ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for February 21, 2021

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-052

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:

  • Replays of AMSAT Presentations at HamCation Available
  • FO-29 March Operations Schedule
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for February 1, 2021
  • Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for February 18, 2021
  • ARISS News
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 052.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 Feb 21

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!

Replays of AMSAT Presentations at HamCation Available

AMSAT participated in the 2021 Virtual Orlando HamCation on Sunday, February 14, 2021. Replays of the presentations are available on YouTube:

AMSAT CubeSat Simulator – Dr. Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President – Educational Relations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0eLHJ9vuqc

AMSAT: Onward and Upward – Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT President
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n974-Jpuu2I and continuing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX19ohrd-I

AMSAT Engineering Updated – Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President – Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQqP-IRlcI

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

FO-29 March Operations Schedule

All times are UTC
The operation is until UVC (under-voltage control) operates. The battery dates from 1996, and cannot be fully charged. Note that this seldom allows for operation over North America.

DD on times
6 00:45- 02:30-
7 01:35- 03:20-
13 01:20- 03:05-
14 00:25- 02:10-
20 01:55- 03:40-
21 01:00-
27 00:45- 02:30-
28 01:35- 03:20-

[ANS thanks Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ, for the above information]

VUCC Awards-Endorsements for February 1, 2021

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

CallJanFeb
WA4NVM15571568
WD9EWK (DM43)630632
VE7CEW501555 
NM3B481553 
N9FN499526 
N7EGY502501??
ND0C450500 
AC9O359475 
W0NBC435437 
PV8DX373412 
KF6JOQ353403 
AK7DD376390 
W8LR300328 
S57NML205291 
K5ZM179277 
VE4MM227263 
VU2LBW246260 
VE6WQNew232 
KV4TNew219 
DG7YEONew217 
KF0QS115205 
NA1ME175200 
W4ALF102200 
WD9EWK (DM41)176187
WA8ZID126176 
DG3YJBNew103 
HB9GWJNew102 
VE6BMXNew102 
AA8CH (EN84)New101
AB0XENew100 
KN4ZUJNew100 
KS4YTNew100 

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 most of the work!

[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, 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/

Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for February 18, 2021

The following satellite has been added to this week’s AMSAT TLE Distribution:

UVSQ-SAT – NORAD Cat ID 47438.
Thanks to Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, for this satellite identification.

Editor’s Note: Per Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, the identification of UVSQ-SAT as object number 47438 is not yet certain as the distance between objects 47438 and 47437 is less than 25 km. It may take several more weeks for the objects to separate enough to determine which is UVSQ-SAT with 100% certainty.

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

ARISS News

The next contacts are probably going to be via the Kenwood TM-D710E radio located in the Service Module. You may or may not notice a difference in signal when compared to the Kenwood TM-710GA that is in the Columbus module.

John F Kennedy High School, Denver, CO, Multi-point telebridge via NA7V
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
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 Mike Hopkins KF5LJG
Contact is go for: Wed 2021-02-24 18:41:13 UTC 48 deg

Watch for live stream at: https://youtu.be/1RgszX0npbQ

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]

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

CAPE-3 CubeSat Launched

The University of Louisiana (UL) at Lafayette student-built CAPE-3 satellite was launched on January 17. A 1-U CubeSat, CAPE-3 includes a “digipeater and experimental UHF adaptive radio.” An AX-25 telemetry downlink has been coordinated on 145.825 MHz and a 1k2 frequency-shift keying (FSK) downlink has been coordinated on 435.325 MHz, “which may burst to 100 kHz bandwidth,” according to the IARU Amateur Satellite Coordination page.

CAPE-3 is the third cube satellite in the CAPE series. The primary educational mission is to allow grade-school classrooms to access the Smartphone CubeSat Classroom, and run interactive experiments through an experimental smartphone ground-station grid.

The secondary mission is to perform scientific experiments involving radiation detection and take pictures of Earth.

The solar-powered spacecraft, created by UL Lafayette’s CAPE Satellite Team, was launched with nine other CubeSats as part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program. A Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket attached beneath a wing of a customized Boeing 747 was dropped high above the Pacific Ocean. It climbed about 225 miles above Earth and then ejected the satellite.

Information on the ElaNa program can be found in PDF format at https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/lsp_elana_20_fact_sheet.pdf

The CAPE satellites are named for the university’s Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment program, designed to prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

****Watch Twitter, there are lots pop-up roves happening lately, and I can’t keep this page updated with all of them.****

Spring Training Rove! KX9X will be heading down to Ft Myers, FL the week of March 7 for some sun and baseball. Will activate EL86 & 96 holiday style for sure, possibly a couple other grids as well. Linear/FM. Details soon.

N6UA: I’ve had enough of the arctic zephyr … I’m headed south. I don’t have exact details yet – but the plan is to rove to DM74 for passes on February 19th. I’ll be overnight, so plenty of opportunities. Probably headed down via the “7s” and home into the “8s”

CM93 Possibility: N6DNM Very long shot, but might want to put it on your calendar for May 15th, if you can figure out where it is and for SOTA folks, that would be W6/SC-336, Santa Rosa Island, activated only once before.

[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, is certainly keeping busy!

He reports these upcoming satellite presentation dates …

02/17 – St. George, Utah
02/23 – Franklin, Indiana
03/10 – Trenton, New Jersey
03/11 – Clearwater, Florida
03/13 – QSO TODAY 2021 Virtual Convention (https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/)
03/16 – Palm Springs, CA
03/20 – Bonham, Texas
04/01 – Orem, Utah
06/15 – East Massachusetts

… and more being scheduled.

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
909-999-SATS (7287)

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, AMSAT Ambassador, and Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events Page Manager, for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Virgin Orbit published a Payload Profiles video that showcases AO-109 (RadFxSat-2). The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2VSpX0vWJI&feature=youtu.be

+ The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. AMSAT-DL tracked signals from the cruise stage until the rover separated approximately 10 minutes before landing on their 20 meter dish at the Bochum Observatory. A replay is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36CQLyS1Lo

+ EO-88 (Nayif-1) celebrated its 4th birthday on February 14th. Carrying a FUNcube linear transponder, the satellite continues to provide a high power telemetry downlink when in sunlight and a linear transponder for amateur radio operations in eclipse.

+ Several new products are available on the AMSAT Zazzle store, including a set of coasters, a watch, a t-shirt featuring the AMSAT round logo, and more. Check out the new items! 25% of the purchase price goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

+ All issues of The AMSAT Journal dating back to 2014 are now available to AMSAT members on AMSAT’s new membership portal. The 1969-2013 archive will be added at a later date. All editions of AMSAT’s Symposium Proceedings are also available for members. If you’re a current AMSAT member, get logged on today. If you are not yet a member, consider joining today at https://launch.amsat.org/

+ The 2020 edition of AMSAT’s Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available on the AMSAT store. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The book is presented in DRM-free PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. The digital download is available for $15 at https://tinyurl.com/2020GettingStarted. The print edition is $30 plus shipping and is available at https://tinyurl.com/GS2020Print

 

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://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

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.

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

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space,

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at amsat dot org

ANS-045 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for Feb. 14, 2021

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:

  • What Is Keeping The NA1SS Amateur Station Off The Air?
  • AMSAT OSCAR-109 Update
  • Virtual HamCation Is this Weekend – Don’t miss AMSAT!
  • AMSAT 2021 President’s Club Welcomes New Members
  • Happy New Year on Mars!
  • Satellite Operating Awards Available
  • AMICALSAT Award Certificates Deadline Approaching
  • Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 12, 2021
  • NASA Awards Contract to Launch Initial Elements for Lunar Outpost
  • ARISS News
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-045 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 045.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 Feb 14

What Is Keeping The NA1SS Amateur Station Off The Air?

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and its partners are troubleshooting what is keeping the NA1SS amateur station off the air.

ARISS became aware of the problem after an attempted contact with a school in Wyoming, between ON4ISS on Earth and astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG at NA1SS, had to abort when no downlink signal was heard. ARISS has determined that the problem is not with the radio equipment on board the ISS Columbus module.

ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, explained that during a 27 January spacewalk to install exterior cabling on the ISS Columbus module, the coax feed line installed 11 years ago was replaced with another built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus. It included two additional RF connectors to support the Bartolomeo payload-hosting platform installed last spring on Columbus.

“On 26 January, prior to the EVA [extravehicular activity], our Columbus next-generation radio system was shut off and the ISS-internal coaxial cable to the antenna was disconnected from the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA,” Bauer said. “During the spacewalk, an external four-connector coax feed line replaced one with two RF connections. This change was made to allow ESA to connect ARISS and three additional customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISS and one additional RF customer,” Bauer explained.

With the spacewalk completed, the ISS crew restarted the ISS amateur radio station on 28 January, but no voice repeater or automatic packet repeater system (APRS) downlink reports were heard and no downlink signal was heard during an attempted scheduled school contact either. Bauer said that because the exterior cable is not an ARISS cable, ARISS is working with ESA and NASA on a way forward. “NASA has opened a Payload Anomaly Report on this issue. We have talked to both the NASA and ESA representatives,” Bauer said.

[ANS thanks Southgate Amateur Radio New for this excellent summary of previously reported 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!


AMSAT OSCAR-109 Update

The RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E CubeSat has been designated as AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109). AMSAT engineering and operations teams appreciate the satellite community’s cooperation to date and reiterated their request that users not attempt to use the transponder until further notice. “The proper identification will allow further characterization of the satellite’s condition through additional testing,” AMSAT concluded.

RadFXSat-2/Fox-1E was launched on January 17 on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, which carried 10 other satellites into space. AO-109 carries an inverting linear transponder, with uplink at 145.860 MHz – 145.890 MHz, and downlink at 435.760 MHz – 435.790 MHz. Telemetry will downlink on 435.750 MHz.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Director and Fox Command Team member Mark Hammond, N8MH, for the above information]


Virtual HamCation Is this Weekend – Don’t miss AMSAT!

HamCation 2021 is a virtual ‘Online Only’ event this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, February 13th and 14th.

AMSAT will provide three virtual presentations on Sunday:

* 10:00 AM (EST) AMSAT CubeSat Simulator, Alan Johnston KU2Y, AMSAT VP of Educational Relations

* 12:00 AM (EST) AMSAT, Onward and Upward, Robert Bankston KE4AL, AMSAT President

* 1:00 PM (EST) AMSAT Engineering Update, Jerry Buxton N0JY, AMSAT VP of Engineering.

NOTE: > All times are Eastern Standard Time (UTC -05:00)

Be sure to check out the full schedule for other topics of interest.

https://www.hamcation.com/forums-speakers

[ANS thanks AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, 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/


AMSAT 2021 President’s Club Welcomes New Members

The following new members of the AMSAT 2021 President’s Club have been added as of January 31, 2021. We thank them for their generous support and helping to keep Amateur Radio in Space!

Core Level
Gerald Buxton, N0JY
Dale Peer, KF7ZBK
Alston Simpson, WA5TJB
Carl Starnes, W4EAT
Richard Steegstra, K1LKR

Bronze Level
Anton Giroux, KF3BX
Edward F. Krome, K9EK

Silver Level
W. Fisher, WB1FJ
Mark Hammond, N8MH
Joseph Lynch, N6CL
Ronald Parsons, W5RKN
David A. Vine, WA1EAW

Gold Level
Barry Baines, WD4ASW

Titanium Level
William Brown

All members receive a full color certificate, 2″ commemorative coin with four accent colors and gold polished finish, and an embroidered “REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT” key tag. Members at Silver level and above receive a handsome acrylic desk plaque and tickets for symposium events.

Join the AMSAT 2021 President’s Club today at https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/.

[ANS thanks Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, VP-Development for the above information.]


Happy New Year on Mars!

The countdown to a new year is in many ways a defining moment for our lives on Earth. Our age, our seasons, filing our taxes, all depend on the duration of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. On Mars, there are no yearly tax returns, but as the planet also orbits around our Sun, time on Mars is similarly measured in years. However, there are some significant differences between a year on Mars and a year on Earth. February 7, 2021 marked what scientists here on Earth consider the start of Year 36 on Mars. Let’s look at some similarities and differences between a year on the two planets:

* One year on Mars equals 687 Earth days. It takes almost twice as long as our Earth to orbit the Sun. This means your age would be a lot less if you lived on Mars! If you would like to feel younger, just divide your current age by 1.88 and casually mention to your friends that that’s your real age…on Mars.

* A Martian day is defined, like on Earth, as the time it takes for the planet to make one revolution around its axis. This is called a sol. A sol is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours and 39 minutes.

* Mars has four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn. They are defined by the planet’s position along its orbit around the Sun. The Martian New Year begins with the northward equinox (northern spring, southern autumn). As Mars travels through its yearly trajectory, the planet’s axial tilt causes the northern hemisphere to receive more sunlight during the northern summer, and the southern hemisphere to receive more sunlight in northern winter – just like on Earth. Unlike Earth’s seasons however, the seasons on Mars are not of equal lengths. This is because the orbit of Mars around the Sun is more elliptical than that of Earth. For example, the northern hemisphere spring (southern hemisphere autumn) lasts the longest, 194 sols, and the northern hemisphere autumn (southern hemisphere spring) is the shortest season at 142 sols.

* Mars’ elliptical orbit can have important consequences. During southern spring and summer, Mars swings by the sun closer and faster. The resulting increase in luminosity heats up the atmosphere, causing turbulence to lift up very fine particles from the Martian soil. For this reason, the second half of a Martian year is often marked by fierce dust storms that can sometimes become planet-wide.

* Like on Earth, winters are cold and summers are warm on Mars, but the planet’s overall temperature is a lot cooler, it has a yearly average temperature of minus 60 degrees Celsius. The planet experiences different weather phenomena throughout the seasons. A weather phenomenon that reappears every year around the southern spring and summer is the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud, a cloud of ice crystals that can reach up to 1800 kilometres in length. It repeats for at least 80 sols and then disappears again during the rest of the year.

* The Martian calendar began fairly recently compared to the one on Earth. The count started in Earth year 1955. This first Martian year coincided with a very large dust storm in its second half, aptly named ‘the great dust storm of 1956.’

If you’re looking for a reason to celebrate, here’s to a Happy New Mars Year!

[ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information]


Satellite Operating Awards Available

Awards are a big part of amateur radio in all of its various manifestations, and the same is true for satellite operations. There are a number of awards that are available for all your hard work on the satellites. AMSAT sponsors a number of these awards, and others are available from other amateur organizations. You may not have even known about some of them, and may have enough QSL cards to qualify now!

AMSAT’s Satellite Communicators’ Club award is given to any operator for having made their first satellite contact. To apply for this, and other AMSAT awards, you should go to the AMSAT.ORG online store and purchase the award. After completing your purchase, email the AMSAT Awards Manager, kk5do AT amsat DOT org that you have made the purchase and supplying the necessary proof of contacts.

The Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award is for working 20 contacts, on any satellite or combination of satellites, in 20 different states, DXCC countries or Canadian Call Areas. Those that have the RAC CANDADAWARD or ARRL WAS with satellite endorsements, may submit a copy of their certificate as proof of working the 13 Canadian Call Areas or 50 U.S. States. All QSOs must be completed from locations separated by no more than 50 miles or 80 kilometers.

The Oscar Sexagesimal Award is the same as the Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award but is given for 60 contacts. All the qualifications and costs are the same.

Next there is the Oscar Century Award. This is the same as the other two awards but is for 100 contacts. Qualifications and costs are the same. Please note that the previous 3 awards are aggregated. Once you have worked your 20, that applies towards your 60 so you only need 40 more contacts. The same is true for the 100, once you get your 60, you only need 40 more for your 100.

The AMSAT Rover Award is given to those intrepid souls who make our grid counts possible. It is based on a rather complex point system, which is detailed at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/

Finally, AMSAT offers the Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award. It is awarded for the submission of 1,000 satellite contacts on OSCAR-6 or later satellites. There is an endorsement for each additional 1,000 and a special certificate at 5,000.

For details on each of the AMSAT awards and how to apply for them, see the AMSAT website at https://www.amsat.org/awards-2/

In addition, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) offers many of their operating awards with satellite endorsements for those who complete the necessary contacts exclusively using satellites. These include the VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) for working 100 different grid squares, and the Worked All States (WAS) for confirmed contact stations in each of the 50 states. Those up for a particular challenge can shoot for the Worked All Continents (WAC) for contacting stations on each of the 8 continents, and DX Century Club (DXCC) for contacting 100 different DXCC countries on satellite.

For details on the ARRL awards, begin the search by consulting http://www.arrl.org/awards/

Satellite operating success can earn some impressive wallpaper!

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Awards Manager, 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


AMICALSAT Award Certificates Deadline Approaching

Diplomas for the AMICALSAT satellite are being sent out. If you have not yet requested yours, you can do so before 28/02/2021.

The satellite has been active since September 3, 2020. The launch of the Vega rocket went well. According to the project team, the commissioning of the satellite is in progress and is proceeding normally. The team has succeeded in stabilizing the satellite and is beginning to test image capture and retrieval.

The contributions of radio amateurs have been very important for the project. This has contributed to the commissioning of the satellite. In the case of AMICALSAT, it is possible to send telemetry to the dashboard hosted by the Satnogs network via

  • a Satnogs station
  • the AMICALSAT Decoder software provided by AMSAT-F at https://bit.ly/3pdTvcm
  • the software edited by DK3WN (TLM Forwarder)

Data from AMICALSAT Decoder is also sent to the AMSAT-F database (https://amsat.electrolab.fr/). To date, more than 42 radio amateurs from all over the world have contributed more than 28,000 telemetry frames.

In order to thank the radio amateurs who have sent telemetry via AMICALSAT Decoder software before December 31, 2020, AMSAT-F will issue a diploma.

Rules for issuing the diploma

The diploma in electronic format will be given to all radio amateurs or earphones that have received data from the Amicalsat satellite and sent these data to the AMSAT-F database with the “AMICALSAT Decoder” software.

Depending on the number of data received on the AMSAT-F database (https://amsat.electrolab.fr/), the nature of the diploma will be different depending on the number of frames received before December 31, 2020 23:59 UTC :

  • GOLD Diploma for persons having sent more than 5000 frames to the AMSAT-F database.
  • Silver Diploma for those who have sent between 2500 & 4999 frames to the AMSAT-F database.
  • Bronze Diploma: for those who have sent between 500 & 2499 frames to the AMSAT-F database.
  • Diploma without mention for persons having sent between 1 & 499 frames to the AMSAT-F database

The request for a diploma is done by sending an email to [email protected] indicating your callsign or the name given in the AMSAT-F database to send the data.

Only the received frames actually registered on https://amsat.electrolab.fr/ will be taken into account.

[ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F president, for the above information]


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


Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 11, 2021

RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) has been renamed as AO-109 in this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution as follows:

AO-109 – NORAD Cat ID 47311.
As of February 7, 2021 RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) was designated AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109) by Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Director and Command Station.

The following satellite has been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:

YUSAT-1 – NORAD Cat ID 47439.
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, for this satellite identification.

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


NASA Awards Contract to Launch Initial Elements for Lunar Outpost

NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the foundational elements of the Gateway. As the first long-term orbiting outpost around the Moon, the Gateway is critical to supporting sustainable astronauts missions under the agency’s Artemis program.

After integration on Earth, the PPE and HALO are targeted to launch together no earlier than May 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The total cost to NASA is approximately $331.8 million, including the launch service and other mission-related costs.

The PPE is a 60-kilowatt class solar electric propulsion spacecraft that also will provide power, high-speed communications, attitude control, and the capability to move the Gateway to different lunar orbits, providing more access to the Moon’s surface than ever before.

The HALO is the pressurized living quarters where astronauts who visit the Gateway, often on their way to the Moon, will work. It will provide command and control and serve as the docking hub for the outpost. HALO will support science investigations, distribute power, provide communications for visiting vehicles and lunar surface expeditions, and supplement the life support systems aboard Orion, NASA’s spacecraft that will deliver Artemis astronauts to the Gateway.

About one-sixth the size of the International Space Station, the Gateway will function as a way station, located tens of thousands of miles at its farthest distance from the lunar surface, in a near-rectilinear halo orbit. It will serve as a rendezvous point for Artemis astronauts traveling to lunar orbit aboard Orion prior to transit to low-lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon. From this vantage, NASA and its international and commercial partners will conduct unprecedented deep space science and technology investigations.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy will manage the SpaceX launch service. The HALO is being designed and built by Northrop Grumman Space Systems of Dulles, Virginia, and the PPE is being built by Maxar Technologies of Westminster, Colorado. NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Gateway program for the agency. NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is responsible for management of the PPE.

Learn more about NASA’s Gateway program at: https://nasa.gov/gateway

Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program at: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

[ANS thanks NASA 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/


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.

Due to antenna problems reported earlier, upcoming ARISS contacts are probably going to be via the Kenwood TM-D710E radio located in the Service Module. You may or may not notice a difference in signal when compared to the Kenwood TM-710GA that is in the Columbus module.

A contact with Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua, NH, multi-point telebridge via AB1OC, is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19 at 17:56:36 UTC. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS and the scheduled astronaut is Shannon Walker, KD5DXB. Maximum elevation will be 33 degrees. Watch for live stream at: https://youtu.be/0-Dsel4_7gM

Congratulations to NA7V for his first ARISS contact as an ARISS telebridge station! The contact with Red Hill Lutheran School of Tustin, Calif. was completed on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, operating with the station callsign of NA1SS, made contact at 18:26 UTC on a pass with maximum elevation of 65 degrees. Congratulations to the Red Hill Lutheran students and Mike!

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, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]


Upcoming Satellite Operations

Quick Hits:

****Watch Twitter, there are lots pop-up roves happening lately, and I can’t keep this page updated with all of them.****

Spring Training Rove! KX9X will be heading down to Ft Myers, FL the week of March 7 for some sun and baseball. Will activate EL86 & 96 holiday style for sure, possibly a couple other grids as well. Linear/FM. Details soon.

N6UA: I’ve had enough of the arctic zephyr … I’m headed south. I don’t have exact details yet – but the plan is to rove to DM74 for passes on February 19th. I’ll be overnight, so plenty of opportunities. Probably headed down via the “7s” and home into the “8s”

AD0HJ will be in EN23 2/11 & 2/12.

KE0PBR: EL87 Holiday Style FM only Week of 2/14… Might want to reach out if you need it.

Major Roves:

CM93 Possibility: N6DNM Very long shot, but might want to put it on your calendar for May 15th, if you can figure out where it is and for #SOTA folks, that would be W6/SC-336, Santa Rosa Island, activated only once before.

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

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

QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo; March 13,14 2021
The second QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo will be held on March 13-14, 2021. There is an Amateur Radio speaker track and AMSAT will have a virtual booth during the event. Advance tickets are now on sale. More information at: https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/

[ANS thanks Virtual QSO Ham Expo for the above information.]


Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ NASA will provide live coverage on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app of the launch and docking of a Russian cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station beginning at 11:15 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 14. The unpiloted Russian Progress 77 is scheduled to launch on a Soyuz rocket at 11:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (ANS thanks NASA for the above information)

+ U.A.E’s Hope (Al Amal) orbiter arrived at Mars on Feb. 9, firing its thrusters for 27 minutes to successfully enter Martian orbit. The U.A.E. is the first Arab country, and the fifth overall, to reach the planet. Meanwhile, China’s Tianwen-1 entered Martian orbit on Feb. 10 for a period of checkout before a planned release of its instrument-laden lander and rover sometime in May. And next week, on Thursday, Feb. 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover will slam into Mars’ atmosphere at hypersonic velocities and eventually find itself sitting alone on the surface seven minutes later (hopefully all in one piece). The Mars fleet is arriving! (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ After an incredible 43 years and 22 billion kilometers, Voyager 1 and 2 are still delivering science (which takes 21 hours to reach us at the speed of light). Using data from both craft, scientists have found evidence for electrons getting reflected off of shockwaves created by our Sun’s coronal mass ejections, which then spiral along interstellar magnetic field lines while accelerating to great speeds (scientific paper at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/abc337). (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ NASA announced Feb. 9 it wants to obtain a seat on the next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station, launching in just two months, to ensure a U.S. presence on the station in the event of any commercial crew delays. There are no known issues with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, one of which is currently docked to the station for the Crew-1 mission. “Experience has shown that new launch capabilities may encounter unanticipated delays or difficulties maintaining initial schedules,” NASA noted. (ANS thanks Space News for the above information)

+ If there’s an advanced extraterrestrial civilization inhabiting a nearby star system, we might be able to detect it using its own atmospheric pollution, according to new NASA research. The study looked at the presence of nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2), which on Earth is produced by burning fossil fuels. In their study, the team used computer modeling to predict whether NO2 pollution would produce a signal that is practical to detect with current and planned telescopes. They found that for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, a civilization producing the same amount of NO2 as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away. Since NO2 is also produced naturally, scientists will have to carefully analyze an exoplanet to see if there is an excess that could be attributed to a technological society. (ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)

+ U.S. astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost, on Feb. 14, will break the record for most days in space by a crew launched aboard an American spacecraft, NASA said. “They will surpass the record of 84 days set by the Skylab 4 crew on Feb. 8, 1974”, NASA said. Four flight engineers – Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG – docked the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the US module last November. (ANS thanks Space Daily 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.

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-038 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for Feb. 7

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:

  • RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E Is Designated AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109)
  • SN9 Starship Test Launch: Otherwise successful test ends in a fireball
  • CAPE-3 Updates and iGate Request * First QO-100 satellite contact from Indonesia
  • ARISS Call for Proposals: Contacts for January to June 2022
  • Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 4, 2021
  • ARISS News * Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-038 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 038.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 Feb 07

RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E Is Designated AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109)

On January 17, 2021, the RadFxSat-2 cubesat was launched on a LauncherOne vehicle off the coast of California. RadFxSat-2 is a joint mission of AMSAT and the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics at Vanderbilt University. The satellite carries a telemetry beacon and a linear transponder, along with radiation effects experiments. The telemetry beacon has not yet been heard, but the transponder is partially operational at reduced signal strength. Work continues to recover the telemetry beacon and characterize the transponder with the goal of opening it for general use. AMSAT hereby designates RadFxSat-2 as AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109).

Testing and characterization of RadFxSat-2/AO-109 continues. After user reports and additional verification that the linear transponder is at least partially functioning with a low level downlink signal, the Engineering and Operations teams made the official designation. Of the several objects have been suspected (D, C, and M), with Object C being suggested recently by Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA. Recently, these satellites have sufficiently spread apart to allow testing to determine which object is RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E.

During the 2 Feb 2021 0240 UTC passes, command station Mark Hammond, N8MH, compared Objects D, C, and M for the “best fit” for received signals with Doppler correction on both the uplink and downlink frequencies for each of the candidate objects. Objects D and M were quickly eliminated from further consideration, due to poor frequency predictions of Doppler correction compared to observed signals. The clear best fit is Object C, which is known OBJECT C, INTELDES 2021-002C, and NORAD CAT ID 47311. Therefore, AMSAT is happy to identify Object C/2021-002C/47311U as RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E and make the designation AO-109. Thanks to Alan Biddle, WA4SCA, for support during the identification.

The Engineering and Operations teams appreciate the community’s cooperation thus far and affirm the request that users do not attempt to use the transponder until further notice. The proper identification will allow further characterization of the satellite’s condition through additional testing.

(ANS thanks Mark L. Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Director and the Engineering and Operations Team 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!


Another Starship Test Launch: SN9 test ends in a fireball

On Tuesday, February 2, Starship serial number 9 (SN9) completed SpaceX’s second high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from our site in Cameron County, Texas.

Similar to the high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 8 (SN8), SN9 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 kilometers in altitude. SN9 successfully performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

During the landing flip maneuver, one of the Raptor engines did not relight and caused SN9 to land at high speed and experience a RUD.

The full description and a video of the test launch may be found at: https://bit.ly/3avfkPC

[ANS thanks SpaceX Public Relations for the above information]


Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed
until further notice. For details, please visit
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/


CAPE-3 Updates and iGate Request

Rizwan Merchant, KF5BNL, reports: “It seems CAPE-3 is indeed healthy in orbit. Our power system seems to be working as intended and UHF transmitters seem healthy. However, we’re suspecting the VHF radio is dead on arrival. We’ve not seen any indication of it functioning in orbit, which aligns with a fear we had prior to integration.

The CAPE-3 team is devising plans to begin testing individual subsystems on the satellite to gauge the health of those. This might take a few more weeks to validate and provide an update on what capabilities we can still carry out, as we update our ground systems.”

Additional updated information on CAPE-3 may be found at: https://bit.ly/2O6t1Nj

Rizwan continues: “If anyone is able to switch their iGates, or make a UHF iGate to help track CAPE-3 email packets, we’d be really grateful for the help! We’ve turned on one at our University as well. 1.) We are expecting UHF APRS on 437.325, the same as what our FSK and AX.25 packets are coming across on. 2.) From what I can tell, our NORAD ID is 47309. 3.) Currently we are having some issues commanding CAPE-3 from our University lab, so once we are able to transmit commands, we’ll be able to set the APRS emails to come across more often, and begin experimenting the tweeting function to see if it works as we intended.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped so far! We got our first email packet from W7KKE-13 earlier this evening (approximately 00:45 UTC Saturday, 02/06/2021).

The SatNOGS network is getting packets fairly regularly: https://bit.ly/3q9LQgR

[ANS thanks Riswan Merchant, KF5BN, 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/


First QO-100 satellite contact from Indonesia

Indonesia’s national amateur radio society, ORARI, reports on the first contacts from Indonesia via the Qatar-Oscar-100 geostationary satellite transponder

The contacts took place on Thursday, January 27, 2021. Those involved were Farid Farhan YC1HVZ, Remco den Besten PA3FYM and Rene Stevens PE1CMO.

ORARI’s report says a team from the Telkom University Telecommunication Engineering Student Association (HMTT) led by Farid Farhan YC1HVZ, succeeded in conducting the first contact from Bukit Moko (Grid square OI33UD), Bandung, West Java with a satellite elevation of 0.8 degrees at an altitude of 1200m+.

Additional information is available at: https://bit.ly/3jgIC8B

[ANS thanks Southgate Amateur Radio News for the above information]


ARISS Call for Proposals

New Proposal Window is February 15th, 2021 to March 31st, 2021 February 2, 2021 — The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.

The deadline to submit a proposal is March 31st, 2021. Proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and the proposal form can be found at www.ariss.org. An ARISS Introductory Webinar session will be held on February 25th, 2021 at 8 PM ET. The Eventbrite link to sign up is: https://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2021.eventbrite.com

Additional information may be found at https://www.ariss.org/

[ANS thanks David Jordan AA4KN ARISS PR 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


Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 4, 2021

The NORAD Cat ID for RadFxSat-2 has been updated in this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution as follows:

RadFxSat-2 – NORAD Cat ID 47311. Mark Hammond, N8MH, (AMSAT Director and Command Station) has identified RadFxSat-2 as OBJECT C, NORAD CAT ID 47311. OBJECT C was determined to be the “best fit” for RadFXSAt-2 and OBJECTS D and M were eliminated as contenders. RadFxSat-2/Fox1E has been designated AO-109 as reported above.

The following satellites have also been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:

SOMP 2b – NORAD Cat ID 47445.
IDEASSat – NORAD Cat ID 47458.
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, for these two satellite identifications.

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

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2021-02-06 04:30 UTC

Sterling MS, Ashburn, VA, multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS 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 Shannon Walker KD5DXB. Contact is go for: Tue 2021-02-09 14:44:48 UTC 66 deg

Watch for live stream at https://youtu.be/qVhBweqjCo4

Red Hill Lutheran, Tustin, CA, telebridge via NA7V . The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS . 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 Mike Hopkins KF5LJG. Contact is go for: Wed 2021-02-10 18:26:15 UTC 65 deg.

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.

[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:

N6DNM: There will be a quick run at CM88/89 on Sun 7th, and a good chance of an attempt at CM79 on around Feb 12-13 (if wx holds) . Details will follow.

Major Roves:

CM93 Possibility: N6DNM Very long shot, but might want to put it on your calendar for May 15th, if you can figure out where it is and for #SOTA folks, that would be W6/SC-336, Santa Rosa Island, activated only once before.

JD1BQA activation of Ogasawara: Takio Hata, JH3QFL, plans to activate Ogasawara (AS-031) from May 1 to 7 as JD1BQA. QRV on 160, 80, 40, and 6m on FT8/FT4, and via the RS-44 satellite (CW). QSL via JH3QFL (d).  (Reported in DXNL 2235 – February 3, 2021 DX Newsletter)

Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com Updated 02/3/ 2021

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, and JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM for the above information]


Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? 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 and registered ARRL instructor Clint Bradford K6LCS has a couple Zoom presentations lined up to begin 2021. In the first week of February, an “abbreviated” presentation was given to a Southern CA ARES group. Later in the month, a “normal” show will be presented. There are up-to-five spots available for you to attend! Just send Clint an email message for details.

Would a 90-minute informative, personalized-to-your-club, FUN presentation on working the “easy” satellites would be appropriate for your club? Send Clint an email message, and let’s book a date! Contact: Clint Bradford K6LCS k6lcs at ham-sat dot info 909-999-SATS (7287)

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


Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ After a successful launch in December, on 2 Feb. 2021, UVSQSat switched mode from 1200 BPSK(G3RUH) to 9600 BPSK(G3RUH). Frequencies for UVSQSat are telemetry on 437.02 MHz with callsign LATMOS-1 and the repeater: 145.905 MHz Uplink, 437.02 MHz Downlink More information on the UVSQSat mission may be found at: https://bit.ly/3oOPYRy (ANS thanks Christophe Mercier of AMSAT Francophone for the above information).

+ Two astronauts working outside the International Space Station on January 27 installed a European Space Agency data relay antenna and connected four of six cables to partially power a new ESA experiment platform. But the two cables they were unable to connect to the Bartolomeo platform will need to be connected later. Unable to resolve the cable trouble, they capped the two balky connectors and used tie-downs to hold all the cables in place. (ANS thanks SpaceFlight Now for the above information)

+ An update to the IC-705 Satellite Memory .CSV file has been posted at the AMSAT-SE website. Lars, SM0TGU, has fixed a bug in the PO-101 settings and has added 5 offsets for each of the FM birds. The 5 offset memory settings should make it easier to track the doppler shift of those satellites if an operator is in the field. The revised memory settings files are available at: https://www.amsat.se/2020/11/12/satellite-memory-file-for-ic-705/ (ANS thanks Lars Thunberg, SM0TGU of AMSAT-SE for the above information)

+ Twelve bottles of Bordeaux wine and dozens of vine shoots are back at home in southwest France after spending months on the International Space Station (ISS) for an unusual astrochemistry experiment. The red wine and 320 mature shoots known as canes arrived February 1 after their return to Earth via a Dragon capsule operated by SpaceX. They will be analysed at the Institute of Vine and Wine Science in Bordeaux to see how the stresses produced by zero gravity affect both grape growth and the finished product, which could spur new agricultural research. (ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)

+ Sixty more SpaceX-owned Starlink internet satellites rocketed through a moonlit winter sky over Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 launcher early Thursday, while another Falcon 9 stood on a different launch pad a few miles away to loft another 60 Starlink payloads Friday. The first stage’s landing punctuated the fifth trip to space and back for this booster, and it broke a record for the fastest turnaround between flights of a SpaceX booster, besting the previous mark of 38 days set last month.(ANS thanks SpaceFlight Now for the above information)

+ Diplomas for the AMICALSAT satellite are being sent out. If you have not yet requested them, you can do so before 28/02/2021. The request for a diploma is done by sending an email to [email protected] indicating your callsign or the name given in the AMSAT-F database to send the data. (ANS thanks Christophe Mercier of AMSAT Francophone for the above information)

+ The first private Chinese company to reach orbit met with failure Monday (Feb. 1) during its second attempt to go to space. iSpace’s four-stage Hyperbola-1 rocket failed after liftoff while attempting to carry the cubesat-sized Fangzhou-2 (Ark-2) satellite into space. Media reports indicate the launch attempt happened around 0815z from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. (ANS thanks Space.com 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, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ
kd4iz at frawg dot org

ANS-031 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for Jan 31, 2021

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-031

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:

  • RadFxSat-2 Update – (January 29, 2021)
  • RadFxSat-2 Signals Detected, AMSAT Engineering Continues to Assess Status (January 28, 2021)
  • ARISS Operations Situation
  • Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 28, 2021
  • QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo to Include Speaker Track on Amateur Radio Satellites
  • Ham Radio’s SuitSat Returns in Short Horror Film
  • Iodine Thruster Could Slow Space Junk Accumulation
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-031.01
ANS-031 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 031.01
From AMSAT HQ: 712 H Street NE  Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002
January 31, 2021
To ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-031.01

RadFxSat-2 Update (January 29, 2021)

From AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY:

“Thanks go to W5SAT, who applied the amateur radio spirit of exploration and innovation to helping find out “what’s up?” with RadFxSat-2.

“We appreciate his work and immediately applied it to our processes as we discover/recover RadFxSat-2.

“Why was it not heard or found week ago?  There could be an unexplained behavior such that it could not and was not able to occur until the other day. Our stations attempted transponder use under various conjectured and commanded states throughout this period as part of the exploration of the anomaly, but did not detect any signals. They were able to confirm their signals the night of the 27th.

“Following that we turned attention to the beacon, as you know. We have not discovered the beacon yet and we have contacted some top class “big gun” stations, asking for their help. The signal will obviously be pipsqueak and may not even be there. The drive to find it, or if it is not detected then to take possible actions to activate it, is the information in the telemetry that is paramount to knowing through satellite data exactly what is going on.  We asked you that the transponder not be used because any power to signals in the transponder downlink is power stolen from the beacon strength.  We have asked everybody to listen, as from the beginning, to help find it and find status and solutions faster. It may sound boring or useless but it is at the heart of every satellite launch and commissioning phase and perhaps the biggest part the general satellite community can play in the lifetime of the satellite. The payoff is important to all of us, and I invite anyone to join the hunt and share in the enjoyment of – whatever happens.

“I can’t say what we will be doing tomorrow for sure, we will be looking for any reports and telemetry as more and larger stations join and because we have seen behavior that is not clearly understood. Procedures and conclusions that are not carefully thought out could result in losing what we have now. It is comparable to NASA taking careful time in dealing with anomalies (barring safety-related issues). Very importantly, we will be watching to see if anyone captured anything at all from the telemetry in the beacon. All you have to do is hunt and catch one frame and you are a hero in this game. Your help is greatly appreciated.

“Unless there is some big news over the weekend, I expect that Monday evening would be the next opportunity for a short update, time permitting.”

[ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President – Engineering for the above information]

RadFxSat-2 Signals Detected, AMSAT Engineering Continues to Assess Status (January 28, 2021)

On January 27, 2021, Brad Schumacher, W5SAT, reported copying his CW signal weakly via the RadFxSat-2 transponder. On the morning of January 28, AMSAT Engineering and Operations confirmed these reports and determined that RadFxSat-2 is partially functioning, though signals are extremely weak. AMSAT thanks W5SAT for his report.

AMSAT also appreciate those who joined in determining whether they could detect their own or other signals in recent passes today.

At this time it is essential and we ask you: Please do not attempt to transmit through the transponder until further notice. This is very important to the next steps the team is taking now.

The next crucial step in evaluating the condition of RadFxSat-2 is to determine whether or not the 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon is operating and, if possible, copy telemetry from the beacon. AMSAT asks that everyone with 70cm receive capability listen to the beacon frequency of 435.750 MHz (+/-) Doppler, upper sideband (USB). Use FoxTelem with your receiver in order to tune and capture any telemetry you can. Also make sure FoxTelem is set to “Upload to server” so that AMSAT receives your telemetry data. If you capture a good IQ recording on SDR, please send a detailed description of your recording to [email protected]. The team may respond with a request for your recording and details on how to transfer it to the AMSAT Engineering team. Please understand that keeping the transponder clear is essential to putting all power and attention to the beacon telemetry.

Two-line elements (TLE’s) are available in AMSAT’s nasabare.txt distribution at https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasabare.txt. Available data suggests that RadFxSat-2 is OBJECT M from the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne launch, NORAD ID 47320, international designation 21-002M.

AMSAT thanks the Amateur satellite community for their perseverance and assistance while the AMSAT Engineering and Operations teams work to understand and resolve the situation with RadFxSat-2.

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Engineering and Operations teams 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

ARISS Operations Situation

Thursday, January 28., 2021 Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-USA Executive Director issued the following statement.

“Today was a tough one for ARISS.  Let me explain.

“As you all know, an EVA (spacewalk) was conducted yesterday to install cabling on the exterior of Columbus to support the commissioning of the Bartolomeo attached payload capability mounted on the Columbus module. On January 26, prior to the EVA, our Columbus next generation radio system was shut off and the ISS-internal coaxial cable to the antenna was disconnected from the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA. During the EVA, our current external antenna coaxial cable, installed in 2009, was replaced with another one built by ESA/Airbus with four RF connectors included, as compared to the current 2 RF connections. This change was made to allow ESA to connect ARISS and 3 additional customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISS and one additional RF customer.

“As you might have seen yesterday, the EVA was conducted and our cable connection was swapped out. This morning, the crew restarted the radio system. Not hearing any Voice Repeater reports, we requested a switch to APRS packet.  We still did not hear any downlink reports.  At 1746 UTC we had a planned ARISS school contact between our certified telebridge station ON4ISS, operated by Jan in Belgium, and Mike Hopkins on ISS. No downlink signal was heard during the contact. The crew radioed down ???no joy??? on the contact about halfway through the contact and the Newcastle High School, Newcastle Wyoming, USA contact attempt ended.

“Clearly, there is an issue. More troubleshooting will be required. It may be the new external RF cable that was installed during yesterday’s EVA. It might also be from the connect and disconnect of the interior coaxial (RF) cable. So the interior cable cannot not be totally discounted yet. The crew took pictures of the coaxial cable and connector attached to the ARISS radio inside the ISS. Because the exterior cable is a Bartolomeo cable and not an ARISS cable, we are working with ESA and NASA on a way forward. NASA has opened a Payload Anomaly Report on this issue.  We have talked to both the NASA and ESA representatives. These are the same folks that worked with us on previous ARISS hardware systems as well as the ESA Bartolomeo integration initiative. We have also asked our Russian team lead, Sergey Samburov, if we can temporarily use the radio in the Service Module for school contacts until we are able to resolve this issue. As we gather more information, we will share it with you.

“On behalf of the ARISS International Board, the Delegates and the entire team, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous volunteer support to ARISS.  We WILL get through this and be more resilient as a result.”

[ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-USA Executive Director 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/

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 28, 2021

Available data suggests that RadFxSat-2 is OBJECT M from the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne 1-19-21 launch, NORAD ID 47320, international designation 21-002M. Therefore, The following satellite has been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:

RadFxSat-2 – NORAD Cat ID 47320.
Thanks to Brad Schumacher, W5SAT for his report copying RadFxSat-2 and AMSAT Engineering Ops for the confirmation.

The following satellite has also been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:

OBJECT N – NORAD Cat ID 47345.
This object was part of the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne Demo 2 launch of January 19, 2021. Object N was initially given the wrong launch date but that date was later corrected to 1-19-2021.

The current TLE’s can always be downloaded at https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasabare.txt.

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

QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo to Include Speaker Track on Amateur Radio Satellites

The QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo on March 13 – 14, 2021 will devote a speaker track to AMSAT and the world of Amateur Radio satellites.

The Expo is in “full planning mode” and promises “many exciting new things” for the upcoming event, which will include a world-class lineup of more than 60 speakers and workshops for beginners to experts. Presenters at nine AMSAT sessions will discuss the broad spectrum of ham radio satellites, including:

– Introduction to Amateur Radio Satellites (Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW)

– Getting on the Air with Satellites (Clint Bradford, K6LCS)

– How to Enjoy Amateur Radio Contacts with the International Space Station (Frank Bauer, KA3HDO)

– Implementation of LDPC Encoder on FPGA (Anshul Makkar)

– Debris Mitigation in Earth’s Orbit (Anshul Makkar)

– Digital Multiplexing Transponder from the Open Research Institute (Michelle Thompson, W5NYV)

– Solving the ITAR and EAR Problem for the Amateur Radio Satellite Service (Michelle Thompson, W5NYV)

– Remote Labs for P4XT Engineering Development (Paul Williamson, KB5MU)

Thompson, an AMSAT Board Member, said working satellites is one of the most rewarding privileges of holding an Amateur Radio license.

“There has never been a better time to be involved in amateur radio satellites, since some long-standing regulatory burdens have been lifted and advanced technology has never been more affordable and accessible,” Thompson remarked. “We have opportunities now that were not available as of even a few years ago. AMSAT is fortunate to contribute to the Expo by showcasing the truly amazing work going on around the world in the amateur satellite scene. And the Expo is an ideal partner to show it off to the wider ham audience.”

AMSAT will have a booth at the Expo, where attendees can talk to experts, enthusiasts, operators, and technicians and obtain contact and membership information for the 30 AMSAT societies around the world.

Early Bird tickets are $10 (to help cover the cost of this event) and $12.50 “at the door.” That includes entry for the live, 2-day event as well as access during the 30-day on-demand period following the event. Register on the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo website.

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.]

Ham Radio’s SuitSat Returns in Short Horror Film

SuitSat loses its innocence in a new video short sci-fi thriller Decommissioned. “Inspired by true events,” the video short resurrects the 2006 spacesuit/satellite that transmitted messages on 2 meters as it circled Earth. The original SuitSat-1 project, conceived by an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team, repurposed a decommissioned Russian Orlan spacesuit to function as a free-floating amateur radio transmit-only satellite.

“ARISS designed and built an antenna and radio gear that got approved for installation into the suit, and cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev and Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, put SuitSat-1 into orbit at the start of a spacewalk,” ARISS-US Delegate for ARRL Rosalie White, K1STO, recounted. SuitSat-1 transmitted a voice message, “This is SuitSat-1 RS0RS!” in several languages, plus telemetry and a slow-scan TV image on an 8-minute cycle as it orbited Earth.

In the 6-minute film, a SuitSat returns in the future to haunt International Space Station commander “Diaz,” played by Joey Vieira. Diaz is seen taking photos from inside an observation dome on the ISS when he spies some distant space debris and radios Houston to express concern.

“If there was any cause for alarm, you know we’d see it too,” Houston assures.

As the object closes in, an increasingly anxious Diaz recognizes the “debris” as SuitSat. “This is SuitSat,” comes a voice on the ham radio.

“Houston, you’re not gonna believe this. We’re picking up transmissions on the ham radio that sound identical to the SuitSat experiment,” he tells a skeptical mission control. “It’s SuitSat! I’m seeing SuitSat!”

“SuitSat re-entered the atmosphere and burned up years ago,” mission control responds. “It’s impossible.”

Decommissioned was produced by Perception Pictures and directed by Australian filmmaker Josh Tanner. He told Gizmodo that he produced the video “using the Unreal Engine technology that The Mandalorian used, albeit old-school rear projection, as opposed to the fancy LED wall tech they used.”

SuitSat-1 — called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik in Russian — was so successful that another unneeded Orlan spacesuit was subsequently refitted as SuitSat-2.

As an interesting sidebar with respect to the real SuitSat, White explained, “After the ARISS engineers calculated SuitSat-1’s orbit and spin characteristics, they knew the legs and arms would have to be filled with something, so they asked the crew to stuff dirty laundry inside.”

White said Decommissioned was a hit at a recent ARISS meeting. The original SuitSats were deorbited to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere after their useful lives ended.

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.]

Iodine Thruster Could Slow Space Junk Accumulation

For the first time ever, a telecommunications satellite has used an iodine propellant to change its orbit around Earth. The small but potentially disruptive innovation could help to clear the skies of space junk, by enabling tiny satellites to self-destruct cheaply and easily at the end of their missions, by steering themselves into the atmosphere where they would burn up. The technology could also be used to boost the mission lifetime of small CubeSats that monitor agricultural crops on Earth or entire mega-constellations of nanosats that provide global internet access, by raising their orbits when they begin to drift towards the planet.

The technology was developed by ThrustMe, a spin-off company from the École Polytechnique and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and supported by ESA through its programme of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). It uses a novel propellant – iodine – in an electric thruster that controls the satellite’s height above Earth. Iodine is less expensive and uses simpler technologies than traditional propellants. Unlike many traditional propellants, iodine is non-toxic and it is solid at room temperature and pressure. This makes it easier and cheaper to handle on Earth. When heated, it turns to gas without going through a liquid phase, which makes it ideal for a simple propulsion system. It is also denser than traditional propellants, so it occupies smaller volumes onboard the satellite.

ThrustMe launched its iodine thruster on a commercial research nanosat called SpaceTy Beihangkongshi-1 that went into space in November 2020. It was test fired earlier this month before being used to change the orbit of the satellite.

[ANS thanks ESA 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/

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

No events listed.

Upcoming Satellite Operations

Watch Twitter, there are lots pop-up roves happening lately.

Send your upcoming rover operations to Paul Overn, KE0PBR at ke0pbr at gmail dot com.

ARISS News

Upcoming Contacts

Vladivostok, 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 Sergey Ryzhikov.
Contact is go for Friday, February 5, 2021 at 08:35 UTC.

Ottawa Carleton District School Board, Ottawa, ON, Canada, multi-point telebridge via AB1OC
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Mike Hopkins KF5LJG.
Contact is go for Friday, February 5, 2021 at 17:41:04.

Successful Contacts

Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, Direct
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The astronaut was Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.
Contact was successful on Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 08:25 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.]

Satellite Shorts from All Over

35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her Crew

On Jan. 28, 1986, the astronauts once again boarded Challenger as managers had cleared the launch despite unexpectedly cold temperatures overnight at KSC. Managers considered significant ice covering parts of the launch tower as not enough of a concern to delay the launch. In behind-the-scenes discussions, concerns by engineers about the effects of the cold temperatures on the integrity of O-rings in SRB segment joints were overruled by managers who cleared Challenger to launch. Liftoff took place at 11:38 a.m. Eastern time.

As soon as Challenger cleared the launch tower, control of the vehicle shifted from KSC’s Launch Control Center to the Mission Control Center (MCC) at JSC, where ascent Flight Director Jay H. Greene and his team monitored the mission’s progress. For the first minute or so, the launch appeared to proceed normally, with the usual callouts between the crew and capsule communicator Richard O. Covey in MCC. At 73 seconds after liftoff, controllers lost all telemetry from Challenger and noticed a fireball on television screens. Stunned controllers slowly came to realize that the vehicle had suffered a major malfunction that the crew likely did not survive.

Read the entire article at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/35-years-ago-remembering-challenger-and-her-crew.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]

Build a Fully Automatic Amateur and APT Weather Satellite Ground Station

Over on GitHub stdevPavelmc has released his software called FAASGS (Fully Automatic Amateur Satellite Ground Station). FAASGS is an open source program that allows RTL-SDR users to set up a satellite ground station that tunes, record and generate images for NOAA APT weather satellites, as well as records FM amateur radio satellites. The software runs on a single board computer such as a Raspberry Pi.

Read the full article at https://www.rtl-sdr.com/.

[ANS thanks RTL-SDR.com for the above information.]

‘Another One Leaves The Crust’ Launch Completed By Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab has successfully launched their 18th Electron mission, ‘Another One Leaves The Crust,’ on January 20, 2021. This is the first mission in a busy launch manifest for 2021, which includes multiple dedicated and rideshare small satellite missions for government and commercial customers. This year will also see Rocket Lab launch a Photon mission to the Moon in support of NASA’s CAPSTONE program.

For the complete story go to https://news.satnews.com/2021/01/20/rocket-labs-first-launch-of-2021-for-mid-january-for-ohb-group/.

[ANS thanks SatNews.com 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