I recently obtained a copy of the 1990 edition of Martin Davidoff's Satellite Experimenters' Handbook and as I was browsing through the book, I came across a passage on page 4-9 about the difficulties with UO-11, that's very relevant to the ongoing debate about the lack of Phase 3 satellites:
"If there's a message here, it's that taking part in the amateur satellite program is not for the faint-hearted. Setbacks and barriers will always be part of the picture. And, the most rewarding successes will probably come from employing ingenuity and tenacity to overcome the 'impossible' hurdles."
73,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Washington, DC (FM18lv)
On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 7:17 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi Dan,
OSCAR-10 (P3-B) used the same 400N engine as OSCAR-13 (P3-C) and OSCAR-40 (P3-D). For P3-E we have a 200N motor from EADS Astrium, the same one which is used on the European ATV...
I was AMSAT P3-A (planned to be OSCAR-9) which used a solid propellant apogee kick-motor. It's under the water near the cost of french Guiana.. RIP
You can find an very good article here: http://www.ka9q.net/AMSAT-Tech-Journal-2.pdf See page 8..15
Rest assured, the PFA and propulsion system was qualified according to highest commercial standards by commercial companies. Thus in no way there would be any risk to the launcher or other payloads. This also includes several levels of safety borders in the hardware design and in the software. The launch agencies have there own specialized personal to review all the details... Without that, nobody would have launched any of the P3 satellites !!! What happened to AO-40 later on after orbit injection and after activating the systems is a completely different matter and did not present any risk to the launcher at any time!
Michael R. Lengruesser, DD5ER
AMSAT-DL e.V. -- International Satellites for Communication, Science and Education -- [email protected] http://www.amsat-dl.org
In einer eMail vom 22.09.2013 21:07:08 Westeuropäische Sommerzeit schreibt [email protected]:
The apogee motors for OSCAR-10,and OSCAR-13 were solid propellant 400 Newton trust motors donated to AMSAT-DL by the Messerschmitt
Aerospace
Company in Germany.
Only Phase 3A had a solid fuel motor. AO-10 and AO-13 had liquid fuel bi-propellent motors the same as AO-40. No matter how well designed they are, they still have the potential to blow up the entire launch stack if something goes wrong. Since Dick Daniels is no longer with us, the knowledge has been lost and we will not be launching any more of these in the future.
Dan Schultz N8FGV
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb