On Apr 3, 2008, at 1:06 PM, Graham Shirville wrote:
Nice idea but one of the major uses of the ATV is to fill it up with literally tons of garbage before it is deorbited, I doubt NASA or ESA would be happy to happy to do away with that facility:)
No reason it can't be filled with garbage, and then parked in an orbit that would be useful to amateur radio (assuming sufficient fuel remains after ISS operations). It should have abundant power available for a powerful transmitter(s), and if they hang on to a little bit of fuel, it could be deorbited if it ever becomes a problem.
AMSat would have to pay for the radio equipment, and be willing to lose it at a moment's notice. ESA would have to donate the mass, and whatever time is necessary to accommodate our use.
The hardest part (aside from the convincing) is probably getting approval for adequat antennas.