this technological cooperation, we established strong connections with NASA and gained their confidence, to the point of becoming in many cases the favoured partner and the first non-American supplier”.

The story had begun some time before, when in the Autumn of 1969, just after the historic Apollo 11 moonlanding, NASA started work on a recoverable space transport system, and opened it up to the cooperation of allied western Countries (in parallel, the other “soul” of the post-Apollo NASA addressed its choice towards the implementation of orbiting space stations).

The U.S. DoD (Department of Defense) had a direct interest in the NASA project, and put pressure on the development of the reusable space vehicle, since it was engaged, at that time, in the development of large-scale military systems, and needed reusable systems capable of putting heavy payloads into Earth orbit. These, by the way, would drastically penalise scientific activities, since the 'habitable' space would be limited to the cockpit. Needless to say that at the end, due the military support, this project was “all systems go”. * First published in the December 2011 issue of AdAstra the on-line journal of AS.IT.AF and reproduced with permission. Edited by J.D.

Some European countries had already gained the leadership in such areas like rockets and satellites. The size of the Italian Space Industry didn’t encourage competition, nor was Italy in a position to compete for leading or prominent roles.

When, in 1973, NASA and the newborn ESA signed the agreement which engaged Europe to build a reusable space laboratory, Spacelab was regarded in Italy as “the big opportunity” and the Italian Ministry for Scientific Research adhered to the project, by contributing 18% of the initial investment, the second partner after Germany offering 54%.

The Spacelab concept, the most elaborate payload system ever carried, represented the implementation of a study started shortly before by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Aiming at turning the shuttle into a short-term space station, it was an innovative concept which at the end came to reconcile the two souls of NASA: those who, under the pressure of DoD, were sponsoring an economical and reusable space transport system and who were in favour of the space station, pressed by the academic world.

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“Few programmes” – recalls Vallerani, who was the Italian “father” of Spacelab – “have so deeply affected th development of European aerospace companies as Spacelab did, both because of the extent of the enterprise and its duration. The programme marked the entry of the “aerospace” Europe into the circle of the nations involved in developing inhabited systems to be used in the great enterprises of the future and opened the door to international cooperation in the ISS» The Spacelab adventure in Italy had begun with the participation of the UTSS, the Technical Office for Special Studies within the Direction of FIAT Aviation. Vallerani, who had participated in the researches on thermal flows that assault the surface of a body at supersonic speed, recalls, “Relying on the name of FIAT, although that represented at that time only an extremely modest reality, we undertook a very ambitious programme of studies and activities, buoyed up by a tremendous enthusiasm and galvanized by the idea of working alongside such renowned companies» In the meeting where the NASA consultants, at the beginning of 1970, presented the areas of potential international participation, aerothermodynamics was at the top of the long list.

Vallerani who, in the meeting was the last European guest to speak, commented, “Knowing that the thermodynamic problems of Shuttle, particularly when re-entering the atmosphere, were among the most serious and most discussed at that moment, I felt it proper to express my interest in that area and I ventured into a discussion on the transition of the boundary layer from laminar to turbulent, just to show that also we knew something on the subject”.

effectively supported at a political level – was even assigned the study of the system for onboard electrical power supply.

The subsequent consortia’s reorganisation to adapt to the arrival of new partners, offered Italy – “a bit irritated by the German attempt to “dominate the whole project” – the opportunity to gain a more prominent role. “Grown in FIAT, renowned engineering industry “– adds Vallerani – it was for us obvious to point to the module pressurized structure, the main element, pivot of the whole subsystems”.

Aeritalia was therefore assigned the implementation of the module structure and the thermodynamic control – two of the most demanding parts of the project – passing on the responsibility of the external pallet to the British partners.

So started the adventure that would lead Italy to achieve ambitious technological targets and to become worldwide leader in pressurized and habitable modules, helped by the initial agreement signed by ESA and NASA, by which NASA committed itself not to run in USA a parallel development of the same modules, and to purchase from Europe all the needed units.

When the project started, two European consortia were created in competition, each of them headed by a German company. Aeritalia, which represented Italy in the MESH Consortium and couldn’t take pride in their concrete aerospace experience, was initially assigned a quite minor role: designing the structure of the pallet: the unpressurized portion, not the habitable section, of Spacelab. Afterwards Italy – which meanwhile had started to be better valued for its fast technical improvements and in those years was

Intensive interactions started on one hand with astronauts, who began in Germany the specific training for the use of the new environment and, on the other hand, with the “users” scientists who, in parallel, began to get acquainted with the innovative space laboratory in order to best exploit the new opportunity. A true adventure, if you think that the implementation of Spacelab ran in parallel with the development of Shuttle and that every change – sometimes important changes – to the shuttle project had an impact on the European activities, with new requirements inducing slowdowns and delays in delivery.

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But only after the delivery of the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) in July 1981 was it possible to start the functional tests at the KSC for the hardware integration, led

by McDonnel Douglas. The tests showed that connecting points of the pallets had to be strengthened and that airlock had to be partially redesigned, with new delay and shifting in the delivery of the flight unit, postponed in December 1981.

Just to mention one, towards the end of the project, the refining of the Shuttle project led to the definition of some new values for the flying loads, which caused all the European consortium to completely revise the project.

Finally on December, 4, 1980 ESA was able to deliver to NASA the Engineering Model. Thirty-two tons of hardware were loaded on-board a C5A Galaxy cargo and arrived the following day to Kennedy Space Center, followed by another load on-board a Lufthansa Jumbo 747 with all the documentation.

The strategic importance of Spacelab, which was an integral part of Shuttle was one of the main aspects stressed during the official ceremony for the delivery of the Flight Unit in Bremen and was highlighted by the personal participation of the ESA General Director and of the NASA Deputy Administrator who – in turn – with their speeches emphasized the gravitas of the event. Even more solemn and formal was the ceremony held at KSC on February 5, 1982, participated in person by the American vicepresident George H. W. Bush, accompanied by the highest personalities of the US Administration, in the presence of the Top Management of ESA and three hundred European guests, representing the governments of the ESA Member states and the companies involved in the project.

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As a matter of fact, the delivery of the European Laboratory to the United States, marked the beginning of space cooperation between the two sides of the Atlantic, which would grow later during the implementation of the International Space Station.

Thermal Control Engineer and subsequently as responsible of the Active Thermal Control Testing of the Spacelab Module. Together with other Aeritalia team colleagues he was following the Spacelab launch in direct connection through the Oberfarfenhofer site in Germany.

The first Spacelab was launched on board the Columbia Shuttle during the STS-9 mission, on November 28, 1983. It was a complete success, followed by huge Italian delegation surprisingly joined, at the last minute, by the Minister of the Scientific Research Luigi Granelli, who, from that moment, became the most convinced supporter of the Italian Space Industry.

He clearly remembers those moments: "For the first time an Italian team was successfully contributing to a European Pressurized Module, that would be followed later by other elements built for the International Space Station. After months of testing of the Spacelab water and Freon thermal control loops, it was really a great satisfaction to know that everything was working perfectly including all the components such as pump packages, heat exchangers, cold plates, valves, etc. in line with our best expectations. In particular the water pump package, developed through the Microtecnica company in Turin, was as usual absolutely reliable, without leak and very much silent as was the case during the ground testing when we had to go very close to it in order to hear any noise".

“The weather was bad.” – recalls Vallerani in his book – “and it was bad also in Spain, which was the landing base for emergencies. There were all the board Member of the Space Consortium with their families. On the other side of the lake, we could see the silhouette of the Shuttle, on the launch pad, waiting for the ignition that would cause a tremendous roar.

We could see the flash of the ignition of the engines, then a white smoke. And the Shuttle slowly – very slowly – started to rise from the launch pad moving in all its stately power.

The applause and the cheers of joy were drowned out by the deafening noise of the engines which we experienced as a wave of sound.

“It’s hard to explain to others the sensation you feel in those moments – after ten years of work, concerns and commitment – in seeing come true a dream which has absorbed a great part of your professional life. You live in anxiety, thinking at the possible problems your product may face in the mission which is just starting now”.

Italy gained from this experience considerable benefits in terms of knowledge of the space human spaceflight which led its space industries to the leadership of pressurized modules in Europe.

References Ernesto Vallerani, L’Italia e lo Spazio, McGraw Hill, Milano 1995, XXIV + 248 pp.

Giovanni Caprara, L’italia nello spazio, Valerio Levi Ed., Roma 1992, 224 pp.

Dario Baruffa, Lo spazio tricolore, Utet, Torino 2009, 248 pp.

Malawi 2010

In this plaque flown on-board Spacelab 1 by initiative of ESA the Italian flag is given the prominent central position amongst the Spacelab Partners.

Piero Messidoro, (left) today the Engineering Director of the Business Segment Space Infrastructures and Transportation of Thales Alenia Space in Turin, has been part of the Vallerani’s team since 1975, as 13

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 39 *

By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth

Sputnik-3 This is the thirty-ninth* in a series of articles about unmanned satellites on postage stamps. This article features the Sputnik-3 satellite launched on 15 May 1958 as the third in the Russian Sputnik series, as an upper-atmospheric, ionospheric satellite.

Question: Why are we covering Sputnik-3 when we have not yet covered either Sputnik-1 or 2? Sputnik-1, being the first of earth’s artificial satellites, has been featured on probably more postal items than any other un-manned space item.

To cover that satellite, would be a tremendous task, one which the authors choose not to confront at this time. Also, Sputnik-2 was a biological spacecraft, which holds less interest for the authors than Sputnik-3, a physics/research satellite, more in line with the theme of most of the articles in this series.

Sputnik-3 was the last in a series of four satellites launched as part of the Sputnik programme of the Soviet Union and as a planned contribution to the International Geophysical Year (IGY, 1957-1958). The three satellites that reached orbit were Sputnik-1, 2, and 3. The fourth satellite was a failed first launch of Sputnik-3 that took place on 27 April 1958, not long before the successful launch of Sputnik-3.

Photo ex http://space.skyrocket.de

3 satellite, as well as images of launch covers and other postal items that feature this satellite.

E-mail correspondence with the authors is welcome. Don Hillger can be reached at hillger@cira.colostate.edu and Garry Toth at garry_toth@hotmail.com.

As a scientific satellite, Sputnik-3 contained 12 instruments providing data on pressure and composition of the upper atmosphere, concentration of charged particles, measurements of cosmic rays and magnetic and electrostatic fields, as well as meteoric particles. Sputnik-3 also detected the outer radiation belts and remained in orbit for about 2 years.

Sputnik-3 is shaped like a cone, and about 3.5 m long.

Distinguishing features include paper-clip-like antennas on its sides, as well as extending from its base. Most of the postal items showing Sputnik-3 show these features. This early Soviet spacecraft was not held in secrecy, like some of the other early missions, where the look of the satellite was not known and purposely disguised by a propaganda image that can be found on several postal items.

A checklist of postal items identified as showing the Sputnik3 satellite (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/ Sputnik-3.htm) is available on the Website developed by the authors for the un-manned satellites featured in this series of articles (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/ satellites.htm). The Website includes images of the Sputnik* You haven’t missed anything: Parts 37 and 38 still await publication in The Astrophile, hence the out of sequence number

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The first of ten pages on Don and Gary’s website listing philatelic media for Sputnik 3, providing colour images of all material 15

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‘Birds legs’, ‘stuffy noses’ and ‘puffy faces’ : 1 In the first of a two part article John Beenen examines the mortal dangers, health hazards and concerns of humans in space….

In a Dutch newspaper recently a number of experiments were mentioned referring to 14 biological experiments the Dutch astronaut André Kuipers (currently in space at the time of writing : January 2012) has to carry out during his mission in the ISS. stamp issued for their earlier Soyuz 12 flight in 1973.

Once again I realized that getting through work in space is connected to a great many medical, physiological and psychological problems, especially in a length spaceflight. Therefore I studied many articles about these subjects on the Internet—and believe me there are lots—, and I do think that also for philatelists the conclusions are very interesting, although I do not think that any of you after reading these lines will be interested in an extended trip into space !

These conclusions fall apart into four main groups. However, most of the experiments Kuipers has to do are elements of the second group. a. Possible problems because of the different kinds of radiation in space b. Consequences of the microgravity (i.e. the lack of gravity) on the human body c. Consequences of the working environment and artificial atmosphere D. Mental adaption to the man unfriendly environment As a principle space is hostile to man primarily because of radiation. Moreover, it is so cold that you will freeze to death and suffocate because of lack of an atmosphere. Also, in a spacecraft your body is subject to gigantic accelerations and vibrations, which may become that heavy that your body cannot resist it. Because of that, accelerations by the launch are limited to 3G and the seats are moulded to the body.

However, the human body is normally able to accept 9G, although from failed landings in Russia it is known that one cosmonaut received 25 G, and survived, but with such severe injuries that he could never fly again. This was Vasili Lazarev, who was involved in the life-threatening “Soyuz 18 anomaly” in April 1975, along with his flight engineer Oleg Makarov, who was not affected so badly and who did fly again twice.

However, it is known that our bodies and minds are able to adjust to many threats rather well. But, for a long lasting flight, e.g. to Mars, lasting at least over a year and a half, a couple of threats of serious concern remain. For many of these problems solutions can be found and are under development, but whether they can be solved completely is still unknown. I will discuss them in the course of this article.

Radiation Even on earth we are subjected to radiation originating from the Sun and deep space. The radiation belts discovered by James van Allen and our atmosphere most of this dangerous radiation is captured well by the magnetic field around the earth and transferred into less dangerous particles or radiation. Still every day we receive a quantity of 0,15-0,30 millisievert (mSv). NB: A Sievert is a unit of radiation dose; 1 Sievert (Sv) = 1 joule/kg = 100 rem). So we cannot deny that such a quantity is normal and tolerable.

But even long lasting flights in a low orbit (LEO) below the van Allen radiation belts are not safe. In such flights astronauts may receive as much as tenfold the radiation as on the surface of the earth, unfiltered and from a more dangerous nature. It becomes worse when we cross the van Allen belts. During the Apollo flights to the Moon in every mission a total received quantity of radiation of 5 mSv was measured and then a special orbit was followed to evade as much those belts.

And even then the received dose is great, as man on earth as a mean receives only about 2 mSv a year. To have an idea what a dose level of one Sievert (Sv) means: from about 0,5 Sv (i.e. 500 mSv) man gets serious troubles and from a level of 2 Sv it is pretty obvious that one could die. Therefore NASA had set norms. Per mission an astronaut is allowed to receive 250 mSv in total and within his or her whole career 4Sv. That is much more than a radiologist, who is allowed to 50 mSv/y.

Outside the van Allen belts astronauts are exposed to (Lazarev and cosmic radiation from galactic origin, and especially to high Makarov are shown energy particles emitted by the Sun during sun flares. When in a 1974 Soviet 16

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such flares are exceptionally large they could emit particles in a lethal 1000 fold quantity.

Fortunately, most eruptions are not that big, but during one cycle of the sun of 22 years they could appear twice.

However they are utterly unpredictable. Such eruptions last only 1-2 days and that is enough to postpone a flight when they are expected. That is necessary because the protection shield of for example a Shuttle is only able to receive a dose of 10 times less.

The flights which had the most to suffer from those storms came in the Apollo series as during that time the eruption period was at a height, but even then, exceptional eruptions did not take place. The highest doses were measured just between Apollo 16 and 17 (aug.1972, ref.22).

The consequences of a too high dose of radiation in the first place is a turbidity of the eyeball (cataract). In an investigation of 2001 36 of the reviewed 39 astronauts suffered from this disease. The effect had developed between over 4 and 10 years.

More serious are changes in the chromosomal system which can contribute to the appearance of leukaemia and other forms of cancer. However, until today no specific increase in cancer among astronauts has been measured. Also the immune system can be attacked, and thus possible infections can spread more easy between the crew. The consequences can partly be met by a protective shield around the space craft. In truth it should be packed into a lead cover an inch thick, but that makes the craft too heavy.

It is clear that during a propsed trip to Mars such a large solar eruption takes place, the astronauts will receive too much radiation and that is the first problem— large solar storms by which astronauts cannot protect themselves. For the time being, the solution is that astronauts shelter themselves several hours in a special protected compartment (with a protection level of at least 20 g/cm2 of water). In fact it is even more complicated, but that I will explain in a separate article.

In any case, even today sleeping and free time compartments are already a bit better protected against radiation As a principle in long flights to the planets astronauts have to be protected against two kinds of radiation originating from the Sun and the Cosmos. Against cosmic radiation a lighter form of protection should be sufficient, but by reactions of the cosmic particles with the protective material, especially metals, new particles appear (neutrons) which could be even more dangerous than the original radiation. Hence, another kind of protection is required.

Led by the five times flown veteran astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, today professor at the Institute of Technology at Massachusetts amongst others the generation of a magnetic field around the space craft is part of a serious investigation.

In the meantime the development of super-magnets has progressed so far that small electric fields can be generated, by which incoming particles can be deflected the same way as the magnetic field of the earth does it. The construction of such a magnet with a reach of 100-200 m needs about 1-2 kW energy which could be delivered by solar panels. Other methods such as the generation of electrostatic fields or plasma protection are less suitable as by their physical properties they only protect against the effects of solar storms and not against cosmic rays.

A surprising solution, at least for a part of the problem, may be the construction of a spacecraft from modified polyethylene, consequently, a plastic spacecraft. As a principle polyethylene is a plastic material which we use in plastic bags and our household. Polyethylene contains a lot of hydrogen atoms and as a construction material they deliver a better protection as the aluminium used today. It captures particles from solar eruptions 50 % better and 1520% more of the cosmic rays. Moreover, the advantage of this material is that less secondary particles are emitted by the radiation with cosmic rays. As such, as construction material a modified type of polyethylene is developed, called RXF1, three times stronger than aluminium and 2.6 times lighter. It receives its strength by the use of graphite fibres. Also carbon composites as now used in the Airbus A380, could be used, but for the use in a spacecraft these are still considered too heavy.

A disadvantage of polyethylene is that it melts at elevated temperatures and its combustibility, which to me is a rather inconvenient property at the launch or landing of a craft.

More difficult to solve seems the problem that the material is very brittle given the temperature in space.

Another method considered is changing the design of a spacecraft in such a way that the fuel tanks (filled with hydrogen) are at the outside of the craft as such giving a protection against the radiation from outside. Perhaps these all are wild ideas, but the development of alternative materials goes on and at a bright moment with no doubt solutions will be found. In short, the problem of too much radiation at a long trip through space seems solvable.

The lack of gravity But the next problem is already there: the lack of gravity in space. It seems fun to flow through the air, perhaps you had the experience in your sleep and astronauts like it, but to our body the lack of gravity has as disastrous affect.

The effect is called: microgravity.

Obviously our body is built to function on earth. In space we don’t use all faculties necessary under conditions of gravity. Blood flows from our legs to our upper parts and we get ´birds legs´ and a ´puffy´ face. The body reacts on

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this by sweating and we get a ´stuffy´ nose. To release the excess of fluid in our upper part we start urinating and we don’t feel thirsty. In total the fluid loss can come to 2-3%. In addition the air conditioning has a drying action and the fear for desiccation is present.

Therefore astronauts take salt tablets and drink water before they return to earth. They also wear space suits which prevent fluid accumulation in their legs. More serious is the effect that also the muscles weaken to such an extent that by return we cannot stand on our legs anymore. Russian cosmonauts, who have to stay a long time in the ISS, have to follow a regular training routine to keep their leg muscles in shape. They also wear a special spacesuit through which a kind of vacuum is maintained in the lower part of their body.

The suit is designed in such a way that when they make walking movements with their legs muscles they feel a kind of elastic counteraction by which their muscles are trained once more. Unfortunately such a suit can only be worn for short periods.

The Americans behave different. They are training themselves to daze on their sport school apparatuses. On earth the effects of decreased gravity are difficult to investigate. The most used method is to float a whole day or longer in a swimming pool with only head up, not the nicest way to swim.

The most common effect of microgravity on the human body is the fact that our balance is confused. Our lower limbs get no impulse from the floor, because it is not there. The organ of equilibrium in our ear gets the wrong instructions and we get SAS, Space Adaptation Sickness, which is different from sea sickness. Persons who have never become sea sick, can suffer from space sickness and the opposite. It lies in the fact that the phenomenon SAS has another medical origin, which I will not go into here.

But the sickness disappears after 2-5 days. However cases have been known where people have been sick throughout their flight. You cannot prevent against this sickness, but by training the effect can be decreased. Also women show better resistance against it than men. The sickness is attended by dizziness, much sweating, sometimes fainting and vomiting. I wrote a small piece in an earlier edition of Orbit about the Garn scale. 2/3 to 3/4 of the astronauts suffer from it, therefore during the first 3 days EVAs are not allowed.

Congestion of blood in the head is blamed for the strange headache some astronauts suffer often You may compare it to standing on your head for a long time, but in essence its origin is still unclear.

A well publicised case is that of Georgi Beregovoy (USSR 1968) in 1968 the pilot of Soyuz 3. For nearly the whole four day flight he had the feeling of being suspended on his head. Only on the last day of his stay in space did this feeling go away.

Gherman Titov (Vostok 2, Russia 2001 shown) also suffered from space

sickness during his flight. Because at that time Soviet authorities did not know this effect to begin with Titov was blamed for this behaviour. Later it was known that the effect was related to his greater mobility . Gagarin for instance sat tightly sealed in his chair his whole flight.

Other astronauts get pains in their bottoms. It is thought that the origin of these lie in the fact that those muscles have nothing to do anymore and are going to stretch. This is fought by training and by the Russians with their special space suits.

Finally NASA counted 442 possible medical problems which can take place in space, most related to the lack of gravity.

The most serious is decalcification of the skeleton, the socalled ‘osteoporosis’. In the bones which carries our weight the calcium content is drastically reduced and in long flights to that extent that the bones of astronauts can have the properties of somebody of 85 years of age. Astronauts lose about 1-2% in bone volume a month, the same amount as women after the passing of a year !

That means that after they return to earth they literally cannot stand on their legs. The largest problem is that for the time being this effect seems irreversible, and is for long flights that serious that astronauts returning from a very long flight in space can actually break their legs when they try to stand on them. It is known the exercises can delay the effect.

The consequence of an increased calcium excretion in combination with fluid loss also can lead to kidney stones.

There also exist indications that our teeth can suffer from such a loss and this effect is not reversible. It is not insurmountable, but it seems not a good idea to equip all astronauts with dental prosthesis.

The total of these effects you may compare with somebody who stands up again after a very long time from his bed. The Americans fight these effects by giving their astronauts some Naturally much investigation is done to overcome these drugs. The sickness may reappear when the astronauts disadvantages by use of drugs and special procedures, but return to earth. today the calcium loss is one of the main problems to 18

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overcome in a travel to Mars.

It is understandable that by the lack of gravity astronauts grow longer with 2-4 cm. However, this elongation results in pain in the back as the muscles cannot compensate for this elongation that quick. Returned to earth this elongation is nullified but this also cause pains.

Some other problems which also will be investigated by Kuipers are: attack of immune and hormone system, blood pressure irregularities, heart rhythm, blood cell changes, action of the brain, some neuroplastic changes, energy balance etc.

The amount of red blood cells decrease by 15% within days and after the flight it only recovers slowly. It is thought that this effect is caused by the bone marrow. Also the immune system weakens and hence, the astronaut can get ill easier.

This is a highly undesirable effect especially on longer flights.

And wqe have not even mentioned astronauts infecting each other as happened in the Apollo 8 flight. It is also thought that changes in hormone speculum could be responsible for the appearance of space sickness.

Consequences of working environment and artificial atmosphere An important problem which astronauts suffer is insomnia.

This can have different causes. The lack of a good day-night rhythm is one. This disturbs the biological rhythm considerably. We already know that a long flight in an airline jet can cause considerable jet lag. In the space station it also is rather noisy because of radio traffic, air conditioning, turning ventilators, pumps etc. In the MIR noise levels of 7072 dB have been measured and this has increased only since.

To compare: To sleep undisturbed a sound level of 30 dB at night is necessary. And because of the fact that sound is measured in a logarithmic scale a level of 70 dB means 10.000 times more noise. The limit for workers in normal circumstances is 80-85 dB, only a little higher than at the space station.

So, isolation to noise is one of the subjects to be worked on for longer flights. The problem is that an additional isolation delivers weight and every kg additional weight costs about $10.000. In addition there are many vibrations and a continuous exposition to vibrations is not pleasant. Also sleeping in weightless circumstances or in suspended conditions needs a great deal of adaptation. The special sleeping bag designed by the former Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels is a great help.

But insomnia also may have a psychical cause, as by continuous stress, but that is a subject of a following section.

The lack of daylight also can be an important element in the well-being of an astronaut. They may look out the windows, but psychologically this is not the same as being exposed to daylight and the sun. But it is also a physiological problem as by the lack of UV light from the sun some vitamins D and K

are not made by the body anymore and have to be supplied. We already mentioned that the artificial atmosphere can lead to desiccation.

One of the stress factors is the fact that every moment a space station can be hit by some micro meteorite or piece of space debris.

Space is not completely empty.

Everywhere micro meteorites are flying around, most of them smaller than a grain of sand (±100μ), but still at a speed of 100.000-200.000 km/h which delivers enough force to penetrate a space station. Still this is not a big problem as such a hole can be fixed easily and causes no quick decompression. But the fear for a larger particle is not to be excluded In 1983 Soyuz T-9 (USSR 1984 right) was hit by a micro meteorite which caused a hole of some cms in one of the windows. Luckily the cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Alexandr Aleksandrov were able to deal with that situation.

A collision with the Spektr Module on June 25, 1997 with MIR caused a considerable hole and a quick decompression.

As required Michael Foale, suffering from pressure on his ears, sat by himself in the rescue craft, whilst the two Russians (Tsibilyev anad Lazutkin) tried to save the ship, which led to large irritations by both parties. Also other smaller accidents have led to stressful situations.

Besides that, astronauts and cosmonauts are working together in relatively small chambers under a large working pressure. This only is a stress and irritation increasing factor.

And then there is space debris. Most of the bits in space are mapped, but certainly some minor parts and residues from earlier collisions are not detected and especially in the orbits where most of the satellites fly. In any case several astronauts have seen parts flying around.

And what do you think of a spacecraft which by one or another reason cannot be held in place and runs slowly away into space? Or astronauts and cosmonauts who drift away whilst on an EVA? Within the Soyuz programme it very nearly happened nearly, (in 1977, with Yuri Romanenko, Salyut 6 on USSR 1978 right), but it isn´t that strange.

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To be continued in our next issue

ORBIT

A Pathfinder in South Africa Last December I was in the land of the Big Five: The Elephant, Rhinoceros, Lion, Buffalo or Leopard I never saw “in the flesh.” but I did seen them on paper money and stamps of South Africa. All the banknotes, beginning with five Rand (1 Euro=10 Rand), bear one of the Big Five in print. This will change in the future against the portrait of Nelson Mandela.

by Bert van Eijck

Sunspace manufactures high-value small- and medium-sized satellite systems for the local and international aerospace market.

“Among the may benefits SumbandilaSat will offer South Africa, is information that will assist in the effective management of disasters such as floods and fires, food security such as crop yield estimation and health such as prediction of outbreaks as well as safety and security, water resources and energy security.

“The satellite orbits about 500-510km above the earth carrying high-resolution cameras to produce images to be used for purposes such as agriculture, mapping of infrastructure and land use, population measurement and the monitoring of water levels in dams.

“This information is streamed to the Satellite Application Centre (SAC) at Hartebeeshoek near Pretoria. The SAC carries out the command and communications functions by tracking the satellite using a large dish antenna”.

The Big Five stamps are in a booklet of ten stamps with the mighty elephant on the front.

The money and stamps I discovered at the Post Office in the historic harbour of Cape Town, called Victoria & Alfred (sic) Waterfront. It was there I also discovered a recently issued series of space stamps with the strange name “SumbandilaSat.” In the Venda language it means, freely translated into English, “Pathfinder.”

In a beautiful sheet (270x190mm) we see ten stamps (2x5), covering the whole operation from the engineering at University of Stellenbosch, the launching at Baikonur and the tracking in Hartebeeshoek near Pretoria. There are 100.000 sheets of 10 stamps, printed by Joh. Enschede in The Netherlands.

Here is the story of exploring new technology frontiers in South Africa, as told in a press release of the S.A. Post Office by Louise van Niekerk: “Sumbandila was launched into space on the evening of Thursday 17 September 2009 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Rand 26million loworbit micro-satellite, weighing 81 kg and about 1mx0,5m in size, is the result of a three-year integrated capacity and satellite development programme commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2005. It was carried out by the University of Stellenbosch engineering faculty. This is the same organisation that developed Sunsat1, which was launched in 1999.

SumbandilaSat was manufactured by Sunspace and Information Systems, South Africa’s only manufacturer of satellite systems, and one of only two in Africa.

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“The SAC is no stranger to controlling satellites. About 90% of satellites in the world pass over South African airspace on their way out of the atmosphere and the scientists at SAC guide many of them through their first few days in orbit. SAC has performed this service for satellites developed both by international space programmes and private enterprises. However, SumbandilaSat is the first satellite SAC calls its own.

“The naming of the satellite was the result of a competition held among high school learners. Entries were received in various languages, but a Venda language entry, namely “Sumbandila” was ultimately chosen.

“To mark the launch of Pathfinder the South African Post Office issued a set of five stamps in a sheet and a commemorate cover on 2 April 2011. For the lay out photographs were used of SAC at Hartebeeshoek and the University of Stellenbosch.

“South Africa first entered the “space age” with the launch of Sunsat1, a modest satellite built by students and lecturers at the University of Stellenbosch in 1999. It carried various experiments and an amateur radio transponder that delighted radio

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enthusiast world-wide. From this modest beginning grew Sunspace Ltd.”

Back to that Post Office in Cape Town. Another nice philatelic item I discovered here was a stamp sheet for the 62nd International Astronautical Congress 2011, held 3-7 October in Cape Town. It was the first IAC congress on the African continent. There were 154 sessions covering 28 themes, all depicting space technology from its creation to application.

The congress was attended by the agency heads and senior executives of the world’s space agencies along with academics, researchers, industry and commerce executives, students and young professionals.

One of the organizers of IAC 2011 was the International Astronautical Federation, better known as IAF. For the IAFcongresses a lot of stamps are issued the last 40 years. It happened that my first piece in Orbit had the headline: The I.A.F. Congresses. It was published in Orbit No.2, May 1988.

For the last time back to Cape Town, a city with 4.5 million inhabitants and with a landmark that dominates the entire city. That is Table Mountain, 1000 metres high, surrounded by a chain of other mountains. You are lucky if you can get to the top with the cable car, as there is so much wind, it often is dangerous to go up and is forbidden. The guide said: You are lucky today, seven out of ten times it’s a No Go! Therefore I am happy I could go up. To prove it, see my picture on top of Table Mountain.

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Another Jodrell Bank Stamp “These are lovely. I hadn’t known about them before.”

So emailed Ian Ridpath, author of the article “New Jodrell Bank Stamp from Royal Mail” in the last Orbit to Bert van Eijck in The Netherlands.

This long time ASSS member wrote to Ian that he had two covers with on it a stamp triptych: in the middle the Radio Telescope around 1957, on the left side a stamp of British Physicist James C. Maxwell and on the right side a Radio image.

These are stamps from the now defunct Localpost in Head Office 136 Main Street, Halton, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 2PW, The issue date is July 21, 1997 and long standing ASSS members will remember they were inspired by our member Andrew Swanston.

Raymond Mullin, manager of Localpost wrote in a letter: “They are the only stamps of this issue to be cancelled by the British Post Office on their first day of usage. All other orders were only despatched to customers on 21st July so it is impossible for any other stamps to bear this dat. . The cancellation reads: “Cheshire/ 21 JLY/1997” “PLEASE USE YOUR POSTCODE.” You can see these only in Orbit, because as Ian Ridpath wrote, “Of course the stamps are unofficial, so they wouldn’t feature on my web pages.”

BvE

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The First Man on the Moon: the greatest philatelic success ever ?

By Umberto Cavallaro * The stamp designed by Paul Calle is perhaps the best known American stamp ever.

key personnel at NASA who could help with technical problems.”

Paul Calle, who passed away on December 30, 2010 at the age of 82, was since the beginning, a Honorary Member of AS.IT.AF. the Italian Society for Astrophilately. Known since the beginnings of the 50’s as an illustrator of Science Fiction stories, Paul had “done space” for almost 50 years and was selected in 1962 as one of the first eight artists in the NASA Arts Program, newly established with the purpose of recording for history Space Exploration through the eyes of artists.

As he had already done with the Gemini twin stamps. Paul started by drawing a series of pencil sketches attempting different solutions.

“My initial rough thinking sketches explored the concept of a design incorporating the Moon, Earth and the lunar landing module, and a Peace Dove representing the mission objectives and the concept of “We came in Peace for all Mankind” .

The more realistic representation of the astronaut on the Moon was soon preferred and the idea of the dove was left aside. The idea developed then in a set of vertical sketches representing the Lunar Module: shown opposite top.

For many reasons this stamp is unique. First it was one of the last to be issued by the old U.S. Post Office Department before it was replaced by the U.S. Postal Service, an independent government agency. Second, it was the largest postage stamp ever issued by the United States, 50% larger than conventional U.S. commemoratives stamps. As Paul reminds in his book, the post office wanted “a truly spectacular commemorative issue” and this jumbo format was designed.

But mainly it is unique because “the master die from which all subsequent plates were made and stamps printed was carried to the surface of the Moon by the Apollo 11 crew, and the “Moon Letter” with its die proof was cancelled by the astronauts on their way back to Earth after the landing on he Moon».

Production of the design and die were carried out in secrecy by officials of the Post Office, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, just as had been done with the Project Mercury commemorative of 1962, after obtaining the approval by President Nixon.

“The assignment”– recalled Paul – “came as an outgrowth of a series of assignments executed for the NASA Fine Art Program. Proceeding in complete secrecy, the Postmaster General Mr Winton M. Blount advised Stevan Dohanos chairman of the Postmaster’s General Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, of the plan to issue a commemorative, and I was recommended for the assignment on the basis of my previously assigned Twin Space stamps of 1967. The fact that I was also working for a NASA project in connection with Apollo 11 mission afforded me easy access to material and *Edited by JD from articles first published in Ad Astra 9-10 for July 2011 and 11 for December 2011. Extracts from Umberto’s book Propaganda e Pragmatismo not yet available in English.

At the beginning it was represented the whole picture of the LM, which progressively was reduced to the ladder from which Armstrong was descending. Following the suggestion of the Citizen’s Committee, the attention focused on the astronaut, leaving the technology in the background.

"In the evolution of the design, it quickly became obvious that the first step on the Moon was the most dramatic moment, and with that final sketch we knew we had our design!"

At the end it was decided to come back to the horizontal format and it was finalized as the colour painting we all know. The Earth, rising over the Lunar surface – taken from a photograph made during one of the Apollo Moon missions and furnished by NASA – recalls the home of the human visitor.

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The initial idea was to issue a 6c stamp, covering the basic postal rate required at the time for the “first port”, i.e. for shipping of a normal letter within US. It was only at the last minute that it was decided to issue it as a 10c airmail stamp.

As federal law forbids the use of a living person's picture on U.S. postage, Post Office was careful to describe the subject simply as "a spaceman" in its press releases and the individual on the stamp is completely hidden by a space suit.

The picture was symbolic, not literal: it wasn’t a tribute to a person, but rather to the concept of the “First Man on the Moon”. The painting was delivered to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the preparation of the master die.

Robert J. Jones was the modeller and the engraving was done by Edward R. Felver (vignette) and Albert Saavedra (lettering).

The cover at left, one of a kind, has been signed by Paul Calle designer of the “First Man on the Moon” stamp , and by the employees of the US Bureau of Engraving who worked at the implementation of the project : the modeler Robert Jones, the letter engraver Albert Saavedra and the picture engraver Edward R. Felver. The “Fleetwood” cover is known in two versions: the one on the right (the rarest) refers a different version of the historical statement of Armstrong “One Small step for a Man”. By re-listening the record, it was definitely decided that the correct version is “One Small step for Man” (as represented in the cover below left).

To preserve secrecy there were no "paperwork" involved.

Rather than use messengers to carry materials between the Post Office Department and the Bureau, official staff workers served as couriers. Those who didn't need to know about the stamp weren't brought into the loop.

Paul Calle’s drawings, sketches and paintings of the space programme – often very large – are on exhibit in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery,

Paul Calle’s Canon Paul was in fact the internationally renowned stamp designer of more than 40 United States stamps, as well as – together with his designer son Chris – stamps for the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Sweden and the United Nations. His stamps include those honouring Helen Keller, Clara Maass, Robert Frost, Douglas MacArthur, Pearl Buck, Theodore von Kármán and Frederic Remington.

In addition to these, he had designed stamps depicting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the International Year of the Child in 1979 and promoting causes such as Volunteerism and encouraging early cancer detection. It's not unusual for many millions of a postage stamp to be printed; therefore a stamp is the most reproduced artist's artwork of any kind in the world.

Paul Calle was very proud of his stamp design activity. “Designing stamps is truly a unique experience! – he

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This cover with the beautiful engraved cachet was created by Paul Calle and is in the Calel Collection.

Only four such covers exist: one was addressed by Paul Calle to his wife and the other three to his three sons.

annotated in his book – The subject matter is chosen for its national significance, usually of historic importance and the conception of the design must be thought of in terms of art in miniature form. Rather than “think big” the designer must think small!”

Paul Calle had the privilege of designing the universally known US stamp of the “First Man on the Moon”, but twenty years later his son Chris designed the stamp for celebrating the 20th anniversary of the moon landing—the $2.40 value below centre on cover (which was selected for representing the USA in the 2012 International Gallery Exhibit) and Paul and Chris worked together for drawing the two stamps celebrating the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11.— below and opposite. The latter stamps had also the privilege The assignment was to design a commemorative issue that of flying on STS-68. would symbolize the successful conclusion of the NASA Project Gemini program of space exploration. The unique Paul had also been in charge, in 1967, of designing the first aspects of the challenge was to conceive a design that “Twin Space Stamp”. “The design of this stamp presented me with a challenge unique in postal stamp design at that time. graphically would be pleasing when used as a double stamp,

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Chris Calle and Paul Calle (inset) and, when one twin was separated from the other, the design of the single stamp had to be a complete composition on its own”, as seen on the cover opposite with a hand drawn illustration by the designer, from his son’s collection.

“In 1962 – Chris Calle related – “my father was to be asked to design the Mercury stamp but he was out of the country: he was on assignment in Bermuda I believe on an Air Force Art Program assignment and he was unable to begin design concepts. That is what I remember... just one of many things I wish I could still ask my Dad. Can you imagine if he had designed the Mercury, Gemini twin AND the 1969 First man on the moon stamp!”

(The Mercury stamp was in fact designed by Charles Chickering and engraved by Bower and Sharpless).

The space stamp epic of the Calle family continues with many nice stamps designed for several foreign stamp Authorities including Sweden, Micronesia, Marshall Island, Cook Islands etc as shown opposite.

Paul Calle also designed and prepared first day cover cachets for the enjoyment of collectors A special postmark was used during the great Astrophilately Exhibition of Turin (April 2011), to commemorate Paul Calle.

A postally used fdc bearing two example of the famous Scott C76 from your editor’s collection.

Chris Calle asked your editor to sell it but the request was declined.

I would happily have leant it.

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Table 1 - Illustrated Index of the Tartu Space-Related Envelope Cachets

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Ken Woods Swap with You !

Our Bristol based member Ken Woods, featured in Orbit a couple of years back in “I Do it my Way!” creates his own covers in Tartu tradition by trying to note every important space event with an originally designed cover.

Some of his designs as illustrated are for unusual space events.

He will be very happy to swap some his covers for other astrophilatelic items with fellow members and can be contacted via email—kenwoods@blueyonder.co.uk

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Private mail companies – Personalized space stamps The case of Biberpost (Germany) from Jűrgen P. Esders The liberalization of the postal market has opened new opportunities for stamp collectors. While in most countries mail distribution on the national level is still in the hands of the formerly state owned, but now privatized mail companies, competition has developed mostly on local and regional markets. Germany in particular has seen the creation of many local and regional mail companies, open not only for large customers like mail order companies or public administration, but also for the private customer.

Want your own stamp and ready to pay? This has now become largely available. For a sometimes considerable surcharge on the postage rate, both formerly state-owned postal companies as their small competitors have created the possibility to create your own personalized stamps.

One stamp club in Germany has been particularly active in exploiting these new opportunities. Since 2008, Ralf Schulz and his Briefmarkenfreunde Hoyerswerda e. V. have issued countless personalized stamps commemorating space events. Schulz covered not only current manned missions from the US and Russia with their respective space shuttles and Soyuz, but also important historical events like the 50th Anniversary of the 1st Manned space flight, the First Man on the Moon, etc. Schulz primarily used one private mail company, Biberpost (beaver mail) in the city of Magdeburg.

The following catalogue covers all stamps and covers issued since 2008. It was kindly provided by Ralf Schulz. Jürgen Esders edited and translated the manuscript.

09.03.2008 Yuri Gagarin – 75th Anniversary. Green and pink pictorial cancel. 2 stamps at 42 c (Gagarin in full dress. 480 stamps, 75 of them in stamp booklets; Gagarin in the Vostok spacecraft.

420 stamps, 60 of them in a stamp booklet. Two cacheted covers, two different stamp booklets. 100 covers were flown with a model rocket (stamp label inside) 13.05.2008 STS-125/Hubble Repair mission; Pictorial cancel STS-125/400 in green and pink; Flown as rocket mail, 2 different envelopes (with stamp label inside). Various cacheted covers. Limited edition: 100 copies ea., numbered. Stamps for the IYA were used on the outer cover. No stamp booklet.

28.05.2008 International Year of Astronomy.

Pictorial cancel (green, black). IYA – OBRIA `09.

2 stamps at 42c ea. (Nebula NGC 6357 in the

Scorpion/Ant nebula Menzel 3); 360 stamps; 2 different cacheted envelopes, 2 stamp booklets; Stamp label.

28.05.2008 Agate stones from Lusatia (I); pictorial cancel (green) – Wonderworld of Stones - OBRIA `09; 4 stamps at 42c ea., 4 different cacheted postmarkes, 4 stamp booklets, 1 stamp label

For the following missions and events, one stamp each at a face value of 45c was issued. The print-run was usually 240 stamps. At least one cacheted cover and a stamp booklet were issued on each occasion. Where more than cover issued or a different print-run of the stamps produced, this is mentioned.

15.07.2009 Launch STS-127.

Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (black); Launch STS-127; Image: Crew portrait.

18.07.2009 50 Years ago – First zonds to the Moon. Pictorial cancel (green). 1 stamp 42 c (Lunik); 3 different cacheted covers (Lunik 1,2,3); stamp label, stamp booklet.

18.07.2009 40 Years ago – First Men on the Moon.

Pictorial cancel (green). 2 stamps at 42c (Launch Saturn-V; foot print on lunar surface), 240 stamps ea.; 2 different cacheted covers; 2 stamp booklets; stamp label.

29.08.2009 Launch STS-128. Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (black); Image: crew portrait.

30.09.2009 Launch Soyuz TMA-16.

Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (black). Image: crew portrait.

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25.10.2009 Afghan cosmonaut Mohmand at the Sindelfingen Stamp Fair. Pictorial cancel (pink and blue) “On its way to the ISS”. Image: Mohmand in his space suit. 3 different cacheted covers.

16.11.2009 Launch STS-129.

Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (pink). Image: crew portrait.

From September 2010 onwards, all stamps were perforated 08.10.2010 Launch Soyuz TMA-01M. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (green). Image: crew portrait.

Printrun 180 stamps.

20.12.2009 Launch Soyuz TMA-17.

Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (pink). Image: crew portrait.

30.10.2010 25th Anniversary of the German Spacelab misson D1 (STS-55). Pictorial cancel (pink). Image: crew portrait. 1 coloured stamp (printrun 180), one b&w (printrun 120).

8.02.2010 Launch STS-130. Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (pink). Image: crew portrait) 2 different cacheted covers.

02.04.2010 Launch Soyuz TMA-18.

Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (black). Image: crew portrait. 2 different cacheted covers.

05.04.2010 Launch STS-131. Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (green). Image: crew portrait.

14.05.2010 Launch STS-132. Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (green).

Image: crew portrait.

06.11.2010 Cosmonaut Kotov at the 26th Space Days Neubrandenburg. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (green). Image: Kotov in space suit.

Syrian cosmonaut Faris at the 26th Space Days Neubrandenburg. Pictorial cancel “50th Anniversary Manned Spaceflight”. Image: Faris in space suit.

08.12.2010 Launch Dragon C1. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (pink).

Image: Dragon C1 spacecraft. Printrun 180.

15.12.2010 Launch Soyuz TMA-20. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (green). Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180.

15.06.2010 Launch Soyuz TMA-19. Pictorial cancel “On its way to the ISS“ (green).

Image: crew portrait.

20.08.2010 50th Anniversary Manned Space Flight (Korabl-Sputnik 2). Pictorial cancel (black). 1 perforated stamp at 45c (120), one unperforated (240).

11.09.2010 50th Anniversary Manned Spaceflight – 75th Birthday of Gherman Titov.

Pictorial cancel (black). 1 stamp at 45 c (perforated; printrun 120) and imperf. (printrun 240 stamps).

22.01.2011 Launch Japanese space freighter HTV-II. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (black). Image: HTV-II. Printrun 180.

01.02.2011 70th Anniversary N. I. Selentchikov.

Pictorial cancels „On its way to the ISS“ (green). and „50th Anniversary Manned Space Flight“ (black). 2 stamps at 45c ea.

Image: portrait. Printrun 120 each. Russian and German text.

16.02.2011 Launch ATV 2. Pictorial cancel„On its way to the ISS“ (black).

Image: ATV-2 “Kepler”. Printrun 180.

19.02.2011 10th Anniversary de-orbiting of space station MIR. Pictorial cancel “50th Anniversary of Manned Space Flight” (black). Printrun 180. Image: MIR in Earth orbit. (left)

32

ORBIT

24.02.2011 Launch STS-133. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (black).

Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180.

15.03.2011 25th Anniversary space station MIR – Start of manned operations.

Pictorial cancel „50th Anniversary Manned Space Flight“ (black). Printrun 180.

Space Flight”. 2 stamps: images: cosmonauts Gagarin and Titov, Logo Vostok 2; Printrun 180 ea.

25.03.2011 Space Dog Zvyosdotchka.

Pictorial cancel „50th Anniversary of Manned Space Flight“ (black). Printrun 120 perforated, 240 non-perforated.

Launch Soyuz TMA-21. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (black). Printrun 150 12.04.2011 50th Anniversary Manned Space Flight – Yuri Gagarin.

Pictorial cancel „50th Anniversary of Manned Space Flight (black and red). Two stamp types: Headshot of Gagarin/helmet with Earth; Gagarin monument at Star City. Printrun 240 ea.

12.04.2011 30th Anniversary First Flight of the Space Shuttle. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (black).

Printrun 150.

Launch STS-134. Pictorial postmarker „On its way to the ISS“ (blue). Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180.

07.06.2011 Launch Soyuz TMA 02M; Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (blue). Image: crew portrait. Printrun: 180.

29.09.2011 Launch Chinese space station Tiangong. Pictorial cancel „Chinese space flight“. Printrun: 180

03.11.2011/14.11.2011 Docking Shenzhou 8/Tiangong. Pictorial postmarker „Chinese space flight“. Printrun: 180.

14.11.2011 Launch Soyuz TMA-22.

Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (blue).

Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180.

16.11.2011 Docking Soyuz TMA-22. Pictorial cancel „Docking with the ISS“. Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180.

14.12.2011 Death of Russian rocket pioneer Boris Chertok. Pictorial cancel “50th Anniversary Manned Space Flight”. Image: Portrait of Chertok. Printrun: 180.

21.12.2011 Launch Soyuz TMA-03M. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (blue). Image: crew portrait.

Printrun 180.

23.12.2011 Docking Soyuz TMA-03M. Pictorial cancel „Docking with the ISS“. Printrun 120. No stamp booklet

08.07.2011 Launch STS-135.

Pictorial postmarker „On its way to the ISS“ (blue). Image: crew portrait. Printrun 180

For the current year, several issues are out or being planned, including 20.02.2012 50th Anniversary First American in Orbit - John Glenn.

21.07.2011 End of the Space Shuttle Programme. Pictorial cancel „On its way to the ISS“ (blue). Printrun 180. A misprint with a black background (60) exists.

06./07.08.2011 50th Anniversary Vostok 2.

Pictorial cancel “50th Anniversary Manned

33

20.02.2012 50th Anniversary Mercury-Atlas 6. booklet 30.03.2012 Launch Soyuz TMA04M (End of April) 2012: Launch of Dragon C2

ASSS author Jürgen Esders has quite a few of these stamps and covers for sale. You can contact him at Jürgen P Esders, Rue Paul Devigne 21-27, bte 6, 1030 Brussels, Belgium or via e-mail: JPEsders@web.de

ORBIT

From Magnet to Multi-Media John Beenen continues his history of telecommunications

Into Space!

In this article, which can be found on the Internet in its original form, Clarke shows that manned stations at an altitude of 42.000 km describe a geostationary orbit (have an orbit with a period of exactly 24 hours) and that as a principle three repeater stations 120 degrees apart in the correct orbit should give complete coverage of the surface of the earth.

Introduction In the course of previous parts of this feature we got acquainted with a great many terms from the field of electricity. Because we are now going into space communication it seems to be a good idea to review some of them.

We saw that Hertz demonstrated that electrical induction, which made wireless communication possible, was a kind of electro-magnetic radiation. Maxwell calculated that its speed is the speed of light. Light also is a form of radiation but with much shorter wavelengths. (0,0004-0,0007 mm).

Core elements with electro-magnetic radiation are: wavelength, frequency and amplitude.

In fact wavelengths and frequency are each other’s counterpart, their product being the speed of light. Thus, a low frequency is connected to a long wavelength and the opposite. The amplitude is the height or the depth of the wave: the energy.

As we saw with Marconi long wavelengths (1000-2000 m) are able to work over long distances as they are reflected by a layer in the atmosphere, the ionosphere, Very short waves have a much larger penetration effect and pass the ionosphere with hardly any loss of energy. They propagate straight forward.

On earth this means that even for even short distances a very high antenna is necessary and even than the actionradius is limited. With TV for instance, that uses short wavelengths it is not more than 60 km, the cause of all supporting systems everywhere.

When, however, these straight waves can be collected high up in space and relayed than it should be possible to create reliable connections all over the world.

ARTHUR C.CLARKE (1917)

He also indicates that frequencies of 50-100.000 MHz (0,6 m – 0,3 mm) should pass the ionosphere without undue absorption and that the power needed for reliable radio and television broadcasts is about 1,2 kW. He describes further that a precise beaming can be reached with reflectors of a parabolic shape and that such signals should be almost without noise. He explains that the space station can produce its own energy necessary for the detection and relay of the signals by solar energy.

In short, very far-sighted conclusions for 1945.

Besides this, Clarke was one of the three important writers in the field of science fiction stories. One of his books, of which nearly everybody has heard of, is: ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’. Between 1951 when his first book ‘Prelude to Space’ was issued he wrote about 59 SF books. Clarke lives at the Isle of Sri Lanka since 1956.

Dr.JOHN R.PIERCE (pictured right with Telstar) Yet Arthur C. Clarke was not the Father of the communication satellite, at best only the Grandfather. The title, ‘Father’, is reserved for Dr.John Robinson Pierce (1910-2002) and his assistant the Austrian physicist, Rudolf Kompfner (1909-1977) of Laboratories.

Bell

Telephone

In an article published in 1955 Pierce gave the technical specifications which are necessary for an active relaying station in space. In order to check it, he proposed to send first a passive satellite into space working as a sphereshaped reflector. The capacity of such a satellite he estimated to be about 1000 telephone calls. In comparison, a transatlantic cable at that time (TAT-1) only could transfer 36 calls at a cost of $30-50M So he asked himself if the price of one billion dollar for such a satellite should be economical.

(Sri Lanka 2001) And that was just what Arthur C.Clarke argued The articles by Clarke and Pierce can be found in full length in an article in Wireless on the Internet on a very extended site (626 pages) in which World in 1945 : a great number of historical documents are collected: (http://history/nasa.gov/SP-4407/vol3/cover.pdf) “Extraterrestrial-relays, can rocket-stations give world-wide radio 34 coverage?”

ORBIT

Furthermore John Pierce wrote about 35 science fiction stories under his pseudonym J.J.Coupling and John Roberts.

predecessor and especially made more rigid to ensure a longer service time.

EARLY SATELLITES The first communication in space took place in December 18th 1958 when the ATLAS- SCORE (Signal Communication Orbit Relay Equipment) was launched with a pre-recorded Christmas message by the then American President Eisenhower: “This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite travelling in outer space. My message is a simple one: Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere.”

But the future was not for passive satellites. The American Army in particular favoured active satellites with which weaker signals could be amplified much easier.

Of course this was not a real communication, as the transmission of a pre-recorded message on a tape is little more than the first bleeps of Sputnik, but it was a start: the first human voice from space. The Score had a weight of 68 kg and came into an orbit of 182*1481 km.

Echo, Courier 1B (Echo 1, USA 1960, WB 3, NB. Stamp has a design error: the clouds at the altitude of the satellite couldn’t have been there).

And then the first balloon followed. On August 12th 1960 ECHO I was launched, a shining gold-coloured balloon with a diameter of 30 m and a weight of only 75 km, filled with a gas (evaporating benzoic acid in a vacuum). With regard to its reflective properties the balloon, at an altitude of 1470-1693 km, satisfied the expectations, but by a slow release of the gas the satellite became wrinkled after one month already in such a way that it became unusable. However, the balloon burned in the atmosphere only on May 24th 1968. A second balloon was by then already planned.

Between both balloons on October 4th 1960 the COURIER 1B was launched on a Thor-Able-Star rocket and became world’s first active communication satellite. The 1B had to be launched as the 1A failed some minutes after the start on August 18th, 1960. Courier 1B was a sphere with a diameter of 1,30 m and reached an orbit of 967*1214 km. It only was active for a period of 17 days probably through an error made at the synchronization of the electrical clock. The Courier also sent a message from the President this time to the United Nations.

The Courier was the fist satellite using NiCd batteries for its energy generation and carried 19.152 solar cells. These could generate a power of 62 Watt, by which about 100.000 words could be sent per minute.

The second balloon ECHO 2 followed on January 25th 1964.

With a diameter of 40 m somewhat larger than its

TELSTAR (Telstar 1, Andorra Fr. 1962, WB 1) It still came as a surprise when as early as 1960 the multinational AT&T made a request to the American authorities to get permission to launch an active satellite.

Their first real active communication satellite, TELSTAR 1, developed by Bell Telephone Company/AT&T started on July 20th, 1962 with six goals to fulfil : Investigating the unknown Study of the relay of signals of different kind Construction of a large ground antenna and practice its use To get experience in the tracking of satellites and the prediction of orbits Study of the van Allen radiation belts Research after problems to face with the design of receivers.

Yet Telstar was a small satellite weighing only 77 kg, was sphere-shaped and had a diameter of 88 cm. Its orbit was highly elliptical: 945*5643 km with an inclination of 45°.

Electricity was provided by solar cells and NiCd batteries by which in total 15 Watt could be generated. Hereby Telstar-1 could relay 60 two-way telephone calls or one black and white TV programme. The transmitter worked at a frequency of 4170 MHz for the outgoing signal and 6390 MHz for the incoming. We will discuss this later.

On its first operational day the first telephone call in space was made. It started like this: “Good evening Mr Vice President. This is Fred Kappel calling from the earth station at Andover, Maine. The call is being relayed through our Telstar satellite as I am sure you know.

How do you hear me?” 640 km away in Washington Vice President Lyndon B.Johnson listened and answered: “You’re coming through nicely Mr. Kappel”. “Well, that’s wonderful since you’re also the head of the space contest, Mr. Vice President, I suppose you followed the … with considerable interest the activities today that resulted in this call, the first 35

ORBIT

telephone message in the world, as a matter of fact, over an active satellite”. ”Indeed I have, Mr. Kappel. The progress of the satellite from the time it was launched early this morning from Cape Canaveral by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been most gratifying to all Americans. I’m sure millions of them have been proud of the achievement, which is another first in our conquest of space.”

2 also small adjustments were made for better resistance to radiation. The Relays used three frequencies close to 4170 MHz and received on 1725 MHz.

With a small interruption in December the satellite functioned until February 21st, 1963.

SYNCOM In the meantime NASA had ordered Hughes Aircraft to build a geostationary satellite as proposed by Arthur C.Clarke and the Slovenian Hermann Potocnik (Herman Noordung).

When we discuss communication satellites we quickly ask ourselves: ‘Which type of communication?” The first Telstar not only has to deal with radio communication but also with telephone, television and other signals. Also from the next satellites only a very little show one goal, most of them have multiple tasks. Henceforth, we will not distinguish in referring to different types of communication unless strictly necessary.

TELSTAR 2 launched on May 13th, 1963 was a success. It was almost identical to Telstar 1 and worked for exactly two years. However, the transistors in the central unit were made more radiation-resistant as it was shown that the first Telstar had been very sensitive to the radiation coming from the van Allen Belts. Also the orbit was slightly adjusted to 972*10.802 km which gave the ground stations a little more time and limited the residence time in the van Allen Belts.

Both satellites appealed much to the imagination of the designers of stamps and a great many stamps relating to both Telstars exist. Telstar 1 can be distinguished from Telstar 2 by a small stretched antenna, whereas with Telstar 2 there is a small spiralling antenna closer to the satellite.

But in some pictures the antenna are interchanged or depicted far too large.

RELAY (Ecuador 1966, WB 7) A different company, RCA, had a satellite available, RELAY 1, launched about half a year after Telstar on December 13th, 1962.

The satellite was very small with a weight of 78 kg, a length of 74 cm, and a diameter of 89 cm. Relay was launched into an orbit comparable to Telstar (1319*7440 km) and the same inclination of 45°. But its electrical capacity of 45 W was somewhat higher. Still its capacity with 12 telephone calls and one black and white TV programme was not that good.

Problems with one of the two transponders finally meant the satellite only functioned on half of its capacity which it did so until February 10th, 1965. Together with Syncom 3 it took care of the relaying of the images of the Olympic Games in Japan in October 1964.

A comparable RELAY 2 satellite was launched on May 7th, 1963 and functioned until May 1965. Comparable to Telstar

Because of its eight-sided shape and its covering with 8000 solar cells the satellite had a very specific appearance and is often used by stamp designers.

A geostationary orbit is an orbit at an altitude of about 36.000 km by which it seems if the earth is not moving, thus has an orbit of 24 hours. For communication such an orbit is the ideal situation as the satellite always is in contact with the area it covers. For the covering of the whole earth as a principle a minimum of three satellites is necessary as predicted by Clarke.

(TAAF 1965, WB 11) On February 14th 1963 SYNCOM I was launched into a geostationary orbit but after only 20 seconds the signals failed because of a rupture in a nitrogen tank in the system controlling the stability in orbit.

The Syncom satellites were very small, were cylinder-shaped with a length of 38 cm and a diameter of 71 cm. Like their predecessors they were spin-stabilized. The transmitter was working on 1815 MHz, the receiver on 7363 MHz. SYNCOM 2, launched on July 26th, 1963 was more successful and reached its orbit above the Atlantic close to Brazil (decl.32°) after a series of manoeuvres. As its orbit was not completely geosynchronous and the satellites were first meant for military purposes, the satellite was moved to the Indian Ocean on request of the Ministry of Defence. in 1965 .

The capacity of the solar cells and the NiCd batteries of Syncom was 28 W at the beginning which after one year had been decreased until 19 W. The exact number of telephone lines is not known but also this satellite had only the capacity for one TV channel.

In particular SYNCOM 3, launched on August 19th, 1964, was a success. By a more powerful rocket it could be brought into a real geostationary orbit. Also the bandwidth for television was improved. Although also this satellite was mainly meant for military purposes it also was used for the transmission of images of the World Cup Football of 1974 at Munich (Rumania WB 113). Syncom 2 and 3 were finally switched off in April 1969.

An elaboration of the results of Syncom and an increase in size of the satellite led to the development of the Applications Technology Satellite, ATS-1, launched on December 7th, 1966.

36

ORBIT

EARLY BIRD (Early Bird, Manama 1968, WB 9) By 1964 two Telstars, two Relays and two Syncoms were in space.

That suited well as after the acceptance of the American ‘Communications Satellite Act’’ on August 31st 1962 the COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corporation) was established with a budget of $200M. For several reasons, however, the inclusion of the Telstars, Relays and Syncoms in this system was rejected and Hughes Aircraft Company built their own satellite. On April 5th 1965 this satellite, called ‘EARLY BIRD’, was launched from Cape Canaveral. With 240 telephone circuits and one TV-channel this was a large improvement. Still the satellite weighed only 38 kg and was he, with 59 and 71 cm, not much larger than the Syncoms. Early-Bird was used for 3,5 years.

INTELSAT (Intelsats, Brazil 1978, WB12) For the tracking of satellites and the receiving of the signals tracking stations were constructed all over the world such as in England, France, Germany, Brazil, Japan and Africa. From the beginning it was clear that communication was a worldwide subject. An organization was necessary. On August 20th 1964 eleven countries founded the ‘International Telecommunications Satellite Organization’ (ITSO), better known as ‘INTELSAT’. Today over 100 countries have joined this organization. ‘Early Bird’ was incorporated into this organization and had a new life under the name, INTELSAT I. INTELSAT 2 and 3 were somewhat larger and especially the Intelsat 4 and 4A series was quite successful and beloved by stamp designers, because they were used for the transmission of very popular TV-images of the Olympic Games of Montreal in 1976 and the World Cup Football of 1978 in Argentina.

Nr.

Amount

(Intelsat 4A, Romania 1978, WB 140) As a result of the foundation of both European organizations ESRO (European Space Research Organization) and ELDO (European Launcher Development Organization) on March 20th, 1964 and February 29th, 1964 respectively, a European Conference in May 1963 resulted in the foundation of the CETS (Conférence Européenne des Télécommunications) and established the conditions for negotiations with the United States. In 1970 this organization merged into ESRO/ELDO which in its turn merged into ESA in 1975, the European Space Agency.

Intelsat satellites still are active and control a great deal of the world’s communication by satellite.

Their capacity increased slowly which shows from the table below. To understand some columns of this table better some additional remarks have to be made: The C-band is a part of the electro-magnetic spectrum in the microwave area of 4 to 8 GHz (Gigahertz) and is an electrical standard defined by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) founded in 1963 and the most important institute in the world in this area. For satellites normally only the area 3,7-4,2 GHz (downlink) and 5,9-6,4 GHz (uplink) are used, generally by 24 pieces of 36 MHz transponders on board of the satellite (explanation below). The frequency of the incoming signal differs somewhat from the outgoing to prevent interference. In the Cband this difference is 2 MHz, in the Ku-band 1 MHz. Thus, in the Cband 180 channels and in the Ku-band 360 channels are available for television. The C-band mainly is in use in American satellites and American cable networks and in use from the launch of Anik, Westar and Satcom satellites. The C-band is mainly connected with

Launch 1e sat.

Spacecaft

Wgt kg

Spin

Power KW

Cbnd

6-4-1965 26-10-1966 18-9-1968 26-1-1971 26-9-1975 6-12-1980 22-3-1985 27-10-1989 10-6-1992 22-10-1993 27-2-1997 9-1-2001 16-6-2004

HS-303 HS-303 TRW HS-312 HS-353 FS-1300

39 87 293 1410 1520 2000 2013 4.300 2930 4200 3400 4723 5575

Spin Spin Spin Spin Spin 3-ax 3-ax Spin 3-ax 3-ax 3-ax 3-ax 3-ax

2x6W 83W 178W 600W 700W 1800W 1800W 2250W 4800W 3900W 6400W 10 KW 13KW

1

Kubnd

failed ( ) 1 2 3 4 4A 5 5A 6 K 7/7A 8/8A 9 10-02

1 4(1:nr.2A) 8(3:F1,5,8) 8(1:F6) 6 9(1:F9) 6(1:F14) 5(1:F3) 1 9(1:F8) 1 7 8

HS-389 LS-1300 AS-7000 SSL1300HL Eurostar3000

37

2 2 12 20 21 26 38 26 38 76 70

4 6 10 16 10 6 24 36

Amount voicechannels

Am. TVchan

Exp. Life

Remarks

240 240 1.500 4.000 7.250 12.000 15.000 24.000 0 18.000 22.500

1 1 4 2 2 2 2 3(kl) 32 3(kl) 3(kl)

1,5 3 5 7 7 7 9 13 10 10-15 14-17 13 13

Early Bird Lani Bird, failed F7: 16 yr.

lease inmarsat

of GE Americom

ORBIT

TV receivers and very large parabolic reflectors but have a very large covering. The Ku-band covers the area between 12 to 18 GHz, for satellites mainly 11,7-12,2 GHz (downlink) and 14,0-14,5 GHz (uplink). The area between 12,2 and 12,7 especially is used for satellite radio with transponders with a bandwidth of 27 MHz and a power of 100-240 Watt. In Europe for such applications the area of 10,7-12,75 GHz (SES Astra) is applied. The Ku-band is used mainly in Europe for communication with satellites.

C-band transmission is sensitive for ground communication, Kuband transmission can be affected by heavy rain as water absorbs microwaves.

A LITTLE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY (Ground station, Australia 1968, WB 4) Satellites suitable for the communication of TV normally move in a very elliptic or geostationary orbit. It starts with the transfer of a signal to an installation which in turn passes the signal to a satellite (UPLINK). Uplink satellite reflectors are very large, mostly 9 to 12 m in diameter.

This is necessary to be sufficiently precise and for a sufficient amplification of the signal. These signals are transferred in a specific frequency which can handled by the satellite. In the satellite a ‘transponder’ processes the signal. A ‘transponder’, (French: répéteur, the word comes from ‘transmitter’, and ‘responder’, is an electronic device that transmits a certain message as an answer to a received message. It reflects it to the earth in a slightly different frequency to prevent interference (DOWNLINK), the C-band or the Ku-band. A modern communication satellite is equipped with 24 transponders for the C-band and 32 for the Ku-band or the newer L-band.

(Ground station, Austria 1986, WB 4) The weak downlink signal is quadratic weakened by the distance and thus has to be amplified in parabolic reflectors. These reflectors receive the signal in their focus and carry it to an apparatus which translates the electro-magnetic signal into an electrical signal suitable for the apparatus. This signal goes to the receiver. Direct to home TV becomes gradually more important especially in those countries with remote and distant areas. This kind of communications uses the upper part of the Ku-band frequencies.

COMMERCIAL SATELLITES (Anik E2, Canada 1992, WB 9) From 1972 (09-11-72) onwards private enterprises became active in launching communication satellites. As an example of such globalization the first privately owned satellite was not American but Canadian, the ANIK 1,

owned by Telesat Canada. The satellite still was launched from Cape Canaveral.

(Westar, VS 1975, WB 43) The American response came on April 13th 1974 via Western Union with the WESTAR 1.

Five more followed but the last one, Westar 6 did not reach its geostationary orbit, yet was saved on the STS 51A mission and reconstructed as ASIASAT 1.

In 1975 RCA followed with SATCOM 1 (13-12-75). The Satcom consists of a whole family of 15 satellites, of which the last (K2) was launched in 1985 and abandoned in 2002.

The last two satellites still under construction (K3, K4) were sold as Astra 1B and Intelsat K to GE Astro Space, later SES Global, the company controlling the Astra (Symphonie, France 1976, WB 54) At the same time Europe was active with their experimental German-French communication satellites SYMPHONIE A and B launched respectively on December 12th 1974 and August 27th 1975 with a Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral and meant for testing of a great number of signals in the field of television, radio, telephone, telex and data transmission. By the end of 1976 120 transponders were active in space, every one capable of providing for 1500 telephone channels and one TV programme.

The development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) made that gradually heavier and more complex satellites could be launched which meant that the stabilization of the satellites by ‘spinning’ could be changed in a stabilization along three axes with advantages in terms of output and efficiency. Another advantage was that larger antenna could be carried along, the so-called ‘high gain’ antenna, by which a ten-fold energy saving, or the other way around, a ten-fold increase in efficiency, could be obtained, resulting in much lower costs. This made world-wide communication a billion dollar business.

(Marecs A, GB 1985, WB 7) In February 1976 COMSAT launched a new series of satellites, MARISAT to support the American Navy and other maritime customers.

The Marisat system consists of three geostationary satellites first launched on February 19th 1976. As a principle they are positioned above the three large oceans, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian.

In the beginning of the eighties the Europeans developed a similar system, the MARECS. 38

ORBIT

The first, MARECS A was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket on December 20th, 1981 from their new base in Kourou, French Guyana. Marecs 2 was lifted together with the Italian Sirio 2 but failed, but MARECS 2 (November 10th, 1984) worked well again.

cells for energy generation are unfolded. This also can be seen in the stamps of our hobby, as many of the stamps of communication satellites show more or less the same satellite shape: a square box with large wings. Other important constructors are: Space Systems/Loral, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Alcatel Space and Eads Astrium.

(Inmarsat, TAAF 1987, WB 81) In 1979 the United Nations took charge of the foundation of the ‘International Maritime Satellite Organization’ (INMARSAT), more or less comparable to Intelsat but now for maritime purposes.

Initially they incorporated the Marisats and Marecs but from October 1990 they also launched their own geostationary satellites, INMARSAT. Inmarsat M, put on the market in 1993, was the first satellite in the world for satellite-based mobile telephone systems.

We now know what this means for our communication. The system was also suitable for use at sea. A comparable system ‘Aero’ has been developed for aviation.

(Cableship Vercors for TAT-8, Ascension 1993) In 1965, when Early-Bird was launched, a satellite offered about ten times the capacity of a submarine cable against one tenth of the price. This price difference stayed until 1988 when the first fibre optic cable, TAT-8, was constructed across the Atlantic.

Although satellite systems are very competitive when communication from point to point is considered, the future is expected to be different. Whatever, satellites will mainstain two advantages over cables: they are more reliable and they can be used for communication from one point to multiple points such as radio and television. The development of the present mobile phones would not have been possible without the use of satellite systems.

MILITARY SYSTEMS (MILSATCOM) (Cover NATO-1, VS 1970) Besides the well-known communication satellites a great many were launched with little publicity. These are mostly satellites for military purposes. Between 1966 an 1968 26 satellites were launched with the less communicative names: IDSCP, or IDSCS (Initial Defense Satellite Communications Program/System). These were satellites of 45 kg often launched in clusters and in a geocentric orbit.

Subsequent series were called DSCS (Defense Satellite Communications System), NATO (1st: 20-3-70), SDS (Satellite Data System,1st 2-6-76) and SKYNET (UK, 1st: 22-11-69).

SATCOM satellites were used for the military under the name FLTSATCOM for the Navy, AFSATCOM for the Air Force and LEASAT for the Army.

In the meantime these systems have been replaced by UFO (UHF Follow-on) satellites. All military satellites are part of MILSTAR which also has own satellites. The figure below explains the application areas.

The aforementioned SATCOM I launched on December 13th 1975 was built by RCA Americom. The system of 17 satellites was taken over in 1986 by General Electric when it merged with RCA. After some more mergers today it is owned by SES Americom (Société Europeènne des Satellites).

In 2000 Hughes Space and Communications (today Boeing Satellite Systems) was building nearly 40% of all communication satellites. Hughes principally uses the standard frame HS-376. This basis for many geostationary satellites is spin-stabilized with a spin of 50 revolutions per minute. The diameter of the drum is 2,16 m and the length 6,6 m. Under folded condition the length is 2,8 m. An additional 3,8 m is obtained in orbit when the additional solar 39

To be concluded in our next issue

ORBIT

Four Unusual Apollo 16 related covers

40