Pat,

This topic seems to come up now and then. The idea is actually pretty old, dating back to the early days of AMSAT, but I think here are the issues:

1) Most commercial satellite operators don't want to sacrifice space for an amateur payload. They'd rather use any excess launch mass for station keeping fuel.

2) Risk: The risks of carrying a third-party payload can be mitigated and well understood, but this takes time, effort and money.

3) Possible interference issues from the payload.

4) Power: This can be budgeted for, but again, there are time, cost and money issues associated with a parasitic payload.

73,

Dave N0TGD

On 4/13/07, Patrick McGrane N2OEQ@aceweb.com wrote:

Greetings from Patrick N2OEQ

What are some general comments regarding secondary amateur payloads on commercial satellites? I remember the old RS series and the new hamsat are secondary payloads. What are the costs involved versus building and launching individual autonomous satellites?