This just in, from Cal Poly – Fox-1A has been mated to the Centaur rocket stage
Photo courtesy of Cal Poly, arrow added by N0JY
“We are on the Centaur!”
AMSAT News
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Election Ballots in the Mail
Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be received at the AMSAT-NA office by 15 SEP 2015 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be returned as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means.
This year there are eight Board candidates:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Steve Coy, K8UD
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Mark Hammond, N8MH
EMike McCardel, KC8YLD
Bob McGwier, N4HY
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will serve as non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than four candidates.
Election of Board members is both a responsibility as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board.
Fox-1 Development, Launch, and Frequency Coordination Status at Dayton
During the Dayton Hamvention, AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, provided more information about the Fox-1 satellites under development. Buxton, N0JY, says Fox-1A has passed all environmental testing and is integrated into the P-POD deployment canister. “The ‘remove before flight pin’ has been pulled, the doors closed on the P-POD, and everything is aboard the shipping container now en route to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for launch”, said Buxton.
Previously Buxton had announced plans to incorporate an L band receiver in Fox-1C and Fox-1D. The addition will allow ground commanded selection of the U/v (normal Fox-1 bands) or the new L/v 1.2 GHz (23 cm) mode. Both bands will operate as FM single channel. (See: http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/?p=4000)
During the satellite operations segment of the AMSAT Forum Glasbrenner provided the details of the uplink and downlink frequencies for the Fox-1 FM cubesat fleet.
Fox-1 Frequencies
Uplink FM (67 Hz tone) Downlink FM
Fox-1A 435.180 MHz 145.980 MHz
RadFxSat/Fox-1B* 435.250 MHz 145.960 MHz
Fox-1C* 435.300 MHz 145.920 MHz
1267.300 MHz ** 145.920 MHz
Fox-1D* 435.350 MHz 145.880 MHz
1267.350 MHz ** 145.880 MHz
* Pending IARU Coordination, If needed, changes will be announced
** U/v and L/v operations switchable by command station,
not operational simultaneously
According to Buxton, the team is planning to have an affordable L band uplink ground station available to amateurs by the time Fox-1C is on orbit.
+ Fox-1A will launch on a NASA ELaNa flight scheduled during the third quarter, 2015 from Vandenberg AFB. Fox-1A is a passenger aboard this launch driven by the schedule of the primary payload. When updates are available with firm dates they will be announced via the ANS bulletins, on the AMSAT web, and in the AMSAT Journal.
+ Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016.
+ Fox-1C will launch on Spaceflight’s maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer on a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight planned for late 2015.
+ Fox-1D is a flight spare for Fox-1C. If not needed as a spare it will fly with the University of Iowa HERCI radiation mapping experiment.
+ Fox-1E “Evolution” will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also have a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. Launch opportunities are being developed, to be announced at a later date.
Visit the Station and Operating Hints page (http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/?page_id=2144) for a copy of the Fox-1 Operating Guide which premiered at Dayton.
AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. Please help us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Donations may be made via the:
+ Paypal and credit card payment on the AMSAT website at http://www.amsat.org/wordpress
+ Donation link in the AMSAT store: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/
+ Call the AMSAT office at (888) 322-6728
AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geosynchronous Orbit
AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geosynchronous satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure.
A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT-NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn, KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV.