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Rocky Jones wrote:
In my viewpoint the project is typical of what AMSAT NA has been doing lately, which is a lot of ground development work on making projects "advanced" all the while we rely on a satellite AO7 which we apparently cannot build a replacement for.
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.
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.
The perfect is the enemy of the good. While it would be great if we had a ride for an HEO sat, an ability to get a higher-orbit LEO sat, and, while we're at it, everyone a pony and a puppy, it isn't going to happen. Lets focus on what we can do rather then bog ourselves down in something that we might be able to do if we are lucky.
- -- Ben Jackson - N1WBV - New Bedford, MA bbj <at> innismir.net - http://www.innismir.net/