In this edition:

* SpaceX Falcon 9 Carries INSPIRE-Sat7 Into Orbit
* TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19
* Updating the Satellite Status Page
* SpaceX will try First Starship launch on April 17, 2023
* IARU Simulations Predict Little 23cm RNSS Receiver Interference
* GNU Radio Beginner Tutorials Updated
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 14 April 2023
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* 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 [dot] 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-106 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

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

DATE 2023 Apr 16

SpaceX Falcon 9 Carries INSPIRE-Sat7 Into Orbit

The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Transporter-7 mission on April 15, 2023 at 2:48 a.m. Eastern, after several days of weather-related delays. The upper stage reached orbit a little more than eight minutes later, shortly after the first stage landed back at the launch site. It was the seventh dedicated rideshare mission.

The first telemetry from the satellite has been decoded and it has accepted its first telecommand sent by the ground control station.

The INSPIRE-Sat 7 satellite is a university project carried out by the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines (France) on behalf of LATMOS (UVSQ, Sorbonne University, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS).

This satellite is a demonstrator for experimenting new technologies with a strong involvement of students. This satellite allows the experimentation of miniaturized remote sensing sensors that could be used for multi-point observation of essential climate variables (ECV) and the ionosphere.

INSPIRE-Sat 7 carries :

– A 435.200 MHz telemetry channel with BPSK mode – GR3UH 9k6.

– An FM transponder with an uplink of 145.830 MHz and a downlink of 435.200 MHz. The FM transponder is expected to be active at least twice a month, depending on the satellite power budget.

– A SPINO card that will be activated for experimentation.

To receive the telemetry, a software has been developed: KissTool. It is available for Windows & Linux:

Linux: https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118791/?tmstv=1680945385

Windows: https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118784/?tmstv=1680945385

The user manual is available in French at:
https://site.amsat-f.org/josast-kisstool/

and English at:
https://code.electrolab.fr/xtof/josast/-/blob/27-new-application-for-spino/ApplicationKissTool/src/site/markdown/UserManual.md

[ANS thanks AMSAT-Francophone and Spacenews.com for the above information]

TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19

14th Annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19

The 14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center on Friday, May 19, 2023 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 announced in the coming weeks.

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 https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-Banquet. The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Friday, May 12, 2023. 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 tickets sold by the deadline.

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

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The 2023 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its launch on June 16, 1983,
this year’s coin features an image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10.

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

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Updating the Satellite Status Page

The AMSAT-BB has shown considerable interest and discussion on possible updates to the Satellite Status page on AMSAT.org. Matt Alberti, KM4EXS, AMSAT IT Team Manager provided the following feedback.

“The AMSAT IT Team does have it on our list of projects, to update the Satellite Status page. We do want to include the feature that will allow for comments. There are other ideas like enabling the AMSAT Discord bot to check the “last heard” info for any given satellite. The initial plan was to try to open source the code, so that more people could contribute to make it better.

“That is still the plan. However, we identified some code that is pretty dated; and has some security issues. We have to resolve some of that before we can open source it.

“That all being said, if people are interested in contributing their time to this or other AMSAT IT projects, please e-mail us at [email protected]. We would love to have a couple more people on the team that have development experience. We are a small team; and we all have family and full time job commitments. Our AMSAT volunteer time is largely limited to keeping the lights on, so to speak. We try to develop new capabilities or improve existing ones as best we can. But if any of you out there are passionate about this and have some coding experience, please reach out to us. Thanks!”

[ANS thanks Matt Alberti, KM4EXS, AMSAT IT Team Manager for the above information.]

SpaceX will try First Starship launch on April 17, 2023

It’s official: SpaceX will try to launch the first orbital test mission of its huge Starship vehicle on Monday (April 17).

SpaceX has been targeting Monday for the Starship flight for the past week or so. That plan was tentative, however, as the company still needed to secure a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

It’s tentative no longer. At 5:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT) on Friday (April 14), the FAA announced the granting of the license, ending a review that lasted more than 500 days. Mere minutes later, SpaceX firmed up its launch plans.

“Targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas,” the company tweeted (opens in new tab) at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) on Friday.

The 150-minute launch window opens Monday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT; 7 a.m. local Texas time). You can watch the liftoff live here at Space.com when the time comes, courtesy of SpaceX.

Starship consists of a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship. Both of these vehicles are designed to be fully reusable, and both are powered by SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine — 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship.

As the above tweet notes, the upcoming test flight will lift off from Starbase, SpaceX’s facility in South Texas. It will involve a Super Heavy prototype called Booster 7 and the Ship 24 upper-stage variant.

If all goes according to plan, Booster 7 will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Texas coast around eight minutes after liftoff. Ship 24, meanwhile, will keep flying, conducting a partial lap of Earth before coming down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

When Booster 7 and Ship 24 lift off, Starship will become the most powerful rocket ever to fly. The vehicle will generate about 16.5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, according to SpaceX — nearly twice as much as the current record holder, NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket.

SpaceX has big plans for Starship. The company believes the giant vehicle, which stands 394 feet (120 meters) tall fully stacked, will make settlement of the moon and Mars economically feasible.

[ANS thanks Space.com for the above information.]

IARU Simulations Predict Little 23cm RNSS Receiver Interference

The IARU maintains the view that the likelihood of widespread and persistent interference from amateur radio activities to RNSS (e.g. Galileo) receivers in the 23cm band is minimal. The WRC-23 preparatory studies carried out in the ITU-R study groups have only considered static one-to-one estimations using a minimum coupling loss approach. These studies do not consider the effect of an amateur transmitter on a population of RNSS receivers deployed around an amateur transmitting station.

Therefore IARU volunteers have carried out a “Monte Carlo” style study simulating scenarios assuming a fixed and mobile population of RNSS receivers deployed around an amateur station. A 100W amateur ‘home station’ and a 25W eirp ‘repeater station’ have been assumed.

The simulation results suggest that at most only around 1% of a population of fixed and mobile RNSS receivers randomly situated around a transmitting amateur station location would have a small chance of receiving a signal level above the RNSS protection threshold identified in the relevant ITU-R Recommendations. In most scenarios, the percentage of RNSS receivers impacted by interference above the threshold within the “simulation area” is far less than 1%. Even in the densest areas of amateur station activity and with the lowest clutter model the percentages remain less than 5%.

The study assumed that an amateur station is transmitting throughout the whole “Monte Carlo” trial period. However event data collected by the IARU shows that even in the busiest amateur communities the amount of time during which these sporadic transmissions are most likely to occur amounts to less than 2% of time over a one year period.

Therefore the IARU maintains its position that the potential for widespread and persistent interference between amateur radio transmissions and RNSS receivers is minimal.

You can read the complete report at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-23CM.

[ANS thanks the IARU for the above information.]

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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and 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/

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GNU Radio Beginner Tutorials Updated

Have you had an inkling to learn some of the basics of software-design-radio design and implementation? If so, you might find the GNU Radio library of Beginners Tutorials most useful.

GNU Radio is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. It is widely used in research, industry, academia, government, and hobbyist environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems.

There are 19 beginners tutorials that have been recently updated. There are also another 20 intermediate/advanced tutorials as well as yet another 14 sections of developers resources. The tutorials are free and available on a newly designed landing page at https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/Tutorials.

[ANS thanks GNURadio.org for the above information.]

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 14 April 2023

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 Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

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

BY70-3 NORAD Cat ID 46839 (decayed form orbit on 8 April 2023 per Space-Track).

Additionally, Space-Track reports that the AMSAT-NA built HO-107 (HuskySat-1) NORAD Cat ID 45119 decayed from orbit on 12 April 2023. This satellite was removed from AMSAT-NA TLE distributions in December 2021 when End of Mission was declared.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT-NA Assistant Orbital Elements Manager 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 Operations

Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai, UAE, direct via A68MBR.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor is ON6TI.
Contact is go for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 10:43:28 UTC

West Michigan Aviation Academy, High School, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor is KD8COJ.
Contact is go for Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 18:20:54 UTC.

Rostov-on-Don, Russia, direct via TBD.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS0ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Andrey Fediaev.
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR.
Contact is go for Friday, April 21, 2023 at 08:10 UTC.

Montross Middle School, Montross, VA, Multi-point telebridge via K6DUE.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Steve Bowen, KI5BKB.
The ARISS mentor is AA4KN.
Contact is go for Friday, April 21, 2023 at 17:34:31 UTC.

Agrupamento de Escolas João de Barros, Corroios, Portugal and Escola Secundária da Baixa da Banheira, Moita, Portugal, direct via CS5SS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The ARISS mentor is IKØUSO.
Contact is go for Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 12:06:44 UTC.

+ Completed Contacts

About Gagarin From Space, Ural State University of Railway Engineering, Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via RK9C.
The ISS callsign was RS0ISS.The crewmember was Sergey Prokopyev.
The ARISS mentor was RV3DR.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 09:02 UTC.

About Gagarin From Space, Admiral D.N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia, direct via RY1AAG.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The crewmember was Andrey Fediaev.
The ARISS mentor was RV3DR.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 10:34 UTC.

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

None reported.

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

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

+ CubeSat Developers Workshop
April 25–27, 2023
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Performing Arts Center, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
https://www.cubesatdw.org/

+ Dayton Hamvention
May 19-21
Greene County Fair and Expo Center, 210 Fairground Road, Xenia 45385
https://hamvention.org/

+ TAPR/AMSAT Banquet
May 19, 2023
Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio
Reservations are required and available at the AMSAT Store
https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-at-hamvention/.

+ AMSAT Symposium and Annual Meeting
October 20-21, 2013
Dallas, Texas

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

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. An email message received after a recent presentation:

“I really enjoyed Clint’s presentation last night. The fact that he had taken the time to research and know something about his audience and welcomed interaction made it very informative and enjoyable. This was a refreshing change from many canned YouTube presentations I’ve tried to watch, which were poorly done, fuzzy video or muddy audio, or a badly prepared presenter stumbling his way through, with any valuable info lost along the way. Thanks for hooking this one up.”

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The 2023 CubeSat Developers Workshop has published its schedule for the April 25-27, 2023 event. It has also announced its Tuesday Keynote speaker as Maj. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess is the Commander, Combined Force Space Component Command, U.S. Space Command; and Vice Commander, Space Operations Command, U.S. Space Force, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The complete schedule is available at https://www.cubesatdw.org/2023-schedule. [ANS thanks CubeSat.org for the above information]

+ NASA announced today that it is once again delaying the launch of the Boeing Starliner CFT flight until 21 July 2023 – at the earliest. Starliner has been plagued by delays due to prolonged development, then a deeply flawed first (un-crewed) test flight, followed by repairs and redesigns, then a second un-crewed flight, followed by more issues that needed attending to before NASA would give a green light to fly a crew. According to NASA’s Steve Stich the main delay in launching Starliner has to do with certification work. There is also a lot of arrival and departure activity at the ISS which also helped push the launch to the right. [ANS thanks spaceref.com for the above information]

+ One of the challenges of seeking to establish a permanent outpost on the Moon is how to provide communications to support those on the lunar surface. Space stations in LEO rely on Earth-based communications and navigations capabilities, but outposts and other assets on the Moon cannot rely on the same capabilities because of the vast distances and line-of-sight challenges to places like the far side of the Moon. The Parsec service responds to this challenge. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-Parsec. [ANS thanks Lockheed Martin for the above information]

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, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw [at] amsat [dot] org

In this edition:

* NASA Selects Three Hams for Artemis Mission
* TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19
* AMSAT Discord Server Available
* Wordsmiths Wanted by AMSAT
* VUCC Satellite Standing April 2023
* INSPIRE.Sat 7 Launch Imminent
* No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* 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-099 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

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

DATE 2023 April 09

NASA Selects Three Hams for Artemis Mission

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The agencies revealed the crew members on Monday, April 3, during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The crew assignments are as follows: Commander Reid Wiseman, KF5LKT, Pilot Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Mission Specialist Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, KF5LKU. They will work as a team to execute an ambitious set of demonstrations during the flight test.

Presently scheduled for November of 2024, the approximately 10-day Artemis II flight test will launch on the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, prove the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space.

The flight, set to build upon the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission completed in December, 2022 will set the stage for the first woman and first person of color on the Moon through the Artemis program, paving the way for future for long-term human exploration missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars. This is the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

This will be Wiseman’s second trip into space, serving previously as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for Expedition 41 from May through November 2014. Wiseman has logged more than 165 days in space, including almost 13 hours as lead spacewalker during two trips outside the orbital complex. He participated in ARISS contacts during the mission.

The mission will also be Glover’s second spaceflight, serving previously as pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, which landed May 2, 2021, after 168 days in space. As a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 64, he contributed to scientific investigations, technology demonstrations, and participated in four spacewalks. He also made numerous ARISS school contacts from the ISS.

Koch also will be making her second flight into space on the Artemis II mission. She served as flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 59, 60, and 61. Koch set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalks.

Representing Canada, Hansen is making his first flight to space. A colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and former fighter pilot, Hansen holds a Bachelor of Science in space science from Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and a Master of Science in physics from the same institution in 2000, with a research focus on Wide Field of View Satellite Tracking. He was one of two recruits selected by CSA in May 2009 through the third Canadian Astronaut Recruitment Campaign and has served as Capcom in NASA’s Mission Control Center at Johnson and, in 2017, became the first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class, leading the training of astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada. Although a Canadian citizen, he holds a U.S. Amateur license and callsign.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

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The 2023 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its launch
on June 16, 1983, this year’s coin features
an image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
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14th Annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19

The 14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center on Friday, May 19th 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 announced in the coming weeks.

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 (https://www.amsat.org/product/2023-tapr-amsat-joint-hamvention-banquet-registration/). The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Friday, May 12th. 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.

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

AMSAT Discord Server Available

The AMSAT IT Team has issued a reminder that one of several communication services that AMSAT-NA maintains for the greater amateur radio community is the AMSAT Discord server.

General information about the Discord server may be found at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-discord-server/ For those already familiar with Discord, the direct link to join the server is https://discord.com/invite/xbTXcPJHyt

Although often hidden in the background (QRN perhaps?), the AMSAT-NA IT Volunteer Team works very hard to maintain, and improve, services such as the Mailman lists (reflectors), the callsign e-mail forwarding service, the AMSAT-NA website, the TLE (Keps) server, the GitLab instance, and the Discord server. Together with other volunteers, the team does its best to deliver services that work for YOU.

Those who have an interest in volunteering for AMSAT-NA, and have Linux server administration, programming/DevOps experience, or other experience in IT, please contact the team at [email protected]. We would love to talk more about how you might contribute to our community.

[ANS thanks Matthew Alberti, KM4EXS, AMSAT IT Team for the above information]

Wordsmiths Wanted by AMSAT

Some hams have the skills to build satellites, others can code software apps. But even for those who aren’t the technical type, there are still ways to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

AMSAT News Service (ANS) is always eager to have volunteers as editors of the weekly bulletins. Editors gather news items related to amateur satellite operations and package them for distribution worldwide. The process requires attention to detail on matters of grammar, spelling, and style — but soldering or programming skills are not required, and the time commitment is flexible.

For more information, contact k0jm at amsat.org

[ANS thanks Mark Johns, K0JM, ANS Senior Editor, for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and 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/

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VUCC Satellite Standing April 2023

The following is the VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary for March 01, 2023 to April 01, 2023.
——————————————–

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

INSPIRE.Sat 7 Launch Imminent

The INSPIRE-Sat 7 satellite is scheduled to be launched on the SpaceX Transporter 7 mission on 11 April 2023 at 06:48 UTC. The INSPIRE-Sat 7 satellite is a university project carried out by the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines (France) on behalf of LATMOS (UVSQ, Sorbonne University, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS).

This satellite is a demonstrator for experimenting new technologies with a strong involvement of students. This satellite allows the experimentation of miniaturized remote sensing sensors that could be used for multi-point observation of essential climate variables (ECV) and the ionosphere.

INSPIRE-Sat 7 carries :
* A 435.200 MHz telemetry channel with BPSK mode – GR3UH 9k6
* An FM transponder with an uplink of 145.830 MHz and a downlink of 435.200 MHz. The FM transponder is expected to be active at least twice a month, depending on the satellite power budget.
* The SPINO card that will be activated for experimentation

To receive the telemetry, a software has been developed: KissTool. It is available for Windows & Linux:
Linux: https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118791/?tmstv=1680945385
Windows : https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118784/?tmstv=1680945385

The user manual is available in French ( https://site.amsat-f.org/josast-kisstool/ ) and English ( https://code.electrolab.fr/xtof/josast/-/blob/27-new-application-for-spino/ApplicationKissTool/src/site/markdown/UserManual.md )

[ANS thanks Christophe Merceur, AMSAT-Francophone president, for the above information]

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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

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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 6

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 Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

As of April 6, there are no additions or deletions to the weekly AMSAT-NA TLE distribution.

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, 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.

Completed:
Collège Saint-Anatoile, Salins-Les-Bains, France, telebridge via ON4ISS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS. The scheduled crewmember is Steve Bowen, KI5BKB. The ARISS mentor is F6ICS. Contact was successful: Friday 2023-04-07 14:27:26 UTC 86 degrees elevation. Congratulations to the Collège Saint-Anatoile students, Steve, and mentor F6ICS!
Specific link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/live_stream?channel=UCy6st8UemV-88B0PbRlT5sw
Otherwise: School Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@technofg/streams

Vologda, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The scheduled crewmember is Dimitri Petelin. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Sat 2023-04-08 10:35 UTC

Upcoming
Kaliningrad, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Prokopyev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Sunday 2023-04-09 11:20 UTC

Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Prokopyev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Wednesday 2023-04-12 09:05 UTC

Shchelkovo, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The scheduled crewmember is Andrey Fediaev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Wednesday 2023-04-12 10:35 UTC

Vyborg, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The scheduled crewmember is Andrey Fediaev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Sat 2023-04-15 09:50 UTC

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 crossband repeater continues to be active. 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 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

On April 9 Doug, VA7LM, will be making a quick trip and traveling through CO55 and CO64, possibly others. Look for him after 1600z mostly linear sats. He will update via Twitter if he has coverage.

Ray, KN2K, hopes to be QRV from the FM28/FM29 gridline in Delaware on 11 April. Watch his Twitter and/or https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ for updates.

Jerry, W8LR, will rove in West Virginia, EM88, on 15 & 16 April:
2334z 15th IO-117 Asia, NA, SA, EU, AF, Eur-Asia
0335z 16th IO-117 SA, NA, AF, EU, Eur-Asia
1643z 16th RS-44 SA, NA, EU (ed: I do not have QRG info)
1729z 16th IO-117 SA, NA, EU, Eur-Asia
2150z 16th IO-117 AS, NA, SA, EU, AF, Eur-Asia
Log as W8LR/R

Nick, M1DDD will operate as MM1DDD/P on 18-22 April
IO74/IO75 18th
IO66/IO76 19th & 20th
IO67/IO77 21st
IO86 22nd
Watch Nick’s Twitter and/or https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ for updates.

[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.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, has a few satellite presentations scheduled…
Omaha, Nebraska – 04/14
Tennessee – 04/20
Pennsylvania – 05/02
Ohio, tailored to young students and the ISS – 05/08
Great Britain – 05/11

Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let Clint know! He has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences. An email message received after a recent presentation:

“I really enjoyed Clint’s presentation last night. The fact that he had taken the time to research and know something about his audience and welcomed interaction made it very informative and enjoyable. This was a refreshing change from many canned YouTube presentations I’ve tried to watch, which were poorly done, fuzzy video or muddy audio, or a badly prepared presenter stumbling his way through, with any valuable info lost along the way. Thanks for hooking this one up.”

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Lockheed Martin announced a subsidiary called Crescent Space which will develop a lunar communications network called Parsec, starting with two 250kg spacecraft in lunar orbit. Details may be found at https://lmt.co/43hWWE6 (ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information)

+ The combination of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center hosted 57 launches in 2022, more than any other launch range in the world and more launches than any other country except China. For now, the level of launch activity at the Cape remains manageable. But warning signs are emerging. One is that the Cape is effectively full. The infrastructure to support those launch sites, such as power, commodities and roads, is aging. (ANS thanks SpaceNews for the above information)

+ Two Roscosmos cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut took a short ride around the space station inside the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship relocating it from the Poisk module to the Prichal docking module early Thursday, April 6. Commander Sergey Prokopyev guided the MS-23 to its new docking port flanked by flight engineers Dmitri Petelin and Frank Rubio. The relocation opens up Poisk’s airlock for future Roscosmos spacewalks in Orlan spacesuits and frees its docking port for the upcoming ISS Progress 84 resupply mission. (ANS thanks NASA for the above information)

+ Launch company Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 4, having failed to achieve financial orbit after burning through more than $1 billion. (ANS thanks SpaceNews for the above information)

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

In this edition:

* AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention – Call for Volunteers
* The January/February AMSAT Journal is Available
* The Secrets of Rocket Design Revealed
* Austria Restricts 23cm Band Operation
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for March 23, 2023
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* 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-085 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

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

DATE 2023 Mar 26

AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention – Call for Volunteers

(repeated from last week)

It’s less than eight weeks away when Amateur Radio’s biggest event of the year happens at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. That’s right, May 19-20 is Hamvention time when over 30,000 of our closest friends get together to get a first hand look at the latest products and to catch up with friends from around the world.

With over 1,200 square feet of exhibit space, AMSAT is a major Hamvention exhibitor with displays from Engineering, Operations, Educational Relations, the AMSAT Store and much more. Last year in 2022, about 35 people assisted with the AMSAT booth.  It was the efforts of those volunteers that made the 2022 Dayton Hamvention a success for AMSAT. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun.

Would you consider helping AMSAT at the Hamvention this year? Whether you’re available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated.

If you will be attending Hamvention and can help, please send an e-mail to Phil Smith, W1EME, AMSAT Hamvention Coordinator via w1eme [at] amsat [dot]org.

[ANS thanks Phil Smith, W1EME, AMSAT Hamvention Coordinator for the above information.]

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The 2023 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its launch
on June 16, 1983, this year’s coin features
an image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
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The January/February AMSAT Journal is Available

The January/February 2023 issue of The AMSAT Journal is now available to members on AMSAT’s Member Portal.

The AMSAT Journal is a bi-monthly digital magazine for amateur radio in space enthusiasts, published by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). Each issue is your source for hardware and software projects, technical tips, STEM initiatives, operational activities, and news from around the world.

[ANS thanks Joe Koronowski, Editor AMSAT Journal for the above information]

The Secrets of Rocket Design Revealed

Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA shares some of the little-known techniques and implications of rocket architectural design. The discussion is fascinating and a valuable set of observations for those who are not in the business. Why big rockets sometimes do less. Why little rockets sometimes cost more. And why every rocket has its very own, perfect mission.

There is no single, best rocket. Different rockets do different things. As it turns out, the design of a rocket flows directly from the mission the rocket is intended to do, and there are many different missions. Any given rocket is optimal for a specific orbit and payload. Its efficiency falls off as we move away from that perfect case.

The entire Blog is comprehensive and available at: https://bit.ly/42BIAOA

[ANS thanks Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA and the Medium platform for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and 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/

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Austria Restricts 23cm Band Operation

Austria has become the latest country to impose restrictions on Amateur Radio operation in the 23 cm band (1240-1300 MHz) to protect to protect ground-based receivers for the Galileo RNSS satellite constellation.

Advice from Austria’s national amateur radio society ÖVSV cites changes to the legal conditions in the AFU area from 03/13/2023:
Annex 2 of the Amateur Radio Ordinance is omitted and is now regulated in the Frequency Use Ordinance Annex 4. This results in some changes in the frequency ranges and powers.
For the KW bands 80m, 40m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m, 1KW (High-Power) can now be approved for Class 1 FA after 1 year of trouble-free operation.
Thus, the power limitation of 7100-7200 kHz (previously only 200W) in the 40m band is eliminated and AFU has primary status.
30m band still only max. 200W if power level B or C approved (no change)
160m band from 1810-1850 kHz now max. 200W if power level B or C approved and AFU has primary status.
160m band from 1850-2000 kHz only max. 100W (now instead of 1950 kHz up to 2000 kHz)

2023-03-13 Austrian Regulations
The 6m band has been extended from 52-54MHz. (Limited until 31.12.2030, for research WRAN)
-from 50-52 MHz now max 200W if power level B or C approved and AFU has primary status.
-from 52-54MHz only max 100W.
On the 70cm band now also allowed as already on 2m high-power (up to 1KW), if power level B or C approved (but only EME and MS with Yagis from at least 15dBd gain)
The 23cm band was kept, but the performance was severely limited
-only 10W allowed (previously max. 200W were allowed)
-Repeaters with more than 16kHz bandwidth must cease operation by December 31, 2024.
On all higher FM bands (except 10 GHz, since only 40dbW EIRB) now also max. 200W (previously only 100W) allowed.
On 24GHz AFU has only secondary status

Please note the new conditions.
Kurt Baumann OE1KBC

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Kurt OE1KBC for the above information]

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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

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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for March 26, 2023

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 Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

The following satellites have decayed from orbit and have been removed from this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:

None

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, 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.

“Valle de Camargo” High School, Revilla de Camargo, Spain, direct via EA1FBG. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled crewmember is Steve Bowen KI5BKB. The ARISS mentor is IKØUSO. Contact is go for: Mon 2023-03-27 15:09:00 UTC 36 deg.

Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia. Direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled crewmember is Andrey Fediaev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Thu 2023-03-30 08:20 UTC

Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai, UAE, direct via A68MBR. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled crewmember is Sultan Al Neyadi  KI5VTV. The ARISS mentor is ON6TI. Contact is go for: Fri 2023-03-31 08:49:06 UTC 72 deg

Aznakayevo, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Prokopyev. The ARISS mentor is RV3DR. Contact is go for Fri 2023-03-31 13:50 UTC

Stone Magnet Middle School, Melbourne, Fl, direct via AJ9N. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled crewmember is Steve Bowen KI5BKB. The ARISS mentor is AJ9N. Contact is go for: Fri 2023-03-31 18:07:55 UTC 50 deg

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

ARISS from Twitter: We’ve updated our username here on Twitter to @ARISS_Intl to make us easier to find.  If you are all ready following, thanks!  There’s nothing for you to do.

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

Upcoming Satellite Operations

SAT DXPEDITION MENORCA ISLAND 2023
(DXCC : EA6 Balearic is. / GRIDS : JN10+JN20+JM19+JM29 / IOTA : EU-004)
Philippe, EA4NF will be operating on satellite from MENORCA Island as EA6/EA4NF from April 5 to 8, 223. Portable activation with a FT818ND and a FT817ND operating in full Duplex with an Alaskan Arrow Antenna and also handheld+whip antenna. April 5-8, 2023 FM SAT & LINEARS. QSL via LoTW as EA6/EA4NF. Keep an eye on Philippe’s Twitter feed for further updates : @EA4NF_SAT

CY0S, the Sable Island DXpedition, is equipped with satellite gear and will attempt satellite operations as schedule and conditions permit. Operations will be announced on https://hams.at/  Sable is mostly in grid GN03, with parts of the island in both FN93 and GN04. The expedition is set up in FN93xw, very near the GN03/FN93 grid line. (ANS thanks https://t-rexsoftware.com/cy0s/frequencies.htm for the above information)

Joe, KE9AJ will be in New Mexico Mar 26-30. Then onto DN70 in Colorado Apr 1-10. He will have his IO-117 gear with him. This will be a family trip so sat operations will be as time permits. Watch his Twitter Feed and AMSAT Upcoming Satellite Operations web page for more info as it becomes available.

The AMSAT Upcoming Satellite Operations web page may be found at:
https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, and https://t-rexsoftware.com/cy0s/frequencies.htm 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.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford K6LCS has a satellite presentation scheduled with a group in Thames Valley, England (5/11/23)
Think a 90-minute lively, informative, and fun “How to Work the Easy Satellites” Zoom presentation would be appropriate for your convention or club? Always included are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS. And pre-presentation questions are welcome. Contact Clint Bradford, K6LCS, at https://www.work-sat.com/

Hamvention 2023 is coming! Greene County Fairgrounds and Exposition Center, May 19 – 21. AMSAT will have a full display as detailed by Phil Smith W1EME above. Please reach out to Phil if you can help.

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

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Doug Papay, K8DP has continued to document the GreenCube IO-117 user lists by providing a very nice mapping page using the Google My Maps application. It is well worth a browse if you are considering using the satellite or are already involved. See: https://bit.ly/3LCKmsR. [ANS thanks the Doug Papay, K8DP for the above information]

+ After 15 years in space, NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission has ended. NASA first noticed issues with AIM’s battery in 2019, but the probe was still sending a “significant amount of data” back to Earth. NASA says AIM has now become unresponsive. Launched in 2007, AIM studied noctilucent or night-shining clouds, which can last hundreds of years in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. It was only meant to operate up for two years, but it’s provided data for multiple groundbreaking studies, including a study that found methane emissions are causing night-shining clouds to form more frequently. (ANS thanks Engadget for the above information)

+ The world’s first 3D-printed rocket launched successfully on Wednesday, marking a step forward for the California company behind the innovative spacecraft, though it failed to reach orbit. Billed as less costly to produce and fly, the unmanned Terran 1 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:25 pm (0325 GMT Thursday) but suffered an “anomaly” during second-stage separation as it streamed towards low Earth orbit, according to a livestream broadcast by aerospace startup Relativity Space. More may be found at https://bit.ly/3K1sSoI  [ANS thanks Chris Lefkow and Lucie Aubourg of AFP, and Space Daily for the above information]

+NASA planning to spend up to $1 billion on space station deorbit module. WASHINGTON — NASA is projecting spending nearly $1 billion on a tug to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of the decade to provide redundancy for safely disposing of the station. NASA released additional details March 13 about its fiscal year 2024 budget proposal. An outline of the proposal, published by the White House March 9, requested $27.2 billion for the agency, a 7.1% increase from 2023 that roughly keeps pace with inflation. One of the biggest new initiatives in the budget is the ISS deorbit tug, which would be used to perform the final lowering of the station’s orbit to ensure it reenters over the South Pacific. NASA first indicated its plans for the tug in a request for information last August, but offered few specifics about the vehicle in the budget request. [ANS thanks Jeff Foust of Space News for the above information]

+Is it possible that SpaceX has succeeded in making orbital launches boring? Increasingly, the answer to this question appears to be yes. On Friday the California-based company launched two Falcon 9 rockets within the span of just a little more than four hours. At 12:26 pm local time, a Falcon 9 rocket carried 52 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A mere 4 hours and 12 minutes later, another Falcon 9 rocket delivered two large communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit for the Luxembourg-based satellite company SES from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This broke SpaceX’s record for the shortest duration between two launches. However, the overall record for the lowest time between two launches of the same rocket still belongs to the Russian-built Soyuz vehicle. In June 2013, Roscosmos launched a Soyuz booster from Kazakhstan, and Arianespace launched a Soyuz from French Guiana within two hours. Those launches were conducted by two separate space agencies on separate continents, however. More may be found at https://bit.ly/42xueil. [ANS thanks Eric Berger of ARS Technica for the above information]

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, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ
kd4iz [at] frawg.org