Yes.
AO-24 was in a low inclination orbit. Probably a transfer orbit inclination of 2 -5 degrees. I recall the transponder output was up near 2450MHz.
It was very high and had excellent coverage. I believe it failed because it went into a planned shutdown due to something like eclipse or temp etc. Unfortunately it never switched back on.
While it was there it was very good. A bit low in the sky if you lived above or below 60N or 60S but nice and easy to track. Like AO-40 it was always in the southern sky from here.
When we talk about 10 million to launch it's worth remembering that the approach that has shrunk usable satellites to 1-3U cubesats can also be applied to MEO or GTO / HEO sats. Arianespace may no longer be flying test flights, but Falcon 9 will go to GTO (and needs to be tested) as will the new Indian launcher. There are new satellites going en-mass to 20,000km too. A ride share with Galileo etc may be just as good.
Thanks
David
In a message dated 04/02/2011 13:08:19 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bruce Robertson [email protected] Date: Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 8:49 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Rideshare missions to GTO, $800K for 3U Cubesat To: "John B. Stephensen" [email protected]
On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 7:46 PM, John B. Stephensen [email protected] wrote:
The interesting question is is how much will AMSAT members be willing to invest in ground stations. A 3U cubesat could provide a HEO satellite similar to Arsene (AO-24).
73,
John KD6OZH
That's a great point, John, and an interesting analogy, which I'd not heard about before. Does anyone have recollections and experiences with AO-24 that they could share?
73, Bruce
David,
In some ways, the CubeSat programs resemble the old "X Projects" that the US did with aircraft. Instead of building from scratch the ultimate plane, they built a series of test beds that were designed to do one thing very well. Eventually, the lessons learned from each project were combined into a single airframe. For us, the trick is to ALWAYS provide useful communications along with whatever is being developed.
Alan WA4SCA
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 7:29 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Fwd: Re: Rideshare missions to GTO,$800K for 3U Cubesat
Yes.
AO-24 was in a low inclination orbit. Probably a transfer orbit inclination of 2 -5 degrees. I recall the transponder output was up near 2450MHz.
It was very high and had excellent coverage. I believe it failed because it went into a planned shutdown due to something like eclipse or temp etc. Unfortunately it never switched back on.
While it was there it was very good. A bit low in the sky if you lived above or below 60N or 60S but nice and easy to track. Like AO-40 it was always in the southern sky from here.
When we talk about 10 million to launch it's worth remembering that the approach that has shrunk usable satellites to 1-3U cubesats can also be applied to MEO or GTO / HEO sats. Arianespace may no longer be flying test
flights, but Falcon 9 will go to GTO (and needs to be tested) as will the new Indian launcher. There are new satellites going en-mass to 20,000km too. A ride share with Galileo etc may be just as good.
Thanks
David
In a message dated 04/02/2011 13:08:19 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bruce Robertson [email protected] Date: Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 8:49 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Rideshare missions to GTO, $800K for 3U Cubesat To: "John B. Stephensen" [email protected]
On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 7:46 PM, John B. Stephensen [email protected] wrote:
The interesting question is is how much will AMSAT members be willing to invest in ground stations. A 3U cubesat could provide a HEO satellite similar to Arsene (AO-24).
73,
John KD6OZH
That's a great point, John, and an interesting analogy, which I'd not heard about before. Does anyone have recollections and experiences with AO-24 that they could share?
73, Bruce
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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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