On 8/5/11 11:03 AM, Burns Fisher wrote:
I saw on one of the NASA announcements that the snarffled 70cm antenna would mean no commanding of the bird. (This was probably before it was realized that that receive actually seems to work). But the question I have is whether there IS some commanding of the bird possible. I guess you have to be able to turn it off to satisfy the FCC (true?) but can other things be done? I assume/home that the command channel is encrypted, so disclosing its existance is not compromising the bird.
The satellite is operating under a Russian license, so I assume the FCC would have no jurisdiction over it.
In any event, the fact that the transponder seems to work well indicates that the spacecraft should have no trouble hearing commands.
Phil