Mark Johns – AMSAT

ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

July 7, 2024 by Mark Johns

In this edition:

* Firefly Delivers New Amateur Satellites to Orbit
* Ariane 6 Maiden Flight With GENESIS-A Module
* Logbook of The World Returns To Service
* LUSAT, Dead or Alive?
* LEGO Bricks Printed out of Space Dust
* Field Day Submissions Now Due
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* AMSAT Ambassador Activities
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

DATE 2024 July 7

Firefly Delivers New Amateur Satellites to Orbit

The Firefly Alpha FLTA005/NASA ELaNa 43 mission, nicknamed “Noise of Summer,” launched successfully at 04:04 UTC on July 4 (Wednesday evening, July 3 in the U.S.) and deployed eight new cube satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Five of these cubesats carry amateur radio equipment.

The cubesats were placed into a sun-synchronous Earth orbit, meaning that all locations on earth will see high-elevation passes roughly between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. local time daily, with lower elevation passes earlier and later.

Among the newly-deployed satellites, the one of greatest interest to the amateur radio community is MESAT1. Built by the University of Maine, in cooperation with AMSAT, this satellite carries a 30 kHz wide V/U Transponder plus a 1k2 BPSK telemetry downlink. Telemetry downlink 435.800 MHz with transponder downlink 435.810-435.840 MHz, and transponder uplink 145.910-145.940 MHz. Amateurs are encouraged to use AMSAT’s FoxTelem software to collect telemetry.

MESAT1 being prepared for integration aboard the Firefly Alpha (Photo credit, University of Maine)

MESAT1 involves three missions designed by high school students in Maine. The science payloads are climate focused and include ALBEDO, IMAGER, and HAB. These will identify urban heat islands, determine concentration of phytoplankton in water bodies, and help predict harmful algal blooms. Four multispectral cameras on board will relay the data down to University of Maine’s ground station for further processing. Amateurs are encouraged to use AMSAT’s FoxTelem software to collect telemetry and assist in these science projects.

Also deployed was CatSat, a technology demonstration of an inflatable antenna for high-speed communications, built by the University of Arizona. CatSat’s deployable antenna consists of a Mylar balloon. The front half of the balloon is transparent, allowing microwaves to pass through. The back half of the balloon is aluminized, creating a reflecting antenna. After reaching low Earth orbit, CatSat’s antenna will deploy and inflate to a diameter of just over one-and-a-half feet CatSat’s demonstration will be to transmit high-definition Earth photos to 10 GHz, X-band ground stations at ~50 megabits per second.

Artist’s rendering of CatSat with 10 GHz balloon antenna deployed. (University of Arizona)

In addition to images, data about the structure of the Earth’s ionosphere will be gathered by listening-in to thousands of beacons from ground-based ham radio stations. CatSat will relay WSPR and FT8 signals from HF. Downlinks on 437.185 MHz and 10470.00 MHz.

Other satellites with IARU-coordinated amateur frequency downlinks include:

Serenity, which uses a 4k8 FM with AX25 downlink on 437.100 MHz. Serenity was built by Teachers in Space, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization in North America that stimulates student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They provide teachers with real space science experiences, space flight opportunities, and industry connections.

KUbeSat-1, revives small satellite research at the University of Kansas and starts a new KUbeSat program that will offer space access to student research. The main payload on KUbeSat-1 is the Primary Cosmic Ray Detector which will use a new method to measure the energy and species of primary cosmic rays hitting the Earth. The secondary payload is the High-Altitude Calibration, (HiCalK) that builds on decades of research surrounding Very High Frequency signals generated by cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere. UHF downlink using 9k6 GMSK. A downlink on 437.085 MHz.

SOC-i (Satellite for Optimal Control and Imaging) is a technology demonstration mission of attitude control technology and a camera that serves as an instrument to demonstrate SOC-i’s pointing abilities. Developed at the University of Washington, SOC-i has a UHF downlink using 4k8 GMSK. downlink 437.125 MHz.

[ANS thanks NASA, Firefly Aerospace, and Spacflight Now for the above information]

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Ariane 6 Maiden Flight With GENESIS-A Module

The maiden flight of the new European launcher, Ariane 6, is scheduled for July 9, 2024, with a launch window of 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time from the European spaceport in French Guiana (July 9 20:00h to July 10 00:00h CEST). Among many other payloads, it carries our (inside YPSAT) GENESIS-A module, attached to the second stage of the launcher. The module will transmit FT8 and live SSTV images in Robot 36 format.

FT8 transmissions are made every 16 seconds, while SSTV’s are every 5 minutes.

The working frequencies are as follows:

Downlink 144.175 MHz FT8 Mode:

– Callsign AO4ARI HO60 if the antenna has been deployed
– Callsign AO4ARI HO61 if the antenna has not been deployed

Downlink 144.550 MHz SSTV Robot 36 mode with live image and Hades text

A carrier with a frequency of 144.550 MHz (same frequency as SSTV) is left between FT8 tones.

This information is compiled in PDF in the following document on our web:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/13458580/AMSAT+EA+-+GENESIS-A+transmissions+description.pdf

The only thing ESA has given us is the trajectory over the ground while flying over Europe, but we don’t have TLEs or anything that we can semi-automate. It is available on our website:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/s/cc_images/cache_19006006.jpg?t=1720182961

It will be very difficult to receive it but we thank you all if you try and if you spread this information to have all possible operators tuned into FT-8 that day. The module will fall into the sea with the second stage after a few hours.

More information about the flight including timings here:
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_launch_how_to_watch_and_what_to_look_out_for

[ANS thanks Félix Páez, EA4GQS, AMSAT EA, for the above information]

Logbook of The World Returns To Service

Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC on July 1, Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) has been to service.

As work progressed on the network, some users encountered LoTW opening briefly during which some 6600 logs were uploaded. The logs were not processed until this weekend as we tested that the interfaces to LoTW were functioning properly.

We are taking steps to help manage what will likely be a huge influx of logs. We are requesting that if you have large uploads, perhaps from contests or from a DXpedition, please wait a week or two before uploading to give LoTW a chance to catch up. We have also implemented a process to reject logs with excessive duplicates. Please do not upload your entire log to “ensure” your contacts are in LoTW as they will be rejected. Lastly, please do not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. You can contact support at [email protected].

Through the end of the year, you may experience planned times when LoTW will be unavailable. We have been using this time to evaluate operational and infrastructure improvements we would like to make to LoTW. Those times will be announced.

We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members. LoTW, just behind QST, is our second most popular ARRL benefit.

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]

LUSAT, Dead or Alive?

LO-19, co-ordinated by AMSAT Argentina, the LUSAT (named after the LU amateur designation for Argentina) microsatellite was launched on the first ARIANE ASAP flight V35 with SPOT 2, on the 22 January 1990 (01:35:27 GMT) into an 780 km sun-synchronous, 98 degree inclined orbit.

It carried a Digital Store and Forward packet communications transponder similar to AO-16. Downlink was AX.25 at 437.125 MHz SSB 1200 bps RC-BPSK. It is box shaped with dimensions of 213 × 230 × 230 mm, with four solar panels and weighs 13.76 kg.

Long past its expected useful life, in recent years LUSAT has only been transmitting an unmodulated carrier signal.

On June 29, Gustavo Carpignano, LW2DTZ, reported that recent observers had failed to detect the carrier. Gustavo declared LO-19 dead.

However, on July 1, Nico Janssen, PAØDLO, reported receiving the carrier, but at a signal strength much weaker than over previous years. Nico suggested that, perhaps, the onboard power amplifier has failed.

Well-equipped ground stations may wish to give a listen to test what they can hear.

[ANS thanks Gustavo Carpignano, LW2DTZ, Nico Janssen, PAØDLO, and Gunter’s Space Page, for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.

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LEGO Bricks Printed out of Space Dust

There have been many proposals for building structures on the Moon out of lunar regolith. But here’s an idea sure to resonate with creators, mechanical tinkerers, model builders and the kid inside us all.

What about using actual LEGO bricks?

Researchers ground up a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite and used the dust to 3D print LEGO-style space bricks. They actually click together like the plastic variety, with so far only one downside: they only come in one color, grey.
Universe Today

Want to see some of these lunar LEGOs? LEGO will showcase the space bricks at some of its stores.

Creating building materials on the Moon or Mars from the material on hand means construction materials don’t have to be transported from Earth. This would be a huge savings in launch costs because less weight would have to be boosted from Earth.

A group of scientists from ESA (European Space Agency) were inspired by LEGO bricks, and with the advances in 3D printing, had the idea to print space bricks and test how they would work for construction.

The only problem was that except for the Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts – which are highly guarded for scientific study only — there’s not any lunar regolith available on Earth to experiment with.

But meteorite dust is a close cousin to lunar regolith. The ESA team was able to get a meteorite that was discovered in Northwest Africa in 2000 and is about 4.5 billion years old. It is made of metal grains and chondrules, similar to Moon dust.

Inspired by LEGO, ESA scientists have used dust from a meteorite to 3D-print LEGO-style ‘space bricks’
to test out construction ideas for a future Moon base. Credit: The LEGO Group

They mixed the meteorite dust with a some other things, like a polymer called polylactide and regolith simulant and 3D printed bricks that mimic and behave just like LEGO bricks. While they aren’t smooth like regular LEGO bricks, ESA said the space bricks gave ESA’s space engineers the flexibility to build and test a variety of structures using this new material.

“It’s no secret that real-world scientists and engineers sometimes try out ideas with LEGO bricks,” said Emmet Fletcher, Head of ESA’s Branding and Partnerships Office. “ESA’s space bricks are a great way to inspire young people and show them how play and the power of the imagination have an important role in space science, too.”

“Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks,” said . ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley. “It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques.”

For a list of where the lunar LEGOs will be on display worldwide, see https://www.universetoday.com/167675/lego-bricks-printed-out-of-space-dust/#more-167675

The LEGO website has additional details at https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2024/june/lego-bricks-scientists-build-astronaut-shelters-on-the-moon

Hopefully the lunar LEGOs will inspire both children and adults about space and to encourage them to build their own LEGO Moon bases.

[ANS thanks Universe Today for the above information]

Field Day Submissions Now Due

Field Day is behind us and it is time to tally your contacts and submit the for AMSAT Field Day.

The Satellite Summary Sheet should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be received by KK5DO (e-mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 23, 2024. This year, we are using the same due date as the ARRL. The only method for submitting your log is via e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected]. I have not had a mail-in entry in a very long time.

If you need to download a summary sheet, it can be found at https://www.amsat.org/field-day/
or directly from my website https://www.amsatnet.com/2024fd.docx

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, for the above information]

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!

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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for July 5

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.

The following satellites from last week’s Firefly Alpha FLTA005/NASA ELaNa 43 launch have been added. They are listed as OBJECT A-H, with the exception of object G which is likely MESAT1. As is the case with most cubesat launches, it will take a while to figure out which object is which.

OBJECT A 60203
OBJECT B 60204
OBJECT C 60205
OBJECT D 60206
OBJECT E 60207
OBJECT F 60208
MESAT1 60209
OBJECT H 60210
OBJECT J 60211
OBJECT K 60212

[ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements page for the above information]

ARISS NEWS

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

UPCOMING CONTACTS:
Youth On the Air 2024, Mount Saint Vincent University, NS, Canada, Telebridge via ZS6JON
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled crewmember is Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU
The ARISS mentor is VE3TBD
Contact is go for: Tue 2024-07-09 15:06:38 UTC 65 degrees maximum elevation

Houjoudu Elementary School, Imizu, Japan, direct via JA9YQJ
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ
The ARISS mentor is 7M3TJZ
Contact is go for: Thu 2024-07-11 10:48:03 UTC 83 degrees

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

The packet system is also active (145.825 MHz up & down). HamTV (2.395 GHz) and SSTV (145.80 MHz) are both stowed.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

NDØC and family will be on another family camping vacation from 24 June thru 7 July, this time through Wisconsin to Michigan and back thru Illinois and Iowa. No super rare grids but several that may be needed by many. The grids and passes will depend on where/when we happen to be while on the road or camping. This will be all LEO sats: FM & SSB. As always, they will try for EU passes on RS-44 when possible. Randy is looking forward to pushing past the 100 grids-roved milestone.

A growing number of satellite rovers are currently engaged in sharing their grid square activations on https://hams.at. By visiting the website, you gain easy access to comprehensive information about the operators responsible for activating specific grid squares. Additionally, you have the ability to assess the match score between yourself and a particular rover for a given pass, while also being able to identify the upcoming satellite passes that are accessible from your location.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]

AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

July 20, 2024
“Moon Day” Frontiers of Flight Museum
Love Field in Dallas, Texas
AMSAT volunteers needed! Contact tschuessler(at) amsat.org for more information.

August 17-18, 2024
Huntsville Hamfest
Huntsville, AL
AMSAT Booth and Forum
N8DEU and W4FCL

September 7, 2024
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Shepherdsville, KY
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
W4FCL

October 5, 2024
Central Kentucky Hamfest
Lexington, KY
AMSAT and Educational Satellites Forum and Information Table
AI4SR and W4FCL

October 5, 2024
North Star Radio Convention
Hennepin Technical College (North Campus)
Brooklyn Park, Minn.
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
KØJM and ADØHJ

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,
“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ What GOES up … NOAA’s latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-U, launched on the first Falcon Heavy of the year on June 25 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The mission, the last of the GOES-R series of geostationary weather satellites, continuously monitors weather systems over the Western Hemisphere. Assuming that next week’s planned burn to lift the satellite to geosynchronous orbit is successful, this satellite will be re-designated as GOES-19 and will, in coming months, take over the GOES-East duties from the aging GOES-16. (See ANS 182 last week for more details.)

+ Musk come down … Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won a contract valued at up to $843 million to build a vehicle capable of safely deorbiting the International Space Station once the station is decommissioned in 2030. While many people have suggested raising the ISS’s orbit and turning it into a museum, the amount of fuel needed to move the approximately 420-ton station to a high enough orbit to remain stable for long durations is prohibitive.

+ Blow up … Russian Resurs-P1, an almost-six-ton defunct Earth observation satellite that stopped orbit maintenance in 2017 but continued operations until 2022, unexpectedly exploded last week into hundreds of fragments. Expected to reenter later this year, Resurs-P1 was orbiting at ~350 km, close enough to the ISS’s orbital altitude that the event forced ISS astronauts into shelter for an hour while debris was tracked.

+ Or go up, come down, and blow up (unexpectedly) … during a static fire test of the first stage of China’s close-to-finished Tianlong-3 rocket, the hold-down hardware failed to do its singular job: hold down the rocket. Moments after ignition, the rocket shot 1.5 km into the sky above the city of Gongyi, China. With no guidance system, gravity took over, resulting in a massive fireball on impact. Very fortunately, there were no casualties as the rocket mostly went straight up and straight back down.
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for all of the above items.)

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

* Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
* Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
* Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
* Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
k0jm [at] amsat.org

ANS-168 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

June 16, 2024 by Mark Johns

In this edition:

* Starliner Brings Another Ham to ISS
* Q&A Session with AMSAT Engineering
* Voyager 1 is Back To Life, But For How Long?
* AMSAT Mail Alias Service to End August 1, 2024
* The 2024 AMSAT Field Day Rules
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 14
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* AMSAT Ambassador Activities
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

ANS-168 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

DATE 2024 June 16

Starliner Brings Another Ham to ISS

Working around multiple helium leaks and thruster problems, the crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft wrapped up a challenging rendezvous and a delayed-but-successful docking with the International Space Station Thursday in a major milestone for the new ship’s first piloted test flight.

With commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, monitoring the Starliner’s automated approach, the Starliner’s docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the front of the station’s forward Harmony module at 17:34 UTC on June 8 as the two spacecraft were sailing 260 miles above the Indian Ocean.

After extensive checks to verify an airtight seal, hatches were opened and Wilmore and Williams floated into the lab complex to an enthusiastic welcome from the seven Expedition 71 crew members: cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, Nicolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin, RZ3DSE, along with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR, Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ, Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU, and Tracy Dyson.

Wilmore and Williams plan to spend about a week aboard the outpost before returning to Earth aboard the Starliner. While they’re there, the station crew will install a replacement urine processor pump module that was loaded aboard the Starliner at the last minute to fix the lab’s water recycling system and allow normal use of the toilet in the U.S. segment of the station.

Running years behind schedule after multiple problems that cost Boeing some $1.4 billion to correct, the Starliner was launched Wednesday with a known helium leak in the system used to pressurize the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Launch had been delayed a month, in part because of work to confirm the ship could safely be launched with the leak as is.

After reaching orbit, two more helium leaks developed that prompted flight controllers to close valves leading to the affected plumbing, or manifolds, while they analyzed leak rates and potential work arounds. Closing the manifolds took down five of 28 reaction control system jets in the ship’s service module and three of 20 more powerful “OMAC” thrusters.

Docking had to be delayed because five RCS jets were “deselected” by the capsule’s flight software when telemetry showed they were not performing exactly as expected. It was unclear if there would be sufficient maneuverability for the docking to proceed.

Throughout the process, Wilmore flew the Starliner manually, holding position about 650 feet from the space station. When ground teams concluded the spacecraft had enough thruster redundancy to proceed, the Starliner’s automated control system took over and flew the ship in for a problem-free docking.

As if the team hadn’t had enough problems to deal with, a fourth and a fifth helium leaks were detected after docking. In any case, per standard procedure, flight controllers closed all the Starliner’s helium manifolds after the linkup to prevent any residual leakage while attached to the station.

Despite the leaks, NASA officials said more than enough helium remains on board to ensure a safe return to Earth at the end of a normal-duration or even extended mission.

On June 14, NASA and Boeing teams pushed back the target undocking and landing date for the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station by four days. They shifted from June 18 to now no earlier than June 22.

The reason for the extended stay is in part due to a need to gather more information about the Starliner capsule with the benefit of having an astronaut crew assigned to study aspects of the spacecraft with additional detail.

The helium leaks are all located in the Starliner’s drum-shaped service module, which is discarded to burn up in the atmosphere before the crew capsule re-enters for landing. Thus, there is no possibility of post-flight analysis of the problems.

[ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information]

The 2024 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus

Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

Q&A Session with AMSAT Engineering

AMSAT Vice President – Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, will host Q&A “social gathering” live streams on YouTube and Twitch, as he mentioned in his Hamvention “They Cancelled All My Flights” video. This is an opportunity to follow up with Jerry on developments with GOLF, FoxPlus, and other projects. Come by and chat a question or comment for discussion on your choice of the platforms:

Friday June 21 at 19:00 – 21:00 UTC (generally for UK-EU-etc. time zones)
Saturday June 22 at 00:01 – 02:00 UTC (Friday evening-night in the Americas)
Saturday June 22 at 19:00 – 21:00 UTC (anybody free that afternoon)
Sunday June 23 at 00:01 – 02:00 UTC (Saturday evening-night in the Americas)

[ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT VPE, for the above information.]

Voyager 1 is Back To Life, But For How Long?

NASA engineers have succeeded in breathing new life into Voyager 1, the spacecraft launched in 1977 and once again communicating after it went silent seven months ago. But now comes another challenge: Keeping Voyager 1 scientifically useful for as long as possible as it probes a realm where no spacecraft has gone before.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are treasured at NASA not only because they have sent home astonishing images of the outer planets, but also because in their dotage, they are still doing science that can’t be readily duplicated.

They are now in interstellar space, far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles from Earth and Voyager 2 nearly 13 billion miles. Both have passed the heliopause, where the “solar wind” of particles streaming from the sun terminates.

“They’re going someplace where we have nothing, we have no information,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said. “We don’t know anything about the interstellar medium. Is it a highly charged environment? Are there a lot of dust particles out there?”

Ed Stone, who guided the mission from 1972 until 2022, died on June 9. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Even as the Voyagers continue their journeys, engineers and scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. are mourning the loss of Ed Stone, the scientist who guided the mission from 1972 until his retirement in 2022. Stone, a former director of JPL, died June 9 at the age of 88.

Voyager 1 has four scientific instruments still operational in this extended phase of its mission, but it suddenly ceased sending intelligible data on Nov. 14. A “tiger team” of engineers at JPL spent the ensuing months identifying the problem — a malfunctioning computer chip — and restoring communication.

What no one can change, though, is the mortality of a spacecraft with a limited power supply. Voyager 1 is running on fumes, or, more precisely, on the dwindling power from the radioactive decay of plutonium. The Voyagers use a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. But an RTG doesn’t last forever. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 will eventually go silent as they continue to cruise the galaxy.

“At some point, we’ll have to start turning off the science instruments one by one,” project scientist Linda Spilker said. “Once we’re out of power, then we can no longer keep the spacecraft pointed at the Earth. And so [the Voyagers] will then continue on as what I like to think of as our silent ambassadors.”

In a sense, this is all a bonus because the primary mission for the two Voyagers was the exploration of the outer planets. Both visited Jupiter and Saturn, and Voyager 2 went on to Uranus and Neptune in what was known as the “Grand Tour” of the outer solar system, enabled by a rare orbital arrangement of the planets. The Voyagers delivered spectacular close-up images of the outer planets, and the mission ranks among NASA’s greatest achievements.

The gravitational slingshot from the planetary encounters sent Voyager 1 out of the elliptical plane of the solar system and did the same to Voyager 2 in a different direction.

About four years ago, Voyager 1 encountered something unexpected — a phenomenon scientists have dubbed a pressure front. Jamie Rankin, deputy project scientist, said the instruments on the spacecraft picked up a sudden change in the magnetic field of the interstellar environment, as well as a sudden increase in the density of particles.

What exactly caused this change remains unknown. But NASA scientists are eager to get all the data flowing normally again to see whether the pressure front is still detectable.

[ANS thanks The New York Times for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.
When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

AMSAT Mail Alias Service to End August 1, 2024

A long-standing member service, the AMSAT Mail Alias Service is scheduled to end on August 1, 2024. A mail alias on AMSAT.ORG permitted people to send an email to members without knowing their actual internet email address. They just needed to know their amateur radio callsign.

Unfortunately, the unchecked rise in domain name hacking and email account high-jacking has made it impossible to sustain this service at a cost-effective level. The number of [email protected] email accounts that had been hijacked and converted to zombie spam accounts over the years had led many internet service providers and gateway centers to ban all @amsat.org email addresses, including those business accounts of AMSAT officers and officials. The tireless efforts of AMSAT’s all volunteer IT staff has worked for years to repair much of the damage, but AMSAT still get complaints from members who are not getting their personal emails, ANS bulletins or AMSAT-BB posts because of persistent delivery problems.

It has come to the point where the AMSAT volunteer IT staff can no longer keep up with the maintenance requirements to keep the alias mail list clean and to work with email gateways to remove blocks. And, after considerable investigation into alternative paid email services, AMSAT leadership decided that the money required to keep an email alias system alive would be better spent on building and flying satellites for its members.

Persons using the Mail Alias Service should begin to migrate to different email accounts so they do not lose receipt of personal emails, AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins, AMSAT-BB posts, or official messages from AMSAT itself. Members are especially asked to make sure they are NOT using a [email protected] as their registered email address in the AMSAT membership portal. Members can easily change their registered member email address by logging into the portal and updating their profile.

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]

The 2024 AMSAT Field Day Rules

The AMSAT Field Day 2024 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators. Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur satellites, both analog and digital. Note that no points will be credited for any contacts beyond the ONE allowed via each single-channel FM satellite. Operators are encouraged not to make any extra contacts via theses satellites (Ex: SO-50). CW contacts and digital contacts are worth three points as outlined below.

Analog Transponders

ARRL rules apply, except:

Each phone, CW, and digital segment ON EACH SATELLITE TRANSPONDER is considered to be a separate band.
CW and digital (FT-4, RTTY, PSK-31, etc.) contacts count THREE points each.
Stations may only count one (1) completed QSO on any single channel FM satellite. If a satellite has multiple modes such as V/u and L/s modes both turned on, one contact each is allowed. If the both ISS stations are operational, one QSO on each mode (1 phone and 1 digital), Contacts with the ISS crew will count for one contact if they are active. Greencube (1 digital).
The use of more than one transmitter at the same time on a single satellite transponder is prohibited.

Digital Transponders

Satellite digipeat QSO’s and APRS short-message contacts are worth three points each, but must be complete verified two-way exchanges. The one contact per FM satellite is not applied to digital transponders.

The use of terrestrial gateway stations or internet gateways (i.e. EchoLink, IRLP, etc.) to uplink/downlink is not allowed.

For ‘Store and Forward’ hamsats, each satellite is considered a separate band. Do not post “CQ” messages. Simply upload ONE greeting message to each satellite and download as many greeting messages as possible from each satellite. The subject of the uploaded file should be posted as Field Day Greetings, addressed to ALL. The purpose of this portion of the competition is to demonstrate digital satellite communications to other Field Day participants and observers. Do not reply to the Field Day Greetings addressed to ALL.

The following uploads and downloads count as three-point digital contacts.

(a) Upload of a satellite Field Day Greetings file (one per satellite).

(b) Download of Satellite Field Day Greetings files posted by other stations. Downloads of non-Field Day files or messages not addressed to ALL are not to be counted for the event. Save DIR listings and message files for later “proof of contact.”

You may make contacts with GreenCube, IO-117, and each one will count as 3 points as do other digital contacts.

Please note AMSAT uploaded messages do not count for QSO points under the ARRL rules.

Sample Satellite Field Day Greetings File:

KK5DO FD EL29 class 2A 20 participants

Note that the message stated the call, operating class, where they were located (the grid square) and how many operators were in attendance.

Operating Class

Stations operating portable and using emergency power (as per ARRL Field Day rules) are in a separate operating class from those at home connected to commercial power. On the report form simply check off Emergency or Commercial for the Power Source and be sure to specify your ARRL operating class (2A, 1C, etc.).

AND FINALLY…

Add photographs or other interesting information that can be used in an article for the Journal.

You will receive an e-mail back (within one or two days) from me when I receive your e-mail submission. If you do not receive a confirmation message, then I have not received your submission. Try sending it again or send it to my other e-mail address.

Certificates will be awarded for the first-place emergency power/portable station at the AMSAT General Meeting and Space Symposium in the fall of 2024. Certificates will also be awarded to the second and third place portable/emergency operation in addition to the first-place home station running on emergency power. A station submitting high, award-winning scores will be requested to send in dupe sheets for analog contacts and message listings for digital downloads.

You may have multiple rig difficulties, antenna failures, computer glitches, generator disasters, tropical storms, and there may even be satellite problems, but the goal is to test your ability to operate in an emergency situation. Try different gear. Demonstrate satellite operations to hams that don’t even know the HAMSATS exist. Test your equipment. Avoid making more than ONE contact via the FM-only voice HAMSATS or the ISS, and enjoy the event!

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, AMSAT Board Member 2016-2024 for the above information.]

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?

Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 14

No changes reported this week.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements page for the above information]

ARISS NEWS

Postponed until fall 2024.:
Instituto de Aplicação Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira (CAp-UERJ) and The State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, direct via PY1AX
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled crewmember is Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU. The ARISS mentor is VE3TBD.
Contact is postponed until fall 2024.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

The packet system is also active (145.825 MHz up & down). The HamTV and SSTV systems are currently stowed.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

KØJM will attempt to put the EN47/EN48 gridline on the air on Wednesday, June 19. Watch hams.at for details.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]

AMSAT Ambassador Activities

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

July 20, 2024
“Moon Day” Frontiers of Flight Museum
Love Field in Dallas, Texas
AMSAT volunteers needed! Contact tschuessler(at) amsat.org for more information.

August 17-18, 2024
Huntsville Hamfest
Huntsville, AL
AMSAT Booth and Forum
N8DEU and W4FCL

September 7, 2024
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Shepherdsville, KY
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
W4FCL

October 5, 2024
Central Kentucky Hamfest
Lexington, KY
AMSAT and Educational Satellites Forum and Information Table
AI4SR and W4FCL

October 5, 2024
North Star Radio Convention
Hennepin Technical College (North Campus)
Brooklyn Park, Minn.
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
KØJM and ADØHJ

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The U.S. spacewalk 90 planned for Thursday, June 13 at the International Space Station did not proceed as scheduled due to a spacesuit discomfort issue. NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR, completed taking off their spacesuits about an hour before the crew was anticipated to exit the Quest airlock. With consideration to NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test and other spaceflight operations, the next spacewalk will be Monday, June 24, followed by another on Tuesday, July 2, as was previously planned. The June 24 spacewalk will focus on radio frequency group hardware removal, while the content of the July 2 spacewalk is under evaluation and will be shared as available. The crew members on the station are healthy, and spacesuits are functioning as expected. [As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol. ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]

+ AMSAT-DL is organizing a symposium, flea market and general meeting in the radome of the Bochum Observatory, Germany on September 20-22, 2024. The radome will once again be dedicated to satellite and space research. AMSAT Deutschland e.V. and the Bochum Observatory are taking the positive experience of the anniversary conference in 2023 as an opportunity to inform AMSAT members and other space enthusiasts about current and future prospects for national and international space projects with a varied program. As the Radom is also the location of ESA’s education office in Germany (esero Germany), a goal is to make the symposium even more attractive in future and at the same time focus even more on current European space travel. [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information.]

+ SpaceX’s enormous rocket took off again from South Texas on June 6, this time with the sole goal of bringing both the booster and ship softly back to Earth in (roughly) single pieces. An on-time launch of the world’s most powerful rocket delivered excitement from start to finish. Despite an engine out on launch and landing (with 33 engines total, Superheavy doesn’t care), the first stage was able to complete a nominal ascent, hot-staging, temporary hot-staging ring jettison, boost back, and landing burn—all with enough precision that previously deployed buoy cams were able to capture its soft splashdown. [ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information.]

+ Russian cosmonaut and ISS commander Oleg Konenko became the first person to reach 1,000 cumulative days in space as of June 4. The milestone comes amid his fifth flight to space and during his third stint as the commander of the ISS. His most recent trip to the orbiting laboratory began with a launch aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on Sept. 15, 2023, alongside cosmonaut Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, KI5TOM. He’s scheduled to return with Chub and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson in September 2024. [ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information.]

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
k0jm [at] amsat.org

ANS-140 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

May 19, 2024 by Mark Johns

In this edition:

* AMSAT at Hamvention
* Save the Date! Symposium 2024
* Multiple QO-100 DX-Peditions to VO1
* Lost and Found: Missing Satellite Rediscovered
* Starliner: A Decade of Challenges
* 2024 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for May 16
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

ANS-140 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2024 May 19

AMSAT at Hamvention

This issue of the AMSAT News Service bulletins is being produced at the AMSAT booth at Hamvetion 2024 in Xenia, Ohio. AMSAT has a major presence at Hamvention, with booths devoted to teaching satellite basics, membership recruitment, the AMSAT Store, Engineering, Education, and the Ambassador program.

Traffic was heavy on Friday morning, May 17, as soon as Hamvention opened its doors. While some came directly to the AMSAT booth with their questions, or to make purchases at the Store, many other ham attendees were attracted by the displays as they wandered through the several Hamvention venues.

Volunteer members of the AMSAT Engineering team were on hand to show off models of the GOLF-Tee and Fox Plus satellites currently under construction. Engineering team members also discussed various projects that are part of the ASCENT program, developing possible components for future satellites.

At the Education booth, Cubesat SIM models were transmitting actual telemetry and slow-scan TV data across the table, demonstrating how these tools can be assembled and used in classrooms and other settings to provide hands-on instruction in satellite basics.

At the “Beginners Corner,” experienced satellite operators answered questions and helped the curious to understand how easy and exciting it is to get started in this fascinating aspect of the amateur radio hobby. Rain on Friday morning prevented live satellite demonstrations, but these took place as satellite passes and Hamvention circumstances permitted on Saturday and Sunday.

The sixteenth annual joint AMSAT/ TAPR Banquet was held on Friday evening at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center in Kettering, Ohio, just south of Dayton. This year’s banquet speaker was Bill Reed, NX5R, AMSAT PACSAT Project Manager, who highlighted the forthcoming PACSAT digital communications payload. This payload is drawing on lessons learned from previous digital satellites to provide smoother operations for users in the future.

The AMSAT Forum was held on Saturday afternoon. Robert Bankston KE4AL, AMSAT President, highlighted recent activities within AMSAT and discussed some of our challenges, accomplishments, projects, and late breaking news (See following story). Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT Vice President for Engineering, provided a video status update about upcoming satellite missions currently in development. Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President Education Relations, spoke about opportunities for using the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator in educational settings. Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, Vice President Operations, briefed those attending on the status of current satellites. And Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, Vice President of AMSAT Development, reported on the AMSAT Youth Initiative and its features.

Attendance was steady at all AMSAT exhibits throughout the Hamvention weekend, and satellite operators enjoyed meeting, fact to face, the voices and callsigns encountered on the satellites.

[ANS thanks Mark Johns, KØJM, ANS Senior Editor, for the above information]

The 2024 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus

Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

Save the Date! Symposium 2024

Mark your calendar now for the 2024 AMSAT Symposium, October 25-27, 2024 in Tampa, Florida!

AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, announced this week at the Hamvention that the 2024 Symposium will be held October 25-27, 2024 at the Doubletree by Hilton Tampa Rocky Point Waterfront.

Watch for announcements in future AMSAT News Service bulletins, the AMSAT Journal, and on the AMSAT.org website concerning further details as plans are formulated.

[ANS thanks AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above information]

Multiple QO-100 DX-Peditions to VO1

This week sees three separate groups operating from just outside the coverage footprint of the QO-100 satellite.

From Newfoundland the geostationary QO-100 satellite is nominally 1 degree below the horizon. After 5 years in orbit and much speculation, three groups are in the St. John’s area to try operating QO-100 with its S band uplink and 10GHz downlink.

First in Newfoundland was Gopan, M0XUU. He was operating with a 0.8m dish from just north of the harbor entrance and updates could be found on the QO-100 DX Club web site. https://qo100dx.club/ Despite frequency periods of no signal or deep QSB, Gopan managed to work stations via FT8, FT4, and CW. After a week on the air as VO1/M0XUU, Gopan left Newfoundland on May 15.

Arriving Monday 13 May and remaining until to Friday 17, was a Canadian team with a 1.8m dish and up to 100W. Poor weather hampered their operations. Details of the operation by Stefan Wagener, VE4SW, and John Langille, VE1CWJ, can be found at the QRZ.com page for special callsign, VO100QO at https://www.qrz.com/db/VO100QO

Finally, Graham Shirville, G3VZV, and David Bowman, G0MRF, arrived on Wednesday, May 15 with two sets of equipment and were active as VO1/G3VZV and VO1/G0MRF. They will fly back to the UK early Sunday, May 19. Operating from the old lighthouse keepers bungalow on the southern side of the harbor entrance, GN37PN85, they attempted working all modes including an attempt with DATV with a 175W S band amplifier. When not actively on the bands, a personal beacon was operating on 10489.539 MHz in CW to act as a propagation indicator.

[ANS thanks David Bowman, G0MRF, for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

Lost and Found: Missing Satellite Rediscovered

After 25 years lost in the vastness of space, a missing satellite has finally been located, highlighting the challenges of tracking the multitude of objects orbiting Earth. The rediscovery sheds light on the difficulty of monitoring the approximately 27,000 objects that populate Earth’s orbit, a number that continues to grow with each rocket launch and satellite deployment.

The satellite in question, the Infra-Red Calibration Balloon (S73-7), was part of the United States Air Force’s Space Test Program and was launched in 1974. Its purpose was to serve as a calibration target for remote sensing equipment, but a deployment failure left it adrift as space debris. Despite initial attempts to track its whereabouts, it vanished from ground-based sensors in the 1990s, only to resurface last month.

The Air Force’s KH-9 Hexagon satellite deployed the tiny IRCB (S73-7) satellite in 1974. (Illustration: U.S. Air Force)

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, discovered the satellite’s reappearance while reviewing archival data. He explained that the satellite’s low radar cross section and possible malfunctioning equipment made it difficult to detect. This underscores the challenges faced by ground-based radar and optical sensors tasked with monitoring objects in orbit.

Tracking objects in space is akin to air traffic control, with sensors relying on identifying the orbit of moving objects and matching them with designated satellite orbits. However, this becomes increasingly complex as Earth’s orbit becomes more congested, particularly in geostationary orbit where monitoring is hindered by a lack of radars positioned precisely on the equator.

A screenshot of a screenshot of a graph Description automatically generated

The Department of Defense’s Space Surveillance Network currently tracks over 27,000 objects, predominantly defunct satellites and debris. As the number of satellites and rocket launches continues to rise, maintaining accurate tracking becomes crucial to mitigate the risk of collisions and space debris hazards.

While the rediscovery of the missing satellite serves as a reminder of the challenges of space tracking, it also underscores the importance of continued efforts to monitor and manage Earth’s orbital environment. With technology evolving and space activity increasing, effective space surveillance remains paramount to ensure the safety and sustainability of activities in Earth’s orbit.

[ANS thanks Passant Rabie, Gizmodo, for the above information]

Starliner: A Decade of Challenges

Boeing is delaying its first flight with humans on its Starliner spacecraft yet again, the company said on May 14. The launch, which has been delayed for years and was most recently scheduled for May 18, was pushed back until Tuesday afternoon, May 21 at the earliest because of a helium leak.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft marks the culmination of a tumultuous journey fraught with setbacks and challenges. What’s surprising isn’t merely Boeing’s eventual loss in the commercial crew space race to SpaceX but rather the fact that Boeing managed to reach this point at all.

The story traces back a decade when NASA’s human spaceflight leaders convened to select a replacement vehicle for the retired Space Shuttle. Boeing emerged as the frontrunner, backed by its illustrious history in spaceflight. However, the eventual decision to award contracts to both Boeing and SpaceX marked the beginning of Boeing’s struggle to adapt to the demands of a fixed-price environment.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is lifted to be placed atop an Atlas V rocket for its first crewed launch. [Credit: NASA/Cory Huston]

Unlike SpaceX, which was already immersed in multiple space projects, Boeing found itself grappling with a new paradigm. Accustomed to cost-plus contracts, where expenses could be billed to the government, Boeing now faced the challenge of delivering a spacecraft within strict budget constraints. This shift exposed deep cultural and structural inefficiencies within the company.

Boeing’s difficulties were compounded by technical hurdles, particularly in software development and propulsion. Fragmented software teams and strained relationships with suppliers like Aerojet Rocketdyne hindered progress. The consequences of these challenges became evident during Starliner’s ill-fated uncrewed test flight in 2019, marred by critical software errors and propulsion anomalies.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission in 2022 [Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky]

While Boeing struggled, SpaceX surged ahead, buoyed by its vertically integrated approach and a culture of innovation. SpaceX’s success underscored the shortcomings of Boeing’s traditional aerospace model, further exacerbated by broader crises within Boeing’s aviation division, notably the 737 MAX disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boeing’s tumultuous journey with Starliner offers valuable lessons about the perils of resisting change and the imperative of embracing innovation in the rapidly evolving space industry. Despite its setbacks, Boeing’s perseverance underscores the dedication of the engineers and technicians who tirelessly worked to bring Starliner to fruition.

[ANS thanks Eric Berger, Ars Technica, for the above information]

2024 AMSAT Board of Directors Election – Call for Nominations

AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2024 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following three incumbent Directors expire in 2024 and will be filled by this year’s election:

– Mark Hammond, N8MH
– Bruce Paige, KK5DO
– Paul Stoetzer, N8HM

Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators’ names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary:

Jeff Davis, KE9V
PO Box 11
Yorktown, IN 47396

AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary who has elected to accept written nomination materials via postal mail or in electronic form, including email or electronic image of a paper document. Fax transmissions cannot be accepted.

Email nominations may be sent to jdavis [at] amsat [dot] org.

No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qualifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received and will notify candidates whether their nominations are in order by the end of June.

[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary for the above information.]

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!

25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for May 16

The following satellite has been removed from this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:

CHOMPTT NORAD Cat ID 43855 Decayed from orbit on or about 13 May 2024

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements page editor, for the above information]

ARISS NEWS

COMPLETED:
Eric Knows CIC, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, telebridge via K6DUE
The scheduled crewmember was Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR. The ARISS mentor was MØXTD
Contact was scheduled for: Sat 2024-05-11 08:42:32 UTC 48 degrees elevation

UPCOMING:
Ulukulevo Secondary School, Ulukulevo, Bashkortostan, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Nikolay Chub. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR.
Contact is go for Wed 2024-05-22 15:05 UTC

Amur State Medical Academy, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Nikolay Chub. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR.
Contact is go for Thu 2024-05-23 10:25 UTC

Children’s Technopark “Quantorium”, Obninsk, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Aleksandr Grebyonkin, RZ3DSE. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR.
Proposed for Mon 2024-05-27 14:10 UTC

The crossband repeater continues to be ACTIVE (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

The packet system is also ACTIVE (145.825 MHz up & down). Digital amateur television operations (2395.00 MHz down) is currently STOWED.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol. Upcoming:
+ Powering off for Progress undocking on May 28. OFF TBD. ON TBD.
+ Powering off for Progress docking on June 01. OFF TBD. ON TBD.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

No rovers have reported operations as of this publication date. Please submit any rover operations to k5zm (at) comcast (dot) net.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

Hamvention 2024
Continues through 1:00 p.m. EDT, Sunday May 19, 2024
Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center
120 Fairground Road
Xenia, OH 45385
https://hamvention.org

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Congratulations to Maksym “Max” Romenskyy, SA5IKN, M0SKN, US6IKN, EI6KC, who has earned his THIRD satellite Worked All Zones (WAZ) award, this time as EI6KC #121. This is the first WAZ Satellite Award in Ireland. He is also the first in the world to complete three WAZ Satellite Awards from three different locations in three countries. He already holds a special plague “IN RECOGNITION OF WORLD # 1 SAT WAZ AWARD WITH TWO CALLS” for WAZ awards #40 as SA5IKN (38 zones) and #92 as MØSKN. (ANS thanks Max Romenskyy, US6IKN, for the above information.)

+ Since April 28, 2019, the Swiss satellite net on QO-100 has been a consistent weekly event, marking its fifth anniversary on the same date in 2024. Hosted by HB9RYZ initially and later by HB9TSI from Italy, the round convenes every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on 10489.740 MHz, typically with 5 to 10 participants, though 15 joined for the anniversary round. Led by Paul, HB9DFQ, the round maintains a familiar format: participants check in, share station updates and radio experiences, delve into topics, and bid farewell. Despite no specific celebration planned, the anniversary drew a hearty attendance. Notable moments include Roman, HB9HCF’s reports from Antarctica during the pandemic, while regular attendees like IS0/HB9SJP and supportive listeners add to the camaraderie. The inaugural round was preserved on Soundcloud by HB9WDF, encapsulating the enduring spirit of this community gathering. (ANS thanks AMSAT-HB for the above information for the above information)

+ The recently released GreenCube BackPack antenna by Arrow Antennas, designed specifically for IO-117 satellite communication, can now be purchased from their website for $219. It boasts a three-piece split boom design and 15 UHF elements, along with a pre-assembled and pre-tuned Gamma Match compatible only with BNC connectors. Engineered for maximum gain and efficiency, the antenna utilizes aluminum Arrow Shafts for its elements and a 3/4″ square boom measuring 116.8″ in length. Mounting near its balance point is recommended due to its weight, and plastic tips ensure safety. While the foam handle grip can be removed using isopropyl alcohol, using the tripod hole for mounting is discouraged due to balance issues. Additionally, customers have the option to purchase a separate element set for cross-polarized antenna configuration, priced at $99.00. Info at https://arrowantennas.com/arrowii/greencube.html (ANS thanks Arrow Antennas, for the above information.)

+ Prof. Robert “Bob” Twiggs, KE6QMD, and a group of former students and colleagues are working on gathering and publishing a series of books on the history of the creation and adoption of the CubeSat. Take a look at the LinkedIn announcement here: https://lnkd.in/eNZgv6Tk. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in supporting, please take a look at our GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/cubesat-history-project. The community’s response has been amazing! Over a hundred interviews were conducted, and countless images and documents from the earliest days of the CubeSat were collected! The result is that we have accumulated one of the most comprehensive histories of the CubeSat, with many unique, never-before-told stories! Reach out if you are interested in sponsoring the project to get a signed copy and your organization’s name in the book. Please email Dr. Aaron Zucherman at [email protected]. (ANS thanks Aaron Zucherman, KM6CHY, for the above information.)

+ Last week, as Sol continues to edge into the most active phase of its 11-year cycle, multiple massive X-class solar flares (the largest an X5.8 flare) erupted from associated active sunspots, along with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) directed towards Earth. This sustained activity caused a G5 solar storm last weekend (NOAA’s space weather scales for reference), leading to aurorae visible from middle latitudes as far south as Puerto Rico in the US and all over Europe. This was one of the most powerful solar storms since an estimated X28-45 flare in 2003 contributed to the 2003 Halloween solar storms that damaged or interrupted services from multiple spacecraft, saturated measurement instruments, and made ISS astronauts shelter in the more shielded Russian segment. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information.)

+ Japan’s Moon Sniper, also known as SLIM, has astounded experts by surviving its third lunar night, despite not being designed for such harsh conditions. Initially landing near the Shioli Crater on January 19, the spacecraft encountered an anomaly during descent, landing on its nose and facing west, hindering its solar panels’ ability to generate power. However, Moon Sniper continues to defy expectations by waking up after each lunar night, transmitting new images before going back into hibernation. Despite enduring both the extreme cold of the lunar night and the searing temperatures of the lunar day, the spacecraft has maintained functionality, prompting close monitoring from the mission team to identify potential deteriorating components. As Moon Sniper enters hibernation again, the team plans to resume operations in May, expressing gratitude for ongoing support and even composing a song titled “15 Degree Slope” to commemorate the mission’s unexpected journey. (ANS thanks CNN for the above information.)

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
k0jm [at] amsat.org

ANS-105 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

April 14, 2024 by Mark Johns

In this edition:

* NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from ISS
* 2024 AMSAT/TAPR Banquet To Be Held Friday, May 17
* New NASA Strategy Envisions Sustainable Future for Space Ops
* Trash From The ISS May Have Hit A House In Florida
* VUCC and DXCC Satellite Standings for April 2024
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 12
* Ending an Era, Final Delta Rocket Launched This Week
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

ANS-105 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

DATE 2024 April 14

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from ISS

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, KI5TOM, returned to Earth after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on April 6, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya.

The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 03:54 UTC, and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 07:17 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned to Earth on April 6, 2024, after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station.
(NASA image)

O’Hara launched Sept. 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, and Nikolai Chub, who both will remain aboard the space station to complete a one-year mission. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya launched aboard Soyuz MS-25 on March 23 along with NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who will remain aboard the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

O’Hara spent a total of 204 days in space as part of her first spaceflight. She completed approximately 3,264 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 86.5 million miles. O’Hara worked on scientific activities aboard the space station, including investigating heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques during her stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Following post-landing medical checks, the crew returned to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. O’Hara then boarded a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

(Oct. 4, 2023) — The official Expedition 71 crew portrait with (bottom row from left) Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps. In the back row (from left) are, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko. (NASA photo)

With the undocking of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with O’Hara, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ, Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, KF5QNU, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, RZ3DSE, and Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, make up Expedition 71 and will remain on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

The 2024 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus

Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

2024 AMSAT/TAPR Banquet To Be Held Friday, May 17

The 15th annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center on Friday, May 17th at 18:30 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) and AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.) activities during the Dayton Hamvention. This year’s banquet speaker will be Bill Reed, NX5R, AMSAT PACSAT Project Manager, who will highlight the forthcoming PACSAT digital communications payload.

The Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio – about 20 minutes away from the Greene County Fairgrounds.

Tickets ($60 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store. The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Friday, May 10th. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at the AMSAT booth. There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door at the banquet center. Seating is limited to the number of meals reserved with the Kohler caterers based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline.

Menu

Set out as guests arrive

Crudite Platter
with dip on the side

Dinner Buffet

Roast Prime Rib of Beef Au jus
Carved on site. Served with horseradish and au jus on the side.

Almond Chicken

Deep Fried Tempura Shrimp
with Tomato Lemon Aioli

Risotto Cake

Fresh Asparagus

Smashed Cauliflower

Served to the table

Strawberry Fields

Assorted Dinner Rolls
Served with butter

Separate table

Assorted Layer Cake

Cheesecake

Beverages

Cash Bar

Regular and Decaf Coffee, Hot & Iced Tea, Water

New NASA Strategy Envisions Sustainable Future for Space Operations

To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA released the first part of its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy, on April 9, advancing the agency’s role as a global leader on this crucial issue.

“The release of this strategy marks true progress for NASA on space sustainability,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Space is busy – and only getting busier. If we want to make sure that critical parts of space are preserved so that our children and grandchildren can continue to use them for the benefit of humanity, the time to act is now. NASA is making sure that we’re aligning our resources to support sustainable activity for us and for all.”

For decades, NASA has served as a proactive leader for responsible and sustainable space operations. Entities across the agency develop best practices, analytic tools, and technologies widely adopted by operators around the world. The new strategy seeks to integrate those efforts through a whole-of-agency approach – allowing NASA to focus its resources on the most pressing issues. To facilitate that integration, NASA will appoint a new director of space sustainability to coordinate activities across the agency.

Key aspects of our approach include providing global leadership in space sustainability, supporting equitable access to space, and ensuring NASA’s missions and operations enhance space sustainability.

Space environments currently are seeing the rapid emergence of commercial capabilities, many of them championed by NASA. These capabilities include increased low Earth orbit satellite activity and plans for the use of satellite constellations, autonomous spacecraft, and commercial space destinations. However, this increased activity also has generated challenges, such as an operating environment more crowded with spacecraft and increased debris. Understanding the risks and benefits associated with this growth is crucial for space sustainability.

Developed under the leadership of a crossagency advisory board, the space sustainability strategy focuses on advancements NASA can make toward measuring and assessing space sustainability in Earth orbit, identifying cost-effective ways to meet sustainability targets, incentivizing the adoption of sustainable practices through technology and policy development, and increasing efforts to share and receive information with the rest of the global space community.

NASA’s approach to space sustainability recognizes four operational domains: Earth, Earth orbit, the orbital area near and around the Moon known as cislunar space, and deep space, including other celestial bodies. The first volume of the strategy focuses on sustainability in Earth orbit. NASA plans to produce additional volumes focusing on the other domains.

Learn more about the Space Sustainability Strategy at: https://www.nasa.gov/spacesustainability

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

Trash From The ISS May Have Hit A House In Florida

A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the roof of Alejandro Otero’s Florida home, and NASA is on the case.

Otero wasn’t home at the time. A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time (19:34 UTC) on March 8. That’s an important piece of information because it is a close match for the time—2:29 pm EST (19:29 UTC)—that US Space Command recorded the reentry of a piece of space debris from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida.

In all likelihood, this nearly 2-pound object came from the International Space Station.
Otero said it tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida.
(Photo by Alejandro Otero on X)

This space junk consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS, attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to come back to Earth in a controlled manner. But a series of delays meant this cargo pallet missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry.

NASA has recovered the debris from the homeowner, according to Josh Finch, an agency spokesperson. Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will analyze the object “as soon as possible to determine its origin,” Finch told Ars. “More information will be available once the analysis is complete.”

The entire pallet, including the nine disused batteries from the space station’s power system, had a mass of more than 2.6 metric tons (5,800 pounds), according to NASA. Size-wise, it was about twice as tall as a standard kitchen refrigerator. It’s important to note that objects of this mass, or larger, regularly fall to Earth on guided trajectories, but they’re usually failed satellites or spent rocket stages left in orbit after completing their missions.

In a post on X, Otero said he is waiting for communication from “the responsible agencies” to resolve the cost of damages to his home. If the object is owned by NASA, Otero or his insurance company could make a claim against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, according to Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi.

“It gets more interesting if this material is discovered to be not originally from the United States,” she told Ars. “If it is a human-made space object which was launched into space by another country, which caused damage on Earth, that country would be absolutely liable to the homeowner for the damage caused.”

This could be an issue in this case. The batteries were owned by NASA, but they were attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan’s space agency.

NASA typically doesn’t want large chunks of space debris falling to Earth with an uncontrolled reentry. You can trace the reason this object came down unguided back to a Russian launch failure more than five years ago. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian commander Alexey Ovchinin aborted their launch on a Soyuz spacecraft when their rocket failed shortly after liftoff.

One of Hague’s jobs at the International Space Station would have been to go outside on spacewalks to help install a new set of lithium-ion batteries recently delivered by a Japanese HTV cargo ship. But Hague didn’t reach the station in 2018, so NASA put off the spacewalks until a new team of astronauts arrived at the complex.

This interruption to the space station’s carefully choreographed schedule threw off the entire multiyear plan for upgrading the batteries on the outpost’s electrical system. Instead of putting the old batteries back into the HTV for a guided destructive reentry over the open ocean, NASA held onto the cargo pallet at the station when the HTV supply ship needed to depart.

Each of the subsequent HTV missions delivered more fresh batteries to the space station and then departed the complex with the cargo pallet and decommissioned batteries from the previous HTV mission. That was the case until there were no more HTVs to fly. Japan’s last HTV spacecraft departed the ISS in 2020 with the cargo pallet and batteries from the prior flight, stranding the last battery pallet at the station.

The space station’s other cargo vehicles—SpaceX’s Dragon, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, and the Russian Progress—can’t accommodate the HTV cargo pallet.

So NASA decided to jettison the battery pallet using the space station’s robotic arm in March 2021 in order to free up real estate on the lab. Without any propulsion of their own, the batteries were adrift in orbit for three years until aerodynamic drag finally pulled the pallet back into the atmosphere on March 8, almost exactly three years later.

It is notoriously difficult to predict where a piece of space junk will reenter the atmosphere. US Space Command precisely tracks tens of thousands of objects in Earth orbit, but the exact density of the upper atmosphere is still largely an unknown variable. Even a half-day before the reentry, US Space Command’s estimate for when the battery pallet would fall to Earth had a window of uncertainty spanning six hours, enough time for the object to circle the planet four times.

And if you don’t know when something will reenter the atmosphere, you can’t predict where it will come down.

If NASA confirms the projectile that fell through Otero’s house last month came from the ISS, it would join a small handful of incidents when an object falling out of orbit damaged someone’s property.

Earth is a big place. It’s fairly common for someone to find a piece of fallen space junk in a field or washed up on a beach. But it is rare for a reentry to hit a structure or injure a person.

Falling space debris has never killed anyone. According to ESA, the annual risk of an individual human being injured by space debris is less than 1 in 100 billion.

[ANS thanks ARS Technical for the above information. Read the entire story at https://bit.ly/3xFJs9W.]

VUCC and DXCC Satellite Standings for April 2024

————————————————————
VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for March 01, 2024 to April 01, 2024.
————————————————————

Callsign	March 2024	April 2024
K8DP	1629	1701
AA5PK	1450	1500
N8RO	1444	1455
KF7R	1128	1154
XE1AO	1000	1111
KE8RJU	950	1030
WI7P	975	1008
K9UO	950	1001
KQ4DO	880	906
K0JM	702	801
KK4YEL	728	768
N8MR	684	700
A65BR	554	632
JS1LQI	500	617
N3CAL	580	610
SV8CS	New	511
JR0GAS	360	500
KO9A	434	472
N7UJJ	308	462
HC2FG	350	413
PA7RA	408	409
DL8GAM	375	400
HB9RYZ	248	365
W6AER	302	355
K6VHF	300	325
JH0BBE	322	324
XE1BMG	120	300
KA9CFD	126	283
I1FQH	173	249
AG1A	100	200
JO4JKL	135	188
W0PR	New	176
JK4JMO	New	161
AA0K	100	155
WD9EWK(DM25)	120	138
N6UTC(DM05)	101	128
N8HRZ	New	102
WD5GRW	New	101
K9DOG	New	100
W9FF	New	100

————————————————————

Congratulations to the new VUCC holders.
SV8CS is first VUCC Satellite holder from KM07

DXCC Satellite Standing April 2024
————————————————————
DXCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for March 01, 2024 to April 01, 2024.
————————————————————

Callsign	March 2024	April 2024
SV8CS	153	159
KB8VAO	135	148
HB9RYZ	145	147
DL4ZAB	138	139
NK1K	129	138
DL2MIH	111	132
XE1MEX	122	125
KK5DO	106	108
K9UO	101	106
DL8GAM	100	101
XE1L	New	100

————————————————————

Congratulations to the new DXCC Satellite holder.
XE1L is first DXCC Satellite holder from DL80

[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ, for the above information]

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 12

This week there are no additions or deletions to the AMSAT TLE distribution.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

Ending an Era, Final Delta Rocket Launched This Week

Ending an era in U.S. rocketry, United Launch Alliance fired off its 16th and final triple-core Delta 4 Heavy Tuesday, launching a classified spy satellite in the last hurrah of a storied family of rockets dating back to the dawn of the space age.

The Heavy’s three hydrogen-fueled RS-68A first stage engines ignited with a rush of bright orange flame at 12:53 p.m. EDT, smoothly pushing the 235-foot-tall rocket away from pad 37 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The last Delta 4 Heavy rocket climbs away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on April 9, 2024,
carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite. (United Launch Alliance photo.)

The launch came 12 days late, primarily because of work to replace a pump in a system that supplies nitrogen gas to multiple launch pads from a pipeline running through the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. There were no problems Tuesday.

Mounted atop the rocket was a classified satellite provided by the National Reconnaissance Office, the secretive government agency that manages the nation’s fleet of sophisticated optical and radar imaging reconnaissance satellites and electronic eavesdropping stations.

In keeping with standard NRO-U.S. Space Force policy for such missions, no details about the NROL-70 payload were released. But about six hours after launch, the National Reconnaissance Office declared the launch a success, indicating the satellite reached its planned orbit.The final appearance of a Delta rocket 63 years after the first variant’s maiden flight was an emotional milestone for the managers, engineers and technicians who assembled and launched the last member of the family.

The Delta family of stages and rockets had its roots in the early space program, first serving in the nation’s fleet of intermediate-range ballistic missiles and evolving through multiple versions used to put military, NASA and civilian payloads into orbit.

The now-retired Delta 2 debuted in 1990, putting the first Global Positioning System satellites into orbit and sending multiple planetary probes into deep space, including Messenger to Mercury, multiple Mars orbiters, the Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, the Spitzer Space Telescope and many more.

The single-core Delta 4 first flew in 2002 with the first Heavy following two years later. The single-core version flew the program’s final flight in 2019. Tuesday’s launch was the 45th flight of a Delta 4 and the 16th and final Delta 4 Heavy.

“Launching the last Delta 4 is bittersweet for me,” Col. Eric Zarybnisky, director of NRO’s Office of Space Launch, said in a statement. “I was part of the team that launched the first Delta 4 for the NRO. Since that time, the Delta 4 has put amazing capability on orbit for this nation.”

Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, also called the flight a “bittersweet” moment as the company continues its transition to next-generation Vulcan rockets, phasing out its more expensive Delta and Atlas families.

“Soon, Vulcan will pick up that mantle and we’re going to retire this venerable rocket that has made so much important work for our country,” he said after launch in a pre-recorded video.

[ANS thanks William Harwood, CBS News, for the above information]

ARISS NEWS

RECENTLY COMPLETED

ARTADEMIA, Milano, Italy, AND Scuola Secondaria I grado “A. Moro”, Ponte Lambro (CO), Italy, direct via IK1SLD
The ISS callsign was OR4ISS. The crewmember was Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU. The ARISS mentor was IZ2GOJ.
Contact was successful: Wed 2024-04-10 13:16:48 UTC 53 degrees elevation
Congratulations to the ARTADEMIA and Scuola Secondaria I grado “A. Moro” students, Jeanette, mentor IZ2GOJ, and ground station IK1SLD!
Watch the recorded Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/live/sJoKzK2292U?si=BxXWi41cfsJJv4c2

UPCOMING

Mrs Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy at Axminster Community Academy Trust, Lyme Regis, United Kingdom, direct via GB4ACA
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled crewmember is Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR. The ARISS mentor is MØXTD.
Contact is go for: Wed 2024-04-17 10:44:49 UTC 81 degrees elevation
Watch for Livestream at https://live.ariss.org

Mountain View Elementary, Marietta, GA, direct via KQ4JVI
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled crewmember is Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU. The ARISS mentor is K4RGK.
Contact is go for: Thu 2024-04-18 17:48:40 UTC 44 deg
Watch for Livestream at https://youtube.com/live/lDjyV6P9x6I

The packet system (145.825 MHz up & down) is currently misconfigured and not in operation.

The Ham TV system (2395.00 MHz down) is aboard but currently stowed. The BATC Ham TV wiki is at https://wiki.batc.org.uk/HAMTV_from_the_ISS and there is also a discussion channel available on the site.

The SSTV system (145.800 MHz down) is currently stowed.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

Doug, N6UA will soon embark on a big circuitous rove covering parts of MT, ID, OR and NV. I’m guessing this will take place in the next week or two, but only Doug knows for certain. APRS is gonna be your friend here.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

2024 CubeSat Developer’s Workshop
Tuesday April 23rd – Thursday April 25th
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
https://www.cubesatdw.org/

Dayton Hamvention 2024
Friday May 17th – Sunday May 19th
Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center
120 Fairground Road
Xenia, OH 45385
https://hamvention.org

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ NASA now knows what knocked Voyager 1 offline, but it will take a while to fix. Voyager 1’s remaining Flight Data Subsystem (its redundant copy failed in 1982) is the reason that the distant spacecraft is currently offline. Voyager’s FDS were the first computers on a spacecraft to use volatile memory. Unfortunately, one of Voyager 1’s FDS memory chips is malfunctioning—NASA hopes they can work around it, but it will likely take months.(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information.)

+ If you have 26 minutes to spare, and want to explore more intricacies of Ohm’s Law than you were taught in school, watch electricity flow through a wire a nanosecond at a time at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AXv49dDQJw (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information.)

+ Following repairs to a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon Heavy’s core booster, NASA and SpaceX have rescheduled the launch of the GOES-U satellite, the final installment in NOAA’s GOES-R Series, for June 25. The adjustment aims to ensure thorough examination and resolution of the issue, discovered during a routine inspection in February. With preparations now back on track, the deployment of GOES-U from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A will proceed using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Managed cooperatively by NOAA and NASA, the GOES-R Series Program encompasses satellite operations, data dissemination, and ground systems oversight, with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center leading spacecraft acquisition and instrument development. Lockheed Martin’s contributions include design, construction, and testing of the satellites, while L3Harris Technologies has provided key instruments and ground systems essential for capturing atmospheric observations. (ANS thanks Clarence Oxford, SpaceDaily, for the above information)

+ The European Union is poised to finalize a security deal with the United States, enabling payments to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for satellite launches due to delays in Europe’s Ariane rocket system. Approved by national general affairs ministers, the agreement grants European Union and European Space Agency (ESA) personnel continuous access to launch facilities and prioritized debris retrieval rights in case of SpaceX rocket failures. With a 200 million deal already struck last year, SpaceX is contracted to launch four Galileo satellites as Ariane 6 faces further delays. While Ariane 6 is slated for a summer launch, commercial missions await later scheduling. The arrangement with SpaceX allows for two Galileo satellite launches this year, necessitated by Soyuz launcher cancellations and Ariane 6 delays. The security pact ensures access to classified Galileo equipment, with provisions for debris retrieval and a sunset clause by 2027 to address concerns about reliance on SpaceX over Ariane. (ANS thanks Joshua Poaaner, Politico Europe, for the above information)

+ NASA has been tasked by the White House to establish a lunar-centric time reference system, known as Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), to aid missions requiring extreme precision on the moon. The agency has until the end of 2026 to set up LTC, which is not akin to Earth’s time zones but provides a frame of time reference for the moon. LTC will accommodate the slightly faster passage of time on the moon, approximately 58.7 microseconds each day compared to Earth, due to its lower gravity. It will serve as a benchmark for timekeeping for lunar spacecraft and satellites, crucial for their missions. NASA’s Artemis program, set to begin astronaut missions to the lunar surface in 2026, necessitates LTC for synchronization among Earth, lunar satellites, bases, and astronauts, without which data transfers and communications could be compromised. Developing LTC will require international agreements, possibly influenced by the Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) standard, with potential implementation involving atomic clocks on the moon and adherence to existing space agreements like the Artemis accords. (ANS thanks Diana Ramirez-Simon, The Guardian, for the above information)

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
k0jm [at] amsat.org