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ANS-208 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 26 Jul '14

26 Jul '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-208 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Goodbye HAMSAT-VO52 - Rest In Peace * Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on 22 July * Amazon Smile Update * Return envelope sent with AMSAT-NA ballot package has old address * Reid Wiseman KF5LKT Activates ARISS During ARRL Centennial * AMSAT Symposium Only Ten Weeks Away * 2014 AMSAT Symposium Trips, Social Events, and Tours * How to contribute to the Fox-1C satellite. * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-208.01 ANS-208 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 208.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE July 27, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-208.01 Goodbye HAMSAT-VO52 - Rest In Peace In a posting to the AMSAT-BB July 21, Mani Subramani, VU2WMY/KJ6LRS, Secretary & Station-In-Charge Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC ISRO Satellite Centre, sadly reported "HAMSAT VO-52 succumbed in Space on 11th July 2014..." Dear Friends, With heavy heart, I sadly convey, that our little angel 'HAMSAT VO- 52' would no more be able to offer her services to the 'Amateur Radio Fraternity. HAMSAT VO-52 succumbed in Space on 11th July 2014, while she was on her 49,675th orbit, due to the failure of on-board lithium ion batteries that have met their end of life. Although her desires were to be at work with other systems and sub- systems working normal as per the latest telemetry received, the on- board computer recurring to 'Reset' mode due to the failure of batteries is preventing her to do so. Hence, it is decided not to expect any more meaningful and reliable services from HAMSAT VO-52. Since 11th July, every best possible effort has been put in by the spacecraft controllers here in ISTRAC Bangalore to revive her back to life and to help her with work load, so she won't be swamped when she returns, but with no luck. Though it is hard, the HAMSAT VO-52 designers and controllers insist that the time has come to let the little angel free in space to go drifting on her own from their care and custody. Thus, today 21st July 2014, ISRO have decommissioned 'HAMSAT-VO52' officially. We all here in ISRO do definitely hope that 'HAMSAT VO-52' worked tirelessly and was a good friend to the 'Amateur Radio Fraternity' around the World. We are sure that HAMSAT was loved by all who worked through her. Though, we are deeply saddened by the loss of HAMSAT VO- 52, but she will never be forgotten and far from our hearts, minds and memories. HAMSAT VO-52 will always be remembered by all of us here in ISRO as one of the greatest satellites of ours. Dear 'HAMSAT', looking at the sky, we all say 'Good Bye' to you. You'll be greatly missed. Rest in Peace. Nevertheless, at this point of time, on behalf of the World Amateur Radio Fraternity, we thank each and everyone who contributed to the great success of 'HAMSAT'. Particularly, our sincere thanks to the Chairman ISRO, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, past chairmen Dr. Kasthurirangan, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Director-ISAC Dr. S.K.Shiva Kumar, past ISAC Directors Dr. P.S. Goel, Dr. Shankara, Dr. T.K. Alex, Director-ISTRAC Shri. B.S. Chandrasekhar, scientific secretary Dr. Koteshwar Rao, Project Director-Shri. J.P. Gupta, Deputy project Directors, Mission Director- Shri. R.Suresh, Operations Director-Shri. Parimalarangan and each and every person directly or in-directly contributed. At this point of time, we also thank AMSAT-India and in particular, lateShri. Nagesh Upadhyaya-VU2NUD, Shri. B.S. Gajendra Kumar-VU2BGS, Shri. Prathap Kumar-VU2POP, Air Commodore. Subramanian-VU2UV, Shri. V.P. Sandlas-VU2VP, Dr.R. Ramesh-VU2RMS, Shri. Nitin-VU3TYG, Mr. Williams Leijenaar PE1RAH and each and every member. Pasted below is the message from Mr. R. Suresh, Mission Director: HAMSAT, the first small satellite by ISRO has been Decommissioned after nearly a decade of service to the World Ham community. A true masterpiece among small satellites, designed for one year mission life, but exceeded all expectations by serving for almost 10 years. A truly autonomous satellite, with "Zero maintenance" in terms of Mission operations, it provided a springboard to test many new concepts such as BMU. LI-ion based power system, automatic Spin rate control and Auto SAOC for maintaining the Satellite attitude without any ground commanding. HAMSAT known as "OSCAR-52" among the Amateur HAM operators has been very popular because of its high sensitivity receiver and strong transmitter. Indian Radio Amateurs on many occasions conveyed to us that they have been greatly honored to share the adulations showered on ISRO and INDIA by the International Radio Amateur for gifting this wonderful satellite "HAMSAT". I take this opportunity to applaud the HAMSAT teams at ISAC, ISTRAC and other centre for their efforts and support, which has made ISRO proud among the HAM users across the globe. R,SURESH MISSION DIRECTOR HAMSAT --- Mani [VU2WMY/KJ6LRS] Secretary & Station-In-Charge Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC ISRO Satellite Centre [ANS thanks Mani VU2WMY/KJ6LRS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on 22 July Ham TV Test Mode Operation, Planned start-up on Tuesday, July 22 It was announced that HAM TV on board the International Space Station (ISS) will be activated on Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 9:55 UTC. Operation will be in the Blank Transmission mode. The signal is sent from the ISS Columbus module and will be in Configuration 4: 2.395 GHz and 2.0 MSym/sec. Operation will continue through August 6, 2014. ARISS-Europe Chair, Gaston Bertels invites ground stations to submit reception reports to the following website, http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_FSTV/submit.php [ANS thanks David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazon Smile Update AMSAT-NA is participating in the AmazonSmile program. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop at Amazon.com, at no cost to you. Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. If you do business with Amazon you can apply your donation by logging into your Amazon account using http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-0888529 to designate AMSAT-NA as the organization of your choice. You must use the URL smile.amazon.com for AMSAT (or another charity) to receive the donation from your purchases. The AMSAT Office reports that to date, AMSAT-NA has received $66.62 from Amazon Smile. If you shop on Amazom.com we encourage your participation. Every little bit helps. [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Return envelope sent with AMSAT-NA ballot package has old address After the 2014 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election ballots were mailed, we were notified by our printer that old stock return envelopes were inadvertently included. These have the old Silver Spring, MD address. The ballot postcard and other documents have the correct Kensington, MD address. Mail is being efficiently forwarded to the new AMSAT-NA office address, and will continue to be forwarded for several months. You may use either the envelope included in the packet, or your own envelope or address label to send the ballot to the current address: AMSAT The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation 10605 Concord Street Kensington, MD 20895 USA We and our printer regret any inconvenience. Whichever method you chose, please return them promptly to ensure that your ballot is received by 15 September! Alan Biddle WA4SCA AMSAT Corporate Secretary [ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Reid Wiseman KF5LKT Activates ARISS During ARRL Centennial An unexpected treat happened in Hartford on Saturday morning during the ARRL Centennial. Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK had planned on being outside the convention center for ISS passes, prepared to show off the ISS digipeater, and - if a voice was heard on 145.800 MHz talk to an ISS crewmember. Patrick reports, "The first of the three workable passes from Hartford came a little while before the convention officially opened for the day at 0835 local/1235 UTC. The ISS was passing across the northern sky, with maximum elevation of 25 degrees. I heard only packet on 145.825 MHz, and was ableto bounce a few packets through the ISS digipeater using a TH-D72A and Elk dual-band log periodic antenna. "The next pass, around 1010 local/1410 UTC, was the best of the passes fornthe morning - going across the southwestern sky with maximum elevation ofn59 degrees. I had a radio listening to both 145.800 and 145.825 MHz. I heard nothing on 145.825 MHz, but thought I heard something on 145.800 MHz. "I started calling for NA1SS using my TH-D72A/Elk combination, and Reid Wiseman (the same astronaut who was on for Field Day last month) answered my call. My audience went crazy, and I was happy to make contact and have a nice 3- to 4- minute chat. "I asked Reid if he might be on the microphone for the next pass over the eastern USA around 1200 local/1600 UTC. He said he would try, and we were outside for that as well. "Once we told people in the hall of the successful contact, the ARRL made sure there was a larger crowd outside for this pass. Several minutes before AOS, I was out there again, this time answering lots of questions from different people. After AOS, I started calling for NA1SS, but never heard anything on 145.800 MHz during the shallow (maximum elevation 6 degrees) pass." [ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Symposium Only Ten Weeks Away Billed as the Charm City Space Symposium, AMSAT-NA's 32nd Symposium and Annual Meeting will be held October 10-12, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. * Board of Directors meeting on October 9 and morning of October 10. * Technical presentations on satellite design/operating begin the afternoon of October 10 and continue October 11. * Meet AMSAT Officers and Board members. * Meet and greet fellow satellite operators. * Satellites on display. * Annual general meeting afternoon of October 10. * Saturday evening annual banquet with door prizes. * Sunday morning Area Coordinator's breakfast. * Sunday ARISS Operations Team meeting. * Sunday and Monday tours. Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton -- Baltimore - BWI Airport 890 Elkridge Landing Rd, Linthicum, Maryland, 21090 Phone: 410-859-8400 Ask For: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation Group or use the Code: RAS AMSAT Special Room Rate--$99.00 per night $10 Breakfast Buffet Coupons--Full Hot and Cold Breakfast* FREE Parking FREE WiFi Free Airport and Close-in Transportation Easy Train/Light Rail Service to Baltimore Inner Harbor & D.C. Metro Walking distance to National Electronics Museum Special Guest Presentations *Purchase at check-in A registration form for the Symposium and all events may be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-SymposiumRegistration Online registration is available through the AMSAT Store http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-OnlineRegistration [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 AMSAT Symposium Trips, Social Events, and Tours We will have two "working" events scheduled Sunday morning (October 12)-the Area Coordinators Breakfast and the ARISS Operations Team Meeting. Similar to last year's symposium, two opportunities for tours are planned for the 2014 Space Symposium: 1) On Sunday October 12 (Afternoon), several Small Group/Light Rail tours are being planned. Symposium participants can choose one of the following tours: Baltimore Inner Harbor Tour (including the Aquarium), the B&O Railroad Museum, Edgar Allen Poe House or the National Electronics Museum. 2) On Columbus Day, Monday October 13 we will take a bus to the Washington Dulles airport area to tour the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. Udvar-Hazy is a phenomenal museum with hundreds of aircraft and spacecraft, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, an SR-71, Enola Gay, and many others. The plan is to leave the hotel at 9 am and return around 4 pm. In order to get maximum benefit from all the holiday weekend events, the symposium committee suggests that symposium participants consider scheduling their airline flights for no earlier than 6 pm on Monday October 13. [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- How to contribute to the Fox-1C satellite With the recent announcement of the launch opportunity for the Fox- 1C Cubesat, AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. We have set a fundraising goal of $125,000 to cover these expenses over the next 12 months, and allow us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Contributing to Fox-1C: let us count the ways. To contribute specifically to the Fox-1C satellite, you can specify this in your communication with AMSAT, and in the "For" line if you pay by check. Via E-mail: martha(a)amsat.org Via telephone: >From the US call toll free at (888) 322-6728 >From all other locations call (301) 822-4376 Via regular mail: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) 10605 Concord St, #304 Kensington, MD 20895 On line: Go to www.amsat.org and select the "Support the Fox Satellite" DONATE button in the upper right. This will take you to PayPal where you may donate any amount. If desired, you can make this a monthly recurring donation. You may cancel this at any time through your PayPal account. All contributions at this time go directly to the Fox-1C satellite. This is specified in the Reference on the PayPal page. Go to the AMSAT Store http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ and select General Donations from the left column. When you check out, note in the remarks section that you want the contribution to go to Fox-1C. However you chose to contribute, thank you for helping to Keep Amateur Radio in Space! [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Join ARISS us on Facebook : Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) Follow ARISS on Twitter: @ARISS_status There were no ARISS School Contacts the week of July 20-26, 2014. The radios were off for most of the week due to Progress undocking and docking. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule ESA 2014 Space Camp, Rossall School, Fleetwood, United Kingdom telebridge via via W6SRJ Contact is a go for: Tue 2014-07-29 14:01:13 UTC 53 deg Watch for live audio/video simulcast Http://www.batc.tv/streams/arissuk/ Space Jam 8, Rantoul Airport & Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul IL, telebridge via W6SRJ Contact is a go for: Sat 2014-08-02 12:23:19 UTC 60 deg ARISS is requesting listener reports for the above contacts. Due to issues with the Kenwood radio that are not fully understood at present, the Ericsson radio is going to be used for these contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. QSL information may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS The successful school list has been updated as of 2014-07-11 19:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 Exp. 39/40 on orbit Steve Swanson Aleksander Skvortsov Oleg Artemyev Exp. 40/41 on orbit Maxim Suraev Gregory Wiseman KF5LKT Alexander Gerst KF5ONO >From 2014-11-10 to 2014-12-07, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. Any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + 2014 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Presentations to be Archived Although the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium ends Sunday the British Amateur Radio Club (BATC) would like to inform everyone that post conference, the videos will be available at http://batc.tv/ under "Film Archive". Select the AMSAT2014 category. Trevor M5AKA suggests that, in theory some videos may be uploaded at 18:00 BST (1700 GMT) on Saturday. Best thing is to check batc.tv film archive and see if any have turned up, if they have you can be fairly sure that Sunday's will be joining them on the same place. The programme for the Colloquium is available at http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/ [ANS thank Trevor M5AKA for the above information] + Join AMSAT on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/7828379515/ + Follow AMSAT on Twitter https://twitter.com/amsat @amsat + Visit AMSAT online http://www.amsat.org + Join ARISS on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/ANS208-ARISS-Facebook Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) + Follow ARISS on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARISS_status @ARISS_status + Visit ISS Fan Club http://http://www.issfanclub.com/ + Follow ISS Fan Club on Twitter https://twitter.com/rs0iss @rs0iss + New Version of FUNcube Dashboard Released According to a Tweet released by @FUNcubeUK early Saturday morning, a version 847 of FUNcube Dashboard has been released. Download it now from funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-201 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 19 Jul '14

19 Jul '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-201 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots in the Mail * AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Coming Soon * Upcoming Potential Satellite DX Operations * AMSAT Presentations from the 2014 ARRL Centennial Celebration Available * Orbital Sciences Cygnus Cargo Ship Launched to ISS * Louisiana Tech University Online Course -- Steps to STEM SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-201.01 ANS-201 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 201.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 20, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-201.01 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots in the Mail Ballots have been mailed to the AMSAT-NA membership in good standing and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by 15 SEP 2014 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your returned ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. Normally there would be 3 full Board seats open this year, plus 2 alternates. However, with the passing of Tony Monteiro, AA2TX (SK), there will be an additional full Board seat open to fill the remainder of his term. This means that the top three recipients of votes will have two-year terms, the fourth most vote recipient will serve as full member for one year. The fifth and sixth highest vote recipients will serve as first and second Alternate, respectively. You may vote for up to 4 individuals. Election of board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. [ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Coming Soon The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium takes place July 25-27, 2014 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United Kingdom. The presentations will cover a number of amateur satellites which carry transponders including LituanicaSAT-1 (LO-78), KLETSkous, Fox-1 and FUNcubes 1 (AO-73), 2, 3 (EO-79) and 4. The return of the NASA spacecraft ISEE-3 (ICE) has caught the attention of the media recently with the attempts by volunteers to receive and command the spacecraft. There will be ISEE-3 presentations by two members of the AMSAT-DL Bochum team. [ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Potential Satellite DX Operations Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin reported the following possible satellite opportunities in the July 14, 2014 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1171: TF, ICELAND. Operators Jaime/EA4TV and Montse/EA4GCA will be active as TF/EA4TV and TF/EA4GCA during their holiday between July 20-31st. Activity will be holiday style using a FT-817nd into a Buddistick for HF and an arrow antenna for satellites, if possible. QSL via their home callsign (see info on QRZ.com). XR0, EASTER ISLAND (Update). Operators Cristian/CE2WTF and Manuel/CE2NTT will be active from Isla de Pascua (SA-001) starting 0000z, August 2nd, ending 0000z, August 4th. Manuel informs OPDX that their special callsigns could be one of the following: CE2NTT - XR0YNTT / 3G0YNTT / CB0YNTT / CE2WTF - XR0YWTF / 3G0YWTF / CB0YWTF Activity will be on 40/20/15/10/6 meters using SSB. They will also use Echolink and Hamshere, and possibly QRP LEO satellites. Look for details and updates on: http://www.ce2ntt.blogspot.com [ANS thanks the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Presentations from the 2014 ARRL Centennial Celebration Available Five presentations were made by AMSAT at the All Day Thursday Training Tracks during the ARRL Centennial Celebration and National Convention in Hartford Connecticut July 17, 2014. PowerPoints from AMSAT's training track presentations on "Working Satellites" have been made available. http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914 [ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Orbital Sciences Cygnus Cargo Ship Launched to ISS On Jul 13 the third Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship, SS Janice Voss, was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island on an Antares 120 rocket. The Voss cargo ship arrived at the ISS on July 16. The 5000 kg Voss carried supplies for the ISS, as well as two Nanoracks bags containing a total of 29 3U cubesats: + Techedsat-4 to demonstrate exobrake technology test for NASA-Ames and San Jose State U + 28 Flock-1b imaging satellites for PlanetLabs intended to be deployed from the Kibo airlock over the coming months. The June 19 Dnepr launch delivered 11 Flock-1c 3U PlanetLabs cubeSats. All these will replace the 28 Flock-1 satellites which were launched earlier this year, but according to Space- Track all but three have now reentered. [ANS thanks Jonathan's Space Report, No. 699, Sunday, July 13, 2014 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Louisiana Tech University Online Course -- Steps to STEM NASA Education Resources for STEM Engagement - Louisiana Tech University is teaming up with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to offer a 10-week course for educators interested in putting a space-themed twist on learning. The course is designed to be a self-paced, online professional development experience focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education resources available from NASA. These resources have application methods for use in grades 4-9 classrooms with the goal of advancing high quality STEM education utilizing NASA's unique capabilities. Applications are due Aug. 30, 2014. For more information and to enroll in the course, visit http://scitecatlatech.weebly.com/opeo.html. Questions about these courses should be directed to Amy McDowell at amy.mcdowell(a)nasa.gov [ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message -- July 10, 2014 for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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ANS-199 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - AMSAT Fox-1C Launch Opportunity Announced
by Joseph Spier 18 Jul '14

18 Jul '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-199 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT Fox-1C Launch Opportunity Announced SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-199.01 ANS-199 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 199.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE July 18, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-199.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Fox-1C Launch Opportunity Announced AMSAT is excited to announce a launch opportunity for the Fox-1C Cubesat. AMSAT has teamed with Spaceflight Inc. for integration and launch utilizing Spaceflight's SHERPA system to a sun-synchronous orbit in the third quarter of 2015. Fox-1C is the third of four Fox-1 series satellites under development, with Fox-1A and RadFXsat/Fox-1B launching through the NASA ELANA program. Fox-1C will carry an FM repeater system for amateur radio for use by radio hams and listeners worldwide. Further details on the satellite and launch will be made available as soon as released. AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. We have set a fundraising goal of $125,000 dollars to cover these expenses over the next 12 months, and allow us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Donations may be made through the AMSAT webpage at www.amsat.org, by calling (888) 322-6728 or by mail to the AMSAT office at 10605 Concord Street, Kensington, MD 20895, USA. Please consider a recurring, club, or corporate donation to maximize our chance of success with this mission. Also watch our website at www.amsat.org,follow us on Twitter at "AMSAT", or on Facebook as "The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation" for continuing news and opportunities for support. AMSAT is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and donations may be tax-deductible. [ANS Thanks AMSAT Board of Directors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-173 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 13 Jul '14

13 Jul '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-173 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * 2014 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Announced * Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites * Amateur Radio Role on Space Station Featured at ISS Research and Development Conference * Successful launch of amateur radio satellite payloads * Dnepr Launch for D-STAR Satellite * FUNcube-3 payload launch information * Upcoming AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-173.01 ANS-173 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 173.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 22, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-173.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Announced The 2014 candidates, in alphabetical order by last names are: Jerry Buxton, N0JY Tom Clark, K3IO Steve Coy, K8UD Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA Frank Griffin, K4FEG Bryan Klofas, KF6ZEO Lou McFadin, W5DID JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM Normally there would be 3 full Board seats open this year, plus 2 alternates. However, with the passing of Tony Monteiro, AA2TX (SK), there will be an additional full Board seat open to fill the remaining year of his term. This means that the top three recipients of votes will have two-year terms, the fourth most vote recipient will serve as full member for one year, and the fifth and sixth highest vote recipients will serve as first and second alternate respectively. Ballots will be mailed to the AMSAT-NA membership by 15 JUL 2014 and must be received at the AMSAT office by 15 SEP 2014 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America will go by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT office. Returned ballots should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail. Election of board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that will accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. You have the option to vote for up to four candidates. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites A Russian Dnepr rocket launched a record-breaking thirty-seven satellites on Friday morning local time, deploying a cluster of spacecraft for scientific research and commercial operation. The mission departed on schedule from Dombarovsky in Southern Russia at 01:11 local time (19:11 UTC on Thursday). Dnepr Record Breaker: With thirty-seven satellites aboard the Dnepr, Friday’s launch saw the record for most spacecraft launched by a single rocket broken for the fourth time in less than a year. The previous record was set at 34 by January’s Antares launch with Orbital Sciences’ first CRS mission to the International Space Station. Thirty-three of the satellites werre deployed directly by the Dnepr – as opposed to being released by other payloads or transported to the International Space Station for later deployment – which is also a new record. That record had previously been held by an American Minotaur launch which occurred last year. Deimos-2, KazEOSat-2 and Hodoyoshi-3 and 4 were the main payloads for what was the twentieth Dnepr launch. Z3Built by South Korea’s SATREC Initiative for Deimos Imaging of Spain, the Deimos-2 satellite follows on from the smaller Deimos-1 which launched in 2009. Based around the SI-300 bus, Deimos-2 has a mass of around 300 kilograms (660 lb). It will be used for high-resolution Earth imaging; it’s EOS-D imager is capable of producing pictures at resolutions as high as 0.75 metres (2.5 feet). KazEOSat-2, which was previously known as the Medium Resolution Earth Observation Satellite, or DZZ-MH, will be operated by Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary, the main contractor to the space programme of Kazakhstan. Built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of the United Kingdom, KazEOSat-2 is based upon the SSTL-150+ satellite bus and carries a camera which can image the Earth at resolutions of up to 6.5 metres. The 185 kilogram (408 lb) satellite will complement the larger and higher-resolution KazEOSat-1, which was launched by Europe’s Vega rocket in April. The University of Tokyo’s Hodoyoshi-3 and 4 are prototype remote sensing satellites. With masses of 60 and 66 kilograms (132 and 145 lb) respectively, Hodoyoshi-3 carries two cameras with resolutions of 40 and 200 metres (131 and 656 feet), while Hodoyoshi-4 is equipped with a single, more powerful, instrument providing a resolution of 6 metres (20 ft) per pixel. The spacecraft are also equipped for further technology demonstration, and store-and-forward communications. The other payloads on the Dnepr include AprizeSat-9 and 10, which will be used for commercial communications. The ownership of these satellites is not entirely clear; they were built by SpaceQuest, who will operate them for the early phases of their missions. Once operational, the two twelve kilogram satellites may be transferred to exactEarth or retained for operation by SpaceQuest. They are the eleventh and twelfth satellites in a series which was originally named LatinSat. BRITE-Toronto and BRITE-Montreal, also known as BRITE-CA 1 and 2, are the fourth and fifth members of the six-satellite Bright Star Target Explorer (BRITE) constellation, a joint venture between Canada’s Universities of Toronto and Montreal, Austria’s University of Vienna and the Polish Academy of Sciences. The two satellites launched on Friday form the Canadian part of the constellation, although the University of Toronto were responsible for designing all six satellites and manufacturing most of them. The final BRITE satellite, Poland’s Heweliusz, is scheduled to be launched atop a Chang Zheng 4B rocket from China later this year. The BRITE programme is aimed at studying variations in the amount of light coming from the brightest stars visible from Earth. The Canadian satellites are identical apart from the filters used in their telescopes; Toronto’s satellite will use a red filter to study the lower-energy end of the spectrum, while Montreal’s will study light with shorter wavelengths using a blue filter. BugSat-1, which will be operated by Argentina’s Satellogic S.A, is a 22 kilogram technology demonstrator. Intended to demonstrate a medium-resolution camera in addition to UHF and C-band communications systems, the satellite will be made available for amateur radio users at the end of its primary mission. Saudi Arabia’s SaudiSat-4 spacecraft will be used to study whether a phenomenon called the photoelectric effect, which causes metals to emit electrons when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, can be use to cancel out electrical charges which build up in satellite components over time. The 100-kilogram (220 lb) satellite was built by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in association with NASA’s Ames Research Center. TabletSat-Aurora was developed by Russian company Sputnix. A 25 kilogram (55 lb) spacecraft, the satellite will be used to test the TabletSat-2U-EO bus upon which it is based. In addition, the spacecraft will observe the Earth, returning images with a resolution of up to 15 metres (49 feet). The UniSat-6 satellite, of Rome’s La Sapienza University, is a technology demonstration mission which follows on from last year’s UniSat-5 mission. Like UniSat-5, UniSat-6 carries CubeSat dispensers however it lacks the PocketQube deployers flown on the previous mission. Four CubeSats are expected to be deployed from UniSat-6 at a later date. AeroCube-6 is an American technology demonstration satellite which will be operated by The Aerospace Corporation. Intended to test a new CubeSat bus, it is a single-unit satellite with sides of 10 centimetres (3.9 in), which will collect data on radiation levels in low Earth orbit. It is joined by Lemur-1, a prototype Earth-imaging satellite for NanoSatisfi Incorporated, also of the United States. The three-unit CubeSat carries visible-light and infrared imagers, however its primary objective is to demonstrate how the satellite bus functions under operational conditions. A three-unit CubeSat, TigriSat, is the first satellite to be launched for Iraq. Built for the country’s Ministry of Science and Technology by Iraqi students working at the La Sapienza University in Rome, TigriSat will be used to monitor dust storms in Iraq. Iraq previously claimed to have launched a satellite in 1989, however this was discredited after footage of the rocket exploding during first stage flight surfaced. Analysts have also determined that it was unlikely to have been an orbital launch attempt in any case. Antelsat, the fourth satellite to be deployed from UniSat-6, will be Uruguay’s first spacecraft. It is a two-unit CubeSat, which will be used for amateur radio, Earth observation and to advance Uruguayan satellite technology. In addition to the CubeSats aboard UniSat-6, twenty-one more will be deployed from the Dnepr itself. DTUSat-2 is a Danish satellite being launched for the Danmarks Tekniske Universitet. It will be used to aid studies of bird migration by relaying data from GPS trackers attached to the birds. Duchifat-1 is a single-unit CubeSat which will be operated by Israel’s Herzliya Science Centre. The spacecraft has served as an educational project and once in orbit will be used to test location determination, with the satellite returning data on its calculated position to be plotted onto maps on the ground. Eleven Flock-1c spacecraft will be launched for Planet Labs’ Flock constellation. Earth imaging spacecraft, each three-unit CubeSat is equipped with cameras capable of producing photographs at resolutions of up to three metres. Following four technology demonstration missions using Dove satellites, the first twenty-eight Flock-1 spacecraft were carried into orbit by January’s Cygnus mission, for subsequent deployment from the ISS. Twenty-eight more satellites will be launched aboard the next Cygnus mission, currently scheduled for July. NanoSatC-Br 1, a single-unit Brazilian spacecraft, is based on a kit purchased from ISIS. The spacecraft carries a magnetometer to study the South Atlantic Anomaly, an area where the Van Allen belts are unusually close to the Earth’s surface exposing satellites to greater radiation levels than would otherwise be expected at those altitudes. The Platform for Attitude Control Experiments (PACE) CubeSat will be used by Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University to test an attitude control system, returning data on how the satellite’s orientation changes as it attempts to manoeuvre. By studying its performance, the satellite’s operators hope to be able to develop better attitude control systems for small satellites. Perseus-M 1 and 2 are the first six-unit CubeSats to launch, with dimensions of 30 by 20 by 10 centimetres (12 by 8 by 4 in). The satellites will be operated by Russia’s Dauria Aerospace, having been constructed by Dauria’s American subsidiary Canopus Systems. Each spacecraft carries an AIS receiver intended to collect data on the position and status of ships at sea. Ukraine’s PolyITAN-1 will be operated by the country’s National Technical University. Itis intended to demonstrate that Ukraine can conduct a CubeSat mission and study the performance of the satellite’s single-unit bus in orbit. POPSAT-HIP-1 will test attitude control and imaging systems for Singapore’s Microspace Limited. It is a three-unit CubeSat. The last two CubeSats, QB50P1 and QB50P2, form part of the QB50 programme which aims to launch and operate a constellation of fifty small satellites for scientific research. These two demonstration satellites will be operated by Belgium’s von Karman Institute with contributions from other institutions. QB50P1 carries an Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, an attitude control experiment, a thermocouple to monitor the spacecraft’s temperature and FUNCube-3, an amateur radio payload for the Dutch branch of AMSAT. QB50P2 carries the same attitude control system and thermocouple, combining them with a French amateur radio system and the FIPEX experiment for the Technical University of Dresden, which will study the oxygen flux in the satellite’s environment. Converted from the R-36 missile, the Dnepr is a three-stage rocket which incorporates the two stages of the R-36MUTTH, with the missile’s post-boost module converted to act as a third stage and satellite dispenser. The R-36 originally served as an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering an 18 megaton nuclear warhead, although later versions were equipped to carry up to ten Multiple Independently- Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), each armed with a nuclear device. Another variant, the R-36O, was designed to place its warhead into orbit, and then deorbit it onto a target anywhere in the world. This was subsequently banned under an international treaty in 1979. The Dnepr made its first launch in April 1999, when it deployed Britain’s UoSAT-12. Among the other payloads it has launched on previous missions are the two Genesis demonstrators for Bigelow Aerospace. Launched in 2006 and 2007, these prototype inflatable space station modules paved the way for the work Bigelow is now doing on inflatable space habitats and an experimental module for the International Space Station. Friday’s launch marked the Dnepr’s twentieth flight, with only one of its previous missions ending in failure. That came in July 2006, when a first stage hydraulic failure brought down a cluster launch which had been carrying eighteen satellites. The Dnepr launched from a silo at Site 370/13 of Russia’s Dombarovsky launch site. The first stage did not ignite until the missile is clear of the silo, with ejection being accomplished by means of a gas generator at the aft of the vehicle which separated shortly after ejection is complete. The first stage was powered by four RD-263 engines, while an RD-0255 powers the second stage and an RD-869 powered the third. The payloads were enclosed within a Gas Dynamic Shield, which protected them from the exhaust of the third stage, in addition to a regular payload fairing. This shielding is necessary because, due to its missile heritage, the third stage flies backwards with the payloads mounted on the same side as its engine nozzles. Spacecraft separation occurred while the stage was still firing, with the satellites ejecting from the back of the rocket. Once separation was complete, the stage continued to burn to remove itself from the operational orbit. The Dnepr launch was the thirty-fourth orbital launch of 2014, and the first to make use of a Dnepr. The Dnepr’s next launch is scheduled for no earlier than August, with five satellites including Japan’s Hodoyoshi-1 and Asnaro-1. Russia’s next launch, in early July, will see a Proton-M orbit a Luch communications satellite. This will be a return-to-flight mission for the Proton, which suffered its ninth failure in ten years in May. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK, & the NASA Spaceflight.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio Role on Space Station Featured at ISS Research and Development Conference Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will have a prominent place at the third annual ISS Research and Development Conference this week. The conference, organized by American Astronautical Society (AAS) in cooperation with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space and NASA, takes place June 17-19 in Chicago. ARISS International Chairman and AMSAT Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, will be the lead presenter for a program compiled by members of the ARISS US team — which includes ARISS International Secretary and ARRL Delegate Rosalie White, K1STO, ARRL Education Services Manager Debra Johnson, K1DMJ, and E. Mike McCardel, KC8YLD, of AMSAT. “ARISS — Inspiring and Educating Youth through Direct Connections with the ISS Crew” focuses on ARISS and its role in education. ARISS is the first and longest continuously running educational outreach program involving the International Space Station. The first ARISS school contact took place in late 2000, and nearly 900 such Amateur Radio contacts have taken place since then. ARISS functions with participation from the ARRL, NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Russian Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS), CNES, JAXA, CSA and AMSAT. It allows students, as part of a science and technology curriculum, to speak with a member of the ISS crew and ask questions about life in space or other space-related topics. ARISS conducts about 100 such school contacts per year, each about 10 minutes long — the time of a typical ISS pass — with students in the US and around the world. Preparation for the ARISS experience motivates both students and teachers to further their educations. Educators involved in an ARISS event can learn about electronics and wireless technology through the hands-on training provided in an ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology session — several are held each year. In similar fashion, youngsters preparing for a contact with an ISS crew member may learn about radio waves, space technology, science experiments onboard the ISS, geography, and the space environment. Some 15,000 students are touched directly by an ARISS contact each year, and many more become aware the program and its benefits either directly or via news media coverage resulting from an event. The ARISS presentation at this week’s AAS conference will provide some historical background on the ARISS program, describe the international volunteer team responsible for making program a success, and provide an overview of the process for schools to apply for an ARISS school contact. It will also explain how the ARISS team, partnered with NASA Education Office’s Teaching from Space program to engage schools and students. And it will describe some of the educational outcomes from ARISS, including data and feedback from schools, students, and organizations. In addition to inspiring an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula and careers, ARISS offers an opportunity for Amateur Radio experimentation and for evaluating new technologies. Today the ISS is only very rarely without an Amateur Radio licensee onboard, and the complement of Amateur Radio equipment on the ISS has expanded considerably since the early days of the ARISS program. While the initial hand-held VHF and UHF transceivers remain in use, mobile-type transceivers have been installed since, the ISS has slow-scan TV and digital capabilities, and, more recently, the ARISS program completed the commissioning of digital Amateur Radio television equipment to transmit video from space in conjunction with ARISS school contacts. That effort remain under development. The emphasis of the overall AAS conference is on ISS research and development — Discoveries in Microgravity Science; Discoveries in Space Science, Earth Science, Engineering and Education; Applications Benefitting Earth; Applications Enabling Technology and Exploration; and Opportunities. [ANS thanks AMSAT-BB, ARISS, & the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Successful launch of amateur radio satellite payloads On Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 19:11:11 UT a Dnepr rocket was launched from Dombarovsky near Yasny in the Russian Federation carrying 37 satellites, 12 of which had amateur radio payloads. Among the amateur radio payloads are a SSB/CW linear transponder, FM voice transponder, D-STAR Parrot Repeater and three Packet Radio Digipeaters. In total 33 satellites were deployed, the remaining four, Tigrisat, Lemur 1, ANTELSat and AeroCube 6, are being carried by the microsatellite UniSat-6 and should be deployed on Friday, June 20. In the hours immediately after launch signals were reported from POPSAT, QB50p1, QB50p2, UniSat-6, BugSat-1, NanosatC-BR1, Duchifat-1 and TabletSat-Aurora. The two QB50 precursor Cubesats on the launch carry amateur radio transponders. They were deployed at 19:32 UT and CW signals from both were received shortly after by Andre Van Deventer ZS2BK in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Brian Best ZS5SB also reported receiving QB50p1. Richard Dailey N8UX in Kentucky, USA made use of the Southampton University Wireless Society (SUWS) WebSDR to receive the QB50P2 beacon when the satellite was in range of the UK. The details of the initial 145 MHz CW transmission format for both QB50p1, and its near twin QB50p2, is at http://www.isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html QB50p1 carries the FUNcube-3 400 mW inverting linear 435/145 MHz transponder provided by AMSAT-NL. • 145.815 MHz BPSK telemetry • FUNcube inverting 400 mW SSB/CW transponder - 435.035-435.065 MHz Uplink LSB - 145.935-145.965 MHz Downlink USB QB50p2 carries a 435/145 MHz FM transponder and FX25 data transmitter from AMSAT-F. • 145.880 MHz BPSK telemetry • 145.840 MHz 9600 bps FSK FX25 It is expected that both these transponder payloads will be activated after the science missions have been completed. QB50 precursor amateur radio operator page http://www.isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html There were 37 satellites and a 2U Mass Dummy on the launch, frequencies at http://r4uab.ru/?p=6393 For a short description of each of the satellites see http://www.zarya.info/Calendar.php#Dnepr Article about the launch and payloads http://www.spaceflight101.com/dnepr-launch-updates—2014-cluster- launch.html Southampton University Wireless Society WebSDR http://websdr.suws.org.uk/ [ANS thanks the AMSAT-UK for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dnepr Launch for D-STAR Satellite The D-STAR satellite TabletSat-Aurora launched with 11 other satellites carrying amateur radio payloads from Dombarovsky near Yasny on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 19:11:11 UT. It carries a D-STAR Parrot (Store and Forward) Repeater running 0.8 watts of GMSK on 437.050 MHz (+/- 10 kHz) to a whip antenna. It can store up to 8 seconds of voice message. There are two other transceivers on the satellite that operate on 435.550 MHz and 436.100 MHz. Their power can be varied by command from the ground station between 0.8 and 2.0 watts and it is understood they will be used for command and control and transmit GMSK telemetry data. There is also a downlink on 8192 MHz. Dmitry Pashkov R4UAB reports the D-STAR repeater could become operational in early July. It is understood that when the D-STAR repeater is active the telemetry transmitters will be inactive. Description of TabletSat-Aurora in Google English http://tinyurl.com/TabletSat-Aurora-Description A description of the satellites amateur radio capability is at https://www.facebook.com/SPUTNIX.ltd/photos/a.336584396454237.77484.2 93701294075881/569763353136339/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SPUTNIX.ltd/ There are 37 satellites and a 2U Mass Dummy on the launch and it is thought a dozen of them are carrying amateur radio payloads. A list of frequencies is at http://r4uab.ru/?p=6393 For a short description of each of the satellites see http://www.zarya.info/Calendar.php#Dnepr Article about the launch and payloads http://www.spaceflight101.com/dnepr-launch-updates—2014-cluster- launch.html [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- FUNcube-3 payload launch information The FUNcube team anticipate that the Dnepr launch of the amateur radio FUNcube-3 payload on the QB50p1 CubeSat will take place as previously stated. This Thursday is the day! To be precise, lift off is expected to take place from Yasny on June 19, 2014 at 19:11:11 UT and the deployment of the various payloads will take place over the Indian Ocean in a similar fashion to the launch of FUNcube-1 last November. Pre-launch Keplerian elements / Two-Line Elements (TLEs) can be seen below. The details of the initial 145 MHz CW transmission format for both QB50p1, and its near twin QB50p2, is at http://www.isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html QB50p1 carries an inverting linear UV transponder with 400 mW output provided by AMSAT-NL and which is similar to that on FUNcube-1. • 145.815 MHz BPSK telemetry • FUNcube inverting 400 mW SSB/CW transponder - 435.035-435.065 MHz Uplink LSB - 145.935-145.965 MHz Downlink USB QB50p2 carries an UV FM transponder and FX25 data transmitter from AMSAT-F. It is expected that these payloads will be activated after the science missions have been completed. • 145.880 MHz BPSK telemetry • 145.840 MHz 9600 bps FSK FX25 AMSAT-UK will be monitoring the launch event and watching for signal reports on the #cubesat IRC channel throughout the evening. A web client is available at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#cubesat QB50 precursor amateur radio operator page http://www.isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html There are 37 satellites and a 2U Mass Dummy on the launch, frequencies at http://r4uab.ru/?p=6393 For a short description of each of the satellites see http://www.zarya.info/Calendar.php#Dnepr Article about the launch and payloads http://www.spaceflight101.com/dnepr-launch-updates—2014-cluster- launch.html Preliminary orbital information: Launch Time: 19:11:11 UT Separation of Platform A: 19:27:07 UT Separation of QB50p1: 19:32:07 UT Separation of QB50p2: 19:32:27 UT 1st pass over Delft/VKI: 20:46:46 UT QB50p_PRELAUNCHKEPS 1 00362U 00362A 14170.81049769 .00000000 00000-0 10000-4 0 7 2 00362 97.9897 66.2289 0012982 291.8733 244.3145 14.85013404 03 FUNcube website http://www.funcube.org.uk/ FUNcube Yahoo Group http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/ FUNcube Forum http://forum.funcube.org.uk/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). Thursday through Sunday, 17-20 July 2014 – ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford CT. AMSAT will host a day-long Satellite Workshop on Thursday, and have a booth at the convention along with an AMSAT Forum and demonstrations throughout the convention. Friday through Sunday, 12-14 September 2014 – ARRL Southwestern Division Convention 2014 in San Diego CA (north of the city center, near Montgomery Field airport & I-805/CA-163 interchange) – AMSAT will have a booth at this convention, there will be on-air demonstrations using satellites throughout the convention, and a presentation on amateur satellites and AMSAT [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Upcoming Contacts as of 2014-06-16 Focus Camps in Sterrenlab, Italy and European Space Center, Transinne, Belgium are scheduled for a joint telebridge contact via IK1SLD on Fri 2014-06-20 18:36:47 UTC 46 deg. (more information below) The questions will be asked alternately by participants of the Focus Camp in Italy and by participants of the Mission X Closing Event at the Euro Space Center in Belgium. Focus Camp, Candriai, Italy The radio contact with the ISS will take place during the Focus Campus, a science summer camp addressed to children aged 8 to 13 organized by Focus Junior - the most popular science magazine for children in Italy - and Sterrenlab, the camp organizer. During the week children will participate to science laboratories, learn about science topics and challenge themselves to design and build experiments and machines. The Focus Campus in Candriai (Trento) focuses on tinkering and DIY activities ("Una scienza da creare" - "A science to create"). Children will also have the opportunity to do sport in the morning, play with their friends and visit the alpine nature surrounding the camp premises. Euro Space Center, Redu, Belgium About 150 youngsters from all over Europe celebrate the International Closing Event for Mission X 2014 at the Euro Space Center in Belgium. “Mission X train like an astronaut” is an international education project that encourages children to take part in a challenge, adopting a life style reflecting astronaut training. The Closing Event offers participants the opportunity to meet astronauts and trainers, to experience the training simulators for astronauts, to simulate a Shuttle mission and to build a rocket. The telebridge contact with Euro Space Center was a success. - 14 questions answered by Alex Gerst - audience 70 - signals 5.9 in the middle of the pass The landline with Candriai Focus Camp was still down. Students at Ufa University, Ufa, Russia are planning a direct contact for Sat 2014-06-21 14:45 UTC. No additional information has been provided. A direct contact with students at Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, Markt Indersdorf, Bavaria, Germany, via DN4OD is planned for Thu 2014- 06-26 12:08:49 UTC 66 deg. The contact is expected to be conducted in German. The grammar school/high school of Markt Indersdorf (Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf GMI, Germany) began operations in the school year of 2001/2002. In 2007 the first students graduated successfully with the certificate qualifying them to go to university (Abitur). Currently, about 90 teachers instruct approximately 1,100 pupils aged 10 to 19, about 250 of them are in the qualification phase (years/grades 11 and 12). The GMI offers the choice between two faculties, the linguistic and scientific-technological one. Approximately 75 percent of the pupils decide for the latter. The pupils obtain an education in science from the 5th year/grade on, the subject Physics is taught from year/grade 8 on for both faculties, in the scientific-technological profile additional hours for more in-depth education are mandatory. In years/grades 11 and 12, the pupils have the choice between Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Experience has shown that about 30 to 40 per school year decide to take Physics. About half of them vote for Astrophysics in the 12th year/grade. From 5th year/grade on, all pupils study English as their first foreign language. The ISS Project The pupils are divided for this project into different groups that are each responsible for one of the following activities: • Technology: Installation, commissioning and maintenance of the antenna system respectively the radio station as well as all the necessary hardware and software • Planning and monitoring: Organization of the overall sequence of events, initiation of a school's competition to select the questions to the astronauts, organization of rehearsals • Presentation and documentation: Design of the facilities in question, elaboration of exhibitions and wall papers, construction of a model of the ISS, photo, audio and video documentation • Public Relations (local and trans-regional): Press, TV, radio and website. Pupils of all ages should participate in selecting the questions to the astronauts. The examination of questionnaires of other schools which already made contact with the ISS should secure the creation of uncommon and interesting questions that are not asked in every interview. At the event in question - depending on the date and time - a large number, if possible, of the school family should be present in the assembly hall, for example, to attend a live broadcast from the radio room. Successful Contacts A direct contact with Slavic Nations Ham Radio Conference, Sochi, Russia was successful Thu 2014-06-12 15:40 UTC. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts from All Over Subject: [amsat-bb] NanosatC-BR1 Hi The first Brazilian cubesat are working well. Video; http://youtu.be/FZdiZMX9rcI Preliminary TLE: NANOSATC-BR1 1 00362U 00362A 14170.81049769 .00000000 00000-0 10000-4 0 7 2 00362 97.9897 66.2289 0012982 291.8733 244.3145 14.85013404 03 Doppler for SatPC32: NANOSATC-BR1,145868.0,,USB,,,,TLM Thank you PY5LF Luciano Fabricio Curitiba-PR-BR GG54jm http://www.qrz.com/db/PY5LF [ANS thanks Luciano, PY5LF & the AMSAT-BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO

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ANS-187 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 05 Jul '14

05 Jul '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-187 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * OSCAR Numbers Assigned for CubeSats QB50p1 and QB50p2 * Reception of the One Millionth Packet from FUNcube-1 * WD9EWK - 2014 Field Day Report * AMSAT Field Day Satellite Contact Summary Sheet Due July 14 * ISS Contacts makes 2014 ARRL Field Day, One to Remember! * Satellite Operation From Saint Pierre and Miquelon * UKube-1 Launch Information * ESA Competition! Remote Sensing with Multiple Cooperative Nanosats * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-187.01 ANS-187 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 187.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE July 06, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-187.01 OSCAR Numbers Assigned for CubeSats QB50p1 and QB50p2 In an email to Mr. Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG, AMSAT-NL and Mr. Jeroen Rotteveel, ISIS CEO, OSCAR Number Administrator William A. (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, announced, "I have received your request for OSCAR Numbers for CubeSats QB50p1 and QB50p2 and from everything I can determine these spacecraft meet all of the requirements necessary to receive OSCAR numbers. "Therefore, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I hereby confer the designation European OSCAR 79 to CubeSats QB50p1 and European OSCAR 80 to CubeSat CubeSats QB50p2. These designations can, of course, for convenience be shortened to EO-79 and EO-80. I, and the entire amateur satellite community, hope for successful missions for both EO-79 and EO-80 and congratulate AMSAT-NL and the ISIS team as well as all who contributed to these new Amateur Radio satellites for their success in building, testing and launching these new OSCARs." [ANS Thanks Bill W3XO and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Reception of the One Millionth Packet from FUNcube-1 Many stations have been receiving the telemetry transmitted by FUNcube-1, which has now been in orbit for 221 days. The spacecraft, which has been operating nominally since launch, is providing on- board health and science data for the many schools and colleges who are already participating in the project around the world. Since launch, data has been received by more than 650 stations around the world and today our online Data Warehouse received its one millionth packet of information. The Warehouse is now storing more than 256MB of telemetry which is available for educational and research use. We have been successful in capturing almost 25% of all the telemetry transmitted including almost all of the Whole Orbit Data. This success is a great tribute to our designers of the Flight software, the Dashboard programme and the matching Data Warehouse. We are also immensely grateful to all the schools, colleges, radio amateurs and other listeners who are providing this data and want to encourage everyone to continue to listen to FUNcube-1 and to upload the data to the Warehouse. This will help enable the project to continue to provide a complete and current data set for analysis. We would, of course, also love to have additional receiving stations in the FUNcube Ground Station Network. This applies especially to anyone near the poles or who is located on an island in the middle of ocean. Their involvement would help us improve our rate of data capture still further. Our records show that there were three stations who actually managed to upload the same one millionth packet to the Warehouse today. They are G0EID, OM3BC and DL3SER. If they could contact "operations at funcube.org.uk" we will arrange them to send them a small prize to honour their contribution to the project. [ANS thanks Graham G3VZV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- WD9EWK - 2014 Field Day Report Even though I only worked the radios for a few hours on Saturday, the 2014 Field Day was another fun time to be on the radio. I had two objectives for this weekend - try to make a QSO with NA1SS, and try a new radio on HF - which I was able to do. I was on some satellite passes, making a couple of QSOs, which I'll submit to both ARRL and AMSAT. Knowing that the ISS would be passing by within minutes of the start of Field Day, I was set up in my back yard for that. I used my normal FM satellite setup (IC-2820H, Elk log periodic), with the power cranked down to 5W to fall in the 1B QRP classification I normally operate for Field Day, and was ready to go. About 5 minutes into the pass, and after hearing other stations' calls from NA1SS, I heard my call coming from there. Within seconds, I was getting e-mails, SMS messages, and tweets from friends who also heard that. A nice way to start Field Day! I listened to the rest of the pass, and recorded it. I was on the next ISS pass at 1952 UTC, hoping to hear anything from the ISS on 70cm (around 437.550 MHz) while recording the 145.800 MHz downlink. Lots of activity on 2m just like the earlier pass, but nothing up on 70cm. Did anyone hear anything from the ISS on 70cm during Field Day? A few hours later, with more shade in the back yard, I broke out the HF setup. An FT-897D with autotuner and its internal battery packs, set to 5W transmit power, and a Buddipole portable dipole with its mast and tripod. Before I started on the satellites in late 2005, I used to do a lot of portable HF operating, so it took no time to get the antenna up and the radio ready to go. Although I heard Field Day activity on most HF bands (10m was surprisingly quiet in the late afternoon), I ended up working 15m and 6m SSB to get a few QSOs. I tried to work FO-29 during a western pass around sunset, but could not get through with my normal SSB satellite setup - two FT-817NDs, Elk log periodic. Lots of activity, with some who sounded like they may have been overpowering the transponder a bit. Around 0400 UTC, 9pm for me in Arizona, there was a western SO-50 pass where I was able to break through with my IC-2820H at 5W and Elk log periodic. Lots of twisting the antenna around, trying to keep up with the satellite and hear myself on the downlink. I made two QSOs there - one that counted for QSO points and the satellite QSO bonus with VA7VW, and the other was to respond to W6KA calling me. I did not score the second QSO. I heard two other stations calling me, but could not get back to them and complete those QSOs with so many stations trying to get through. Some were not using PL tones on the SO-50 uplink, which only made the situation worse. I also wanted to make an SSB satellite QSO, so I tried AO-73 about an hour later, at 0500 UTC. A high pass for me, I was able to make a QSO with W5MSQ before another strong station overpowered the transponder. I was using my two FT-817NDs and Elk log periodic for the SSB pass, staying with my normal SSB satellite configuration instead of getting the FT-897D set up for SSB operation. This was the last QSO in my Field Day log. I have already sent off my QSL request for the NA1SS QSO. Since I recorded the audio from those two passes, I made slideshow videos of them. The first pass, or the 1815-1822 UTC portion I could hear, can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QC3l6NplbM I removed the first couple of minutes of my recording, since it only had my calls to NA1SS, and one unreadable response from NA1SS. By the way, did anyone else record this ISS pass? Especially if you are on the west coast? If so, please e-mail me directly. My slideshow video of the later ISS pass (1953-1957 UTC) is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxsIzal68VM This was a shallow pass here, with maximum elevation of only 8 degrees, so this was a bit shorter than the earlier recording and slideshow video. I had the audio recorder sitting near the IC-2820H for the first pass, so it could pick up the speaker audio and my voice. For the later pass, I had a patch cable running between the speaker jack on the TH-D72A HT and the mic jack on the recorder, since I was not planning to work the later pass on 2m. I had my Elk log periodic antenna routed through a diplexer, so the 2m side was going to the HT and the 70cm side to the IC-2820H, in the hopes of working NA1SS on 70cm and recording the audio on 145.800 MHz. Another summary of my Field Day activity, including some photos, can be seen at: http://www.arrl.org/soapbox/view/8943 I'm hoping to get out of town for next year's Field Day, which is what I normally do. It is fun to work with a portable setup, but it would be better if the outside temperature was not as hot as it was in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon (108F/42C at one point, in the shade of my back yard!). [ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Field Day Satellite Contact Summary Sheet Due July 14 AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says do not forget to turn in your summary sheets in time so that your group can be counted in AMSAT field day. The final date to send them in is July 14. The Satellite Summary Sheet can be found in the AMSAT Field Day Rules document available in PDF format on the AMSAT web: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=216 Attach your stories of field day and some pictures. In the past we have been able to use almost all the pictures sent. Send your submission to Bruce, KK5DO, by e-mail or postal mail. Your Summary Sheet must be received by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 14, 2014. The preferred method for submitting your log is via e-mail to kk5do at amsat dot org or kk5do at arrl dot net. You will receive an email back(within one or two days) from Bruce when he receives your email submission. If you do not receive a confirmation message, then he has not received your submission. Try sending it again or send it to Bruce's other email address. You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for your results to arrive by the submission date. If mailing your submission, the address is: Bruce Paige, KK5DO Director of Awards and Contests PO Box 310 Alief, TX 77411-0310 [ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Contacts makes 2014 ARRL Field Day, One to Remember! One of the highlights of this year's ARRL Field Day was a myriad of voice contacts offered up by the International Space Station (ISS). Through the efforts of crew member Reid Wiseman, many anxious ham radio operators had the experience, perhaps for the first time, of speaking with an astronaut orbiting Earth on board the ISS. After an announcement on Tuesday, June 24, of possible voice contacts from the ISS during the upcoming weekend, many Field Day stations across the U.S. set up tracking equipment, radios and antennas, vying for a brief chat with an orbiting astronaut. Through various social media outlets, hams were able to track where ISS voice transmissions were being received and in most cases, which Field Day stations had made contact. One group that was fortunate enough to connect with the ISS were The Boy Scouts of Raymore, MO, Troop 32. Ham operator, Jim Reicher comments ... " I bet the boys could be heard up in orbit even without a radio when Reid answered our call!" Field Day is held annually during the 4th weekend of June and is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League or ARRL. The main purpose of Field Day is to allow ham radio operators a chance to practice their emergency response capabilities and serves as a contest for Field Day stations to contact as many other Field Day stations as possible within a designated 24 hour period. [ANS thanks ARISS-I and Dave AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Operation From Saint Pierre and Miquelon Eric, KV1J, returns to Insel Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) from July 5th to the 15th to operate as FP/KV1J. QRV on 160-6m in SSB, RTTY, and some CW. He plans to follow the MUF on the bands and pay particular attention to 6m. Depending on the weather he also plans to operate via satellites. Eric also plans to participate in the DL-DX RTTY Contest (July 5/6) and the IARU contest. QSL via KV1J, LoTW, eQSL. http://www.kv1j.com/fp/July14.html [ANS Thanks DX Newsletter for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UKube-1 Launch Information UKube-1, the UK Space Agency's first CubeSat, carries a set of FUNcube boards with a linear transponder and educational beacon. The launch is scheduled from Pad 31/6 at Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 15:58:28 UT and to be deployed from the final stage of the Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat-M launch vehicle at 18:32:42 UT. The UKube-1 Operations Team has just issued their Launch Briefing. This is accompanied by a spreadsheet showing the anticipated UK passes for the first orbits together with a worksheet showing the telemetry equations. These documents can be downloaded at http://funcube.org.uk/news/ UKube-1 carries a number of experiments and payloads and also the FUNcube-2 transponder and telemetry sub-system. This is intended to support the current, very successful, operations of FUNcube-1 and to provide an even better operational capability for schools and colleges to use for hands on educational outreach around the world. Further details of the educational outreach opportunities are available here http://funcube.org.uk/education-outreach/ When the FUNcube-2 sub-system is activated, the 1k2 BPSK telemetry will be downlinked on 145.915 MHz in the same way as already happens with FUNcube-1. A new FUNcube-2 Dashboard UI will be released shortly. This will integrate directly with the existing FUNcube Central Data Warehouse and existing usernames and authorisation codes can be re-used. When the transponder is activated, the downlink passband will be 145.930 to 145.950 MHz and the uplink passband will be 435.080 to 435.060 MHz. It is anticipated that the FUNcube sub-system may be tested for short periods during the next few weeks depending upon how the LEOP plan progresses. AMSAT-UK personnel will be supporting the UKube-1 operations team at Chilbolton during the immediate post launch period and will be ensuring that regular status reports are made available via the #cubesat IRC channel. A web client is available at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#cubesat AMSAT-UK and their colleagues at AMSAT-NL, are delighted that UKube- 1 is carrying this FUNcube sub-system and wishes every success to the UKube Operations Team and to all the many contributors to the project. There will be a presentation on the satellite's amateur radio payload at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium being held at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ on July 26-27, the event is open to all, further details at http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/ UKube-1 frequencies: * 145.840 MHz Telemetry downlink * 145.915 MHz FUNcube subsystem beacon * 400 mW inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW - 435.080 -435.060 MHz Uplink - 145.930 -145.950 MHz Downlink * 2401.0 MHz S Band Downlink * 437.425-437.525 MHz UKSEDS myPocketQub Downlink Follow Helen Walker ?@SheAstronomer and Steve Greenland @strickengremlin for up-to-date information on the UKube-1 launch. FUNcube website http://www.funcube.org.uk/ FUNcube Yahoo Group http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/ FUNcube Forum http://forum.funcube.org.uk/ Like AMSAT-UK on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AMSATUK Data Warehouse - Telemetry Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/ Dashboard App - Telemetry Decoder http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ESA Competition! Remote Sensing with Multiple Cooperative Nanosats #1 - Land: To measure land characteristics over a wide spectral range/resolution at a high spatial resolution on timescales that are relevant to changes in the observables. #2 - Atmospheric Chemistry: To measure NO2 content in the troposphere with high temporal resolution over the diurnal cycle. #3 -Weather: To measure tropospheric properties (e.g. temperature, pressure, humidity, winds) on rapidly evolving timescales to support forecasting of severe weather events Proposals must be a joint submission by both academic/research and industry institutions with a budget of 100K Euros for submission on the 1 August 2014. Helen Harrison at the Satellite Applications Catapult are looking for partners and if interested, email: Helen dot Harrison at sa dot catapult dot org dot uk for further information. [ANS thanks U.K. Cubesat Forum for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, Markt Indersdorf, Bavaria, Germany and Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO using callsign DPØISS. The contact began 2014-06-28 12:08 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via DN4OD. ARISS Mentor was Peter IN3GHZ. + A Successful contact was made between DLR Project Lab, Neustrelitz, Germany and Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO using callsign DPØISS. The contact began 2014-07-02 12:05:13 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via DL1BLV. ARISS Mentor was Francesco IKØWGF. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule DLR School Lab, Braunschweig, Germany, direct via DH1ALF Contact is a go for: Fri 2014-07-11 09:37:47 UTC The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is one of Europe's largest and most modern research institutions. Here is where the aircraft of the future are being developed and pilots trained, rocket engines tested and images of distant planets analyzed. In addition, over 7,700 DLR staff members are investigating next-generation high-speed trains, environmentally responsible methods of generating energy, and much more ... DLR_School_Lab in Braunschweig investigates many topics related to transportation: whether on the road, rails, or in the air. In various experiments, school classes can acquaint themselves with the research topics being studied at the science institutes at DLR Braunschweig. German is the language expected to be used in the contact. ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 117 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 102 Francesco IKØWGF with 102 [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Reid Wiseman KF5LKT Wins Twitter Award NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman KF5LKT has been putting on a social media clinic since arriving at the International Space Station May 29. His Twitter following has rocketed from less than 37,000 when the month started to 126,000 today. There's a good reason for that, just check out his best tweets from June: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-187-Twitter [ANS thanks The Washington Post for the above information] + Last Call for Digital Communications Conference Papers July 14 is the deadline to submit papers for the proceedings of 2014 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference<http://www.tapr.org/dcc>, September 5 - 7, in Austin, Texas. You do not have to attend the conference to have your paper included in the proceedings. Your paper on any technical topic relevant to amateur digital communications will be published as submitted and you will retain all rights. Please e-mail your submission no later than July 14 to Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB, ARRL Production Coordinator, at maty(a)arrl.org. Send text files and images separately and do not attach Zip files. Total of attachments cannot exceed 5 Mbytes per message. [ANS Thanks Steve Ford WB8IMY for the above information] + Spot the Space Station Looking at You Spot the Station is a joint project by NASA, Esri, the Canadian Centre of Geographic Sciences and Alexander Gerst and crewmate Reid Wiseman. The locations and images will be collected throughout their mission until Alexander, Reid and commander Maxim Suraev return to Earth in November. Find out where the Station is and enjoy the same views as the astronauts by visiting ESA's Space Station tracker. The orbital outpost flies over the planet between latitudes 52+ N/S, reaching from the tip of South America to the UK. You are invited to share the view by taking a picture as the astronauts streak through the night sky. It is not difficult. Keep your camera steady on a tripod and make sure your exposure time is more than 30 seconds. If all goes well, you should capture a white streak that is the Station flying at 23 times the speed of sound. For the complete story visit: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-187-SpotStation [ANS Thanks Space-Travel.com for the above information] + World Space Week 2014 "The (UN) General Assembly declares 4 to 10 October World Space Week to celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition" Space: Guiding Your Way World Space Week 2014 will be all about satellite navigation. In this decade we see the number of satellite navigation systems grow from one (GPS) to many (Galileo, Glonass, Beidou). At the same time we see the number of applications for humanity rapidly increase too. The relevance of positioning, navigation and timing from space is much larger than many think. 2014 is a great year to highlight these applications and benefits by choosing it as the central theme for World Space Week. We aim to inspire as many event organizers as last year with this new theme. We are working with our partners in the space and space applications industry to help us collect education and other material for events. Please keep an eye on this website for more news soon. http://www.worldspaceweek.org/wsw/index.php [ANS Thanks World Space Week for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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