[jamsat-news:3243] [ans] ANS-290 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

[E.Mike McCardel]

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-290

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including 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.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.

In this edition:

* Design the Next AMSAT Satellite!


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-290.01
ANS-290 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 290.01
>From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE October 17, 2014
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-290.01


Design the Next AMSAT Satellite!

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.

In considering your proposal, Jerry encourages you to contact him
for more details on the criteria.  In particular, if you plan to
include a university as a partner to provide experiments or other
support and you are not representing that university, please contact
Jerry for assistance in working with our existing partners or
establishing a new partnership.

"Being amateur radio operators, it is easy for us to fall into a
particular trap because of our history of communicating with other
amateurs throughout the world" says Jerry.  "Specifically, most
people who are not already involved in the world of satellite
technology are unaware of or simply overlook the provisions of the
current ITAR and soon to be EAR export rules particularly with regard
to deemed exports which requires governmental permission to discuss
satellite projects with foreign nationals."

While all amateurs are invited to submit ideas, U.S. amateurs must
take particular care of they choose to become involved in a
collaboration which includes individuals from other countries.  It is
permissible to receive ideas and proposals from outside the U.S., but
it is not permitted for U.S. Persons to export or share design ideas
with other countries unless they have taken the proper steps to
insure compliance with ITAR and deemed export rules.

Additionally, those wishing to work on proposals should use care in
presenting themselves in their contacts.  While the goal is for AMSAT
to build and launch the satellite, it is not an AMSAT project until
it is accepted by the AMSAT Board of Directors.  It is acceptable to
represent yourself as members of a project team that plans to submit
a proposal to AMSAT for a future satellite project, as the AMSAT name
is well known.

"It is not our intention that ideas be submitted to AMSAT-NA which
would be more appropriately handled by an AMSAT organization in a
country where AMSAT is established.  AMSAT-NA is seeking ideas from
amateurs in North America and will certainly consider ideas from
amateurs in countries which do not have an established AMSAT
organization or relationships with an existing AMSAT organization."

The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2015.  After the submission
date the ideas will be screened for completeness and then reviewed by
a board consisting of the AMSAT Engineering Team, AMSAT Senior
Officer and Board of Directors representatives, and aerospace
industry members.  The review board may modify or consolidate ideas
and will consider which meet the criteria to become a project based
on feasibility, cost, and the ability to bring value to the amateur
satellite community.  The review process is expected to be completed
in September 2015.

For those ideas selected to become a project which satisfy the
requirements for an ELaNa launch, the idea authors will be asked to
work with the AMSAT Engineering Team on an ELaNa proposal.
The Engineering Team will then work on the details of execution for
the selected project(s) and present a proposal to the AMSAT Board of
Directors in October 2015 for final approval to begin work.  Once
approved, any ELaNa proposals will be submitted in November 2015 and
the project(s) will move forward.

Now is the time for YOU to begin working on the next AMSAT satellite!


[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA 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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.

73,
This Special ANS Editor,
EMike McCardel, KC8YLD
kc8yld at amsat dot org
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