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Ben
I would wager that if SuitlessSat2 goes up (and I pray that it does) it will have much more use then AO-7 in the same time period.
that assumes it works. The track record is "less"
SuitSat was a major PR success for AMSAT and ARISS. More then a few "hacker"/"maker" podcasts/radio shows I listened to plugged the project and amateur radio which you don't see that much. I would say that if SSTV was put into the ISS, it would not receive the same coverage.
Suitsat 1 got the internet buzz because of its uniqueness. I doubt that a "non suitsat" ie a satellite launched much like the Russians did their redo of Sputnik would get the same internet buzz...
But back to "PR" success...what does that mean exactly? Did it translate into a "bump" in amateur license applications (I dont know maybe it did) did it change anything really? Or did it just get a lot of "buzz" and then nothing?
PR in spaceflight is a funny thing. Space advocates all around the world are stymied that things happen in human spaceflight and well there is not a lot of PR...they all think it should be just like Apollo where the entire world came to a halt as various events happened. Many (and I mean many) years ago when I was playing High School football we were on our way ultimately to state (and in Texas that is not a minor thing) but on the way we were getting beat by the cellar team of our city (Dallas) division.
The coach made a player substitute and the guy who came in brought a clipping that the coach had given him from the DAllas morning news a few days earlier which was a nice spread about the team. "Coach says give this story to the guys who are whipping your (three letter word)"
I am not sure that the PR in ham radio has all that much "value" compared to functioning satellites
Robert WB5MZO
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