[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][JAMSAT Home]

[jamsat-news:2915] Re: ANS-016 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins


 
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-016

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:
* Satellite Protocol
* ARISSat-1 Update
* SKN Reminder
* SA Request for Assistance
* ARISS Report
* Satellite Shorts
* AMSAT China Report on HO-68 Health

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.01
Satellite Protocol

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.01
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.01

Recently, there has been comments on activity on the LEO satellites.
With newcomers added to the mixture everyday, it is a good idea to re-read a
Guideline from many years ago.

http://www.innismir.net/article/26

Enjoy and use as a reminder of our resposibilities.

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.02
ARISSat-1 Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.02
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.02

ARISSat-1 Update

The ARISSat-1 satellite/amateur radio experiment is in Baikonur. 
RSC Energia has information and photographs about the satellite 
on their news site http://www.energia.ru/en/news/news-2010/news_12-31.html .

The NASA Phase 3 Safety Review for ARISSat is scheduled for Thursday 20 
January 2011.  The Progress 41P launch carrying ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V is 
scheduled for late January and the release of the satellite is scheduled 
for the end of February 2011. Energia is also calling the satellite KEDR, 
after Yuri Gagarin's callsign in celebration of the 50th anniversary of 
the first manned space flight 12 April 1961. Sergey Samburov, RV3DR is 
shown in the photos with the satellite on the RSC Energia site.

Gould

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM,  for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.03
SKN reminder

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.03
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.03

Ray, W2RS thanks all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night 
on OSCAR 2011 and reminds us to  please nominate 
someone you worked for 'Best Fist.' Your nominee need not have the best 
fist of those you heard, just of those you worked.  
Nominations should be sent to w2rs@amsat.org. A list of those 
nominated will be published in ANS  in early February, 
and in a forthcoming issue of The AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]

/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.04
SA Request for Assistance

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.04
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.04

SA AMSAT Cubesat project needs programmers

The development team for the planned South African CubeSat project 
is taking shape nicely.

Radio amateurs with diverse specialist skills are offering their 
expertise from all over. "However, we still need a person with 
experience in programming PIC or 8051 microprocessors," Hannes 
Coetzee, ZS6BZP, told SARL News.

"This person will be a critical member of the team and will be 
responsible for the development of the onboard controller soft-
ware. Other amateurs who are interested in the development of 
the satellite and would like to join the development team are 
still welcome to send their Amateur Radio CVs to: 
saamsat@intekom.co.za," Hannes said.

The team will meet for its first formal teleconference on Wed-
nesday evening 26 January 2011 at 20:00. Team members will re-
ceive a formal notification.

[ANS thanks SARL, SA AMSAT, and SouthGateARC site for the
 above information]

/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.05
ARISS Report

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.05
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.05

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) 
Status Report January 10, 2011



1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact 
scheduled for Tsutsujigaoka Minami Elementary School in 
Akishima, Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, January 12 was completed.  Students 
participating in the contact are learning about space science and the 
global cooperation required to operate the ISS.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has 
scheduled for Istituto Comprensivo Marco Polo-Viani Scuola 
Secondaria 1ฐ Grado, Viareggio, Lucca, Italy on Wednesday, January 12 
Has been completed.  Through this contact, the school hoped to increase 
students' interest in science, technology, space research and other 
space-related subject matter.

Istituto Comprensivo Via Toscana 2 in Civitavecchia, Italy has 
been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space 
Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, January 15 has also been successful.
The school, with an enrollment of 750 children, ages 3-14, had 
prepared questions about life in space and the research performed 
on the ISS. 

2. Italian Students Chat with Astronaut through ARISS Contact

On Saturday, January 8, University of Bari "Cittadella Mediterranea 
della Scienza" in Bari, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the 
International Space Station (ARISS) contact with ESA astronaut Paolo 
Nespoli, IZ0JPA.  Prior to the contact, ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, 
IK0WGF introduced the event via phone line. Nespoli made the radio link 
with the students, answering 14 of their questions. A second contact was 
established on the following ISS pass to finish up the questions and 
exchange greetings. Approximately 100 students, teachers, visitors and 
media attended.  Regional television, local media and newspapers 
covered the event and video was streamed over the internet, receiving 
more than 100 connections. Cittadella Mediterranea della Scienza 
promotes technology and scientific knowledge in schools of all grades 
using projects that encourage academic research.

3. Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Chris Cassidy was given an introductory session on ARISS this 
past week. He will train for his amateur radio license and plans to 
participate in the ARISS program. He is currently scheduled to fly in 
the spring of 2013.

4. ARRISat Featured in February QST

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted a story in its January 
6 ARRL Letter about the February issue of QST which features 
ARISSat-1 on its front cover.  The ARRL monthly journal has a 
circulation of 156,000. See: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2011-01-06

5. AMSAT Posts ARISSat-1 Update to Web Site

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) posted an update 
on its Web page covering the current status of ARISSat-1. 
"ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V Integration and Testing Underway in 
Moscow," may be viewed here:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php

6. AMSAT Articles on ARISS News

On January 9, the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) 
News Service bulletin (ANS-009) included two ARISS-related news 
items.  "ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V Update" and "ARISS School Contacts 
Resume for 2011" may be found at: 
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/48hour/msg83129.html


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

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.06
Satellite Shorts

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.06
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.06

NASA Redoubling Efforts to Contact Spirit Rover on Mars

A news item carried on UniverseToday.com (http://tinyurl.com/2ccsnku)
reports that NASA is stepping up operational efforts to contact the 
Martian Spirit rover with more communications commands; more listening 
time; more frequencies. Spirit last communicated with mission control-
lers back on Earth on March 22, 2010. The rover entered hibernation 
mode, some nine months ago, as the available sunlight to power the 
life giving solar panels was diminishing. NASA hopes to reawaken Spirit 
from a long slumber and reignite her breakthrough campaign of explora-
tion and discovery from a scientific goldmine on the surface of the red 
planet.

At Spirit's location in the southern hemisphere of Mars, Southern 
Summer has not yet arrived. Right now it's mid Southern Spring and 
daylight hours are increasing. And Summer doesn't even start until 
mid-March 2011. The question is whether Spirit's unheated electronics 
components have endured the extremely harsh and frigidly cold condi-
tions of her 4th winter on Mars - her coldest ever. At about -100 C. 

Spirit entered a low-power fault mode in March 2010 with minimal activ-
ity except charging and heating the batteries and keeping its clock run-
ning. With most heaters shut off, Spirit's internal temperatures dipped 
lower than ever before on Mars. That stress could have caused damage, s
uch as impaired electrical connections, that would prevent reawakening 
or, even if Spirit returns to operation, would reduce its capabilities.

"Components within the rover electronic module (REM) inside the rover's 
warm electronic box (WEB) are experiencing record low temperatures," 
said Doug McCuistion, the director of Mars Exploration at NASA Head-
quarters in Washington, DC, in an interview about Spirit's predicament. 
"The expectation is for the REM hardware to reach -55C at the coldest 
part of the winter. We have tested the REM down to -55C".

NASA's Deep Space Network of antennas in California, Spain and Australia 
has been listening for Spirit daily in coordination with the spacecraft 
orbiting Mars; Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In X-band, 
the DSN listens for Spirit during one pass each day. The rover team has 
also been sending commands to elicit a response from the rover even if
the rover has lost track of time.

Now, the monitoring is being increased. Additional listening periods in-
clude times when Spirit might mistake a signal from NASA's Mars Recon-
naissance Orbiter as a signal from Earth and respond to such a signal. 
Commands for a beep from Spirit will be sent at additional times to 
cover a wider range of times-of-day on Mars when Spirit might awaken.

"DSN does an average of 4 "sweep & beep" commands in each day's pass," 
according to JPL spokesman Guy Webster. Also, NASA is listening on a 
wider range of frequencies to cover more possibilities of temperature 
effects on Spirit's radio systems.

[ANS thanks UniverseToday.com for the above information]

Hello Everyone,

This is to let you know that AMSAT has updated the Main/Top 
news item at http://www.amsat.org to:

ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V Integration and Testing Underway in Moscow


[ANS thanks Joanne, K9JKM, for the above information]


Hi all (Happpy 2011!)
The next "HV Satcom" Net is Thursday January 20 at 8PM (UTC -5);
(Host) Mt. Beacon ARC) on the 146.970MHz. Repeater (-600;Pl;100)
with an Echolink Node of "N2EYH-L"
("HV Satcom"net): www.hvsatcom.org/
E-Mail: wa2aqh@amsat.org  ("HV Satcom"Net)
                                             
[ANS thanks Stu, WA2BSS, For above information.]


January SatMagazine Covers CubeSats

Amateur Radio satellites NanoSail-D and O/OREOS get a mention in the 
January edition of SatMagazine, now available for free download.

NanoSail-D and O/OREOS feature on pages 61/62.

Pages 14-18 have a article by Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd. 
(SSTL) project lead Shaun Kenyon on the recent increase in interest 
in NanoSats and pages 20-22 cover "The Power Of Picosatellites".

The US military are making use of NanoSats and the recently launched 
US Army satellite SMDC-ONE, a 3U CubeSat, is covered on page 60.

Download a copy of the January SatMagazine from
http://www.satmagazine.com/2011/SM_January_2011.pdf

Free subscription to SatMagazine and SatNews
http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/regester.cgi

SatMagazine
http://www.satmagazine.com/

[ANS thanks the SouthGateARC Site for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-016.07
AMSAT China Report on HO-68 Health

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.07
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 16, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-016.07

AMSAT China Report on HO-68 Health

HO-68 (XW-1) Project Manager, Alan Kung, BA1DU sent an update on the
satellite's operational status. Alan wrote, "This week I received 
many reports from all over the world about faults of HO-68's tele-
metry beacon."

Alan continues, "After we analyzed the situation of the satellite, we 
think that the software in the payload management MPU was not running 
properly. Software crashes stopped communication between the payload 
management MPU and the satellite management unit. This caused the prob-
lem with the beacon and caused an abnormal switch of the transponder 
mode." 

On January 14 AMSAT China controllers switched the satellite into safe 
mode at 0300Z. They turned off most of the onboard units, and then at
0440Z re-powered up. The satellite returned to normal operating mode 
and so far the beacon has continued to operate normally. 

AMSAT China said they will not upload commands to the satellite to 
change the transponder operating schedule for the next week. The com-
mand team will continually monitor HO-68 operational status this week. 
Please send Alan a report if you observe any abnormal operation of HO-68. 
Alan can be reached at: alankung@public3.bta.net.cn

AMSAT China web page: http://www.camsat.cn

[ANS thanks Alan Kung, BA1DU 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 week's ANS Editor
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
Nb2f at amsat dot org





_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans