AMSAT News Service – Page 44

ANS-171 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for June 20

June 20, 2021 by Mark Johns

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT North America, 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://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.

In this edition:

AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election
ARISS Slow Scan Television Event set for June 21-26, 2021
PSAT2 Improved Coverage Is Here (Updated)
MIR-SAT1 Schedule for Deployment from the ISS
The IARU Participating in the CEPT Working Groups
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Upcoming Satellite Operations
ARISS News
Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.01
ANS-171 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.01
From AMSAT HQ PO Box 27, Washington, DC 20044-0027
June 20, 2021
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.01

AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election

The nomination period for the 2021 Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2021. The following candidates have been duly nominated:

Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO
Robert Bankston, KE4AL
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO

To comply with AMSAT’s Bylaws, an election will be held via AMSAT’s Wild Apricot membership system. Instructions for voting will be emailed by July 15, 2021 to all members who are in good standing as of July 1, 2021.

As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, all four candidates will be seated on the Board when the voting period concludes on September 15, 2021.

To ensure that they receive their voting instructions, members should make sure their current email address is up to date in AMSAT’s records. Members should log into the AMSAT Membership Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/ and check their account for their current email address. If a member has moved or changed their email address, they are encouraged to update their contact information at this time. (Note: If they have not already done so, members can instantly create their membership account at that same page so they can inspect their record. A membership account is not the same as an AMSAT Store account.)

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

ARISS Slow Scan Television Event set for June 21-26, 2021

ARISS reports there will be an “Amateur Radio on Shuttle, MIR and ISS” Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event from June 21-26, 2021. Transmissions from the International Space Station will be on 145.800 MHz FM using the PD120 format.

The ARISS team will be transmitting SSTV images continuously from June 21 until June 26. The images will be related to some of the Amateur Radio activities that have occurred on the Space Shuttle, MIR space station and the International Space Station.

The scheduled start and stop times are:

Monday, June 21 – Setup is scheduled to begin at 09:40 UTC (transmissions should start a little later).

Saturday, June 26 – Transmissions are scheduled to end by 18:30 UTC.

The signal should be receivable on a handheld with a 1/4 wave whip. If your rig has selectable FM filters try the wider filter for 25 kHz channel spacing.

Those that recently missed the opportunity during the limited period of MAI transmissions should have numerous chances over the six day period to capture many, if not all 12, of the images.

Check the ARISS SSTV blog for the latest information at http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/.

Pass predictions for the ISS pass times are available at https://www.amsat.org/track/.

Useful SSTV info and links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

[ANS thanks AMSAT UK for the above information.]

Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2″ 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin with Polished Gold Finish,
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
By donating today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won’t want to miss it!

PSAT2 Improved Coverage Is Here (Updated)

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR reports, WPSAT2 (NO-104) has been in a great operating period from June 10-22, 2021 in the northern hemisphere due to its highly elliptical orbit. Passes have been in the evening but moving earlier each day. Conversely, for the two weeks following, it will be low on the horizon for northern hemisphere mid-latitudes stations and favor the southern hemisphere.

“Normally its low inclination orbit (28 degrees) favors lower latitude locations. But the elliptical orbit assures that there are times, two weeks out of every month, when the elevation angle rises as much as 20 degrees to bring higher latitude stations into the footprint.

“PSAT2 has been enabled for APRS on 145.825 and it should be 4 times stronger (+6 dB) than PSAT. PSAT2 requires your radio to be in narrow band mode.

“Also it has the APRS-to-Voice enabled for your enjoyment. See http://aprs.org/psat2.html for how to use the A2V feature.

“Also enabled is the PSAT (NO84) digipeating. And its HF to UHF transponder is always on for PSK31. See http://aprs.org/psat.html for further information.

[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]

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/

MIR-SAT1 Scheduled for Deployment from the ISS

Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU reports it now official that MIR-SAT1, the first Mauritius Amateur Radio 3B8 satellite, will be deployed from the ISS on June 22, 2021 at 10:55 UTC. The deployment will be made using the robotic arm on the Japanese Experiment Module nicknamed Kibo.

MIR-SAT1 is a 1U CubeSat mission with the following objectives:

1. Verify the performance of the on-board subsystems by receiving telemetry from the satellite and establish communication to and from the satellite (command and control).
2. Collect images of Mauritius and the Mauritian EEZ for capacity, building, experiment and research.
3. Experimental communication with other islands via the satellite (for scientific and/or emergency purposes), through a Radio Amateur digipeater payload.
4. V/U 9600bps GMSK digipeater may be open for Radio Amateur communication worldwide when the satellite not used for all above.

Further details can be found at https://spacemauritius.com.

Experimental decoders are already available:

+ AMSAT Pacsat Ground Station Software by Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ is a decoder for the PacSat protocol, designed for FalconSat-3 now with support for Mir-Sat1. More information and the download is available at: https://www.g0kla.com/pacsat/index.php.

+ GR-Satellites by Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ is a collection of GNU Radio decoders. More information and the download is available at:
https://github.com/daniestevez/gr-satellites/blob/master/python/telemetry/mirsat1.py.

These decoder will be used by local schools and Universities to capture the signals from the bird and hopefully create inspiration for our 3B8 youngsters to space science and STEM per AMSAT Ambassador program goals.

Jean Marc remarks, “It is so great to have the support of above experts. I wish to put on record my appreciation for the all the advice they provided to the 3B8 team and their fully unconditional support in the Ham spirit of brotherhood. ‘Grand merci Chris et Dani.’ Without you we ham’s will not have a clue about what is the status of the bird.”

In addition, the Mauritius Amateur Radio Society (MARS) is creating special awards open to all participating Hams/SWL’s worldwide. These awards will be issued to those decoding MIR-SAT1 telemetry and forwarding same to SatNOGS.

– A Platinum award will be issued to the first 10 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Gold award will be issued to the next 20 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Silver award will be issued to the next 30 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Bronze award will be issued to the next 50 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.

Complete information on the awards program can be found at https://mars3b8.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/mir-sat1-special-award/.

[ANS thanks Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU for the above information.]

AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control, now manifested for launch on
NASA’s ELaNa 46 mission. Come along for the ride. The journey will be
worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

The IARU Participating in the CEPT Working Groups

IARU volunteers have been participating in the CEPT FM and SE Working Groups looking after the Amateur Radio and Amateur Satellite Service interests. CEPT WG-SE #88 took place during April and WG-FM #99 took place at the end of May.

The report from the IARU Region 1 site says:

WG-FM’s project teams tackle a wide range of civil spectrum applications and are developing important regulatory deliverables relating to wireless power transfer and the 23cm band RNSS coexistence topic amongst other things. Work on both these topics is ongoing.

The CEPT Radio Amateur Forum Group (RAFG) is hosted by WG-FM and is chaired by the IARU for the time being. Its main task is maintenance of the CEPT Recommendations TR61-01 and TR61-02. A proposal to merge the activities of the RAFG into project team FM58 (Maritime) has been made but the final decision has been held over until the next WG-FM meeting. The RAFG was tasked at this meeting with a new work item to consider the feasibility of developing an electronic database of CEPT wide amateur licensing documentation. This was supported by six administrations.
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/wg-fm/fm-radio-amateur-fg/client/introduction/

In WG-SE technical spectrum sharing studies are taking place covering;

• Wireless power transfer including consideration of electric vehicle charging (WPT- EV).
• UWB radiodetermination in 116 – 250 GHz.
• Vehicular radar systems in 77 – 81 GHz.
• Security Scanners in the range 60 – 90 GHz.
• 23cm band RNSS coexistence (related to the WRC item and reported in detail elsewhere)
https://www.iaru.org/spectrum/iaru-and-itu/wrc-23/agenda-item-9-1-topic-b/

Amateur service frequency bands are within the scope of all these studies and fall under the remit of the IARU R1 SRLC
https://www.iaru-r1.org/about-us/committees-and-working-groups/srlc/

A summary report of the WG-SE meeting is at
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CEPT-WGSE88-April-2021-report.pdf

The WG-FM meeting is at
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WGFM-99-May2021-Report.pdf

Working Group FM Meeting 99 documents
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/wg-fm/client/meeting-documents/?flid=28918

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

EM72, June 21-25, 2021
N4DCW be there all week. Operating vacation style, but DM him if you need a sked. He’ll have a decent Eastern horizon for those on the other side of the Atlantic.

IN73, Later June
EA4M will be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so. He will try some birds. Check Twitter for schedules.

DL98, Last week in June
WA5RR is looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX. Details to follow.

CN98, Last week of June
N5LEX

DN63, July 2, 2021; DN64, July 3, 2021
ND0C and KE0WPA along with their resident photojournalist (Mom/Amy) will be taking a family excursion to the southwest and working some sats as time permits. Among the less commonly worked grids from which they plan to operate are DN63 7/2, DN64 7/2 & 7/3. Check @kylee_ke0wpa for info.

Tortola, BVI, July 4-17, 2021
VP2V/K3TRM will be operating from Tortola, BVI on 40-6M SSB & digital, and satellite.

DM62, ~July 9, 2021
K5TA is tentatively planning when there are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for him.

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR 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

ARISS News

+ Completed Contacts

Gagarin From Space. Performing a radio amateur session with school children in the city of Great Ustyug, Velikiy Ustyug, Russia, direct via UB1QBM.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The astronaut was Oleg Novitskiy
Contact was successful on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 09:15 UTC.

Collège Albert Camus, La Norville, France and Université Paris-Saclay, Saint-Aubin, France multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign was FXØISS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The astronaut was Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact was successful on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 11:40:45 UTC.

+ Upcoming Contacts

Ecole publique de Bellême, Bellême, France, Pôle scolaire Igé/Le Gué de la Chaine, Belforêt en Perche, France, and Ecole de Nocé, Perche en Nocé, France, multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 437.525 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact is go for: Friday, June 25, 2021 at 08:34:42 UTC.

A multi-point telebridge contact means that each student will be on the telebridge from their own home.

+ Current Status of ISS Stations

IORS (Kenwood TM-D710GA) – STATUS – ACTIVE. supporting cross band repeater operation (145.990 up [67 Hz tone] /437.800 down MHz). Next mode change to packet operations targeting after Field Day. Supporting USOS scheduled voice contacts, packet and voice repeater ops.

Service Module radios:
Kenwood TM-D710E – STATUS – Radio usually off.
Supporting ROS scheduled voice contacts and SSTV.

Watch for possible operation mode change sometime after ARRL Field Day. Exact date and time TBD.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at:
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.]

Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ AMSAT Receives $403 from AmazonSmile

AMSAT has received its quarterly notification from AmazonSmile that it has made a charitable donation to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, in the amount of $403.32 as a result of qualifying purchases made by its members who have selected AMSAT.

Thanks to AMSAT shoppers at smile.amazon.com, their everyday purchases have generated $7,097.98 in donations to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation so far.

[ANS thanks AmazonSmile for the above information.]

+ Where are the Women in STEM?

Do you have a young lady in the family who is looking for ways to get involved in the world of science? When it comes to science influencers, Emily Calandrelli is a household name for a new generation of space enthusiasts. If you have kids, you may know her from “Emily’s Wonder Lab” on Netflix, which brought DIY science experiments into viewers’ homes during the pandemic lockdown. She’s also the long-running host of “Xploration Outer Space,” and a speaker and the author of the Ada Lace children’s book series. While Emily’s communication style is fun and accessible, she has a rigorous science and engineering background underpinning her work, with two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Check out Emily’s website, The Space Gal at http://www.thespacegal.com/women-in-stem for ideas on how to engage your youngster in the adventures of space.

[ANS thanks Via Satellite for the above information.]

+ Fly the SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator!

“Now arriving at docking port #1…” Think you have “all the right stuff”? The SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator lets you try your hand at safely docking your Dragon space capsule to the ISS. In fact, they say it is the exact same interface that astronauts use on the job. Be sure to check the instructions tab for a quick overview of how the controls work. It’s fun! Try your hand at it at https://iss-sim.spacex.com/.

[ANS thanks SPACEX for the above information.]

+ Chinese Astronauts Enter Tiangong Space Station for First Time

Three Chinese astronauts floated into the country’s new Tiangong space station Thursday, becoming the first people to board China’s outpost in orbit after a successful launch from a military base in the Gobi Desert to start a three-month mission. The three astronauts will spend the next three months testing systems on-board the station, three times longer than any previous Chinese human spaceflight mission. In total, China has now launched 12 astronauts into orbit on seven crewed Shenzhou missions since 2003.

Read the complete story at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-171-Tiangong.

[ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information.]

Not an AMSAT member? Join now at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President’s Club. Members of the President’s Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. President’s Club donations may be made at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-PresClub.

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 six post-secondary years in this status. Contact info at the amsat dot org for additional student membership information.

73,
This week’s ANS Editor,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw at amsat dot org

ANS-157 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for June 6

June 6, 2021 by Mark Johns

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: [email protected]

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/

In this edition:

Call for Nominations – 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
EASAT-2 and Hades Launch Delayed Again
Satellite Controllers Announce Schedule Changes
VUCC Awards-Endorsements for June 1, 2021
The AMSAT SA Dual Band 70cm/2M Yagi Mark II Now Available
No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 3
Amicalsat 6 June S-band Transmission
ARISS News
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-157 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 157
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 June 6

Call for Nominations – 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election

AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following four incumbent Directors expire in 2021 and will be filled by this year’s election:

Jerry Buxton N0JY
Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA
Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK
Michelle Thompson W5NYV

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
1909 S. Batavia Avenue
Muncie, IN 47302-2044
ke9v at amsat.org

A copy should be sent to Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, at n8hm at amsat.org.

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

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]

Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2″ 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won’t want to miss it!

EASAT-2 and Hades Launch Delayed Again

Spain’s URE reports the launch of EASAT-2 and Hades satellites have suffered another delay

A translation of the URE post reads:

EASAT-2 and Hades, the communications satellites for radio amateurs built by AMSAT-EA, will not be able to be launched in June with SpaceX as planned, as the FAA (the American Aviation Administration) has rejected the license to the integrator Momentus Space, on whose orbital transfer vehicle Vigoride was to be mounted the AlbaPOD ejector from Alba Orbital, within which are the satellites of AMSAT EA, as well as other organizations and universities.

The reasons for the FAA’s rejection stem from the company’s capital structure, which, according to the American agency, could endanger the national security of the United States. The next launch opportunity could come in December.

EASAT-2 and Hades were to have been launched in January this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, but the Momentus license was also rejected by the FAA at the time.

Both satellites are FM and FSK voice repeaters, also having digitized voice recordings. Hades also incorporates an SSTV camera developed by the University of Brno in the Czech Republic and EASAT-2 incorporates as an experimental load a basaltic material from Lanzarote, similar to lunar basalts, provided by the research group on meteorites and planetary geosciences of the CSIC in the Institute of Geosciences, IGEO (CSIC-UCM) and that it could be used as a construction material on the Moon. This project was promoted and has the collaboration of the ETSICCP (UPM).

The frequencies coordinated with the IARU for both satellites are the following:

EASAT-2
• 145.875 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (without sub-tone) and FSK 50 bps
• 436.666 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW, FSK 50 bps, FM voice beacon with AM5SAT callsign

HADES
• 145.925 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (without sub-tone) and FSK 50 bps
• 436.888 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW FSK 50 bps, SSTV Robot 36, FM voice beacon with callsign AM6SAT

Source URE https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Spain

Read the May 2021 AMSAT-EA newsletter in English at
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/12773993/AMSAT-EA-Boletin_05-2021.pdf

[ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information]

Satellite Controllers Announce Schedule Changes

AO-73
After several months of being in full Sunlight, AO-73 has now entered a period of eclipses. The transponder was commanded “on” on May 30, and the team will evaluate performance over the coming days. An initial check of telemetry suggests the Lithium Ion cells are functioning well and satellite power budget is nominal.

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

IO-86
Effective immediately the activation of FM voice repeater on IO-86 (the amateur payload on LAPAN-A2/ORARI satellite) will be reduced, to preserve the life of the repeater (already more than 5 years old) while waiting for the successor , the LAPAN-A5. If required for emergency communication, we will activate the repeater full as usual.

[ANS thanks Yono Adisoemarta, YD0NXX of the AMSAT Indonesia Technical Team for the above information]

NO-104 and NO-84
PSAT2(NO-104) will enter about 2 weeks of good USA coverage between about 10 to 22 June. Normally its low inclination orbit favors the southern USA. But the orbit is also elliptical and so there are times when the elevation angle to more northern stations rises as much as 20 degrees, bringing higher latitude stations into the footprint.

Currently it’s VHF Xponder has been in DTMF & APRS-to-Voice (A2V) mode but with the ISS digipeater being inactive, we will enable PSAT2 for normal APRS operations plus the A2V feature. Its HF/UHF transponder will remain in linear operation for PSK31 SSTV and Voice. See http://aprs.org/psat2.html for how to use the A2V feature.

We also note that PSAT(NO-84) has awakened from poor sun angles and we will try to activate its digipeater.

[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]

FO-99
JAMSAT has published an updated operating schedule for NEXUS, FO-99, at https://www.jamsat.or.jp/

[ANS thanks JAMSAT for the above information]

VUCC Awards-Endorsements for June 1, 2021

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period May 1, 2021 through June 1, 2021. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month!

CALL	May	June

WC7V	1232	1250
AA5PK	1074	1115
N8RO	1080	1096
N3GS	687	705
NS3L	681	695
K7TAB	627	656
WD9EWK(DM43)	640	650
N5BO	525	580
AC9O	475	549
AF5CC	477	525
K5IX	450	489
KS1G	413	427
W8LR	400	425
KJ4M	171	357
IK0WGF	258	324
DF2ET	250	300
N7ZO	250	275
N8URE(FM19)	243	263
KN2K	200	253
EA2AA	153	251
N3CAL	181	204
RA3DNC	110	142
AC9DX	100	141
N2ZN	120	135
VE3KY	103	128
DG9MA	New	125
KP4RV	105	125
SQ5NRY	New	105
NR1Z	New	104
KC1MEB	New	102
W4IPA	New	101
NU1U	New	100
XE1MYO	New	100

If you find errors or omissions. Please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I’ll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It’s a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned.
Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing a lot of the work!

[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN for the above information]

AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The
journey will be worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

The AMSAT SA Dual Band 70cm/2M Yagi Mark II Now Available

AMSAT SA has launched Mark II of its dual band 70 cm/2 m handheld beam antenna with a new, easier to hold handle and improved coaxial terminations. The Yagi has been retuned for maximum performance in the amateur radio 2 m and 70 cm satellite bands. The coax cable is terminated crimped brass lugs instead of being soldered making it environmentally more robust. The driven element has been adjusted to accommodate the change in the connection. More about the Yagi. The antenna has a 50-ohm designed driver. The Yagi has a unique element called an ‘Open Sleeve’ which is a director very close to the driven element. The driven element is sized for 2 m. When operating on 70 cm the ‘Open Sleeve’ acts as part of the driven element on 70 cm (the third harmonic of 2 m).

The original concept was developed in 1946 by Dr J T Bolljahn of the Stanford Research institute but was not introduced into amateur radio until the 1950s. The AMSAT SA version is based on a design by DK7ZB with modifications by WB5CXC. The first South African version was a collaboration between Guy Eales, ZS6GUY and Gary Immelman, ZS6YI. It was developed for YOTA 2018 where young people successfully used the antenna operating satellites using hand-held transceivers.

The mechanical structure was redesigned by Gary Immelmann ZS6YI. A choke around the boom was added to isolate the antenna from the coax and reduce the effect human contact has on the antenna. A handle was added on the boom end which makes it more comfortable to hold and further isolates the antenna from the handler. The AMSAT SA Yagi is manufactured in one of Gary Immelmann’s factories in Vereeniging. It has two elements on 145 MHz and 3 elements on 435 MHz.

For its size, the antenna has excellent gain: 145 MHZ: 4.12 dBd or 6.3 dBi and 435 MHz: 6.23 dBd or 8.4 dBi. The Yagi is broadband with measured SWR being almost flat over the entire bands. The antenna is plug and play, no tools are needed except for soldering on a connector to suit the application. It comes complete in a carry bag with full instructions. This antenna can be assembled and dissembled in minutes. The price of the MKII Yagi is R400 for AMSAT SA and SARL members. Non-members pay R500 (approximately $36.75 US). The courier charge is R120 (approximately $9 US, Postnet to Postnet). Ask for a quote for other courier options. Find more details and order forms on http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

[ANS thanks AMSAT SA for the above information]

No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 3

No amateur satellite additions or deletions have occurred in this week’s distribution.

However, TLE (KEPS) have been updated and are available on the AMSAT-NA website
at: https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

or to receive a weekly TLE (KEPS) email, subscribe to the Keplerian Elements Mailing list (page 2) by clicking on “Keps” at: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/?page=2

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

Amicalsat 6 June S-band Transmission

The 6 June amicalsat will transmit a picture above Europe, US and Asia.

Here is when a transmission will start :
09:35 UTC
05:58 UTC
3:18 UTC

First CW is transmitted during one second, and then the frames follow. The RTC onboard is not very accurate due to high temperature change, allow up to two minutes drift on the time given. (because this is a planned task in the satellite)

The transmission will occur on the S-band coordinated frequency: 2415.300 MHz. Due to temperature and hardware limitation the frequency might be a little lower. The modulation of the S-band downlink is GFSK 1Mbps. The downlink signal is RHCP.

A picture transmission is about 3-5 minutes long.

[ANS thanks Christophe Mercier and Julien Nicolas, F4HVX, 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, unless otherwise noted.

The Father’s House Christian School (Home Education Provider: Roots), Morinville, Alberta, Canada, multi-point telebridge via VK4KHZ. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled astronaut is Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI
Contact was successful: Wed 2021-06-02 14:28:53 UTC 44 deg
Congratulations to the he Father’s House Christian School students and Akihiko
Watch livestream at https://youtu.be/S0_-QFkXdi4

About Gagarin From Space. Conducting an amateur radio session with school children of Mordovia, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy
Contact is go for: Sun 2021-06-06 12:25 UTC

College Maurice Genevoix, Couzeix, France, multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG
Contact is go for: Mon 2021-06-07 13:07:41 UTC 70 deg

MAI-75 SSTV Events:
MAI-75 will be conducting their experiment of transmitting SSTV images over specific orbits that overfly Moscow on June 9 and 10. Amateurs along the ground track of these orbits should have the opportunity to receive these images as well. Modes and targeted transmission periods are listed below.
SSTV images will be transmitted at 145.800 MHz using a Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver. They are expected to use the PD-120 SSTV format.
Wed 2021-06-09: 09:35 to 13:50 UTC
Thu 2021-06-10: 08:55 to 15:50 UTC

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Bombala, NSW, Australia, telebridge via IK1SLD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 437.525 MHz
The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD
Contact is go for: Thu 2021-06-10 10:45:26 UTC 80 deg

Lipetsk, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled astronaut is Pyotr Dubrov
Contact is go for: Fri 2021-06-11 11:40 UTC

Velikiy Ustyug, Russia, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy
Contact is go for: Sat 2021-06-12 09:15 UTC

Lipetsk, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled astronaut is Pyotr Dubrov
Contact is go for Sat 2021-06-12 10:55 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]

AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.

Support AMSAT’s projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

Upcoming Satellite Operations

Upcoming Roves:
Quick Hits:

WY7AA: FI will be in FN02 starting 6/6 for a few weeks. Operating Sats. holiday style. If you need FN01, FN02, FN03, FN12 please let me know and we can try to set something up. FN01,03, and 12 will likely each be one day roves. FM and SSB

EA4M: : Hi guys later in June I’ll be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so, I will try some birds stay tuned on tweeter for schedules.

VE6WK: DN49: – I’m planning a SOTA rove to DN49 on June 12 and may hit some other grids on the way there/back.

ND0C and KE0WPA: In June @kylee_ke0wpa and I, along with our resident photojournalist (Mom/Amy), will be taking a family excursion to the southwest and working some sats as time permits. Here are the less commonly worked grids from which we plan to operate. We will hit other grids too. DM67 6/15 – 6/17, DM56 6/18, DM45 6/19, DN63 7/2, DN64 7/2 & 7/3

AD0DX (VA3IIR) :Long Range Rover plans: VA3IIR in FN15/25 June 18 FM and SSB

WA5RR: I’m looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX around the last week in June. Details to follow.

VP2V/K3TRM: I will be operating from Tortola, BVI as VP2V/K3TRM on July 4-17, 2021. Activity will be on 40-6M SSB & digital, and satellite.

N5LEX: CN98 last week of June.

DM62: K5TA, I’m tentatively planning for DM62 ~9-July, when there are are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for me….

EN57/67: @SeanKutzko KX9X and @Nancy_N9NCY will celebrate Sean’s birthday in the Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula July 15-19. Look for them on FM and SSB satellites, with the possibility of some Parks On The Air activity as well.

Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

AMSAT Ambassador and ARRL registered instructor Clint Bradford, K6LCS, has a presentation scheduled for 06/15 in East Massachusetts. See http://www.work-sat.com for details.

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The International Space Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, was struck by a piece of space debris. But luckily, it appears to be only a flesh wound, and the arm has been cleared for nominal operations while analysis on the strike continues. NASA and Canadian Space Agency officials don’t know exactly when the arm was hit – or what hit it — but the damage was noticed on May 12 during a routine inspection. The hole is quite small, approximately 5 mm (.2 inches) in diameter. (ANS thanks Universe Today for the above information)

+ An absolutely mesmerizing and very instructional video graphic on the problem of orbital debris (ie. space junk), created by the European Space Agency, may be viewed at:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2019/02/Distribution_of_space_debris_in_orbit_around_Earth
(ANS thanks Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO for the above information)

+ A Cargo Dragon capsule took off at 1729z Thursday, June 3, on top of a Falcon 9 rocket to begin a two-day trip to the space station. This was the:
• 120th Falcon 9 flight
• 17th SpaceX launch of 2021
• 22nd SpaceX cargo flight to ISS
• 130th launch from pad 39A
This mission is set to deliver experiments, food, spare parts, a NASA-sponsored CubeSat built by middle school students in Tennessee, and other equipment to the space station’s seven-person crew. The Dragon’s entire cargo load, including pressurized and unpressurized sections, weighs in at 7,337 pounds (3,328 kilograms). That makes it the heaviest supply shipment SpaceX has ever sent to the space station. (ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information)

+ Among the equipment sent to ISS on the Cargo Dragon launch, above, was the first satellite to be built by the island nation of Mauritius. It will be deployed in June by the KIBO robotic arm. The callsign is 3B8MIR (MIR-1 meaning Mauritius Imagery & Radio-communication Satellite 1). Payloads are a camera and a digipeater (bent tube) which will be made available to the HAM community worldwide when satellite is not downloading images or used for experimental purposes, the uplink will be on 145.9875 MHz and the downlink on 436.925 MHz, 9K2 GMSK, as coordinated with IARU. More information will be available on (https://spacemauritius.com) soon. (ANS thanks Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU, for the above information)

+ China’s robotic Tianzhou 2 cargo ship launched Saturday on top of a Long March 7 rocket and docked with the core module of the country’s space station eight hours later, delivering fuel, crew supplies, extravehicular spacesuits, and other gear in preparation for the arrival of three astronauts in June. (ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information)

+ American intelligence officials have found no evidence that aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy pilots in recent years are alien spacecraft, but they still cannot explain the unusual movements that have mystified scientists and the military, according to senior administration officials briefed on the findings of a highly anticipated government report. While a forthcoming unclassified version, expected to be released to Congress by June 25, will present few other firm conclusions, senior officials briefed on the intelligence conceded that the very ambiguity of the findings meant the government could not definitively rule out theories that the phenomena observed by military pilots might be alien spacecraft. (ANS thanks The New York Times for the above information)

+ The team behind NASA’s InSight Mars lander has come up with an innovative way to boost the spacecraft’s energy at a time when its power levels have been falling. The lander’s robotic arm trickled sand near one solar panel, helping the wind to carry off some of the panel’s dust. The result was a gain of about 30 watt-hours of energy per sol, or Martian day. (ANS thanks Mars Daily for the above information)

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President’s Club. Members of the President’s Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Store.

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

73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, K0JM
k0jm at amsat dot org

ANS-150 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for May 30

May 30, 2021May 30, 2021 by Mark Johns

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: [email protected]

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/

In this edition:

* FCC Considers UHF/Microwave Ham Bands for Commercial Space Launch Frequencies
* ASU student-built spacecraft to interact with the public
* Canadian Researchers Highlight Concerns About Overcrowded Orbits
* Andy MacAllister, W5ACM, SK
* PSAT2: DTMF *and* APRS-to-Voice enabled
* NASA Schedules Live Coverage of Russian Spacewalk
* No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for May 27, 2021
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-150 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 150.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 May 30

FCC Considers UHF/Microwave Ham Bands for Commercial Space Launch Frequencies

The FCC in April issued a Report and Order allocating spectrum in the 2200-2290 MHz range for private space travel and satellite launch companies to use for pre-launch testing and space launch operations. The order creates a non-federal secondary allocation for these uses in spectrum that is currently reserved exclusively for federal government use.

The action also includes a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which seeks comment on possible additional spectrum for private space launch purposes. Among the frequencies specifically mentioned are 420-430 MHz in the 70-centimeter amateur band and 5650-5925 MHz, which is the 5-centimeter ham band. Amateur radio has a secondary allocation in each of these bands, and the NPRM made no mention of the bands’ current occupants and/or whether they would be displaced. The 5.6-GHz band is already shared widely with home WiFi networks.

[ANS thanks CQ Newsroom for the above information]

ASU student-built spacecraft to interact with the public

NASA has selected an Arizona State University-designed spacecraft to fly as an auxiliary payload aboard a rocket launching between 2022 and 2025. It is among 14 small research satellites, called CubeSats, that were chosen for this opportunity through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The ASU CubeSat, named LightCube, is about the size of a toaster and will be deployed to low-Earth orbit (LEO). Its unique feature is that it can be commanded by anyone with an amateur radio license and a ham radio to set off a xenon flash from the spacecraft that will be visible from the ground.
Additional Details are available at https://bit.ly/3fF9v4B

[ANS thanks Karin Valentine, Media Relations & Marketing Manager, School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU for the above information]

Canadian Researchers Highlight Concerns About Overcrowded Orbits

A new report by two Canadian researchers is highlighting the growing hazard of space debris. It warns that the new mega-constellations of tens of thousands of communication satellites could pose a new kind of danger that could ultimately threaten other satellites, astronauts, our ability to use space and could even have an impact on the climate.

Recently, the uncontrolled fall from space of a large Chinese rocket booster gained worldwide attention as no one could predict where it would come crashing to Earth. Fortunately, it came down in the Indian Ocean and no one was injured. That was just one booster.

But the amount of stuff — satellites, discarded boosters and other debris in Earth orbit — is huge. And this new report warns that with projects like the SpaceX Starlink satellite constellation, the issue of space debris could approach a critical turning point.

Right now, Starlink has full approval within the current legal system to go ahead and launch 12,000 satellites, and they want to put up 30,000 more, so there will be 42,000 satellites. With Starlink alone, there will be more satellites in the sky than there are naked eye visible stars.

And that’s not all. Others have similar plans, including OneWeb, Amazon, Telesat, and GW, which is a Chinese state-owned company.

This astounding number of satellites will outnumber the total number of objects orbiting the Earth today and form shells around the planet in low Earth orbit up to about 750 km altitude.

The more objects placed in orbit, the greater the chance of collision between them, other working satellites, astronauts working in space, and people on the ground when the objects fall out of orbit.

The new satellites launched by SpaceX and other companies are not just thrown up willy-nilly. They’re placed in careful orbits meant to minimize risks of collision, and modern satellites are designed to be de-orbited when they die, not just abandoned as space junk. The commercial space companies must have plans to do this in an organized and safe way. This is all good and responsible.

The report highlights the possibility and implications of accidents. Random pieces of untracked space debris, or even meteors, could disable these satellites, disrupting their careful orbits and the deorbiting plans. The sheer number of these new satellites increases the risk.

[ANS thanks CBC radio host and blogger Bob McDonald for the above information]

Andy MacAllister, W5ACM, SK

From Marty Smith, WV5Y: “It’s with much sadness and deep regret I announce our buddy, Andy, W5ACM – Past AMSAT Board of Directors, King of the South Texas Balloon Launch Team, The Voice of The Houston AMSAT Net and KTRU Rice Radio Engineer and DJ, AndyMac – Passed away on the evening of Wednesday, 5/19/2021. Andy’s wife Heather said he was on his computer until a few minutes before…

His funeral service was held on Thursday, May 27th 2021 at 12:30 PM at the Pines Presbyterian Church (12751 Kimberley Ln, Houston, TX 77024-4097).

Andy will be missed very much by all of his family, friends and coworkers. He lived life to the fullest, and his lust for life was contagious. Our common interests in everything high tech, scientific & electronic, was shared by many, and he had great taste in food, drink, and music, especially loving classic rock & roll! He will forever be in our minds and hearts. 73, Marty Smith, WV5Y”

From AMSAT Director Bruce Paige, KK5DO: “Andy, W5ACM (ex WA5ZIB), became a Silent Key on May 19, 2021. He has been a close friend of mine since I became a ham in 1993. That was when I found satellites and AMSAT. Andy had been doing the Houston AMSAT Net and I became involved in the net. We have done over 1400 episodes of the net since then. Andy and I had a great time at many AMSAT Symposiums where we would work satellites from parking lots of restaurants or outside a hotel. During the AMSAT Symposium in 2016, we worked each other from the deck of the cruise ship when we were standing about 3 feet from each other.

Andy spent some time in the early 90’s on the AMSAT Board of Directors. Many of today’s hams would not remember the K2ZRO tests on AO-13. When the satellite was at apogee, Andy would transmit a string of CW characters. He would then reduce his power by 50% and transmit another string of characters. This would be done 8 times to a point where the signals were very weak. Hams around the world would participate and receive a certificate with an endorsement for the level you achieved.

Andy got into balloon launches. I do not remember when BLT-1 was launched but BLT-12 was launched in 1993 and they are into the 60’s now. The balloons have gone up with all types of experiments on them and have come down in many a strange place. One came down in the Gulf of Mexico, picked up by a fishing boat and they called the number on the package. Of course that one was not reusable as everything was a tad bit wet. The balloon came down in someone’s front yard once and they picked it up and took it inside. GPS told the tale and knocking on the door, the homeowner returned the package. A few recent balloon launches have traversed the globe one or two times.

Andy had worked at NASA and was a member of the Johnson Space Center ARC as well as the Brazos Valley ARC in Houston, the ARRL and AMSAT. More recently he was the Chief Engineer for the radio station, KTRU, at Rice University in Houston. Andy gave talks and demos at many Houston area hamfests.

It was only a few months ago in February that Andy went in for a quick procedure and they found something that should not be. He was sent home for hospice care. You will be missed my friend. … _._
73…Bruce”

Andy’s wife, Heather, has requested that donations in his name be made to AMSAT or the Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club, P.O. Box 2997, Sugar Land, TX 77487-2997 (reference the Andy MacAllister BLT Memorial Fund). Donations to AMSAT in his name may be made at https://www.amsat.org/donations/w5acm-memorial/

[ANS thanks Marty Smith, WV5Y and Bruce Paige, KK5DO , AMSAT Director, for the above information]

PSAT2: DTMF and APRS-to-Voice enabled

A new feature has been enabled for the Voice Synthesizer on PSAT2
in addition to DTMF grid and DTMF messaging to voice. Now the voice
synthesizer is also listening for APRS-to-Voice messages as well.
Here is how to use it
1) Remain on the 145.980 uplink and 145.825 downlink for DTMF
2) Using an APRS radio, send an APRS message to PSAT-SAY
3) Begin the first 10 chars of the message with CCCCCC sez
4) Followed by the text to be spoken.
5) CCCCCC is your callsign right-padded with spaces.

The satellite should ACK the packet uplink and then speak the text. You can tell if APRS-to-Voice is enabled if this 1 bit is on: XXXX0010. Usually the DTMF bits are also enabled so the telemetry will usually show as 11010010.

To do both DTMF and APRS-to-Voice at the same time, the Basic Stamp processor has to check both the DTMF decoder and the packet decoder and so there is a finite chance that a perfectly good uplink might be missed. So, just try again.

See http://aprs.org/psat2.html Tomorrow I will add this feature to the users manual and post it.

Enjoy, Bob, WB4APR

[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]

NASA Schedules Live Coverage of Russian Spacewalk

Two Russian cosmonauts are scheduled to conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Wednesday, June 2, to continue preparing the Pirs docking compartment airlock for undocking and disposal later this year.

Live coverage will begin at 1 a.m. EDT (0500z), with the spacewalk beginning about 1:20 a.m. (0520z) on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app.

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos will emerge from the Poisk module on the space-facing side of the Zvezda service module for a spacewalk expected to last about six and a half hours. The two cosmonauts will disconnect all external mechanical links between Pirs and the station, reposition spacewalk hardware and antennas, and relocate other gear previously used for spacecraft dockings to Pirs.

During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will prepare Pirs for removal from its port by the uncrewed Progress 77 cargo ship on the Earth-facing side of Zvezda, clearing the way for the arrival of the new Russian Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module named “Nauka,” which is Russian for “science.” The undocking of Pirs is scheduled for this summer, about two days after Nauka launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The cosmonauts also will replace a fluid flow regulator on the nearby Zarya module and replace biological and material science samples on the exterior of the Russian modules.

Novitskiy, who is designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), will wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes. Dubrov will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2). This will be the first spacewalk for both cosmonauts and the 238th spacewalk overall in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. It also marks the sixth spacewalk of 2021.

See the NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Learn more about the International Space Station and its crew at: http://www.nasa.gov/station

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The
journey will be worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for May 27, 2021

No changes are noted for the current week. However, TLE (KEPS) have been updated and are available on the AMSAT website at: https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

ARISS NEWS: Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of May 30, 2021

College of Saint Pierre Marboz, Marboz, France, multi-point telebridge via IK1SLD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The latest information on the operation mode can be found at: https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html.

The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG. Contact is go for: Mon 2021-05-31 13:49:32 UTC 40 deg. Watch for livestream at https://youtu.be/HnPoFku7DXg

About Gagarin From Space. Conducting an amateur radio session with schoolchildren of Mordovia, 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 latest information on the operation mode can be found at: https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html. The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy. Contact is go for Sun 2021-06-06 12:25 UTC.

The Father’s House Christian School (Home Education Provider: Roots), Morinville, Alberta, Canada, multi-point telebridge via VK4KHZ. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The scheduled astronaut is Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI. Contact is go for: Wed 2021-06-02 14:28:53 UTC 44 deg.

Lipetsk, 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 astronaut is Pyotr Dubrov. Contact is go for Fri 2021-06-11 11:40 UTC.

Velikiy Ustyug, 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 astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy. Contact is go for Sat 2021-06-12 09:15 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]

AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.

Support AMSAT’s projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

Upcoming Satellite Operations

Quick Hits:

EA4M: : Hi guys later in June I’ll be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so, I will try some birds stay tuned on tweeter for schedules.

Major Roves:

AD0DX (VA3IIR): Long Range Rover plans: VA3IIR in FN15/25 June 18 FM and SSB
DL98 WA5RR: I’m looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX around the last week in June. Details to follow.

N5LEX: CN98 last week of June.
DM62: K5TA, I’m tentatively planning for DM62 ~9-July, when there are are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for me….

Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com
Updated 05/19/2021

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager for the above information]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

On the Air event: AMSAT Italia: Members of AMSAT Italia commemorate Gagarin’s flight into space until the end of the year with the callsign II0SAT on HF and via satellite.

Satellites on Field Day: Seth Kutzko, KX9X, made an outstanding presentation to the RATPAC group on Satellites and Field Day. The session was held on Thursday May 27 during a weekly RATPAC meeting. Seth presented more than just a “how to”, his tips and tricks were very valuable for new entrants and his cautions were particularly well taken. This presentation is a must for any Field Day group that is contemplating chasing the 100-point bonus. Dan Marler, K7REX has made the presentation, documents, and the video available:
To View Video: https://vimeo.com/556034517
To Download Video: https://vimeo.com/user107547861/download/556034517/954b837d38
To Retrieve Documents: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cktvhfz1lhvv8hr/AADzoAi0HiGccLLG6IdnY24Aa?dl=0Radio

The Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC) comprises ARRL section managers, appointed field leadership, and membership. Together, we host nationwide Amateur Radio Zoom presentations twice-a-week, Wednesdays on general radio topics and Thursdays on amateur radio emergency communications. The topics are selected from audience recommendations that the planning committee then seeks topic experts or discussion panel members. The presentation audience consists of thousands of amateur radio operators worldwide who participate directly in the Zoom sessions or with video links of the presentation and related documentation sent out after each session.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford K6CLS is planning the following presentations:
University of Arizona – June 1
Conejo Valley (CA) – October 21
Wellesley ARC – June 15
White Mountain ARC – June 2
West Valley (CA) ARC – June 9

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 includes are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS … and pre-presentation questions are solicited and welcome. Send Clint an email or call!
Clint Bradford K6LCS, http://www.work-sat.com. Tel:909-999-SATS (7287)

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, AMSAT Italia, Dan Marler, K7REX RATPAC Leader and Idaho Section Manager, and Clint Bradford, K6CLS AMSAT Ambassador for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ June 2021 Eclipse Festival Seeks Ham Participants
HamSCI is looking for ham radio operators to make recordings of time-standard stations during the June 2021 annular solar eclipse across the Arctic Circle as part of a citizen science experiment. Researchers will use the crowd-sourced data to investigate the superimposed effects of auroral particle precipitation and the eclipse on HF Doppler shift. For details, see: https://bit.ly/3ukP6ai [ANS thanks HamSci and ARRL News for the above information]

+ Hackaday Satellite Commnications Hack Chat scheduled for 2 June, 2021 – 19:00Z Paul Marsh from UHF-Satcom will join us for the 2 June Hack Chat. The number of satellites whizzing along above our heads is truly mindboggling, with the number growing daily. Each of these spacecraft is up there for a specific reason, and a lot of them are doing interesting things. Listening in on what they have to say can be a lot of fun, but learning the ropes and getting that first capture can be tricky. Paul Marsh will stop by the Hack Chat to share the ins and outs of monitoring satellite communications and give us some insight into what the satcom hobby is all about. [ANS thanks the hackaday.io Newsletter for the above information]

+ The possibility of a Europa Lander is under study. Intense radiation from Jupiter converts ice and dust on the surface of its icy moon Europa into energetic compounds, which may cycle through the ice and ultimately be food for microbes in the ocean below. NASA has been developing a potential Europa Lander mission to look for such chemistry since 2016 (and also previously in 2005 and 2012). This mission concept proposes a 575 kg battery-powered lander with a limited (but still impressive) lifespan of 1-3 months. Additional information is available at https://go.nature.com/3oRkVXf and https://bit.ly/3hWvsyE [ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information]

+ The March/April 2021 edition of Apogee View has been posted to the AMSAT website at https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/

+ Congratulations to John Papay, K8YSE, for becoming the first amateur satellite operator to receive the GridMaster Award twice! John was the first recipient of the GridMaster Award, issued for completing QSOs with all 488 of the grid squares within the continental United States (analogous to the Fred Fish Memorial Award issued by the ARRL for completing the same feat on six meters) in May of 2014. John’s second award, the 30th issued, was for QSOs completed while operating as K8YSE/7 in Mesa, Arizona. More information about the GridMaster Award can be found at https://www.amsat.org/gridmaster/ (Thanks to AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO).

+ A couple of amateur satellite operators in Nova Scotia have been taking advantage of their favorable geographic location to set new distance records on various satellites. On May 5, 2021, John Langille, VE1CWJ, and Jérôme LeCuyer, F4DXV, claimed the initial distance record on the newly activated satellite JO-97 with a QSO cover 4,889 km between FN85ii in Nova Scotia and JN04it in France. Dana Rushton, VE1CWJ, also in FN85ii, set the new record on XW-2C on May 18, 2021, completing a QSO with F4DXV in JN04jr covering 4,897 km. Finally VE1CWJ and F4DXV also set a new record on LilacSat-2 on May 27, 2021, completing a 4,888 km QSO between FN85jn and JN04jr. For a list of current satellite records and instructions for claiming new (or old) ones, visit https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ [ANS thanks AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information]

+ JAMSAT has posted the FO-99 operating schedule for June at https://www.jamsat.or.jp/?p=1438 (ANS thanks JAMSATfor the above information])
+
Dr. Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President – Educational Relations, made a presentation on the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator to the Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club on May 21, 2021. A copy of his presentation can be found at https://www.cubesatsim.org/pres/AMSAT_HARC_Presentation.pdf [ANS thanks AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information]

+ Last weekend, AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, Founding President Perry Klein, W3PK, and Manager Martha Saragovitz spent three days cleaning out the AMSAT office in Kensington, Maryland, moving documents and other AMSAT items to a storage facility. This completes the transition of AMSAT from operating a physical office location to a fully virtual operation. The savings of nearly $150,000 per year from the closing of the physical office, transition to digital delivery of The AMSAT Journal, and Martha’s retirement ensures that AMSAT will remain financially healthy and able to Keep Amateur Radio in Space for many years to come. [ANS thanks AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information]

/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President’s Club. Members of the President’s Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Store.

73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week’s ANS Editor, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ
kd4iz at frawg dot org

ANS-143 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for May 23

May 23, 2021 by Mark Johns

The news feed on http://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

In this edition:

Call for Nominations – 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
Reminder: AMSAT Server Maintenance Scheduled for Weekend of May 22
Are Your USPS Mail and E-Mail Addresses Up-to-Date at AMSAT?
CubeSatSim PCB’s Version 1.0 Available at AMSAT Store
March/April 2021 Issue of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
FO-29 operation schedule for June 2021
Astronaut/Ham Assigned to Next ISS Mission
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Upcoming Satellite Operations
ARISS News
Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-143.01
ANS-143 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 143.01
From AMSAT HQ PO Box 27, Washington, DC 20044-0027
May 23, 2021
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-143.01

Call for Nominations – 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election

Jerry Buxton N0JY
Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA
Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK
Michelle Thompson W5NYV

Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms.

Jeff Davis, KE9V
1909 S. Batavia Avenue
Muncie, IN 47302-2044
ke9v at amsat.org

A copy should be sent to Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, at n8hm at amsat.org.

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

Join the AMSAT President’s Club!

You won’t want to miss it!

Reminder: AMSAT Server Maintenance Scheduled for Weekend of May 22

As part of its modernization efforts, AMSAT will be moving its web server to a new vendor over the weekend of May 22, 2021. This move will result in greater operational flexibility, ensure continued flow of security updates and may result in lower costs for server rental and backup services.

End users may see service outages for www.amsat.org and the central telemetry server associated with FoxTelem but otherwise no observable changes are expected. Outages are expected to be brief, perhaps an hour or two, and are presently planned during the USA overnight hours, and we have confidence that we will be complete by the end of the weekend. FoxTelem users will find that any telemetry collected during an outage will be uploaded once the central telemetry server is established in its new home. Mailing lists and mail forwarding will not be affected, and the membership and events portal at launch.amsat.org will remain fully operational throughout the migration.

(ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT IT services team for the above information)

Are Your USPS Mail and E-Mail Addresses Up-to-Date at AMSAT?

Recent attempts to deliver important announcements to AMSAT members shows that many AMSAT members are not keeping AMSAT headquarters up-to-date with their current U.S. Post Office mail address and/or email address. It is important that members update their membership accounts with their current contact information.

The mail servers that deliver AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins and AMSAT-Bulletin Board posts operate independently from the AMSAT membership roster. Just because a person receives emails from ANS or the AMSAT-BB does not mean that their contact information is current in the membership database. The same is true for any email address or mail address you may have on file in the AMSAT Store. The AMSAT Store operates independently from the AMSAT membership roster. (Remember, a person does not have to be an AMSAT member to receive news bulletins or posts or to shop at the store.)

AMSAT headquarters asks all members to ensure that their current contact information is up-to-date by taking a few minutes to complete the following steps:

– Log into the AMSAT Membership Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/.
– Click on the light-blue “person” icon near the upper right corner of the screen.
– Choose “View Profile”.
– Review your information, especially your e-mail and mailing addresses.
– If you need to update any information, click on the “EDIT PROFILE” box near the upper left corner of the screen.
– After updating your information, be sure to click on the “SAVE” box near the upper left corner of the screen.

By making sure your contact information is current, you can help ensure that you receive all official announcements and documents from AMSAT Headquarters.

(ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information)

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/

CubeSatSim PCB’s Version 1.0 Available at AMSAT Store

The first release Version 1.0 of the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator printed circuit boards (PCBs) are now available for a donation at the AMSAT Store https://www.amsat.org/product/amsat-cubesatsim-pcb/.

The CubeSatSim is a low cost satellite emulator that runs on solar panels and batteries, transmits UHF radio telemetry, has a 3D printed frame, and can be extended by additional sensors and modules. Instead of having to get one’s own circuit boards made, which often has minimum quantities, buyers can get one complete set of three boards – a Main board, Battery board, and STEM Payload board. The Main board comes with the SMD surface mount components for the Band Pass Filter (BPF) pre-installed. The remainder of the components are through-hole. Besides the printed circuit boards, builders will need the components listed on the Bill of Materials at https://CubeSatSim.org/bom.

For information on building your own CubeSatSim, see the Wiki at https://CubeSatSim.org/wiki.

For more information about the AMSAT CubeSatSim Project or to borrow a loaner unit for your classroom or demonstration, contact Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP Educational Relations at ku2y at amsat dot org.

[ANS thanks Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP, Education for the above information.]

March/April 2021 Issue of The AMSAT Journal Now Available

The March/April 2021 issue of The AMSAT Journal is now available to members on AMSAT’s Member Portal. Download your copy today at https://launch.amsat.org/The_AMSAT_Journal.

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.

Inside the Current Issue:

Apogee View by Robert Bankston, KE4AL
Educational Relations Update by Alan Johnston, KU2Y
2021 AMSAT Field Day by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Report of the AMSAT Bylaws Committee and Amended Bylaws
Working FalconSAT-3 Packet Digipeater by Ramadhan Ibrahim, YD1RUH, Juliadi Satyo Pramudito, YD0AVI, and Creflo Teodoro Sebastian, YD2UUY
Arizona Roving in an Afternoon by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK
Design and Flight Results of the VHF/UHF Communication System of Longjiang Lunar Microsatellites by Mingchuan Wei, Chaoran Hu, Daniel Estévez, Mier Tai, Yuhao Zhao, Jiahe Huang, Cees Bassa, Tammo Jan Dijkema, Xibin Cao, and Feng Wang.

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]

AMSAT’s GOLF Program Is About Getting Back To Higher Orbits.
And it all begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for
deployable solar panels, propulsion, and attitude control.
Come along for the ride. The journey will be worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

FO-29 operation schedule for June 2021

The JARL has published the operation schedule for FO-29 for June 2021 is follows:

June (UTC)
4th 23:33-
5th 01:17-
6th 00:22- 14:10-
12th 00:07- 13:53-
13th 00:57- 13:00-
19th 00:42- 10:57-
20th 01:32- 11:48-
26th 01:16- 11:34-
27th 00:22- 12:23-

The UTC time represents the start time for each operating period. The satellite will remain in operation until the battery voltage falls to a preset level.

[ANS thanks Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU for the above information.]

Astronaut/Ham Assigned to Next ISS Mission

NASA has assigned Kayla Barron, KI5LAL, to serve as a mission specialist for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is targeted to launch as early as Oct. 23, 2021.

This will be the first spaceflight for Barron, who became a NASA astronaut in January 2020 after completing two years of training. She will join NASA astronauts Raja Chari, KI5LIU, and Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC, as the mission’s commander and pilot, respectively, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, KI5KFH, who also will serve as a mission specialist.

Barron was born in Pocatello, Idaho, but considers Richland, Washington, her hometown. She earned a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2010. She earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Cambridge, in England, in 2011, as Gates Cambridge Scholar. Lt. Cmdr. Barron earned her submarine warfare officer qualification and deployed three times while serving aboard the USS Maine. At the time of her selection as an astronaut candidate in 2017, she was serving as the flag aide to the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.

NASA previously assigned Chari, Marshburn, and Maurer to the mission in December 2020. This will be the first spaceflight for Chari and Maurer. It will be the third spaceflight for Marshburn, who previously served as a crew member of the space shuttle STS-127 mission in 2009 and Expedition 34/35 aboard the space station, which concluded in 2013.

When Barron, Chari, Marshburn, and Maurer arrive at the orbiting laboratory, they will become expedition crew members for the duration of their six-month science mission. The crew will have a slight overlap with the Crew-2 astronauts, who arrived April 24. Crew-2 consists of Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG.

This will mark the second time commercial crew missions have overlapped on the station. The Crew-1 astronauts, who ended their mission with a splashdown off the coast of Panama City, Florida, on Sunday, May 2, were aboard the station with the Crew-2 astronauts for a seven-day direct crew handover. Increasing the total number of astronauts aboard the station enables the agency to boost the number of science investigations conducted in the unique microgravity environment.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

No events scheduled.

Upcoming Satellite Operations

W8LR: May 27. EM99/98_EM89/88 TENTATIVE schedule. Subject to change depending on obligations. Will post to twitter as needed if I have cell coverage.

EA4M: : Hi guys later in June I’ll be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so, I will try some birds stay tuned on tweeter for schedules.

WA5RR: I’m looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX around the last week in June. Details to follow.

DM62: K5TA, I’m tentatively planning for DM62 ~9-July, when there are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for me….

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, Rover Page Manager for the above information.]

ARISS News

+ Upcoming Contacts

Ecole Elémentaire de Saint Leu Centre, Saint Leu, France, (Reunion Island), multi-point telebridge via ZS6JON.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact is go for: Monday, Mary 24, 2021 at 11:06:02 UTC. 84 degrees.

Windsor School and Liceo Industrial de Valdivia High School, Valdivia, Chile, multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP.
Contact is go for: Tuesday, May 26, 2021 at 18:33:34 UTC. 84 degrees.

Ufa State Aviation Technical University, Bashkortostan, 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 astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy.
Contact is go for Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 13:45 UTC.

About Gagarin From Space. Conducting an amateur radio session with schoolchildren of Mordovia, 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 astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy.
Contact is go for Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 12:25 UTC.

+ Successful Contacts

Monaro High School, Cooma, NSW, Australia, telebridge via NA7V.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut was Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 09:25 UTC.

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

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.]

Shorts from All Over

+ No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 29, 2021

No changes are noted for the current week.

However, TLE’s have been updated and are always available on the AMSAT website at:

TLE/Keplerian Element Resources

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD for the above information.

+ Arizona State University Student Satellite to Flash-Back from Ham Commands

NASA has selected an Arizona State University-designed spacecraft to fly as an auxiliary payload aboard a rocket launching between 2022 and 2025. It is among 14 CubeSats, that were chosen for this opportunity through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The ASU CubeSat, named LightCube, is a 1U CubeSat and will be deployed to low-Earth orbit (LEO). Its unique feature is that it can be commanded by anyone with an amateur radio license and a ham radio to set off a xenon flash from the spacecraft that will be visible from the ground. Read more at:
https://news.asu.edu/20210520-asu-student-built-spacecraft-interact-public

[ANS thanks ASU News for the above information.]

+ ESA Advances Its Plan for Satellites Around the Moon

The European Space Agency is devising detailed definitions of how to provide telecommunications and navigation services for missions to the Moon, under the agency’s Moonlight initiative. Such a lasting lunar link will enable sustainable space exploration.Using a shared telecommunications and navigation service would reduce the design complexity of future individual missions and make them lighter, freeing space for more scientific instruments or other cargo, making each individual mission more cost-efficient. Read the full story at: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-143-ESA.

[ANS thanks SciTechDaily for the above information.]

+ What are NASA’s Technology Educational Satellites?

NASA’s TechEdSat series of technology demonstrations aims to bring small payloads back to Earth or to the surface of Mars – while pushing the state of the art in a variety of CubeSat technologies and experiments. TechEdSat is a series of collaborative projects and missions that pairs college and university students with NASA researchers to evaluate new technologies for use in small satellites, or CubeSats. Students do the hands-on work – designing, building, and testing CubeSat spacecraft systems and analyzing the results – for each flight mission, under mentorship of engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.; Read about the history and purpose of the program at: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/techedsat.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]

Not an AMSAT member? Join now at https://launch.amsat.org/

73,
This week’s ANS Editor,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw at amsat dot org