STSORBIT PLUS Revision History ------------------------------ Each released version of STSPLUS uses a four digit revision code such as 0123. The first two digits indicate the year and the second two digits indicate the week of the year. In some cases, an additional letter suffix is added to distinguish changes occurring within the same week or to identify special versions. A partial week at the beginning or end of the year is counted as a full week. Using this method, a year will typically have 53 weeks although it is possible to have 54 weeks in a leap year (1972 is an example). The current year-week revision code is shown on the Julian Date display, Display Mode 7, in my program ASTROCLK. This file records the revision history of program STSPLUS through all of the minor twists and turns that usually accompany the evolution of such a complex program. It illustrates the tortuous process of maintaining and refining a program as ideas and problems are reported from every quarter. These notes may also be helpful to users who are upgrading from one version to another to find out what has changed. David H. Ransom, Jr. e-mail: rans7500@spacelink.nasa.gov Home Page: http://www.dransom.com Version 0123 -- June 2001 ------------------------- -This is a minor update to allow pass predictions to be made for satellites with mean motion as low as 1.1 as compared to the previous limit of 1.5. -The amateur radio satellite, AMSAT OSCAR 40 with NORAD Number 26609, is one of the latest in a long series of AMSAT satellites. It's highly elliptical orbit has a Mean Motion (as of June 2001) of approximately 1.27. The prior lower limit to make pass predictions using F3 from the Main Menu was a Mean Motion of 1.5. This has been relaxed to a Mean Motion of 1.1. -This documentation is essentially unchanged from the previous version. Version 0114 -- April 2001 -------------------------- -This is a minor update to remove the internal MIR satellite icons and to increase the maximum size of external satellite icons to 25x25 pixels. -With the deorbit of the Russian MIR Space Station in March, 2001, the need for internal MIR satellite icons also disappeared. The internal MIR icons have therefore been removed. Program STSORBIT PLUS Satellite Orbit Simulation Page 187 -Because of the increased size and complexity of the International Space Station (ISS), the permissible size of external icons has been increased to 25x25 pixels. External icon files are prepared by my program STSICON, available with program registration, and are given filenames with the form "#nnnnn.ICN" for use with STSPLUS. The maximum internal icon size remains 21x21 pixels. -File ISS25.ICN is provided with this update and is a 25x25 pixel icon of the International Space Station as of April, 2001. Rename this file to #25544.ICN if you wish STSPLUS to use the new, larger icon for ISS. -This documentation is essentially unchanged from the previous version. Version 0034 -- August 2000 --------------------------- -This is a minor update to update the internal ISS icons and to correct a minor bug. -Installed new 21x21 and 15x51 internal icons for the International Space Station to reflect the addition of the Zvezda module. -Corrected Orbital Data Display (ALT-F1) of the Elements Epoch, NORAD format, to show the leading zeroes for years 2000 and above. -Removed the Gamma Ray Observatory from the standard secondary satellites since that observatory has been deorbited. -Added files STSISS2.ICN and STSISS2.NOT, the icon and instructions for the space shuttle docked to ISS, to the standard distribution package. -The documentation is essentially unchanged from the previous version. Version 0016 -- April 2000 -------------------------- -This is a MINOR UPDATE to improve communications with program STSUPDAT. -Added IPC command to allow STSUPDAT to remove the "WAIT" message if no updates are performed. -The documentation is essentially unchanged from Version 0012. Version 0012 -- March 2000 -------------------------- -This is a MAJOR UPDATE to incorporate Greg Swift's STSUPDAT add-on program to automate the updating of orbital data (TLEs) via the Internet. ******************** * IMPORTANT NOTE * ******************** STSUPDAT requires a 32-bit operating system, Windows 95/98/NT/2K, as well as an active Internet connection at the time it is executed. -Documentation only has been updated on 27 March to reflect the release of STSUPDAT Version 0014. -Add Function Key F11 and CTRL-F2 to the available keys while the satellite tracking map is displayed. Either of these keys invokes STSUPDAT and allows the automatic updating of TLEs from my websites. See the section "Using STSPLUS with program STSUPDAT by Greg Swift" in the documentation as well Šas the documentation provided with STSUPDAT. -To execute program STSUPDAT, LAN operations must be enabled with F10+F1 from the STSPLUS Main Menu. LAN operations are disabled by default. Program STSORBIT PLUS Satellite Orbit Simulation Page 188 -STSUPDAT may be downloaded from my STSPLUS Home Page at: http://www.dransom.com/stsplus.html -Corrected coordinates for various locations in files STSPLUS.LOC and STSPLUS.CTY and removed a number of duplicate entries from STSPLUS.CTY. Thanks to Richard Stein for taking the time to figure out the corrections. -Because most of the features of my planned program STSLAN have been incorporated in Greg Swift's STSUPDAT, development of STSLAN has been suspended and all references to it removed from the documentation. Version 0005 -- January 2000 ---------------------------- -This is a MINOR UPDATE to restore the internal link to TRAKSTAR, removed in Version 0002. -In coordination with TS Kelso, the incompatibilities between Kelso's program TRAKSTAR and STSPLUS have been resolved with the release of TRAKSTAR Version 2.65. I have therefore restored the internal link which allows users to run TRAKSTAR from STSPLUS. STSPLUS writes file TRAKSTAR.CFG with the required information, including the new UTC Offset format and whether or not Daylight Savings Time is in use. STSPLUS also writes file STSPLUS.OB which contains the user's primary location and coordinates. -Note that users MUST execute TRAKSTAR Version 2.65 and not the earlier Version 2.60. TRAKSTAR Version 2.60 will generate a Runtime Error 160 when executed from STSPLUS; the prior release, TRAKSTAR Version 2.15, is not Y2K compatible. Version 0003 -- January 2000 ---------------------------- -This is a MINOR UPDATE to correct a problem in STSAUX. -Version 0002 of the support program STSAUX had a problem with the version number rollover from 9932 to 0002 which caused it to malfunction and display spurious information. This problem has been corrected. -Except for the Version number, the documentation is unchanged from Version 0002. Version 0002 -- January 2000 ---------------------------- -This is a MINOR UPDATE to remove the link to TRAKSTAR. -Prior releases of STSPLUS have been able to execute TS Kelso's program TRAKSTAR V2.15. In the latter part of 1999, Kelso released TRAKSTAR V2.60 to correct a number of Y2K-related problems and to add new features. Unfortunately, TRAKSTAR V2.60 is no longer compatible with STSPLUS and the link, F4 from the STSPLUS Main Menu, has been removed. Users must now execute TRAKSTAR independently of STSPLUS. -Updated this documentation to remove all references to TRAKSTAR. -Except for the removal of the link to TRAKSTAR, this release is essentially identical to Version 9932.