16 Jul
2008
16 Jul
'08
8:17 p.m.
Hi Joe,
... what could possibly be wrong with making the HEO effort an international undertaking with maximum resources focused on a single goal.
Perhaps its not as grim as it appears via the messages on the -bb. Here is an excerpt from a headline news item that was on the front page of http://www.amsat.org. It has been replaced by more current items, but AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK, and AMSAT-DL have a significant team effort going for P3E - including cash funding:
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AMSAT Groups Make Donation to AMSAT-DL to Facilitate Completion of P3E Satellite
Following a meeting between representatives of the AMSAT groups from North America (AMSAT-NA), The United Kingdom (AMSAT-UK), and Germany (AMSAT-DL), a decision has been made by AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK to donate a total of 40,000 Euros to AMSAT-DL for the purpose of funding the continued operation of the "Zentrales Entwicklungslabor for Electronik", (Central Development Lab for Electronics, aka "The ZEL").
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Still 40,000 Euros or anything in wallets our size doesn't come too close to that $6 Million! This was also covered in the ANS news bulletins and in the AMSAT Journal when the story was new. Unfortunately amsat-bb by itself can be misleading sometimes.
AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-DL share common modules such as the CanDo! bus interface, housekeeping computer, HELAPS power amplifier. G6LVB wrote the SDR software for P3E so it is already a significant international effort.
> Based on your comments, PE3 doesn't stand a chance of getting off
> the ground unless the Europeans have some political leverage which
> they may have. Has anyone from AMSAT-NA asked them?
The cost of launching P3E was mentioned by AMSAT-DL at the Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2008 convention at the end of June (Bulletin ANS-188.01). What I heard verbally at the 2007 AMSAT Symposium in Pittsburgh was that the rideshare opportunity being investigated with Intelsat is not only limited to AMSAT-NA. Intelsat has said they will drop off rideshare satellites compatible with their primary mission (business-case) into LEO, Geosync-Transfer-Orbit (our HEO), or geosynchronous orbit. Depending how high you wish their taxi-service to take you the price varies between $2M and $6M. This includes P3E and Eagle/Phase IV.
Again, a launch of a radio for a bunch of fellas to yack on no longer seems to be a valid business case!
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73 de JoAnne K9JKM
k9jkm@amsat.org