The next MEPCO is coming ... to Bulgaria, in early August, 1999!
For details on this astronomical conference just before the total solar eclipse click here!

SOHO under control again! Spacecraft controllers successfully regained control of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft on Sept. 16 after sending a series of commands directing the spacecraft to fire thrusters and turn its face and solar power panels fully towards the Sun. The SOHO flight operations team reported success in the maneuver, which is called attitude recovery, at 18:29 UTC, the first time the spacecraft has been controlled from the ground since SOHO spun out of control and communication was lost on June 24. "Now we start a comprehensive check of all the spacecraft's systems and scientific instruments," said Dr. Bernhard Fleck, ESA's project scientist for SOHO. "We shall take our time and go step by step, in consultation with the 12 scientific teams in Europe and the United States, who provided the instruments. In some cases the instruments have been through an ordeal of heat or cold, with temperatures approaching plus or minus 100 degrees Celsius. But I'm cautiously optimistic that SOHO can win back much of its scientific capacity for observing the Sun. (Adapted from NASA Release #168 of Sept. 17, 1998)	ESA Press Release of Sept. 17th. and reports about it from ABC and BBC. Recovery Updates What's New
John Holliman, CNN space reporter, 1948-1998 He was one of the few television reporters worldwide who could transport his own enthusiasm for space flight and space exploration to a wide audience - and the first-ever 24 hr international news channel was the perfect setting for him. Initially an expert for agriculture, of all topics, John Holliman belonged to the first generation of Cable News Network's reporters and anchors, covering everything from the Reagan assassination attempt to hurricanes to the 2nd Gulf War (where it was actually he who got the radio link out of Bagdad working during the initial air strikes). But to space afficionados around the world John Holliman will always be the face of space: When the astronauts struggled to repair the HST in 1993 he covered the 35+ hours of EVAs without a break (sometimes on CNN's domestic and sometimes on the international network), when Mars Pathfinder arrived he anchored CNN's extensive coverage. And during the last months he could hardly wait to cover John Glenn's return to space, together with space TV veteran Walter Cronkite. It was not to be: John Holliman was killed instantly when his car collided head-on with a pick-up truck during a risky driving maneouver on Sept. 12th. He leaves a wide gap, with no one in sight to fill it. Daniel Fischer	A biography, an obituary and John's last Wednesday column. Collected thoughts by readers of CNN Online and and Fla. Today. Remarks by Dan Goldin and other comments.
First Space VLBI paper published The first scientific paper on results obtained by radio interferometry involving a satellite and telescopes on the ground was published today in Science. Images of quasars billions of light-years away are among the striking initial results of the radio interferometry mission HALCA, launched in February 1997 by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). One of the most complex space missions ever attempted, Space VLBI has given astronomers one of their sharpest views yet of the universe. The Space VLBI project's eight meter diameter orbiting radio telescope observes celestial radio sources in concert with a number of the world's ground-based radio telescopes. It is in an elliptical orbit, varying between 1,000 and 20,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface. This orbit provides a wide range of distances between the satellite and ground-based telescopes, which is important for producing high-quality images of radio sources. One orbit of the Earth takes about six hours. Approximately 40 radio telescopes from more than 15 countries have committed time to co-observe with the satellite. (Adapted from JPL Release # 95 of Sept. 17, 1998)	The JPL Release (with pictures) The homepage of Japan's VLBI Space Observatory Programme, in particular a collection of previous images A story on the success by BBC

In several Nutshells: MGS delivers Phobos images, suffers software error: Here are the images of the Martian moon (and a related JPL Press Release plus a story from SpaceViews) - but the restart of the aerobraking has been delayed from Sept. 17 til Sept. 23 because a software error led to a discharge of MGS' batteries. The start of the science operations in April 1999 will not be delayed by the incident. Meanwhile the Mars Climate Orbiter has arrived at the KSC: the MGS successor's homepage.

A complete model of the origin of Jupiter's rings has been constructed, thanks to Galileo's images: press releases by the JPL, Cornell and the Galileo team as well as CNN, BBC, ABC and H. Chronicle stories and a new Jovian rings homepage. / Meanwhile the launch date of Deep Space 1 is in flux: the official date is Oct. 25, but the project still works towards Oct. 15. But the PEPE instrument is ready. / One year worth of data from the SEAWIFS satellite shows Earth's changes with the seasons.

Contractors were chosen for the Space Interferometry Mission: a JPL Press Release and SpaceViews story as well as the project's homepage. / U.S. experts now agree that the N. Korean launch of Aug. 31 (see Update #101) was an attempt to launch a satellite. But Korean claims that it orbits the Earth remain without any confirmation and most treat the test as a failure. Also controversial: whether anything of the rocket's 3rd stage fell back to Earth, near Alaska (also stories from CNN and the S. Korea Herald). / More delays for the ISS seem well possible. Decisions are due by month's end (while NASA highlights some micro-g results from STS-78) ...

A merger of the mega-radio telescopes LSA and MMA is more likely now that the ESO Council has endorsed a joint project in Chile. Meanwhile the first images of the VLT Science Verification Programme have been released - and the first major VLT instrument FORS has been installed and delivered the first test images. / The Jodrell Bank telescope is joining the Phoenix SETI project as a verification site for alien transmissions received at Arecibo. / Nice views of a large sunspot group were published by the KIS. And some photographs of the Aug. 27 aurora over Germany after the solar storm (see Update #99) can be found here by scrolling down a bit!

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