Fred,
I am confused by your comments. Nothing has changed in the past three years except for the introduction of a possible P4 launch opportunity.
The Mars mission has been in the planning stages for years by AMSAT-DL and would be funded by German government sources if it actually happens. It is the main justification for the P3E mission and therefore is quite important if you want to see P3E launched.
The P4A (geostationary) mission is also referred to by some as "Eagle light." That is because it is essentially the same as the Eagle project but without all the hard stuff like rocket motor, fuel, tanks, plumbing, solar panels, battery charge regulator, navigation sensors, etc. Given that it is pretty much the same otherwise I wonder how this is a "pipe dream?"
With all due respect, I suggest that you may not be adequately informed. Did you attend the Annual Symposium to find out what is really going on? Have you visited the AMSAT Lab yet? Have you attended an AMSAT Board meeting or written to the Board members to get more information? Do you read the project reports in the Journal? If you think things are headed down the wrong path then I recommend that you get informed and get personally involved. I think you will find that some of your perceptions are correct (very little is done yet) and some are not (the cart [is] before the horse).
Rick
W2GPS
AMSAT President
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From: Fred A Parker [mailto:fparker@paulbunyan.net] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 12:56 AM To: amsat-bb; w2gps@amsat.org; Lou MC Fadin Subject: Putting Thr Cart Befor The Horse
After receiving a mailing today from Amsat written by Richard Hambly. I find it imposable to keep quite any longer. Has anyone heard of the saying, putting the cart before the horse. Amsat needs to finish at least one of there present projects before moving on to what in the end may well turn out to be a bunch of pipe dreams. I am speaking of the Mars mission and Geostationary packages. One year ago I was told that Cubesat II would be launched in the fall of 2007. As far as I know very little is done yet. Especially in the electronics end. Don't get me wrong all these ideas are great but lets get back to the basics and finish what we have started befor taking on anything new or nothing will get done.
Fred KF0AK