Hi, I was looking at some information from the 2005 Edition of the ARRL handbook, which referred to AO-40 in some detail... but of course, AO-40 is non-functional at present. The information I was able to gather from web sources imply there is a "chance" the primary battery may become open-circuit, and the secondary battery might become operational if the panels are still charging.
Q: Was there any watchdog facility onboard the AO-40 that operated directly off the charging bus prior to the battery ? If so, what was the capability of the watchdog facility ?
Q: Is the bird still in orbit, or has it decayed or is decaying ?
Q: Under normal lifespan, what was the intention of the designers when time came to have it shutdown ? Where there any deorbit plans ?
Q: If the AO-40 satellite is still up there, is anyone listening ?
Samudra, N3RDX
It's still up there, every once in awhile I throw a little RF to it (sobsob).
73 Bob W7LRD
----- Original Message ----- From: "Samudra Haque" samudra.haque@gmail.com To: "Amsat-bb" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 7:43:28 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-40 (R.I.P.) query
Hi, I was looking at some information from the 2005 Edition of the ARRL handbook, which referred to AO-40 in some detail... but of course, AO-40 is non-functional at present. The information I was able to gather from web sources imply there is a "chance" the primary battery may become open-circuit, and the secondary battery might become operational if the panels are still charging.
Q: Was there any watchdog facility onboard the AO-40 that operated directly off the charging bus prior to the battery ? If so, what was the capability of the watchdog facility ?
Q: Is the bird still in orbit, or has it decayed or is decaying ?
Q: Under normal lifespan, what was the intention of the designers when time came to have it shutdown ? Where there any deorbit plans ?
Q: If the AO-40 satellite is still up there, is anyone listening ?
Samudra, N3RDX _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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