Any interest by the Red Cross would not be in the satellite but in human volunteers that might come with it. Unfortunately, the LEO satellites that hams can afford generate little interest in this forum.

I wish we could some how better influence the dozens of cubesat satellites being built with AX.25 packet comm systems to at least consider a backup digipeater comm system. If just six of these allowed for a possibility of user digipeating, we would have a constellation that would provide worldwide text messaging capability from mobiles and handhelds with delays no more than 30 minutes.

What a fantastic emergency comm system we could have. If ten of them were available, then the coverage would be nearly continuous.

Amateur Radio needs to recognize its trememdous legacy of over a century of wireless text messaging and our ability to bring that connectivity to the field any time anywhere. We simply need to link them together to meet our overall "Universal Amateur Radio Text Messaging Initiative", that is, any ham, any where, any time, able to text message any other ham anywhere using any hardware device, commercial or amateur by callsign alone.

Please see www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html

I count over 2 dozen existing amateur radio text messaging systems few of which are currently crossconnected. Most talk only within their own constituents. APRS and some others are already cross connected at the email level which then connects to cellphones and other wireless devices. So crossconnecting at the APRS internetwork or at the email level is easy to do. We just need all authors to consider transparent cross connection as a goal as per the above web page.

This has already been done for all APRS satellites and even the ARISS system when it came over the the Satellite APRS channel 145.825. When ARISS is in packet mode, it enables text messaging and Email to and from the front panel of any APRS radio in the world via our existing network of APRS ground stations. See the downlinks on www.ariss.net

We have tried to get other packet satellites on that channel, SUNSAT, PCSAT1, PCSAT2, ANDE, RAFT and ISS all of which supported this universal text messaging. We need more, and longer lived satelites. And most any AX.25 cubesat could do it as a secondary mission. We need to look for opportunities there.

We had GO32 also for a year or so until its recent demise, though it's frequency was different.

Bob, WB4APR