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 Previous: In Brief |  Next: Manassas, Virginia, BPL Startup Sparks ARRL Response |
 AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, with a model of the Echo satellite, set for launch in late March. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 22, 2003--AMSAT-North America has announced that launch of the AMSAT OSCAR-E Amateur Radio microsat--the "Echo Project"--has been moved up to March 31, 2004. Earlier plans had called for a May 2004 launch. Echo Project Team member Richard Hambly, W2GPS, reported at AMSAT-NA's Annual Meeting and Space Symposium October 18-19 in Toronto, Canada, that the Echo project has made significant progress in recent months.
"The Project Team met with our contractor, SpaceQuest, and at this meeting we decided that spacecraft integration would take place this December and scheduled the launch for March," Hambly told the gathering. Integration will take place at the AMSAT Integration Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
A Russian Dnepr LV rocket--a converted SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile--will carry the approximately 10-inch-square satellite into a low-Earth orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Hambly reported that the project team powered up the Echo flight hardware in late summer in a "flat-sat" configuration at SpaceQuest. Data communications, command and control, and attitude control subsystems were tested, in addition to the radio equipment, power systems and cabling.
The
satellite will incorporate two UHF transmitters, each running from 1 to 8 W and
capable of simultaneous operation, four VHF receivers and a multiband,
multimode receiver capable of operation on the 10 meter, 2 meter, 70 cm and 23 cm
bands. Echo will feature V/U, L/S and HF/U operational configurations, with
V/S, L/U and HF/S also possible. FM voice and various digital modes--including
PSK31 on a 10-meter SSB uplink--also will be available.
 During the AMSAT-NA Space Symposium in Toronto, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, addresses a full house on the topic of building a simple panel reflector antenna for AO-40. [Dave Hassler, K7CCC, Photo] |
Also during the Symposium, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, outlined the delivery of the so-called Phase 2 ham equipment to the ISS. A Progress rocked delivered a Kenwood TM-D700E VHF/UHF transceiver to the ISS. The unit will mean a significant boost to the power output of the ARISS initial station gear--from 5 W to 25 W.
"A
Yaesu FT-100D and SSTV equipment, along with some new headsets, will be taken
to the ISS on Progress Flight 14P," Bauer said. That flight is scheduled for
January. Additional ARISS gear will not go up until the space shuttle returns
to flight in September 2004, however.
 Karl Hemker, N2POR (left), and Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, discuss a software issue during a break in the AMSAT Space Symposium. [Dave Hassler, K7CCC, Photo] |
Before transport to the ISS, all equipment must undergo hardware and software modification to meet stringent NASA and Russian Space Agency standards. Russian, Japanese and US amateurs have been involved in the modifications and also in developing custom software interfaces for ease of use by space station crew members.
Bauer said the equipment still on the ground will be tested in November at the KIS Service Module model facility in Moscow to validate that the Phase 1 and 2 systems are compatible. RF testing will also be conducted.
According to Bauer, current plans call for the Expedition 8 crew of Mike Foale, KB5UAC, and Alex Kaleri, U8MIR, to install the Phase 1 and 2 70-cm hardware after ground tests are complete. Previous crews already installed four Amateur Radio antennas to cover HF, 2 meters, 70 cm and microwave frequencies.
Bauer said the software for the D700 has been set up with five program modes: phone, crossband repeater use, APRS, packet and an emergency mode. APRS probably will be the default mode when a crew member is not actively using the ham station, he predicted.
Crew
members typically use non-mission off-time to operate the ARISS gear. Bauer
says he's been working with US and Russian space officials to have them dedicate
a few additional hours each month for operation and maintenance.
 ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. [File Photo] |
In addressing the general membership meeting, AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, noted that income from membership dues no longer reflects the costs associated with satellite development and launch. "AO-40 cost $4.5 million, and we estimate that future satellites will cost from $2.5 to $3 million," Haighton said. "We expect to take in just $244,000 in 2004." As a consequence, Haighton said he'd ask the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors to increase annual dues and propose another membership drive. AMSAT-NA membership dues now are $36 for US residents.
AMSAT-NA members recently received a fundraising appeal from the organization. Haighton said in the recent AMSAT Journal that it would cost $150,000 to launch Echo.
Haighton also asked the Board of Directors to continue its support of ARISS and that it go ahead with the OSCAR-Eagle project, which he believes "can offer exceptional service to amateur operators with state-of-the-art electronics." Issues of publicity for amateur satellite projects and the desire to publish an annual report also came up for discussion during a question-and-answer session that followed Haighton's remarks.
ARRL
Assistant News Editor Dave Hassler, K7CCC, attended the AMSAT-NA Symposium and
Annual Meeting on behalf of the League.
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