AMRAD-OSCAR 27

Satellite Summary

Name: AMRAD-OSCAR 27 aka EYESAT-1
NASA Catalog Number: 22825
Launched: September 26, 1993
Launch vehicle: Ariane 4
Launch location: Kourou, French Guiana
Weight: 11.8 kg
Orbit: Polar LEO (Low Earth Orbit)
Inclination: 98.5 degrees
Size: 150 x 150 x 150 mm
Period: 101 Minutes

Uplink:

145.850 MHz

Downlink:

436.800 MHz

Features:

Amateur payload combined with an experimental payload.
EYESAT-1 is an experimental Microsat satellite built by Interferometrics Inc, of Chantilly, Virginia.
The amateur equipment onboard the satellite was built by AMRAD.
For further information about AMRAD contact:

AMRAD
P.O. Drawer 6148
McLean, Virginia, USA, 22106-6148
http://www.amrad.org

Description

AMRAD/EYESAT-1 was one of three amateur satellites that was launched together on a Arianne V59 rocket from French Guiana at approximately 0147 UTC, 26 September 1993. It was later designated AMRAD-OSCAR-27 once in orbit. The other two amateur spacecraft were KITSAT-OSCAR-25 (KO-25) and Italy-OSCAR-26 (IO-26).

AO-27 is a secondary amateur communications payload carried aboard the EYESAT-1 experimental MICROSAT satellite built by Interferometrics Inc. of Chantilly, Virginia.

The commercial side of the spacecraft's mission is the experimental monitoring of mobile industrial equipment.

The amateur equipment aboard the satellite was constructed by members of AMRAD, a technically-oriented, non-profit organization of radio amateurs based in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., to meet the needs of amateurs for a platform to conduct digital satellite communications experiments.

AO-27 is presently operational as a FM "repeater" in the sky. Ordinary UHF and VHF FM amateur radios can be used to communicate through this satellite. The amateur radio transponder is operational on most weekends. Here is more information on AO-27's schedule and operation courtesy of Michael Wyrick, N4USI, the control operator of AO-27 and Steve Greene, KA1LM.

References

John Hansen, "New Satellites in Orbit," The AMSAT Journal, Vol. 16, No. 5, Sep/Oct 1993, p. 1.
Steve Ford, "AMRAD Oscar 27," QST, Dec 1993, p. 107.

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Last update January 4, 1998 - N7HPR