[jamsat-news:1977] ANS-002 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE

ANS-002

A happy New Year to all our readers from the ANS Editors and the AMSAT-NA
Board.

These thoughts are of course tinged with sadness and hope for all those 
involved with the after-effects of the Boxing Day Tsunami.

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:

ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition:
* FCC orbital debris rule
* ARISS Status
* Huygens Probe
* 2005 Launches

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-002.01
AMSAT follows up with FCC on orbital debris rule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 002.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-002.01

Dr. Perry Klein, W3PK, AMSAT Vice President, Government Liason reports
that AMSAT has filed a "reply to oppositions" as part of the on-going
process in the petition for reconsideration on the FCC's IB docket
02-54, Mitigation of Orbital Debris.

Six parties filed comments in response to the Petition, but it should be
noted that none of them actually opposed the Petition. Those filing
comments represeted both individuals as well as organizations such as
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
(Cal Poly) and Project OSCAR.

Even though all those filing comments supported AMSAT's petition for
reconsideration, AMSAT made use of this procedural opportunity to
address issues raised in those comments as well as reinforce AMSAT's
original position. AMSAT believes that the revised 97.207(g) as adopted
would cause irreparable harm to those responsible for building and
funding the many satellite projects currently in design and construction
stages which are intended to carry amateur space stations.

The full text of all of AMSAT's filings with the FCC can be found at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/AboutAmsat/filings/

Perry also notes that Ray Soifer, W2RS was instrumental in both the
research and composition of this filing with the FCC.

[ANS thanks Perry, W3PK for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-002.02
ARISS Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 002.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-002.02

1. Tulsa Contact Successful

On Wednesday, December 22, 2004, students visiting the Tulsa Air and
Space Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma had the opportunity to speak with the
International Space Station. Nine students were able to ask eighteen
questions of Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, and an employee of the
museum asked a nineteenth question. The students returned to the museum
after attending space camp there over the summer. They ranged from
grades three through twelve. An amateur radio station at the museum, set
up in conjunction with the museum's Space Colonization Exhibit, was run
by the Tulsa Repeaters Organization, who helped set up the contact.
Approximately 60 people attended the event. Three TV stations, FOX 23,
Channel 8 (ABC), and Channel 6 (CBS), two newspapers and amateur
radio magazine CQ VHF covered the event. 

2. Upcoming School Contacts

The first contact of the new year has been scheduled with Mori Elementary
School in Hyogo, Japan. It will take place on Friday, January 7, 2005 at
10:46 UTC.

3. ARRL Article on ESA Ireland Contact

The ARRL ran a web story about the ARISS contact held at the University
College Cork. The article entitled, "Nothing Like 'Zero G,' Astronaut 
Tells Youngsters in Ireland," can be found at:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/12/22/1/?nc=1

4. ARISS International Teleconference Held

On Tuesday, December 21, the ARISS international team held their monthly
teleconference. Agenda items discussed included the next ARISS 
International Face-to-Face Meeting to be held in the U.K. in July, 2005, 
a proposed meeting in San Francisco in 2006, Russian Space Education, and
the SuitSat project.

5. Columbus Module Support

The ARRL Foundation voted to grant $5000 to the ARISS-Europe team for
expenses related to establishing an Amateur Radio station on the Columbus
module. An additional 27,000 euro are needed to reach the projected cost 
of 100,000 euro for funding the Columbus module project.

6. New ARISS Card Reviewed

Rosalie White sent revised text for a new ARISS card to the ARISS 
delegates for comments. The card is used to confirm that radio contacts 
were made or heard by amateur radio operators.

[ANS thanks Carol Jackson, KB3LKI for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-002.02
Huygens probe

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 002.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-002.02

Soon, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe will parachute to the
surface of Saturn's huge moon Titan. Huygens will sample Titan's air,
examine the moon's surface, and listen for alien sounds. It could be the
strangest adventure in the history of space exploration.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/30dec_titan.htm?list494233

[ANS thanks NASA Science News for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-002.03
2005 satellite launch sked

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 002.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 2, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-002.03

Here is the list of 2005 amateur satellite launch schedule to be found on
launch schedule web sites.

P3E is listed on September on Space Calender. .When asked about the
schedule, Peter DB2OS answered:

"We do not have any official confirmation yet and I do not know
where this entry came from...."

P3E launch schedule is not fixed. But I guess the best case is
September.

** 2005 amateur satellite launch schedule **
launch satellite launcher
------------------------------------------------------
Feb VUSat PSLV
Mar CubeSats *1 Dnepr 1
May SSETI Express Cosmos 3M
May 12 PCSat2 *2 Space Shuttle Discovery STS-114
Aug SuitSat ISS EVA
Sep P3E Ariane 5

reference
- Space Calender by NASA
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/calendar.html
See 2005 September. P3E is listed.

- Space-Launcer.com by the Orbital Report News Agency
http://www.orbireport.com/Log.html

- amsat-bb


*1 CubeSats: The follwing 14 CubeSats are launced by same launcher. I
don't know how many CubeSats operate on amateur satellite band. I only
konw the SEEDS. SEEDS has 437.485MHz CW and FM transmitter. SEEDS
transmits CW tlm, digital tlm and FM voice messages.

1. ICEcube 1 Cornell University (U.S.)
2. ION University of Illinois (U.S.)
3. Rincon 1 University of Arizona in Tucson (U.S.)
4. ?? The Aerospace Corporation (U.S.)
5. PolySat 1 Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering (U.S.)
6. SEEDS Nihon University (Japan)
7. Ncube Norsk Romsenter (Norway)
8. HAUSat 1 Hankuk Aviation University (South Korea)
9. Merope Montana State University (U.S.)
10. PolySat 2 Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering (U.S.)
11. KUTESat Kansas University (U.S.)
12. Sacred University of Arizona in Tucson (U.S.)
13. Mea Huaka'I University of Hawaii (U.S.)
14. ICEcube 2 Cornell University (U.S.)

*2 Before operation, EVA is needed to fix it on ISS

See you soon on new birds.

Happy New Year!!

[ANS thanks Masa, JN1GKZ 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 Office.

--

73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Dave Johnson, G4DPZ
g4dpz at amsat dot org
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