Raising money from scientific institutions is the right thing do. AMSAT-NA is also trying to raise money from different sources. Since the sources are different, they are not competing and I don't see why we should kill off one effort before either succedes.
73,
John KD6OZH
----- Original Message ----- From: "i8cvs" domenico.i8cvs@tin.it To: "AMSAT-BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org; "Dave Guimont" dguimon1@san.rr.com; "Luc Leblanc" lucleblanc6@videotron.ca; "John B. Stephensen" kd6ozh@comcast.net Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 16:13 UTC Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] HEO Launch Costs
----- Original Message ----- From: "John B. Stephensen" kd6ozh@comcast.net To: "Luc Leblanc" lucleblanc6@videotron.ca; "Dave Guimont" dguimon1@san.rr.com Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:00 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] HEO Launch Costs
At Ham Radio 2008 the AMSAT-DL P3E update included the statement that "the cost quoted by Arianespace for the launch of P3E is outside the budget of AMSAT-DL."
73,
John KD6OZH
Hi John, KD6OZH
Even if the cost quoted by Arianespace for the launch of P3E is outside the budged of AMSAT-DL I am confident that they will find the strategy and the policy to get it into orbit because P3E will carry the X band transponder that has been designed to test the possibility to use the X band for the Mars probe P5A and many scientific Institutions are interested in P5A
In the following paper written for P5A
http://www.amsat-dl.org/p5a/p5a-to-mars.pdf
Doctor Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC writes:
"Such a mission requires money which can certainly not be raised from AMSAT or from amateur radio. Ho-wever, since such a project finds interest for many reasons from other institutions, and the ability to finance such a mission appears to be a smaller problem, if it remains in the scope of customary AMSAT projects."
http://ticket-to-mars.org/en_EN/mission.html
In my opinion if the ability to finance a P5A mission appears to be a smaller problem it seems to me that to finance a P3E launch should be not impossible with the help of the scientific Institutions +Arianespace and the amateur community.
The good policy and strategy of AMSAT-DL was to include a X band experiment into P3E wich is vital to test the ability to use the X band for P5A and many scientific Institution like Bockum are interested in P5A
If P5A becomes a reality in the future many amateur stations will cooperate to collect telemetry from the Mars probe and so our amateur contribution to the scientific Institutions will pay the effort to have P3E launched for the rest of the amateur satellite communications.
It seems to me that P3E and P5A are based both on a scientific and amateur interest because they are casted over a common solid pillar that make happy at the same time scientist people and the amateurs community.
73" de
i8CVS Domenico