On 7/30/2019 11:34, Zach Metzinger via AMSAT-BB wrote:
This resonates with me, as I see a general decline in the ability of newly minted engineers coming out of our "higher education" institutions. Too many distractions have made the average youngster impatient, sloppy, and poorly focused.
I'm not commenting either way on this observation, but it did make me think of another consideration in the return to HEO or for that matter, non-LEO and anything with a hefty price tag. There has been a fair amount of outcry over not so much the failure of AO-95's receive capability and yes we are still working on possibilities to help determine what went wrong or perhaps, get it working (I'm an optimist) but take that to the level of a $1M or more project and the scrutiny probably becomes pretty hard to bear, as you can imagine.
Given the money to do a HEO it is also necessary to exercise the caution and care to make sure you succeed, lest a mistake cripple the satellite and run off half the membership kind of like AO-40's unfortunate tale, not to mention running off investors. That takes a bunch of time and dedicated volunteers who have the expertise and stick around long enough to make it work and pass along the knowledge. To my knowledge, all of the prior HEO took a lot of time, money, and effort. I would be happy to be involved with such a well subsidized effort but I honestly don't see it happening quickly in terms of member-years, although 5 or possibly more years in the "construction" business is nothing and no matter how many years, is always amazingly short.
Just sayin', return to HEO is as much my desire as anyone else and I still have my AO-10/13/40 antennas so I have every incentive to succeed! (That's partially a joke, son.) It just may not be fast, it has to be careful, and it sure has to be a mission set in solid requirements from the get-go and free of politics or personal desires to change the course once the requirements are written and design begins. And with volunteers, that's not always as easy as you might think, especially because they come and go. Volunteers are in my experience, less inclined to stay around the longer times needed for things like this, at least 'these days'. Look at how many worked long and hard at AMSAT's prior HEO and projects. And these satellite things, they will frustrate and contradict you every step of the way. It's almost like they resist being easy, perfect. They are the embodiment of Capt. Edward A. Murphy's law. Ya gotta love it!
Jerry Buxton, NØJY