It is the least bit valid because it shows what is possible.
ARISS did not have to send a longer update quickly. They could have privately told the school with the failed contact (and future scheduled schools) details and left the larger community out of the loop. They could have even delayed confirming there was a problem publicly and officially. Additionally, they did not have to give specific examples of troubleshooting steps taken like having the crew take pics of the radio and coax connections, nor did they have to propose possible causes they might investigate. They did not have to tell us we will work through this and they would tell us more information as they gathered it. But they did. And AMSAT could have done similar things.
My reading of the ARISS message was that it wasn't written for the school, it was written for the ARISS and ham radio/SWL satellite community. I'm sure the school was communicated with privately in a two way conversation via their ARISS mentor so they could understand the various technical issues and future logistical issues for rescheduling. The communication could have started the morning before the contact, considering ARISS was already internally aware of possible issues. Certainly it happened immediately after the pass, and possibly during. All of which are times that were at least *eight* hours after the first official public communication of the issue. I am certain they didn't wait eight hours to tell the school about all the issues surrounding their failed contact.
I would argue there should have been more of a motivation to update the ham radio satellite community quickly about RadFxSat-2 than the ARISS failure, because RadFxSat2 was the launch of a satellite, which dozens of hams, maybe over a hundred, were following to the second via Twitter and the not-so-private live stream. RadFxSat-2's launch was also long delayed (2.5 years), it was the last Fox satellite of the series, and the only linear Fox satellite. This made the launch possibly more highly anticipated than all previous Fox satellite launches. Many of the dozens or possibly over a hundred hams watching the launch online were also listening for the satellite on every pass after the launch. On the contrary, ARISS contacts happen every other week or so and probably not more than a dozen were listening live, aside from all the school participants, of course.
73, John Brier KG4AKV
On Sat, Jan 30, 2021 at 10:01 AM Jeff Davis, KE9V jeff@ke9v.net wrote:
I fail to understand why you believe your comparison to be the least bit valid?
The ARISS press release was time critical due to the fact that a school full of people were literally standing by to receive a call from the ISS that failed to take place. In addition, ARISS has additional scheduled events that may need to be re-scheduled due to the failure. Making some sort of statement quickly was necessary.
There was never an equivalent need to rush an announcement about the status of Fox 1E. I know many revel in conspiracy theories, but it’s pretty tough to “hide” a non-functional satellite from the community that helped launch it. Either this satellite will be recovered completely, partially, or it will eventually be declared dead.
(There’s even some precedence for life after death when it comes to our satellites…)
While the Engineering team continues attempts at recovery, I’m certain we will get periodic updates from them, but I’m equally certain there isn’t an accepted norm for how often or how quickly these should be made.
Jeff, KE9V