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 Previous: Inside Your League--The Circulation Department |  Next: The K7VVV Solar Update |
By Anthony R.
Curtis, K3RXK
Contributing Editor
November 1, 2001
The Russian mini Sputniks of the late 1990s not only were shrouded in mystery, but one was a source of protest by the Amateur Radio community.
As far as we know, there were four mini Sputniks--RS-17a, RS-17b, RS-18, RS-19. They also had other names. RS-17a and RS-17b were twins of the Sputnik 40 project in 1997. RS-18 was Sputnik 41 in 1998. RS-19 was Sputnik 99 in 1999.
Three flew away from the space station and one didn't. Two provided a lot of fun for hams around the globe, while another one, RS-19, created controversy.
RS-17
One of two miniature Sputnik replicas built by students in the Aero Club de France, AMSAT-France, the Astronautical Federation of Russia, and AMSAT-Russia, RS-17a was hand-launched from the Mir space station on November 4, 1997, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957. RS-17 transmitted on 145.820 MHz until December 29, 1997 (see "Space&Beyond: Little Echo of the Beep Heard Around the World").
RS-17b, the twin in the Sputnik 40 project, went to Mir but apparently never was launched and burned up in the atmosphere when Mir came back to Earth on March 23, 2001.
RS-18
 The RS-18 satellite. |
In March 1998, the Russian Aeronautical Federation asked AMSAT-France to provide a new mini Sputnik. Aéro Club de France sponsored the project to celebrate the club's 100th anniversary in 1998.
Gérard Auvray, F6FAO, AMSAT-France engineering vice president, delivered the satellite to Moscow on September 5 where it later was ferried to Mir by Progress cargo freighter on October 25. A year after RS-17's launch, RS-18, a.k.a. Sputnik 41, was hand-launched from Mir station on November 10, 1998, at an altitude of approximately 200 miles. According to the Associated Press, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka told his fellow space walker Sergei Avdeyev to "toss it gently toward the Moon."
RS-18 was the same size as Sputnik 40--about eight inches in diameter--and weighed about nine pounds. It, too, was a one-third scale replica of Sputnik 1.
RS-18's 200 mW FM transmitter on 145.8125 MHz sent down two pre-recorded voice greetings in English, Russian and French as well as a beacon tone. The messages said, "1998 was the International Year of Air and Space" and "International Space School Sputnik Program." RS-18 was dubbed "A Satellite for Education."
It also transmitted a "beep-beep" beacon to remind listeners of the 1957 Sputnik 1 signal. The frequency of the tone, transmitted every 90 seconds, indicated the satellite's internal temperature. The beacon was activated every 15 seconds with the transmitter shut down in between to save the battery.
RS-18 was received by hams on the ground using simple equipment such as handheld transceivers and scanners. Since the spacecraft had no solar cells, it transmitted only until December 10, 1998.
RS-19
Officials of Moscow's Space Flight Control Centre (SCSC) in December 1998 asked AMSAT-France to build another mini Sputnik. According to French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré, FX0STB, the Russians wanted a satellite just like RS-18, but using the so-called "Internet beat time," a concept being promoted by the Swatch watch folks in Switzerland. The project would be known as "Beatnik," and the satellite would be launched from Mir in April 1999.
When asked, the Russians said the satellite would be amateur and not commercial. AMSAT-France explained that the International Telecommunication Union regulations for Amateur Radio would not permit use of ham frequencies for commerce. The contract between SCSC and AMSAT-France said the satellite would not be commercial, according to Haigneré. The Russian Space Agency (RSA) announced the satellite would be used to measure the behavior of small objects in the presence of the larger space station.
The Russians then contracted with Swatch to allow the Swiss watch manufacturer to transmit voice and text messages from the hamsat. AMSAT-France said later that it did not know about that commercial agreement.
RS-19 was built to transmit stored voice messages in multiple languages on 145.815 MHz using 200 mW. Before launch, 400 messages referencing Swatch's "beat" theme and the company's concept of a single "Internet time" that had been collected via the Web were loaded onto the satellite's memory. Up to 10 seven-second messages were to be transmitted at a time, followed by a seven-second pause.
When hams got wind of Project Beatnik, they began to pressure Swatch and the Russians to move the satellite's transmitter off amateur frequencies. AMSAT-France and AMSAT-Russia protested commercial use of amateur frequencies and distanced themselves from the project. ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, sent a fax to the Swatch Group CEO Nicolas E. Hayek asking the company to cancel the promotion.
"The Amateur Radio community must stand against the 'Beatnik' satellite because it represents such an undesirable precedent," Sumner said. He suggested that Swatch switch to a commercial satellite for its project.
Swatch replied that Project Beatnik was not a commercial effort to promote the company, but an effort to "improve time coordination in a separate and new way between all parts on Earth."
Amateur Radio operators worldwide continued to protest. The day before the scheduled hand launch from Mir, Swatch cancelled the project because of overwhelming opposition to the operation.
Haigneré launched the satellite by hand from Mir during a spacewalk on April 16. He then took to the air on April 18 from R0MIR, the ham station aboard Mir, while flying above France to confirm to stations on the ground that the RS-19 transmitter was turned off when he launched it. He said he had received "instructions to do so for the satellite was carrying advertisements that did not comply with amateur regulations."
Editor's note:
ARRL Life Member Anthony R. Curtis, K3RXK, lives in Florence, Kentucky. He
describes himself as "a dc-to-daylight kind of guy." He's interested in AMSAT,
ARES, digital, HF, VHF, UHF, CW, SSB, FM, QRP, contesting and DX. Licensed
since 1954, he originally held the call sign W8TIZ. An Extra class op with a
PhD in mass communication, Curtis has written 72 books about space, astronomy,
computers and electronics. He is editor of Space Today Online. Active as an
ARRL field volunteer, Curtis served as Section Emergency Coordinator for the
Maryland-DC Section and as net manager for the Maryland Emergency Phone Net. He
now serves as an ARRL Educational Advisor and a Great Lakes Division Assistant
Director. He also has been president of clubs and repeater associations. Curtis
is employed as associate dean for academic information services at the Union
Institute University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Readers can contact Tony Curtis via
e-mail <k3rxk@arrl.net>.
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