Page 133 – AMSAT

November 15 is AO-7’s 40th Anniversary – W7O Special Events Station

June 28, 2017November 1, 2014 by amsat admin

Temp-0200 — AO-7 40 years on-orbit. W2GPS archive. Click to enlarge.

40 years ago: AMSAT-OSCAR 7 was launched at 1711 UTC, November 15, 1974 from the Western Test Range at Vandenberg AFB in California

AO-7 became the second AMSAT-NA constructed and Phase 2 amateur radio satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit. It remained operational until a short circuit in a battery in 1981. On 21 June 2002 the satellite was heard again on its 2 meter beacon (145.9775 MHz CW) after 21 years of silence, and 27 years in space. AO-7 remains semi-operational with reliable power only from its solar panels. The restoration of service was due to the short circuited battery becoming an open circuit allowing the solar cells to power the spacecraft. When the satellite eclipses it powers down. It is operational while the solar panels are illuminated by sunlight.

Read the original AO-7 launch announcement in the 1974 AMSAT Newsletter: AMSAT-Newsletter-1974-AO-7Launch.

W7O Special Event Station

ARISS-US Accepting Proposals to Host Scheduled ISS Contacts in 2015

June 28, 2017October 20, 2014 by amsat admin

Message to US Educators
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
Contact Opportunity

Please share the following with teachers, administrators and leaders at your local schools, museums, science centers and scouting organizations.

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 May 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015. 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 SUMBIT A PROPOSAL IS DECEMBER 15, 2014.

The Opportunity
Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.

An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times.

Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed
by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA.

More Information
Interested parties can find more information about the program at
www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS.
More details on expectations, audience, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions are available at
www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact.

Please direct any questions to [email protected].

Design The Next AMSAT Satellite!

June 28, 2017October 17, 2014 by amsat admin

At the 2014 AMSAT Space Symposium AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton announced the plan for the next generation of AMSAT satellites. “The door is open for everyone, to submit their ideas. AMSAT Engineering has a long term strategy and this is the first step.”

The Engineering long term strategy includes the following goals

Advancement of amateur radio satellite technical and communications skills
Enhance international goodwill
Grow and sustain a skilled pool of amateur radio satellite engineers
Establish and maintain partnerships with educational institutions
Develop a means to use hardware common to all opportunities

With respect to the last goal Jerry said “Within the bounds of the type of satellite it takes to achieve any of the various orbit opportunities, let’s consider in those plans the possibility of developing a platform that can suit any and all orbits. Perhaps a modular CubeSat, using a common bus as we did in Fox-1, which gives great flexibility in building and flying different sizes and configurations of CubeSats with simple common-design hardware changes.”

Submissions should be thorough and contain the following information. The purpose of the proposal is not just in suggesting an idea; being an all-volunteer team AMSAT needs your help in carrying out the idea.

Design
Implementation – CubeSat platform
Estimated timeline
Cost – volunteer resources, commercial (COTS) units
Launch – how does it get to orbit
Strategy – how it fits into AMSAT’s Engineering long term strategy

As mentioned above the idea should be based on the CubeSat platform. This is the standard through which we will look for launches in the foreseeable future.

Fox-1A On the Air and In Your Hand at Symposium

June 28, 2017October 12, 2014 by amsat admin

The Fox-1A Engineering Unit transponder was on the air at 2014 Space Symposium. Attendees were able to work each other through the transponder and pose for pictures while holding the actual engineering unit. In addition, the slow speed telemetry that accompanies every voice ID beacon and transponder conversation was being received, decoded, and displayed for all to see.