Hi all, A very interesting set of exchanges indeed.
I nearly fell out of my chair--and not because of old age--reading some of Rick's comments, viz. Amsat will move ahead with Eagle IF WE SO DESIRE! Wow. There has been a very significant change in direction that we have not been informed of. My understanding has been that Phase 4 (Intelsat) would be pursued in tamdem with Eagle. This is much more than a change in tone.
Please tell us directly: Has the Board made the judgment that Eagle can't be done because of a lack of affordable launch opportunities?
If that is the case, it's a great shame, but we'll have to accept it. The development work apparently can be exploited for Phase 4.
Given a choice between Eagle and Phase 4, my vote would go to Eagle. But, again, please tell us directly: Has the Board made the judgment that it is highly unlikely we will have both? If that is the case, then the Board should spell out the likely costs of each, both development and launch costs, and also spell out their current reading regarding the likelihood that each can be launched, and WHEN. With that information, the members could inform the Board of their opinions.
A firm decision should be made, and, from the sound of some of the exchanges here, made soon. We need more information than we have if we are to advise the Board of our choices.
73, Tony, N2UN, LM-183
As far I know now, the linear transponder for Phase 4 is a subset of Eagle hardware so both are being pursued in tandem. I don't think that the choice of what will be launched will be up to AMSAT but up to the launch providers as decisions will have to be based on when they can provide space for us and what it costs.
73,
John KD6OZH
----- Original Message ----- From: tjjapha@earthlink.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 21:22 UTC Subject: [amsat-bb] Phase 4 versus Eagle
Hi all, A very interesting set of exchanges indeed.
I nearly fell out of my chair--and not because of old age--reading some of Rick's comments, viz. Amsat will move ahead with Eagle IF WE SO DESIRE! Wow. There has been a very significant change in direction that we have not been informed of. My understanding has been that Phase 4 (Intelsat) would be pursued in tamdem with Eagle. This is much more than a change in tone.
Please tell us directly: Has the Board made the judgment that Eagle can't be done because of a lack of affordable launch opportunities?
If that is the case, it's a great shame, but we'll have to accept it. The development work apparently can be exploited for Phase 4.
Given a choice between Eagle and Phase 4, my vote would go to Eagle. But, again, please tell us directly: Has the Board made the judgment that it is highly unlikely we will have both? If that is the case, then the Board should spell out the likely costs of each, both development and launch costs, and also spell out their current reading regarding the likelihood that each can be launched, and WHEN. With that information, the members could inform the Board of their opinions.
A firm decision should be made, and, from the sound of some of the exchanges here, made soon. We need more information than we have if we are to advise the Board of our choices.
73, Tony, N2UN, LM-183
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John B. Stephensen wrote:
As far I know now, the linear transponder for Phase 4 is a subset of Eagle hardware so both are being pursued in tandem. I don't think that the choice of what will be launched will be up to AMSAT but up to the launch providers as decisions will have to be based on when they can provide space for us and what it costs.
73,
John KD6OZH
The linear transponder for each of them is identical at baseband. The only difference so far is the Intelsat opportunity will be much louder as we think we will have more power. The bands are not chosen. They will have to be chosen in concert with Intelsat once we proceed because we have to meet their safe interoperability criteria.
There is a lot of heat here, and not much light. People are placing the wrong emPHAsis on the phrases in Rick's note.
We are spending a significant amount of money THIS YEAR producing a hardware frame for the Eagle spacecraft. The electronic systems are very similar. Intelsat will have more capability than Eagle as we currently understand what we THINK the situation is because we will have a) a better antenna platform and b) much more power.
We are pursuing both in parallel and people should mostly calm down. What we are seeing and hearing is the same kind of frustrations all of us have felt for years because we are desperately trying to find a way to get something significant to space. No one is interested in giving us enough money to just buy a launch. We have to be creative.
Bob
participants (3)
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John B. Stephensen -
Robert McGwier -
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