[amsat-bb] Re: The Moon is our Future

At 02:30 AM 7/3/2009, James French wrote:

Why not use a L/s, U/L. or a U/s transponder for this? Why limit ourselves to V/u for everything? Aren't we supposed to 'experiment' with the higher frequencies we have allocated?

I agree. I believe the Moon is a job for the microwave bands. Antenna gain on both ends is easier to produce (for a fixed dish/array, the Moon end will be gain limited by the need to have the beam cover for the varying position of the Earth due to libration).

Comeing up with a method to align the antenna initially will be an interesting challenge. That will have to be automated, even if it's a one off process.

73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com