Sub-group on the Densification of the Optical Frame Newsletter 2 September 2, 1998 Dear Colleagues, This is the second newsletter of the Sub-group on the Densification of the Optical Reference Frame. I have been in contact with everyone, with the exception of Jean Souchay. I have tried the address souchay@obspm.fr without success. If any of you has another e-mail address for him, I would be thankful if you forward it to me. No one has indicated trouble in viewing the website. It can be found at http://aries.usno.navy.mil/ad/dens_wg/dens.html. If you have not already, please take a look at it and report any problems or incorrect information to me. Under the projects page I have links to several different sites, including: the USNO CCD Astrograph program; the USNO Precision Measuring Machine project; the 2MASS project; the Yale Southern Proper Motions project; the FAME astrometric satellite project; the DIVA astrometric satellite project; and WG on the re-measurement of the AC and CdC plates. Those interested in the details of these are encouraged to visit the sites or talk to the points-of-contact. I am anxious to have links to more projects involving densification of the optical frame. Send suggestions to me and I will include them. One project that you may not know much about is FAME. This is an American version of a HIPPARCOS-type satellite. Current design is to observe all stars down to 15th magnitude with errors for the brighter stars at 50 microarcsec or better. The U.S. Naval Observatory, Naval Research Lab, and Lockheed-Martin collaborated to submit a proposal for funding to NASA under their Medium Class Explorer Mission (MIDEX) announcement. Four missions are expected to get partial funding; these will be selected in December 1998 or January 1999. Two of the four are expected to get full funding. Sincerely, Sean Urban U.S. Naval Observatory September 2, 1998