I'm no expert on AO-40, but to the best of my knowledge, the solar panels are not retractable - they are fixed in place. The satellite cannot be commanded "on", as the shorted batteries shunt virtually all of the solar panel output, such that either the command receiver is not operating at all, or there is simply not enough juice to switch anything. Our best hope is that someday, the batteries will fail open, just as AO-7's batteries did, and AO-40 comes back to life when adequately illuminated.
George, KA3HSW
----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry" n1miw@cox.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 6:29 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Can we get them to fix AO-40 first then?
Just out of curiosity, have any of the command stations tried to open the solar panels to give AO-40 another chance at life? I mean, if the "event" caused some damage to the satellite with the solar panels retracted, what's to say that opening the panels wouldn't possibly provide just enough power to the CPU to get some telemetry flowing (if the commands could be received, and the panels aren't damaged)? What else do we have to lose - she's been off for how many years now without any signs of coming back? If the command stations were to try something, might I suggest announcing a date first so the big stations ( if any are left) can possibly assist in listening for any type of signal?
Just a thought I've had for some time now, and thought this might be an appropriate time / thread to finally say something. 73's ...Larry N1MIW