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ANS-333 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 28 Nov '15

28 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-333 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: * Nov/Dec Edition of AMSAT Journal Sent to Printer * March 2016 Activation of St. Pierre & Miquelon * 2016 High-Altitude Student Platform Opportunity * ARISS Commemorative Events in the Planning * S7 Sao Tome and Principe Dxpedition Includes LEO Satellites * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-333 ANS-333 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 333 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. [MONTH DAY, YEAR] To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-333 Nov/Dec Edition of AMSAT Journal Sent to Printer AMSAT Journal editor Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK, reports that the November-December editon of the Journal has been sent to to the printers. Expect delivery mid to late December. This is Kornowski's first Journal since accepting the Editorial post last October. The atricles are well done and ‘meaty’ with lots of information. The overall appearance looks great. There is much here for every AMSAT member to enjoy. The line up of articles include: AMSAT Announcements Apogee View, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, Engineering Update, by Jerry Buxton, N0JY Fox-1 Satellite Telemetry Part 1: On the Satellite by Burns Fisher, W2BFJ A Raspberry Pi Net Server/Client for Antenna Rotor by Tom Doyle, W9KE Dual Band Low Noise Amplifier for 2 Meters and 70 Centimeters, by Jim Kocsis, WA9PYH ARISS “Out of This World” Update by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO Close Encounters of the Law Enforcement Kind by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK On the Grids: Working the United States/Mexico Border by Clayton L. Coleman, W5PFG [ANS thanks Joseph KB6IGK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- March 2016 Activation of St. Pierre & Miquelon Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002, WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between March 16-29th (2016). Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY (but primarily SSB and RTTY). He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 12/10m). He will be active in the Russian DX and BARTG RTTY Contests (March 19-20th). Also, look for him to be in the CQWW WPX SSB Contest (March 26-27th) as a Single-Op/All-Band/Assisted entry. QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau. Also eQSL and LoTW. For more details and updates, check out his Web page at: http://www.kv1j.com/fp/Mar16.html PLEASE NOTE: Eric mentions, "I will also be on the analog Satellites when the WX is good enough to operate from outside." [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1241 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 High-Altitude Student Platform Opportunity The Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, or LaSPACE, is accepting applications from students at U.S. colleges and universities who want to send experiments to the edge of space on a high-flying scientific balloon. The annual project, supported by the NASA Balloon Program Office and LaSPACE, provides near-space access for 12 undergraduate and graduate student experiments to be carried by a NASA high-altitude research balloon. The flights typically last 15 to 20 hours and reach an altitude of 23 miles. Experiments may include compact satellites or prototypes. The experiments are flown aboard the High-Altitude Student Platform, or HASP, a balloon-born instrument stack launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility's remote site in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The goals of the project are to provide a space test platform to encourage student researchand stimulate the development of student satellite payloads and other space-engineering products. HASP seeks to enhance the technical skills and research abilities of students in critical science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The deadline for applications is Dec. 18, 2015. For application information and technical details about the program, visit http://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp. Questions about the High-Altitude Student Platform opportunity should be directed to T. Gregory Guzik at guzik (at) phunds.phys.lsu.edu. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Nov. 25, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Commemorative Events in the Planning Over the next couple months, ARISS will be celebrating its 15th anniversary of continuous operations on the ISS. On November 13, 2000 the crew conducted their first ham radio contacts on ISS and on December 21, 2000 ARISS conducted their first school contact with the Burbank School in Burbank, Illinois. An SSTV commemoration of these historic events is tentatively planned for mid to late December. It is possible that the transmission mode will be P120 instead of the P180 mode used in the past. This would allow for more pictures to be transmitted per pass. Because preparations are not final it is suggested that you stay tuned to the AMSAT-BB and the AMSAT and ARISS web site for the latest information on this event and others that ARISS plans to conduct over the next few months [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- S7 Sao Tome and Principe Dxpedition Includes LEO Satellites S7, SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE. Operators Lee/WW2DX, Ray/W2RE and Pat/N2IEN will be active as S9TM from Praia between November 28th and December 1st. The team is planning on taking a WRTC tri-band yagi for 10/15/20 as well as a OCF for the lower bands. They will have an Expert 1.3K amp with them for that station. The second station will be K3/KPA500 that will be used on the 30/17/12m bands. A third station will be setup for LEO satellites and they are going to attempt 2m EME, but this is new territory for this group so don't set expectations too high. They will be posting to Twitter https://twitter.com/@ww2dx> and possible live streaming using periscope. QSL via LoTW and paper cards to NR6M. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1242 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Scuola Media Statale “G. Marconi”, Soleto, Lecce, Italy and Astronaut Kimiya Yui KG5BPH using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2015-11-23 09:21 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via VK4KHZ. ARISS Mentor was IKØWGF. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-11-26 01:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Dragonskolan, Umeå, Sweden, telebridge via VE4ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact was not successful: Wed 2015-11-25 09:44:25 UTC 78 deg ARISS is working to determine what happened. Nanasawa Kibounooka Elementary School, Atsugi, Japan, direct via 8N1NKSG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Wed 2015-12-02 09:33:51 UTC 61 deg Yayoi Elementary School, Yatomi, Japan, direct via 8N2YAYOI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Fri 2015-12-04 09:25:46 UTC 57 deg Ingushetia, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Contact is a go for: Sat 2015-12-05 16:25 UTC >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. Stay tuned to the AMSAT-BB, The AMSAT website {www.asmat.org) and the ARISS website (www.ariss.org) for information on ARISS commemorative events celebrating 15 years of Amateur Radio on the ISS. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Eduardo Erlemann PY2RN published a Panoramic view of AO-7 transponder, using FCDP+ for RX and TS-2000 for TX. Although he was late on he bird after 1/2 pass that started at 18:40 UTC, forgot to swap SDR# IQ in the first moment. Max elevation was 64deg TX power 5 Watts all the time and RHCP most of the time. About 2 min before end of recording it is possible to hear what he believes is a CU station calling. Find the recording at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCq0WaEZ9g8&feature=youtu.be [ANS thank Eduardo PY2RN 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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ANS-326 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 22 Nov '15

22 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-326 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: * AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations * The Second Birthday of FUNcube-1 (AO-73) * FM Repeater Test at IO-86 Satellite * AMSAT-LU announces transponder satellite payload and launch * Space Brazilian Agency With Amateur radio PY2SDR LABRE/AMSAT-BR * United Launch Alliance Reveals Transformational CubeSat Launch Program * Nayif-1 at UAE YouthConnect * DeorbitSail Update and Initial Camera Image * SPROUT SSTV and Digitalker active every Sunday * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-326.01 ANS-326 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 326.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE November 22, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-326.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations AO-85 has been formally commissioned and turned over to AMSAT Operations, who are now responsible for the scheduling and modes. The following guidelines are provided for users: Uplink power should be on the order of minimum 200 W EIRP for full quieting at lower antenna elevation angles. Your mileage may vary. With an Arrow, 5 W has been used successfully to make contacts. Polarity is important. The satellite antennas are linear. So, if you are using linearly polarized antennas, you will need to adjust throughout the pass. Full duplex operation facilitates these adjustments while transmitting and is highly recommended. The downlink is very strong and should be heard well with almost any antenna. Downlink audio is 5 kHz deviation, as expected. Many will perceive that the audio is "low." This is an effect of the filtering below 300 Hz, which provides for the DUV telemetry, coupled with any noise on the uplink signal resulting from lack of full quieting or being off frequency. That makes for less fidelity than a typical receiver in terms of audio frequencies passed. Transmit (downlink) frequency varies with temperature. Due to the wide range of temperatures we are seeing in the eclipse cycle, the transmitter can be anywhere from around 500 Hz low at 10°C to near 2 kHz low at 40°C. Receive frequency has been generally agreed to be about 435.170 MHz, although the AFC makes that hard to pin down and also helps with the uplinks that are off frequency. Probably the most notable observations about AO-85 are an apparent lack of sensitivity and difficulty in turning on the repeater with the 67 Hz CTCSS when it is not yet activated, or holding it on by the presence of the CTCSS. We have determined a probable cause for the sensitivity issue and while that can't be fixed on AO-85 we are taking steps to prevent similar issues on the rest of the Fox-1 CubeSats. The tone detection threshold along with the receive sensitivity issue makes it hard to bring up the repeater. This is being addressed by adjusting the values for a valid tone detection in the other Fox-1 CubeSats now that we have on orbit information about temperatures and power budget. Full details will be in the Nov/Dec AMSAT Journal. It is important to remember that science is the reason behind the Fox-1 satellites. Not only does science help with the launch cost, it provides a great amount of educational value both from the science payload and in amateur radio itself. The data-under-voice (DUV) telemetry is an excellent way to provide the science without sacrificing the use of the satellite for communications, which would be the case if higher speed downlinks were needed. DUV provides constant science as long as the repeater is in use, which in turn provides more downlink data for the science - a mutually beneficial combination. Fox-1A is AMSAT-NA's first CubeSat. Many new techniques are incorporated and lessons will be learned, as with any new "product." The Fox-1 Project is a series of CubeSats. A total of five will be built and flown. Launches are scheduled for three more, and a new NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative proposal will be submitted for the fifth. We will incorporate changes from what we learn in each launch, to the extent possible, in subsequent Fox-1 CubeSats. Of the four NASA sponsored CubeSats on the ELaNa XII launch October 8, we are sad to report that ARC1 was never heard from and BisonSat was lost after a few weeks of operation. AMSAT extends our deepest sympathy to the people who worked so hard on these projects. To our members, we want to say that the Fox Team is very proud and pleased that our first CubeSat is very successful and hopefully will be for some time. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Vice President of Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Second Birthday of FUNcube-1 (AO-73) The FUNcube-1 Ops Team reports: FUNcube-1 was launched into space two years ago on November 21st 2013. We are delighted to be able to report that more than 900 stations, including many schools around the world, have received the telemetry from the spacecraft since launch. Our Data Warehouse is storing more than 750 MB of data from almost 1 million data packets. We are very grateful to everyone who has been contributing to the success of this mission. Please continue to keep the data flowing as it will provide a valuable resource for students in the future. The stats continue – speeding along at around 17,500 mph, FUNcube-1, which had a launch mass of just 982 grams, has completed more than 10,500 orbits of the earth. This means a total distance travelled of more than 260 million miles. All telemetry sensors continue to provide valid data, real time, whole orbit and high resolution channels alike. The flight code is really robust and we have only had three unexpected “events” since launch. Two of these we believe to have been caused by noise of the command receiver being incorrectly interpreted as a command and only one appears to have been caused by a RAM error. The battery and solar panels also continue to work perfectly and provide a very positive power budget. We have sent out many Fitter messages for school and other similar events. Earlier this week there was a demonstration at Thorne Green Top School in Yorkshire. Here is a report from Dave EI4HT/M0GIW: Good Morning All Firstly -thanks to all for your help, we had a great morning at Green Top and the highlight was FUNcube. I started with a slide show talking about communications from cave paintings all the way up to smartphones, we looked at space communications and travel from Sputnik to Astra and Apollo to the Millennium Falcon! We spoke about satellites and how they are used every day and how we all got to watch “I’m A Celebrity” via Satellite last night from Australia. I brought in lots of props too, some old Motorola MX330 radios, some PMR 446, and a marine band radio .I also had a small model of a CubeSat that I knocked up over the weekend, I also passed around some NOAA images from last week’s Abigail storm and I had a few QSL cards from ISS and MIR from years ago when I lived in Ireland. The FUNcube pass was great, really strong signals, I had my turnstile and FCD set up and had audio through speakers and used the class projector to show Satpc32 and the Dashboard. There was a great buzz of excitement when we got the first packet and even more when the Fitter messages came through. The kids were fascinated to see the signal arrive just as the software predicted and then hear the telemetry and the decode. After the pass we were able to look at the Warehouse online and print off the QSL card and certificate. I didn’t get a chance to take many pics but Mrs Overson will update the School Blog and she took lots of pics. http://greentopschool.co.uk/blog Once again thanks to all at FUNcube, looking forward to Tim Peake on the ISS in the New Year and planning another visit to the School then. Regards Dave EI4HT / M0GIW PS: I was back dropping my own kids off this morning and Mrs Overson told me they have printed a QSL card and Certificate for each of the students and they have used them for their class journals. As well providing a great educational resource, FUNcube-1 operates at night and generally at weekends with the linear transponder active for radio amateurs to use for communications. The transponder continues to provide an excellent service. As users will be aware, the transponder uplink frequencies vary with receiver temperature. The RX temp telemetry channel is the best one to use for tracking this effect. This does make it quite difficult to use full computer control for transponder operations and we have already developed new oscillator circuits to improve this performance for future missions. For the telemetry uplinked to the Data Warehouse, it is possible to download special Certificate or QSL Card here http://amsatuk.me.uk/on/funcube_qsl.php and, for transponder users, the “73 on 73 award” continues at http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/73-on-73-award/ The Nayif-1 CubeSat mission, which includes a full FUNcube payload, is expected to be launched into a similar orbit in the first half of next year and will provide an additional level of service to the community. Meanwhile we hope everyone will continue to have fun with FUNcube-1! See: http://funcube.org.uk/2015/11/20/the-second-birthday-of-funcube-1/ [ANS thanks Graham, G3VZV and the FUNcube-1 Ops Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- FM Repeater Test at IO-86 Satellite A confirmation for the upcoming test of the FM Repeater on IO-86 Satellite (LAPAN-A2/ORARI), has been announced and would be conducted this weekend: - Saturday, 21 Nov 2015, at 02:30 UTC - 04:50UTC - Sunday, 22 Nov 2015, at 02:55 – 05:00 UTC Voice Repeater info: - Uplink 145.880 Mhz tone 88,5 - Downlink 435.880 Mhz AMSAT Keplerian data 0 IO-86 1 40931U 15052B 15316.15776324 .00001070 00000-0 60618-4 0 9994 2 40931 6.0030 69.3893 0012877 275.6206 84.2533 14.76374433 6653 As the satellite was designed for emcomm using handheld radio (the reason of the relatively high-power downlink), we would like all reports of portable ops (handheld radio using some sort of portable directional antenna, i.e. CJU / IOio / Moxon / Arrow / etc). Responses via the amsat-bb [ANS thanks Suryono Adisoemarta – YD0NXX / N5SNN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-LU announces transponder satellite payload and launch (From AMSAT-LU Facebook page:) Dear friends, Since several years ago AMSAT Argentina is working to keep alive the dream of many amateur radio back into space with a satellite of its own, which is the continuity of the legendary LuSat-1 of the años1990 and reaping the benefits of the technological advance of our days. For this held various technical activities, developing experiments on board the occasional platforms, all with the same objective: to preserve the human group, enhance their capabilities and spread their resources by guiding them to the education and development of the activity. In recent times, AMSAT Argentina has been working in many ways with the company Satellogic, which already launched three satellites of low orbit: Captain Beto, manolito and tita, two of them are now broadcast telemetry and data in uhf and are identified in the Distinctive LU7AA. Under an agreement signed between the two institutions AMSAT-LU provides support to those missions operate one of the stations of control in uppsala, Prov. Of BS. As. Currently satellogic is facing the construction of a constellation of satellites of observation of the earth and has invited AMSAT-LU to participate in the project of the next two satellites, the ÑUSAT 1 AND ÑUSAT 2, riding on one of them a Linear Transponder Analog Amateur Radio Antenna and its corresponding. The experiment which provides AMSAT was tested on several occasions in the land, and also on board one of flights in a balloon launched from the prov. Of the Pampas. At that time was called carposat, showing a good performance in spite of its low power and small size and weight. On this occasion, the experiment of AMSAT LU - that has no name yet own - will be further reduced in its dimensions and mounted on a plaque radiadora of 10 x 10 cm, in which also won't hold the necessary components for the Source of food and the duplexer. The package will be installed on the bus from the NUSAT, which will provide the energy and will be part of a number of other experiments that will carry out this satellite. The Transponder receives in the band of UHF and VHF Transmitted in, has a bandwidth of 30 Khz and its output power is 200 mw.; Frequencies of ascent 435.935 ~ 965 Lsb / CW, Frequencies of descent 145.965 ~ 935 USB / CW. Basic telemetry in 145.900 CW. The launch is scheduled for April 2016 with a Chinese launcher in a polar orbit at 500 km. In Height and an inclination of 97 degrees with respect to the equator. This is an extraordinary opportunity to our institution, and for all the Radioamateurs Argentines, be able to have a new satellite in orbit, after after so many years of successful LuSat-1. So far, the funds needed for the preliminary activities of recent years, the construction and the logistics, were provided by a small number of members of the board of directors and partners of AMSAT-LU. Now come the largest economic positions for the completion of the electronics and integration with the satellite principal. In order to comply with this circumstance, it has been proposed the establishment of a list where it will include the names and distinctive signs of all those who are able and willing to work together, and then give them a certificate alluding to his gesture. The neighbors of the autonomous city or the great Buenos Aires, can perform their collaboration personally during the monthly meetings of AMSAT-LU. Also at the headquarters of the RC Qrm Belgrano, permanent partners of AMSAT-LU. If I'd be interested in making donations from other sites away, we'll let you know the way to make their contribution. Also, we would like to take this opportunity to invite all the partners of AMSAT and amateur radio colleagues who are interested in suggest the name and the logo for our next satellite Argentine, write to us on the page of AMSAT Argentina in Facebook or sending it by e-mail to parapente(a)amsat.org.ar. [ANS thanks Ignacio Mazzitelli, LU1ESY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Brazilian Agency With Amateur radio PY2SDR LABRE/AMSAT-BR Brasilia, November 20, 2015 - The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) received on Tuesday (17) the visit of amateur Edson Wander Pereira, the first to receive and decode the data sent by Serpens-1 cubesat. The nanossatélite was launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS), the 17th of last September. Ham Radio is in Brasilia (DF) to attend the 7th Meeting of Science and Technology (ECT - FGA) which ends today (20) in the Range Campus of the University of Brasilia (UNB). Pereira lives in Pardinho (SP) and his visit emphasized the importance of dissemination of knowledge to amateurs and students who are interested in nanossatélites. "The experimental amateur radio is an activity that collaborates with the nanossatélites projects. This joint action causes the development of CubeSats in schools and universities is promoted by having more data exchange possibilities transmitted by these nanos, "says Pereira. At the meeting with President of the Agency, José Raimundo Braga, Pereira received from teacher Chantal Capeletti, of UNB and coordinator of Serpens Program, a transmitter that can be used to send data to the satellite and experiment with its payload. This equipment is part of the mission ground follow-up and was produced in limited numbers, but will be distributed to experimental radio amateurs operating in the area and among the member institutions of the nanossatélite consortium. See the story here http://www.aeb.gov.br/radioamador-experimental-visita-aeb-apos-decodificar- dados-do-serpens-1/ [ANS thanks Paulo, PV8DX for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- United Launch Alliance Reveals Transformational CubeSat Launch Program Centennial, Colo., (Nov. 19, 2015) – As the most experienced launch company in the nation, United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced today it is taking CubeSat rideshares to the next level by launching a new, innovative program offering universities the chance to compete for free CubeSat rides on future launches. “ULA will offer universities the chance to compete for at least six CubeSat launch slots on two Atlas V missions, with a goal to eventually add university CubeSat slots to nearly every Atlas and Vulcan launch,” said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO. “There is a growing need for universities to have access and availability to launch their CubeSats and this program will transform the way these universities get to space by making space more affordable and accessible.” "This is exactly the kind of collaborative innovation that we celebrate in Colorado," said Lt. Gov. Joseph Garcia. “Here, we have a Colorado company giving Colorado students at a Colorado university an unbelievable opportunity to send a satellite into space. What a great day for our state." Rideshare is a flight-proven, innovative approach that provides customers a low-cost way to achieve various mission objectives without the need for a dedicated launch vehicle. CubeSats are miniaturized satellites originally designed for use in conjunction with university educational projects and are typically 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm (4 inches x 4 inches x 4 inches) and approximately 1.3 kg (3 lbs). “Since its inception, ULA has been committed to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiatives and programs such as this help to motivate, educate and develop our next generation of rocket scientists and space entrepreneurs,” said Bruno. “We are making the announcement today with University of Colorado President Bruce Benson and University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano, key partners in STEM education, and are pleased to offer the university the first free CubeSat launch slot in 2017.” "CU-Boulder students have been building and operating small satellites for 20 years, including the Colorado Student Space Weather CubeSat launched on a ULA Atlas rocket in 2012," DiStefano said. "The ability to provide science and engineering students with the opportunity to fly the satellites they build is an invaluable motivational and educational tool. We are thrilled to partner with ULA, a visionary organization that is helping to facilitate a nationwide STEM effort." Interested universities should email ULACubeSats(a)ulalaunch.com by Dec. 18, 2015 to notify ULA they are interested in participating. In early 2016, ULA will release a request for proposal (RFP) for the first competitive CubeSat launch slots. The selected universities will be announced in August 2016. In addition, ULA is offering the nation’s universities the chance to help name the new CubeSat program. Universities, educators and students can submit names for consideration to ULACubeSats(a)ulalaunch.com using a campus-issued email address. Submissions are due by Dec.18, 2015. The winning name will be announced early next year, and the institution will receive a free CubeSat launch slot on a future mission. As America’s ride to space, ULA has launched 102 missions, including 55 CubeSats, with 100 percent mission success. About United Launch Alliance With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 100 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system. For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com . Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch. See America’s Ride to Space Offers University Competition for Free STEM CubeSat Rides on Future Launches http://www.ulalaunch.com/ula-reveals-transformational-cubesat-launch.aspx?t… =United+Launch+Alliance+Reveals+Transformational+CubeSat+Launch+Program+ http://www.ulalaunch.com/cubesats.aspx See also: http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/19/ula-says-it-will-launch-some-cubesats-… -free/ [ANS thanks Jeff Yanko, WB3JFS on the AMSAT-BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nayif-1 at UAE YouthConnect YouthConnect is an initiative led by the Expo 2020 UAE team and is catered specifically for the Youth of today. The Nayif-1 team took part in the event by throwing a workshop titled “Introduction to Cubesatellites.” YouthConnect is the first in a long-lasting and wide-ranging series highly interactive forums designed by youth for youth. The inaugural event took take place on Saturday, November 14, 2015. This first interactive, full-day forum, part of a far wider programme to talk to the younger members of society, was open to all UAE residents between the ages of 18-25. “From our earliest days conceiving Expo”, says Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State and Director General of the Bureau Dubai Expo 2020 “we were determined to put our youth at the heart of our plans. It is these young men and women who will be representing and leading our nation in the years to come. So it is important that they contribute to these events and decide what they want to see and do on the day.” Nayif-1 was built by students at the American University of Sharjah, UAE, in partnership with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. The nanosatellite will incorporate a novel autonomous attitude determination and control system. This will be the first flight of this system. Additionally it will carry a UHF to VHF linear transponder that will have up to 0.5 watt output and which can be used by Radio Amateurs worldwide for SSB and CW communications. A launch is planned for the first half 2016 on the SpaceX Falcoln 9 SHERPA mission with deployment into an elliptical, sun synchronous, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) of about 450 by 720 km. Follow Nayif-1 on Twitter https://twitter.com/Nayifone Frequency information http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/nayif-1/ YouthConnect at Expo 2020 Dubai http://expo2020dubai.ae/en/news/article/expo_2020_dubai_unveils_youthconnect [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- DeorbitSail Update and Initial Camera Image Chris Bridges 2E0OBC of the Surrey Space Centre provides this update on the status of the DeorbitSail Cubesat. Dear AMSAT Community, We would like to express our gratitude for your cooperation in the DeorbitSail project, and update you on the status of the mission. As you know the DOS mission was launched on 10th July. After 4 months of operations, the satellite is healthy and stable, although unfortunately we have not been able to meet all of the mission objectives. Initial contact with the satellite was established relatively smoothly and we received a lot of good data, both through our own ground station but also via the network of you radio amateurs who have been very generous with your time and help. We achieved a power stable state early on, with good comms (uplink and downlink) established within the first few days. We deployed the solar panels successfully, and managed to return to a good and stable power state after deployment. The ADCS has been challenging from the start, and continues to be challenging – we have struggled to accurately determine the satellite tumble rate and get it under control (more detail on that is included below). We know that the satellite has seen some very high spin rates for various reasons, including some inherent design/magnetic characteristics which have become apparent. Despite many attempts, we have unfortunately not been able to deploy the sail, and having recently thoroughly analysed and investigated the possible causes, mission events and ground test data and history, we are now reaching the conclusion that achieving successful sail deployment is very unlikely. Again there is more detail on that in the main body of text below. We thank you for your patience and would like to apologise for not keeping you updated on mission progress as often as we’d hoped. The operations phase has been a learning and sometimes stressful experience for all of the team at SSC, with a lot of head scratching and sleepless nights involved. Here is some more detailed information regarding what progress and achievements have been made during the operations to date. • After the launch on the 10th of July, and the first week in orbit, with a power safe and healthy satellite, the operation passed from the LEOP phase to the ADCS Commissioning phase. This second phase was estimated to last between three and four weeks; this proved to be optimistic. • Although the spin up of the S/C was much higher than expected and saturated the sensors, the SU simulations and the available data suggested a large Z-spin rate on DOS which was confirmed by the B-field and MEMS magnetometry measurements. To induce a bigger difference in the Moments of Inertia (MoI) of the two non-longitudinal axes, the decision was taken to deploy the solar panels. This operation was performed the 10th of August. • More than a month after the launch the satellite was really healthy, power safe and with great comms through newly developed software defined radio and database backend operations. Although the stabilization wasn’t achieved even with the solar panel deployment, at one month from the launch the team decide to proceed with the sail deployment. • This decision was agreed with DLR that confirmed that tumbling rates were no issue for the sail deployment, because the Moments of Inertia increase rapidly slowing down the tumble rate. DLR has performed a deployment test on Gossamer while tumbling before coming to this opinion. • On the 15th of August, the first attempt for sail deployment was performed, the command was sent and the acknowledgement from the S/C was received, but no current was drawn from the boom deployer motor. Multiple experiments were performed to try and determine the cause of sail deployment failure. • At this point, after a thorough investigation, the most plausible hypothesis and justification seems to be a physical disconnection of the motor cables. (Note that after the vibration test, it wasn’t possible to physically inspect the connection due to the design itself of the S/C) Our simulations showed that with the actual configuration (deployed solar panels, undeployed sail) the decay time should be 20 years circa. The aim now is to exercise and exploit the parts of the satellite that are working, and gain more confidence and experience with the SU ADCS system, the ISIS TRXUV and solar panels, and the SSC SDR groundstation and database tools to explore better the interaction of the panel circuitry with the attitude stabilisation. That will allow us to improve our performances in the next missions. From here, the team have worked hard to take images of the Earth and via SU’s CubeSense camera – which we are delighted to show you today. This would not be possible without the dedication from the SSC team here and, of course, the amateur telemetry you kindly send us. We are going to continue imaging and testing at higher resolutions too so watch this space. We thank you for all the support. Chiara Massimiani, DOS Project manager & Prof Guglielmo Aglietti SSC Director and DOS PI DeorbitSail http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/telemetry/deorbitsail/ Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/research/space_vehicle_control/deorbitsail/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SPROUT SSTV and Digitalker active every Sunday Slow Scan TV (SSTV) images in Scottie 1 format will be transmitted from the SPROUT satellite every Sunday (Japanese Standard Time) on 437.600 MHz FM (+/- 9 kHz Doppler shift). The Digitalker will also be active. SPROUT, a 20 x 20 x 22 cm amateur radio nano-satellite with a mass of 7.1 kg, launched successfully with the L-band (1236.5 MHz/1257.5 MHz/1278.5 MHz) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite ALOS-2 on May 24, 2014 at 0305 UT. SPROUT is in a 654 km, 97.9 degree inclination Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). SPROUT (Space Research On Unique Technology) was built by students from Nihon University and its objectives are: 1. Operation of satellite by radio amateurs. A FM Digitalker will enable the satellite to speak to amateurs around the world. The Voice Message Box will record transmissions from radio amateurs and play them back. Pre-loaded images from the Message Gallery can be transmitted using Slow Scan TV (SSTV). Pictures of the Earth can be transmitted by SSTV and radio amateurs can receive it using free software such as MMSSTV. As part of the Earth mapping project the team ask radio amateurs to contribute pictures they have received from the satellite for display on the SPROUT website. The satellite also has a packet radio Digipeater and Text Message Box function. 2. Demonstration of the deployment of the combined membrane structure and verification of the design method of the structure SPROUT has a triangular membrane supported by two tubes like framework. They are folded and stored in the satellite before the launch. After the launch, the nitrogen gas is injected into the tubes in space, and they extend, so that the membrane deploys (called “combined membrane structure”). 3. Demonstration of attitude determination and control of a nanosatellite using the sun sensors, gyros, geomagnetic sensor and magnetic torquers. Callsign: JQ1ZJQ Size: 214x210x220 mm Weight: 7.1 kg Mode: 1200bps AFSK, 9600bps GMSK CW downlink 437.525 MHz FM packet downlink 437.525 MHz Digipeater uplink 437.600 MHz Digitalker downlink 437.600 MHz SSTV downlink 437.600 MHz SPROUT English website http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout-e/ SPROUT Japanese website http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout/ Nihon-Univ. Miyazaki Laboratory on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nihon-Univ-Miyazaki-Laboratory/4065666428188… Telemetry Software http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout-e/2-Software-e.html Telemetry format http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout-e/2-Formats%20of%20telemetry-e.html SPROUT launch data page http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout-e/2-Launch%20data-e.html TLE’s from the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) are also available at http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt Free Slow Scan TV (SSTV) software MMSSTV http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php The JE9PEL website has information on other satellites on this launch http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/jaxalos2.htm [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). *Saturday, 5 December 2015 – Superstition Superfest 2015 in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 9 January 2016 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2016 in Phoenix AZ *Friday and Saturday, 19-20 February 2016 – Yuma Hamfest and 2016 ARRL Southwest Division Convention in Yuma AZ *Saturday and Sunday, 12-13 March 2016 – ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ *Saturday, 19 March 2016 – Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Spring Hamfest 2016 in Scottsdale AZ *Saturday, 26 March 2016 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Kiluutaq School, Umiujaq, Nunavik Quebec, Canada, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact was successful: Tue 2015-11-17 16:47:02 UTC 41 deg We are students from Kiluutaq school. Our school is located in the village of Umiujaq. This is a small village of about 460 people in northern Quebec (Canada). In winter, we use special clothes to go hunting. We hunt seals, belugas, caribou, fish and foxes. In addition, every year we celebrate the blueberry festival and we pick a lot of blueberries. Our village is very special since we are talking 3 different languages: Inuttitut, English and French. In our village there are two stores, a school, an arena, an airport,a health center and a community center. Steve, VE3TBD reported: Contact went well... very well in fact. All questions answered - 13 140 students. 50 parents. Astronaut was a little low at times but overall very good. I heard him well but I know the many languages and cultures do influence how we hear things - very interesting to have the French, English and native languages involved. Our humanoid robot did a very god job of getting the students up for event. Presentations were undertaken in both English and local language. My thanks goes to the very excellent job by Radio Station W6SRJ, Moderator Brian Jackson and all else connected and involved. * A direct contact via OEØARISS with students at BORG Monsbergergasse, Graz, Austria, was successful Mon 2015-11-09 09:42:15 UTC 49 deg. Astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS answered 11 questions for students. The BORG Monsbergergasse is a grammar school in Graz, Monsbergergasse 16. Graz is the second largest city in Austria, located in the southeast of the country. The school can easily be reached from everywhere in Graz using public transport. About 800 students attend the school and there are about 100 teachers. Our students can choose between 5 different areas of interest: sports, science, music, art and informatics. After four to five years the students graduate from school after taking their A-levels. The school offers a fantastic infrastructure for the students. Apart from the classrooms there is a lab, a library and a cafeteria. There are special computer rooms, four gyms and outside there are several courts for doing sports. Besides there is a garden to relax in the breaks. Upcoming Contacts * Scuola Media Statale “G. Marconi”, Soleto, Lecce, Italy, And, Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “Benedetto Croce”, Civate, Italy, telebridge via VK4KHZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Mon 2015-11-23 09:21:53 UTC 87 deg The event will be webcast on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkFhGc2nes4 * Dragonskolan, Umeå, Sweden, telebridge via VE4ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go: Tue 2015-11-24 09:44:25 UTC 78 deg Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Satellite Shorts From All Over * W5PFG Plans Satellite Operation From South Padre Island IOTA NA-092 - (Satellite Op) Clayton, W5PFG, will operate portable from South Padre Island, Texas, in EL16 between November 22-26th. He plans to operate several passes a day from EL15, covering the southern-most tip of Texas. An operation from EL06 is possible sometime in the beginning of that week. You can follow his operation on Twitter <https://twitter.com/@w5pfg> starting November 21st. It's possible he will operate once or twice while enroute. Clayton will try to work as many different satellites as possible. He tends to favor FO-29, typically 15-20 kHz above the center of the transponder. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1240 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 321 AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN - AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations
by E.Mike McCardel 17 Nov '15

17 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-321 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: * AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.01 ANS-321 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. November 17, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-321.01 AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations AO-85 has been formally commissioned and turned over to AMSAT Operations, who are now responsible for the scheduling and modes. The following guidelines are provided for users: Uplink power should be on the order of minimum 200 W EIRP for full quieting at lower antenna elevation angles. Your mileage may vary. With an Arrow, 5 W has been used successfully to make contacts. Polarity is important. The satellite antennas are linear. So, if you are using linearly polarized antennas, you will need to adjust throughout the pass. Full duplex operation facilitates these adjustments while transmitting and is highly recommended. The downlink is very strong and should be heard well with almost any antenna. Downlink audio is 5 kHz deviation, as expected. Many will perceive that the audio is "low." This is an effect of the filtering below 300 Hz, which provides for the DUV telemetry, coupled with any noise on the uplink signal resulting from lack of full quieting or being off frequency. That makes for less fidelity than a typical receiver in terms of audio frequencies passed. Transmit (downlink) frequency varies with temperature. Due to the wide range of temperatures we are seeing in the eclipse cycle, the transmitter can be anywhere from around 500 Hz low at 10°C to near 2 kHz low at 40°C. Receive frequency has been generally agreed to be about 435.170 MHz, although the AFC makes that hard to pin down and also helps with the uplinks that are off frequency. Probably the most notable observations about AO-85 are an apparent lack of sensitivity and difficulty in turning on the repeater with the 67 Hz CTCSS when it is not yet activated, or holding it on by the presence of the CTCSS. We have determined a probable cause for the sensitivity issue and while that can't be fixed on AO-85 we are taking steps to prevent similar issues on the rest of the Fox-1 CubeSats. The tone detection threshold along with the receive sensitivity issue makes it hard to bring up the repeater. This is being addressed by adjusting the values for a valid tone detection in the other Fox-1 CubeSats now that we have on orbit information about temperatures and power budget. Full details will be in the Nov/Dec AMSAT Journal. It is important to remember that science is the reason behind the Fox-1 satellites. Not only does science help with the launch cost, it provides a great amount of educational value both from the science payload and in amateur radio itself. The data-under-voice (DUV) telemetry is an excellent way to provide the science without sacrificing the use of the satellite for communications, which would be the case if higher speed downlinks were needed. DUV provides constant science as long as the repeater is in use, which in turn provides more downlink data for the science - a mutually beneficial combination. Fox-1A is AMSAT-NA's first CubeSat. Many new techniques are incorporated and lessons will be learned, as with any new "product." The Fox-1 Project is a series of CubeSats. A total of five will be built and flown. Launches are scheduled for three more, and a new NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative proposal will be submitted for the fifth. We will incorporate changes from what we learn in each launch, to the extent possible, in subsequent Fox-1 CubeSats. Of the four NASA sponsored CubeSats on the ELaNa XII launch October 8, we are sad to report that ARC1 was never heard from and BisonSat was lost after a few weeks of operation. AMSAT extends our deepest sympathy to the people who worked so hard on these projects. To our members, we want to say that the Fox Team is very proud and pleased that our first CubeSat is very successful and hopefully will be for some time. [ANS thanks Jerry NoJY 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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ANS-319 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-319 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: * EO-79 CubeSat Update * QB50 Frequency Table * Newsline Interview With ISS First School Contact Teacher * Signal Reports Requested From IO-86 FM Transponder Test * ARISS Contact Featured in ARRL Radio Waves Newsletter * McMurdo completes MEOSAR satellite ground station in New Zealand SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-319.01 ANS-319 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 319.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. November 15, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-319.01 EO-79 CubeSat Update Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG has provided this update on the status and plans for QB50p1 – EO-79. Earlier testing campaigns indicate that the AMSAT-UK/AMSAT-NL transponder on board of this spacecraft is in good health. We have activated the transponder on various occasions for testing purposes. At the moment we believe the power system is capable of sustaining transponder operations indefinitely. ISIS (the satellite designer and operator) still needs to write and apply a software patch that would keep the transponder running. The current logic in the satellite will switch off the transponder if a reset occurs of the On Board Computer or power system. Efforts are being made to allow usage of the transponder in the mean time and also allow select command stations to take the satellite out of safe mode if it does reset. ISIS will continue to monitor all telemetry and the satellites health. The precursor satellites have gathered valuable data about the sensor payloads, and the lessons learnt are being implemented in the flight units for the QB50 main mission. We will still have to wait until procedures are in place and the activation is cleared by the operator and owners of the satellite, but we are nearly ready for the activation of another transponder! Transponder activations will be announced on the AMSAT Bulletin Board. On behalf of AMSAT-NL and the ISIS operations team I would like to thank the community for supporting our mission and thank you for your patience. [ANS thanks Wouter, PA3WEG, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- QB50 Frequency Table Here is a link worth keeping an eye on as the QB50 launch in 2016 gets closer. JE9PEL has a page documenting the frequencies of the 50 cubesats at: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/qb50sats.htm [ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsline Interview With ISS First School Contact Teacher This week’s Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1985 November 13, 2015 includes an interview with Rita Wright, KC9CDL, the science teacher who was lucky enough to help her students be chosen to talk with ISS astronaut William M. “Shep” Shepherd, KD5GSL, for the first school contact with the International Space Station. Amateur Radio Newsline has this week’s bulletins posted at: http://www.arnewsline.org/news/2015/11/13/amateur-radio-newsline-report-198… november-13-2015.html Select ‘Script’ or ‘Audio’ to access the newscast as desired. [ANS thanks the Amateur Radio Newsline for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Signal Reports Requested From IO-86 FM Transponder Test The FM transponder aboard IO-86/LAPAN-ORARI was activated for testing, and was available for amateur radio use on 14 November 2015 between 01:35 UTC - 03:40 UTC. This satellite is in a 6° inclination orbit so only stations in equatorial regions have access. Station in far southern United States may have access. + Uplink: 145.880Mhz with 88.5 Hz tone + Downlink: 435.880 Mhz If you heard IO-86 or had any contacts please e-mail signal reports to yd1eee(a)gmail.com The two-line Keplerian elements are: IO-86 1 40931U 15052B 15316.15776324 .00001070 00000-0 60618-4 0 9994 2 40931 6.0030 69.3893 0012877 275.6206 84.2533 14.76374433 6653 These are also included in the keps download available from www.amsat.org [ANS thanks Dirgantara Rahadian. YE0EEE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Contact Featured in ARRL Radio Waves Newsletter The American Radio Relay League's Fall 2015 issue of "Radio Waves", a newsletter for teachers, license instructors, and radio science education features coverage of the ARISS contact with Tulsa Community College. The PDF issue can be accessed at: http://www.arrl.org/radio-waves [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- McMurdo completes MEOSAR satellite ground station in New Zealand The legacy of AMSAT OSCAR 6 & 7 in demonstrating satellite based Doppler location of ground transmitters for search-and-rescue operations in the 1970s set the stage for the Cospas-Sarsat system which is now entering into the next stage of evolution. McMurdo's next-generation MEOSAR satellite ground station system installation in New Zealand will reduce rescue times in one of the world's most active search and rescue regions. McMurdo has announced that it has completed the installation of a six-antenna next-generation Medium-Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) satellite ground station system in New Zealand. The project, which is part of a joint initiative with Maritime New Zealand and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, is expected to significantly boost search and rescue capability in the New Zealand and Australia search regions and marks the first implementation of MEOSAR in Asia Pacific. MEOSAR is the next- generation version of Cospas-Sarsat, the international search and rescue satellite system that has helped to save 37,000 lives since 1982. In a typical satellite-based search and rescue scenario, ships, aircraft or individuals transmit distress signals from an emergency location beacon via satellite to a fixed ground receiving station or local user terminal. The ground station receives and calculates the location of the distress signal and creates and sends an alert to the appropriate rescue authorities. Today, the beacon-to-alert process depends on a limited number of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and may take several hours before a position is confirmed. With MEOSAR, beacon signals will be received more quickly and beacon locations identified with greater accuracy thereby reducing this time to minutes. The New Zealand MEOSAR system, and another being installed in Western Australia, will cover one of the largest search and rescue areas in the world - from north of Australia/New Zealand to the Equator and south to the South Pole, east to half way across the Pacific, and west half way across the Indian Ocean. The systems will undergo rigorous testing before being officially brought online in late 2017 by Cospas-Sarsat. [ANS thanks SpaceDaily 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-312 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 07 Nov '15

07 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-312 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: * AO-85 Testing November 8 and 9 * US Radio Amateurs Back in Space and SA AMSAT Kletskous Update * SAREX Reflector Has Been Shut Down * ISS Astronauts Link-Up with ITU WRC-15 in Geneva * Help Wanted Astronauts * QB50 project 2016 * BRICSAT-1 recovery challenge * Hawaii Launch of Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio Payloads Fails * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-312 ANS-312 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 312 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. November 8, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-312 AO-85 Testing November 8 and 9 *Summary of AO-85 testing:* * Please do not try to uplink to AO-85 during the following times (all of which occur while AO-85 is over North America) even though the transponder will be active and you may hear activity. *Sunday November 8, 15:35 through 15:55 UTC* *Sunday November 8, 17:15 through 17:35 UTC* *Monday November 9, 00:05 through 00:25 UTC* *Monday November 9, 01:45 through 02:10 UTC* All dates and times are UTC, all passes are Sunday local time in North America. Stations in North, Central, and northern South America are asked to comply. You are encouraged to copy telemetry with FoxTelem during these times to forward to the server to help us analyze the test results. *Details of this AO-85 testing:* Sunday, November 8 and into early Monday, November 9 (UTC) the Fox-1 Engineering Team will be testing the COR (carrier operated relay) mode of AO-85. COR is the backup to the IHU failing, if IHU fails AO- 85 should continue operating as a simple COR repeater with no CTCSS necessary as long as there is power. In COR mode no telemetry or voice ID is present because those are generated by the IHU. Orbit 443 ascending, at approximately 15:35 UTC over North America we will test a telemetry high/low reset command. Following the command look for Ground Resets = 2 in the Computer window of FoxTelem. Once that is confirmed, we will command the IHU OFF on the same pass. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry. Orbit 444 ascending, at approximately 17:15 UTC over North America AMSAT command and engineering stations will test the COR mode on the air to observe performance. Please keep the uplink clear so that we may test without interference, to expedite the testing and allow for good measurements. We may command IHU ON during the pass in order to observe battery voltage in the telemetry. Please have FoxTelem running even if there is no telemetry seen, it may turn on at any time during this pass. Orbit 448 descending, at approximately 00:05 UTC Monday over North America we will command AO-85 IHU ON. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry after the IHU is turned on. Orbit 449 descending, at approximately 01:45 UTC Monday over North America if we were unable to command IHU ON on orbit 448, we will attempt to command again. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry after the IHU is turned on. During the testing stations outside North, Central and northern South America are invited to use the COR repeater mode and share your assessment of AO-85 receive sensitivity and audio on amsat-bb. Stations in North, Central, and northern South America may use the COR repeater on orbits 445 through 447 and are also invited to share your assessment of AO-85 receive sensitivity and audio on amsat-bb. Please share this widely to help reach everyone who may be operating AO-85. The AO-85 team thanks you for your support. [ANS thanks Jerry N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- US Radio Amateurs Back in Space and SA AMSAT Kletskous Update The launch of the Fox 1A CubeSat on 8 October 2015 marked the return of satellites built by AMSAT North America (Amateur Radio Satellite Corporation). US amateurs were the first to build and launch satellites just a few years after the Russians stunned the world with Sputnik 1 in 1957. For several decades they led the pack and built bigger and better satellite. That that came to an end some five years ago when free rides into space dried up. AMSAT had to refocus its activities and look at CubeSat as the best alternative possible option as free and more affordable launches became available. One of the options is the NASA ELaNa program. NASA and the Launch Services Program are partnering with several universities to launch small research satellites. These missions provide NASA with valuable opportunities to test emerging technologies and economical commercial off-the-shelf components that may be useful in future space missions. NASA nanosatellites are designed for a wide spectrum of space missions, including biology experiments, testing advanced propulsion and communications technologies. CubeSats are only 10 x 10 x 10 cm and weigh under 1,3 kg. NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida has adapted the Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (PPOD) to put these CubeSats into orbit. This deployment system was designed and is manufactured by the California Polytechnic State University in partnership with Stanford University. Fox-1A was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base as part of the ELaNa-XII group of satellites. In addition, Fox-1C and Fox-1D are now scheduled to fly together under contract with Spaceflight, which is expected to launch in first quarter 2016. Fox 1B also known as RadFXSat has been assigned a launch that is currently expected to take place in November 2016 from Vandenberg Air Force Base as part of ELaNa-XIV. “The next 14 months will be rewarding ones for our volunteers, who spent countless hours designing, documenting, collaborating, fabricating, testing and integrating ourFox-1 design into flight hardware,” AMSAT president Barry Baines said. “These satellites will be used by radio amateurs, students, and scientists who will benefit from amateur radio capabilities on board, educational opportunities that our spacecraft can provide to the classroom, and the scientific data that will be available from payloads on board provided by university students and faculties,” he said. Organizationally, AMSAT has benefited tremendously from the Fox-1 program as it provides the basis for training anew generation of satellite builders who are now seasoned veterans, capable of tackling more complex and challenging projects. “AMSAT’s reputation as a satellite innovator is enhanced as the Fox-1 design allows seamless integration of scientific payloads that can benefit from a reliable communications downlink capable of low speed and high speed data transmissions,” Baines said. Fox-1A is the first FM repeater satellite in a 1U CubeSat form factor, capable of sending low speed telemetry as well as payload data while the FM repeater is in normal amateur service. Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016. Fox-1C will launch on Spaceflight’s maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer planned for the 1st quarter of 2016. U- and L-band uplinks with the VHF band downlink will be available. Fox-1D will launch with Fox-1C. It will include the University of Iowa HERCI experiment. IA Virginia Tech camera will also be included. U- and L- band uplinks with the VHF band downlink will be available. Fox-1E “Evolution” will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also have a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. South African AMSAT’s (SA AMSAT) CubeSat, named Kletskous (chatterbox) is making good progress with the third generation space frame to be completed before the end of the year. Good progress is being made with all the subsystems and it is expected that by the end of February 2016, a breadboard layout will be tested. The breadboard layout is also referred to as flatsat as all the subsystems are wired together on the test bench and tested as a fully operational satellite. SA AMSAT is also planning to include experimental projects and is inviting high school learners and tertiary education students to submit proposals for their science project to be included in Kletskous and make use of the transponder facilities to have the data of their projects downloaded as part of the telemetry stream. Because of the size of a CubeSat and the limited power budget available, proposals must be for projects which have few components and require little power. For more details about Kletskous visit www.amsatsa.org.za. Proposals should be submitted to saamsat(a)intekom.co.za and reach the Kletskous team by 28 February 2016. See: http://www.ee.co.za/article/us-radio-amateurs-back-space.html [ANS thanks Hans, ZS6AKV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SAREX Reflector Has Been Shut Down As previously announced the SAREX Reflector was shut down November 1. What follows is Frank Bauer's KA3HDO, AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs and the ARISS International Chair, final comments to the SAREX Reflector. "SAREX Reflector Participants: As previously announced, on November 1, 2015 we are shutting down the SAREX Reflector for future message postings. This posting represents the SAREX reflector’s last message. It is not clear when the SAREX reflector was first started, but from a query to Paul Williamson, who started all the AMSAT reflectors, it has been in operation since at least 1992. Over the years, many of you have used this forum to gather and share information on our “frequent flyer” SAREX missions on the Shuttle, our operations on the Space Station Mir and, since 2000, our operations on ISS. But times have changed since the early 1990s. For starters, we have moved from the SAREX activities on the Shuttle to ARISS on the International Space Station. AMSAT, ARRL and the ARISS international team of volunteers have also transitioned our ARISS communications to you and are providing you many ways to get information on ARISS. This includes the ARISS Web Site www.ariss.org, the ISS Fan Club web site www.issfanclub.com and the AMSAT web site, www.amsat.org. The ARISS team noticed that many on the AMSAT BB reflector were not seeing late-breaking opportunities for ARISS connections (School, SSTV, QSOs) unless these messages were cross-posted between SAREX and BB. So the decision was made by me to move all the SAREX real-time traffic over to BB and to end the SAREX reflector postings on this date. Before we hit “send” and closeout this reflector, I encourage you to sign up and continue to get these messages on AMSAT-BB. If you feel there is too much traffic on BB, you can always sign up for the digest mode, which combines many messages and sends them out periodically (usually daily). And don’t forget that the SAREX archives will still be available on the AMSAT web site, so you can research past messages. On behalf of AMSAT-NA and the ARISS International Team, I want to thank you for your sustained participation in this phenomenal amateur radio human spaceflight journey. Moreover, we look forward to your further participation and volunteer support in the future. While there are many ARISS volunteers to thank for their outstanding support, I want to send a particular shout out to Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, who has provided all SAREX reflector participants frequent updates on ARISS status. Thanks Charlie! As I close this final e-mail, I want to announce that over the next couple months, ARISS will be celebrating its 15ths anniversary of continuous operations on the ISS, starting with November 13, 2015 when we conducted our first ham radio contacts on ISS and on December 21, 2000 when we conducted our first school contact with the Burbank School in Burbank, Illinois. Stay tuned on BB and our web site for ham radio activities that we will be conducting over the year to commemorate these historic events. 73, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs ARISS International Chair" [ANS thanks SAREX and Frank KA3HDO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Astronauts Link-Up with ITU WRC-15 in Geneva The ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) is taking place in Geneva from November 2-27. On Tuesday, November 3 at 1241 UT there was an amateur radio link-up between WRC-15 and two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). The contact took place using the permanent amateur radio station at the ITU. The station’s normal call sign is 4U1ITU but during the conference the special call sign 4U1WRC is being used. Students from Institut Florimont were able to use the ITU station to talk to astronauts Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS and Kimiya Yui KG5BPH who were using the amateur radio station in the ISS Columbus module, call sign OR4ISS. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program established the first permanent amateur radio presence in space 15 years ago. The inaugural ARISS contact took place on December 21, 2000, between a member of the ISS Expedition 1 crew and youngsters at Luther Burbank Elementary School near Chicago. Several pupils and a teacher got to chat using amateur radio with “Space Station Alpha” Commander William “Shep” Shepherd KD5GSL. The ARISS program lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. A video of the contact event can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/ahdDiuFk2-Y [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and WRC15 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Wanted Astronauts NASA Press Release: Job Openings for Astronauts In anticipation of returning human spaceflight launches to American soil, and in preparation for the agency's journey to Mars, NASA announced it will soon begin accepting applications for the next class of astronaut candidates. With more human spacecraft in development in the United States today than at any other time in history, future astronauts will launch once again from the Space Coast of Florida on American-made commercial spacecraft, and carry out deep-space exploration missions that will advance a future human mission to Mars. The agency will accept applications from Dec. 14 through mid- February and expects to announce candidates selected in mid-2017. Applications for consideration as a NASA Astronaut will be accepted at: http://www.usajobs.gov The next class of astronauts may fly on any of four different U.S. vessels during their careers: the International Space Station, two commercial crew spacecraft currently in development by U.S. companies, and NASA's Orion deep-space exploration vehicle. >From pilots and engineers, to scientists and medical doctors, NASA selects qualified astronaut candidates from a diverse pool of U.S. citizens with a wide variety of backgrounds. "This next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights, and help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Those selected for this service will fly on U.S. made spacecraft from American soil, advance critical science and research aboard the International Space Station, and help push the boundaries of technology in the proving ground of deep space." The space agency is guiding an unprecedented transition to commercial spacecraft for crew and cargo transport to the space station. Flights in Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon will facilitate adding a seventh crew member to each station mission, effectively doubling the amount of time astronauts will be able to devote to research in space. Future station crew members will continue the vital work advanced during the last 15 years of continuous human habitation aboard the orbiting laboratory, expanding scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies. This work will include building on the regular six- month missions and this year's one-year mission, currently underway aboard the station, which is striving for research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. In addition, NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, now in development, will launch astronauts on missions to the proving ground of lunar orbit where NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment before moving on to longer duration missions on its journey to Mars. "This is an exciting time to be a part of America's human space flight program," said Brian Kelly, director of Flight Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "NASA has taken the next step in the evolution of our nation's human spaceflight program - and our U.S. astronauts will be at the forefront of these new and challenging space flight missions. We encourage all qualified applicants to learn more about the opportunities for astronauts at NASA and apply to join our flight operations team." To date, NASA has selected more than 300 astronauts to fly on its increasingly challenging missions to explore space and benefit life on Earth. There are 47 astronauts in the active astronaut corps, and more will be needed to crew future missions to the space station and destinations in deep space. Astronaut candidates must have earned a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. An advanced degree is desirable. Candidates also must have at least three years of related, progressively responsible professional experience, or at least 1,000 hours of pilot- in-command time in jet aircraft. Astronaut candidates must pass the NASA long-duration spaceflight physical. For more information about a career as a NASA astronaut, and application requirements, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- QB50 project 2016 As reported to the AMSAT-BB, Mineo Wakita JE9PEL informs us "For the purpose of the demonstration and development of CubeSats of the technology of the universities around the world, it is scheduled to be launched all 50 satellites by Ukraine Tsiklon-4 rocket on February 1, 2016. There are still also uncertainties, but I, JE9PEL investigated the current frequencies and summarized it in an Excel file. I'm going to issue in the future this revised version." http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/51106qb5.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/51106qb5.xls http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/#1602 [ANS thanks Mineo JE9PEL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- BRICSAT-1 recovery challenge If anyone has 9600 baud satellite capability and is looking for a challenge, you could be successful in recovering BRICSAT (NO83). BRICSAT simply has a negative power budget. When it wakes up, it should be possible to get in the command to tell it to turn off unnecessary loads and then let it achieve full recovery. As is, it wakes up, sends a few feeble 20 second packets and dies again. Bricsat has another excellent PSK31 transpodner on it too. You can detect BRICSAT when it awakes by the 20 second packet on the downlink OR by the occasional PSK31 beacon on 435.350 MHz (+/- Doppler). Do not be confused by PSAT which also has a PSK31 tranpsonder on the same frequency. But they have different audio tones for the beacon. > Downlink: 437.975 MHz, 9600 baud > Uplink: 145.825 MHz, 9600 baud > Latest “guess” at the TLE (not sure if this is BRICSat) > 1 90722U 15294.38156592 +.00051032 +00000-0 +11686-2 0 0166 > 2 90722 054.9895 030.6075 0226665 199.3544 159.8861 15.1979213102332 The commands are simple keyboard dumb terminal commands. If you think you want to take on this challenge, contact us. (bruninga at usna.edu) [ANS thanks Bob WB4APR and Jin KB3UKS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hawaii Launch of Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio Payloads Fails The November 4 inaugural launch of an experimental US military vehicle carrying several satellites with Amateur Radio payloads into orbit failed in mid-flight shortly after taking off at 0345 UTC from Hawaii. The experimental Super Strypi launch vehicle, carrying a collection of small satellites into orbit as part of the ORS-4 mission for the Department of Defense, was fired from a truss-mounted rail system from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, off Barking Sands on Kauai. According to Spaceflightnow.com, the Super Strypi rocket is designed for low-cost, quick-reaction satellite launches. Destroyed in the demonstration flight were 13 small research spacecraft clustered on the mission for NASA researchers and university students. None of the satellites carried Amateur Radio transponders, but several were equipped to transmit beacon signals and telemetry on 2 meter, 70 centimeter, and 13 centimeter amateur frequencies. The satellites lost included Argus, EDSN, HawaiiSat-1, ORS-Squared, PrintSat, STACEM, STU-1, and Supernova-Beta. PrintSat carried a 3D printed structure and was designed to measure the performance of the material over the course of its 3 year mission. Spaceflightnow.com said the experimental launcher apparently lost control and broke up downrange from the launch site. The November 4 maiden flight took place following several delays. The test flight was one of two planned demonstrations of the launcher. View the Super Strypi & ORS-4 Launch On PMRF 3 November 201 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsMegDZ_VFQ Spaceflightnow's detailed coverage of the event can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ANS312-Spaceflightnow [ANS thanks ARRL Newsletter for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + The scheduled contact with Dragonskolan, Umeå, Sweden was postponed because the scheduled astronaut was tied up in other activities. The contact will be rescheduled for a later date. + A Successful contact was made between ITU World Radio Communication Conference 2015 WRC-15, Geneva, Switzerland and Astronaut Kimiya Yui KG5BPH using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2015-11-03 11:47 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via 4U1WRC. ARISS Mentor was ON4WF. + A Successful contact was made between Eleanor Palmer School, London, United Kingdom and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2015-11-03 11:47 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact telebridged via VK6MJ. ARISS Mentor was MØXTD. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule BORG Monsbergergasse, Graz, Austria, direct via OEØARISS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS. The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Mon 2015-11-09 09:42:15 UTC Ste. Genevieve du Bois Catholic Elementary School, Warson Woods, Missouri, direct via NØKBA. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS The contact is a go for: Thu 2015-11-12 16:25:16 UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Very nice coverage, and features Keith, W5IU, with the ARISS contact with Daggett Montessori School in Ft. Worth, Texas: http://tinyurl.com/ANS312-DaggettMontessori [ANS thanks JoAnne K9JKM and the Star-Telegram for the above information] ARISS Contact Documentary WKTV did a really nice job producing a documentary of the October 23 ARISS contact with West Michigan Aviation Academy. Here is a link to the youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkOvN9CKB9M&authuser=0 [ANS thanks Les Brown, Chief Pilot, West Michigan Aviation Academy and WKTV ro 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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ANS-305 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 01 Nov '15

01 Nov '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-305 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: * Super Strypi (SPARK) Launch Planned for November 2, 2015 * Duchifat 1 status update * UKube-1 CubeSat Completes Mission * Fort Worth students talk to ISS * Tim Peake KG5BVI and the ISS Astro Pi’s * Radio amateurs to help London children talk to ISS * AMSAT Events * ARISS News SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.01 ANS-305 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE November 1, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Super Strypi (SPARK) Launch Planned for November 1, 2015 The following satellites are planned to be launched on 2, Nov 2015. Argus, EDSN, HawaiiSat-1, ORS-Squared, PrintSat, STACEM, STU-1, Supernova-Beta Site is Pacific Missile Range - Kokole Point, Kauai, Hawaii Satellite Downlink Beacon Mode ---------------------- ----------------- ------- ------------ Argus 2403.000-2403.400 437.290 1200bps AFSK EDSN 2401.200-2431.200 437.100 1200bps AFSK HawaiiSat1 (HiakaSat1) 145.9805 437.2705 9600bps GFSK ORS-Squared 437.325 . 9600bps GMSK PrintSat 437.325 . 9600bps GMSK STACEM . . ? STU-1 2402.000-2445.000 436.360 9600bps GMSK Supernova-Beta 437.570 . 1200bps AFSK ---------------------- ----------------- ------- ------------ HawaiiSat-1 1 99999U 00000 15306.00000000 .00002809 00000-0 69295-4 0 00007 2 99999 094.6040 077.7732 0056131 182.2912 079.1822 15.38919159000464 http://spaceflight101.com/spacerockets/spark-super-strypi/ http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/sparksat.htm http://www.cubesat.org [ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Duchifat 1 status update We're happy to report that the satellite is still operational and doing very well. We've already received 20 stations using Duchifat 1, and all said stations are displayed on our map at www.h-space-lab.org . QSL cards are on their way, and a few have already been received. It's a fantastic experience to be heard by the satellite, get immediate digipeating response from it, and later see your position on the map on the website, after a successful dump at our GS from the satellite. If you try to contact it and encounter any difficulty, please don't hesitate to write to us at 4X4HSC(a)gmail.com It's all very fun. We also hope people can share their experiences here. 73, and good luck. [ANS thanks the Herzliya Science Center team posting on the AMSAT=BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UKube-1 CubeSat Completes Mission UKube-1, the UK Space Agency’s first national spacecraft, has now completed its nominal mission following over 14 months of operations. Discussion is underway with AMSAT-UK about the possibility of taking over UKube-1 operations to continue its educational and outreach activities. Launched in July 2014, UKube-1 is a technology demonstration mission with a broad set of objectives aimed at attracting and training future generations of engineers, encouraging collaboration across sectors and institutions, fast tracking space technology development and engaging with students. As a 3 unit CubeSat (30x30x10cm), flying 4 main payloads, with all the key subsystems of much larger satellites, UKube-1 remains one of the most advanced CubeSats ever built. Despite some technical challenges in orbit, the mission has achieved a range of milestones including: • delivery into the correct planned orbit (around 650km, sun-synchronous) • successful deployment of solar panels and antenna • good battery health • slow spin rate measured • uplink and downlink capabilities checked, including Large Data Transfer, downlink at 3 speeds, and redundant communications mode • all core payloads commissioned and data collected for each • on-board camera technology successfully tested • data downlinked from multiple ground stations across the globe UKube-1 has also helped maintain the UK’s leading position in the CubeSat sector. Participation in the mission placed Clyde Space in an excellent position to capitalize on the fast growing global nanosatellite market. The company has experienced 100% year on year growth, both in turnover and employees, as a direct result from involvement in UKube-1, and is firmly established as a global leader. Mark McCrum, Bright Ascension Ltd, said: “UKube-1 provided us with an invaluable opportunity to gain flight heritage for our software technology and to get deeply involved in the operation of a complex CubeSat mission. It gave a huge boost to our credibility as a space software provider and has been instrumental in winning further work.” Craig Clark, CEO Clyde Space Ltd, said: “UKube-1 represents a pivotal achievement in the development and growth of Clyde Space. The project moved the company from being a spacecraft subsystems supplier to providing full missions for our customers. To give some context to the extent that Ukube-1 has had to our business, Clyde Space has more than quadrupled in size in the last 3 years and there are currently over 60 CubeSats planned through production here in Glasgow over the next 18 months. The return on investment for Ukube-1 in terms of jobs and export sales for the UK has been outstanding and is a great example of industry and the UK Space Agency working together to put the UK at the forefront of global space technology.” Professor Andrew Holland, Open University, added: “Involvement in the UKube-1 mission, though our C3D instrument, has had a positive effect on our research and technology program within the Space Instrumentation Group at the Open University, as well as a positive effect on our technology partners in the project; XCAM Ltd and e2v Ltd. The project has helped the OU to build a new strand of instrument development within the group, raised awareness of the CubeSat platform as a potential vehicle to accelerate the development of scientific space instrumentation, and has provided early in- orbit-demonstration of technologies. The mission introduced us to new academic and industrial collaborators operating in the space sector and supported the career development of the young engineers and scientists working on the project.” STFC’s RAL Space provided the Ground Station for the mission at Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire UK, and UKube-1 operations were commanded from there. Mission Manager Dr Helen Walker said: “It has been a very exciting time, made possible only with the great support from all the teams involved.” Although the Agency-supported mission phase has ended, discussion is underway with AMSAT-UK about the possibility of taking over UKube-1 operations to continue its educational and outreach activities until the satellite orbit naturally degrades. More information about UKube-1 can be found in the missions section of the UK Space Agency website https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/ukube-1 Source https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukube-1-completes-mission UKube-1 carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards which provide an educational beacon for use by schools and a linear transponder for amateur radio communications. UKube-1 nominal frequencies: • 145.840 MHz Telemetry downlink • 145.915 MHz FUNcube subsystem beacon • 400 mW inverting SSB/CW linear transponder – 435.080-435.060 MHz Uplink – 145.930-145.950 MHz Downlink [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fort Worth students talk to ISS Students at Daggett Montessori School in Fort Worth used amateur radio to talk to astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS, aboard the International Space Station. Before the contact Cowtown Amateur Radio Club member Keith Pugh W5IU explained to the students how they are able to talk to the ISS. The contact, which took place on Thursday, October 29, gave the students the opportunity to ask questions about life in space. The Star-Telegram newspaper reports Grace Jordan, a seventh-grader, wondered about the effects of microgravity on food digestion. Kjell used the amateur radio station in the ESA ISS Columbus module callsign NA1SS, while the students used the station K5COW set up by Cowtown Amateur Radio Club in the school auditorium. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. Watch Daggett Montessori MS Talk to Space Station 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uzIBucg2SE Read the Star-Telegram story at http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort- worth/article41837055.html ARISS http://ariss.org/ [ANS thanks ARISS and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Peake KG5BVI and the ISS Astro Pi’s AMSAT-UK members are leading on the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) Schools contacts program for the upcoming Tim Peake Principia mission to the ISS. A number of high profile school contacts are planned to be carried out and this activity is being coordinated with the UK Space Agency as part of the overall Principia Educational Outreach program. Two specially augmented Raspberry Pi’s called Astro Pi‘s are planned to fly on an Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo freighter to the ISS in early December. They will be used by UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI during his Principia mission on the Space Station which is expected to commence in mid-December. The Astro Pi’s are planned to run experimental Python programs written by young people in schools across the country; the results will be returned back to Earth at the end of the mission. ARISS/AMSAT-UK members are actively involved in discussions with the UK Space Agency, ESA, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and others to establish the feasibility of re-purposing one of the Astro Pi units, either within or post Tim Peake’s mission, to provide an alternative video source for the amateur radio HamTV transmitter in the ISS Columbus module. Additional discussions are ongoing with all parties for joint educational activities into the future with the Astro Pi units being networked and potentially enhancing the capability of the amateur radio station on board Columbus. The main mission of HamTV is to perform contacts between the astronauts on the ISS and school students, not only by voice as now, but also by unidirectional video from the ISS to the ground. ARISS has been working with Goonhilly and hope to provide a video download facility via one of their large dishes for the schools contacts as well as attempting to receive the video at each school as part of the contact. Principia mission http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Principia School Shortlist for Tim Peake Space Station Contact http://amsat-uk.org/2015/07/14/school-shortlist-tim-peake-iss/ HamTV http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/ Astro Pi http://astro-pi.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/astro_pi [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio amateurs to help London children talk to ISS On Wednesday, November 4 pupils at the Eleanor Palmer Primary School in Camden, London should have the opportunity to speak to an astronaut in space thanks to an Amateur Radio Telebridge link via Australia. The audio will be streamed via the web and Echolink. An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Eleanor Palmer School, London, United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 4. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:51 GMT. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS, using the callsign NA1SS from the amateur radio station in the ISS Columbus module, and Martin Diggens VK6MJ in Western Australia. The contact should be audible over portions of Australia and adjacent areas. Interested participants are invited to listen in on the 145.800 MHz FM downlink. Audio from this contact will be available via the amateur radio Echolink system on node *AMSAT* (101377) and via the IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector. Streaming Audio will be able on the web at https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink and web stream is generally started around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes Eleanor Palmer Primary School, a non-selective community school, is located in central London in the United Kingdom. London is an exciting and dynamic capital city and its schools are the best in the country, attributed to the social and ethnic diversity, excellent local leadership and the quality of teaching. Eleanor Palmer is a relatively small school of around 220 pupils with single classes of 30 children per year. The youngest pupils are 3 years old and the oldest 11 years old. Due to the central London location it is a highly diverse and inclusive school with staff and children from many different backgrounds. The pupils achieve highly as judged by national benchmarks. One of the core aims of the school is to inspire in all pupils a love of learning and the desire to continue to learn and they therefore seek to provide a rich and broad curriculum opening minds and creating opportunities. The school hope that their contact with the ISS will inspire pupils to go on to learn more about space through the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What have you seen that is more beautiful than earth? 2. Who or what inspired you to choose this job? 3. Does being in space make you feel differently about earth? 4. What can you learn from the ISS that you cannot learn on earth? 5. Will normal people who are not astronauts be able to visit space in the ISS one day? 6. How do you sleep? 7. Is it quiet up there in the ISS? 8. When you get back to earth, do you have to re-train your muscles? 9. Can you call home? 10. Do you all have to be scientists? 11. What do you think is the most important things children should know about space? 12. What time zone do you use? 13. Do you have plants on the ISS? 14. What has been your favourite experiment? 15. How does your brain respond to micro gravity? 16. How do you wash your clothes? 17. If you cry in space, with laughter, what happens to your tears? 18. What do you want to do when you come back to earth? 19. How do you get enough oxygen? 20. Is it more scary taking off from earth or returning to earth? 21. What is your energy source on the ISS? 22. What does it feel like to be in space? 23. Is it always dark in space? Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ A telebridge contact, where a dedicated ARISS amateur radio ground station, located somewhere in the world, establishes the radio link with the ISS. Voice communications between the students and the astronauts are then patched over regular telephone lines. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ARISS%20Telebridge%20Guidelines.doc What is Amateur Radio ? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio Eleanor Palmer Primary School http://www.eleanorpalmer.camden.sch.uk/news/countdown-to-iss-link-up/ Twitter @eleanorpalmersc [ANS thanks ARISS and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). *Saturday, 7 November 2015 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 November 2015 – Stone Mountain Hamfest and ARRL Georgia Section Convention in Lawrenceville GA *Monday, 16 November 2015 – Tri-City Amateur Radio Association meeting in Goodyear AZ *Saturday, 5 December 2015 – Superstition Superfest 2015 in Mesa AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * A direct contact via K5COW with students at Daggett Montessori School K-8, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, was successful Thu 2015-10-29 14:12:56 UTC 31 deg. Astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS responded to 10 questions from students. Watch a video recording of the contact at http://youtu.be/CIsWPZ3TbWU Daggett Montessori, a “School of Choice” within the Fort Worth Independent School District, was created thirty years ago and was one of the first public school Montessori programs in the nation. Based on the highly successful Montessori methodology and philosophy, Daggett Montessori has approximately 500 students, all selected through a blind lottery system. We are a Title I school, with close to 60% of our students economically disadvantaged. As a kindergarten through eighth grade program, we provide a safe, nurturing environment that focuses on long term relationships among staff, students, and parents. Our parents are actively involved in every aspect of school life. Maria Montessori was the first woman to graduate from medical school in Italy so science is an area of particular focus in the Montessori curriculum. She designed many of the lessons to instill a sense of awe about the natural world. Our parents are very involved in every aspect of school at Daggett Montessori. Of particular interest is our greenhouse with an aquaponics system in which we raise various herbs and vegetables. We also have multiple raised beds in which the children grow vegetables. Our parents provide gardening lessons on a weekly basis. Our students were very excited to learn that lettuce is being grown on the ISS! * A direct contact via K8UTT with students at Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan, USA was successful Tue 2015-10-27 16:01:59 UTC 57 deg. Dearborn Public Schools is a public school district that serves a community in suburban Detroit, MI. This school district is part of a growing, vibrant area built upon quality education for nearly 19,600 students. Dearborn also has a unique feature added to this growing, vibrant area. It is home to the largest Arabic-speaking population outside of the Middle East. One out of every two students learns English as a second language. These qualities help to form Dearborn Public Schools into the exceptional and diverse community of learners it is today! Mary Varady, STEM Coordinator for the District has been working with local Amateur Radio operators for almost a year to arrange the contact with the International Space Station. In the spring of 2015, Dearborn Public Schools Media Tech Specialist Gordon Scannell, an Amateur Radio operator, presented the details of the program to district teachers. Varady has been working with principals to provide lessons and other activities tied to the event. Scannell, along with other Amateur Radio volunteers have spent countless hours arranging the technical details for Tuesday’s event including such activities as installing a large temporary antenna on the roof of the Berry Center. Students will be able to ask questions of the ISS crew during their scheduled time. Varady received more than 2,000 questions from students across the district and then had the daunting task of narrowing them down to only the best. In total, 18 students in grades first through eighth had their questions selected. In addition, students across the district will be able to tune in and watch as the students gathered in the lecture hall talk with the crew of the International Space Station. However, an ARISS contact encompasses more than just students asking questions with the ISS crewmember. Additional components include student activities such as class lessons about space research, the International Space Station, and radio technology. The ARISS contact is a “hands on” real world application of the science, technology, engineering and math being taught in the classroom. * A direct contact via RA1AJN between cosmonaut Sergey Volkov RU3DIS and students at "About Gagarin From Space: Ham Radio Session with the Members of Cosmonautics Federation and Students" in St Petersburg, Russia, was successful on 2015-10-27 11:35 UTC. * A direct contact via W8ISS with students at West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, was successful Fri 2015-10-23 17:58:48 UTC 49 deg. Astronaut Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH answered 20 questions for students. Local TV news stations reported on the event: http://www.wzzm13.com/videos/news/local/2015/10/23/students-talk-to-astrona… aboard-space-station/74486064/ http://woodtv.com/2015/10/23/w-mi-students-chat-with-astronauts-aboard-iss/ http://fox17online.com/2015/10/23/local-students-talk-to-an-astronaut-in-sp… Listen to an audio recording of the contact at http://www.k8tb.org/W8ISS%20Edited.mp3 The West Michigan Aviation Academy is a tuition-free public charter high school founded by Dick DeVos upon encouragement from wife, Betsy. Stemming from their passion for both education and aviation, the school opened its doors in the fall of 2010 and is located on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Like other high schools, our curriculum includes core subjects. But as an aviation-themed high school the curriculum at WMAA is designed for students who have a passion for aviation and/or an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (STEM) The Aviation program includes training for the Private Pilot certificate in the student's senior year. The school owns our own Cessna 172 that is provided at direct operating costs to the students. Although they must pay for the flight training the total cost is much lower than renting at the local flight school and ground instruction is provided for as part of their elective classes. Currently we have 11 students in the program and hope to have 18 by the time of the contact. We also try to get the kids out around the airport to experience the many different job opportunities available in aviation. The Robotics program includes FIRST robotics programs and many of our competitors are taking both engineering and aviation classes. Our engineering program provides for instruction in aerospace, robotics and electronic fields. We try to closely alley the Aviation and Engineering departments. * A direct contact via 8NØSDF with students at Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future, Saku City, Japan, was successful Thu 2015-10-22 09:52:21 UTC 54 deg. The interview with astronaut Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH was conducted in Japanese. Yui answered 10 questions for students. Watch a video of the interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl6fkE14Rrw The Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future is a science museum that was founded in 2001. It has a variety of exhibits on earth science, space, biotechnology, the environment and more. Some of the attractions that gain the attention of the children are a life-size model of a dinosaur, a 170 seat planetarium and a “mercury” display model presented by NASA. The center is located near the birth place of Mr. Kimiya Yui. Mr. Yui himself has visited the center several times. The name of the center has the word “children’s” in it, yet all ages can learn from the Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future. * A direct contact via RA1AJN between cosmonaut Sergey Volkov RU3DIS and students at "About Gagarin From Space: Ham Radio Session with the Members of Cosmonautics Federation and Students" in St. Petersburg, Russia, was successful on 2015-10-20 14:30 UTC. Upcoming Contacts * Eleanor Palmer School, London, United Kingdom, telebridge via VK6MJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1S The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Wed 2015-11-04 09:51:39 UTC 44 deg * Dragonskolan, Umeå, Sweden, telebridge via VK6MJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-11-05 10:35:17 UTC 28 deg Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N 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-298 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletings
by Lee McLamb 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-298 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: * FoxTelem 1.01 Released * ARISS-US Proposal Deadline Approaching * 2016 CubeSat Launch Initiative Opportunity * SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Astro Pi Launch Changed SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-298.01 ANS-298 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 298.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. October 25, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-298.01 FoxTelem 1.01 Released Version 1.01 of FoxTelem is being released. You can download it from: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux This is a patch release. If you already have 1.00 installed then download the file FoxTelem_1.01_patch.zip Only two files have changed (plus the manual). Copy these files into your install directory - FoxTelem.jar - spacecraft/FOX1A_radtelemetry2.csv You can also download the whole install file and install it in a new directory. You can use the settings menu to continue using your existing log files. Ask if you need assistance. Lots has changed in this release and many bugs have been fixed. Please report any issues that you see. Release notes: * Send the frames to both primary and secondary server, if required * Set the default fcd frequency to 145930 so that Fox-1A, Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D will be in the passband * Allow user to select UDP or TCP for upload to the server (but use UDP for now please) * Shorten the period between passes so that graphs look continuous * Ignore duplicate high speed radiation frames - needed for processing data from the server * Do not change the FCD LNA or Mixer Gain. Leave unchanged. * Do not open the FCD unless the start button is pressed * Allow graphs to be hidden so that average or deriv is easier to see * Fixed a bug where the last 2 bytes of the radiation telemetry were not decoded correctly * Allow Vanderbilt radiation experiment to be graphed * Allow the gain to be set on the FCD (rather than hard coded) * Notify the user when a new release is available * Astro Pi Launch Changed [ANS thanks Chris, G0KLA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS-US Proposal Deadline Approaching The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1 and December 31, 2016. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is November 1, 2015. The last of the information sessions will be offered Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. E-mail ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss- contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 CubeSat Launch Initiative Opportunity NASA has opened the next round of its CubeSat Launch Initiative to engage the growing community of space enthusiasts that can contribute to NASA's space exploration goals. The CubeSat Launch Initiative gives students, teachers and faculty a chance to get hands-on flight hardware development experience in the process of designing, building and operating small research satellites. The initiative also provides a low-cost pathway to space for research in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations consistent with NASA's Strategic Plan. Applicants must submit their proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 24, 2015. NASA plans to select the payloads by Feb. 19, 2016, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Selected experiments will fly as auxiliary payloads on agency rocket launches or be deployed from the International Space Station beginning in 2016 and running through 2019. NASA does not provide funding for the development of the small satellites, and this opportunity is open only to U.S. nonpro?t organizations and accredited educational organizations. For additional information about this opportunity and NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-opens-new-cubesat-opportunities-for-… cost-space-exploration and http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative.html. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Jason Crusan at Jason.Crusan(a)nasa.gov. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Oct. 22, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 At the request of the ARISS US Team, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO has announced that the SAREX reflector will be closed 1 November 2015, and its functions folded into the AMSAT-BB list. Frank explained that at one time operations from the Space Shuttle and the ISS were considered as sufficiently different from other satellite operations as to need separate forums for their respective interest communities. More recently, changes in the human spaceflight operations, the new generation of satellites, and the interests of the general AMSAT community have removed the reasons for this distinction. What does this mean to the current subscribers? If you are subscribed to both SAREX and AMSAT-BB, there is no need to take any action. You will cease to receive new postings on the SAREX list 1 November 2015, which will now be made on AMSAT-BB. The SAREX archives will continue to be available for historical purposes. If you are not subscribed to AMSAT-BB and wish to continue to receive human spaceflight announcements, please go to http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo and subscribe to AMSAT-BB. Your existing SAREX subscription will not be automatically carried over since not everyone will wish to do so. [ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, direct via K8UTT The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #3: Tue 2015-10-27 16:01:59 UTC 57 deg Daggett Montessori School K-8, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, direct via K5COW The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #4: Thu 2015-10-29 14:12:56 UTC 31 deg A listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live is available at the following link. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Astro Pi Launch Changed Two specially augmented Raspberry Pi’s called Astro Pi‘s were planned to fly with UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15. On the ISS the Astro Pi’s are planned to run experimental Python programs written by school-age students; the results will be downloaded back to Earth and made available online for all to see. It is hoped that subsequently one of them will be used to provide a video source for the amateur radio HamTV transmitter in the ISS Columbus module. It appears the amount of cargo on Tim’s Soyuz flight was overbooked so the Astro Pi’s will instead fly to the ISS on an Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo freighter. The launch is currently planned for December 3 at 22:48 UT on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral AFS in Florida. Read the full story on the Raspberry Pi site https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/astro-pi-mission-update-7-launch-vehicle- changed/ HamTV http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK 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-292 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - 4U1UN as 4U70UN on satellite this weekend!
by Joseph Spier 19 Oct '15

19 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-292 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: * 4U1UN as 4U70UN on satellite this weekend! SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-292.01 ANS-292 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 292.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE October 19, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-292.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 OSCAR Number Assigned for Fo4U1UN as 4U70UN on satellite this weekend! Word has been received, that, in celebration of the UN's 70th anniversary, 4U1UN will be activated as 4U70UN on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October. The operation by the UN ARC will be from the ground-level garden area within the UNHQ complex in New York City and will be limited to daylight hours. Satellite operation is included in the plans, but time and equipment limitations will exist. Blockage from high rise buildings toward the West is expected. Best passes will be to the East of FN30as and North/South overhead. Possible satellites in view may be AO-73, FO-29, AO-85, AO-7, SO-50, XW-2E and XW-2F. Note that 4U1UN is a separate DXCC entity. See QRZ.COM for QSL info.” For more information please see http://www.amsat.org/?p=4650 [ANS thanks Mike, N1JEZ, and AMSAT-NA 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-291 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 18 Oct '15

18 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-291 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: * URGENT - AO-85 Operational Update * Joe Kornowski K9JMK Named AMSAT Journal Editor * Help AMSAT Launch FOX-1Cliff and FOX-1D Satellite in 2015 * AMSAT Elects Senior Officer * SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 * Amateur Radio – a hobby for the 21st century * Special Membership Offer for Fox-1A Launch * ARISS-US Contact Proposals Accepted Through November 1 * NASA awards launch services contracts for CubeSat satellites * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-291 ANS-291 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 291 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. October 18, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-291 URGENT - AO-85 Operational Update After our successful launch on October 8, AO-85 has been chiefly in transponder mode and available to users. While this operational plan resulted in increased data for AMSAT engineering evaluation, we have some necessary tests to complete that require limiting access for a short period. We will be characterizing the uplink and downlink signals, and developing an updated set of recommendations for minimal equipment and best operating practices. For the week of October 19 to 23, AO-85 will be unavailable while this testing and evaluation is complete. Please avoid transmitting to the satellite even if you hear the transponder on. Users are encouraged to collect and forward telemetry via the FoxTelem program. Please share this information to other operators as needed. Cooperation will expedite this testing and the return to normal operations. [ANS thanks Drew KO4MA for the above informatioin] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Kornowski K9JMK Named AMSAT Journal Editor During the 2015 AMSAT Annual Meeting held in Dayton, Ohio, AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, announced the appointment of Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK as the Editor of The AMSAT Journal beginning with the November/December 2015 issue, filling the position previously held by JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, who had to resign for personal reasons. Joe has served as an Assistant Editor since 2014 and has several years of professional experience in writing, editing, and content creation in various fields, including law and legal publishing, technology, health and wellness, and creative/media. [ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Help AMSAT Launch FOX-1Cliff and FOX-1D Satellite in 2015 For a $1,000.00 donation, AMSAT will provide you, after launch, with a clear solar panel protective cover actually used on Fox-1 Cliff or FOX-1D. The cover will be mounted on a plaque, and engraved with your name, callsign and date of launch. Quantities are limited. The plaque will make an excellent display in your office or shack for you to show off your pride in helping AMSAT launch Fox-1 Cliff! To donate and claim your panel visit https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6pz92/ab/561Zd Similar plaques from FOX-1A were recently presented to their donors during the AMSAT Space Symposium in Dayton. [ANS thanks Barry WD4ASW for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Elects Senior Officer Election of AMSAT's Senior Officers was one of the first orders of business to be settled once the AMSAT Board of Directors meeting opened on October 15, prior to the start of the 2015 AMSAT Space Symposium held in Dayton, Ohio. The following positions were voted upon and filled: Barry Baines, WD4ASW President Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA Vice-President Operations Jerry Buxton, N0JY Vice-President Engineering Frank Bauer, KA3HDO Vice-President Human Spaceflight Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Secretary Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF Treasurer Martha Saragovitz Manager The following Senior Officer positions remained open at this time awaiting appointments: Executive Vice President Vice-President User Services Vice-President Marketing The AMSAT Board of Directors for 2016 consists of: Barry Baines, WD4ASW Tom Clark, K3IO JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM Lou McFadin, W5DID Jerry Buxton, N0JY Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA Bob McGwier, N4HY Mark Hammond, N8MH (First Alternate) Bruce Paige, KK5DO (Second Alternate) [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 At the request of the ARISS US Team, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO has announced that the SAREX reflector will be closed 1 November 2015, and its functions folded into the AMSAT-BB list. Frank explained that at one time operations from the Space Shuttle and the ISS were considered as sufficiently different from other satellite operations as to need separate forums for their respective interest communities. More recently, changes in the human spaceflight operations, the new generation of satellites, and the interests of the general AMSAT community have removed the reasons for this distinction. What does this mean to the current subscribers? If you are subscribed to both SAREX and AMSAT-BB, there is no need to take any action. You will cease to receive new postings on the SAREX list 1 November 2015, which will now be made on AMSAT-BB. The SAREX archives will continue to be available for historical purposes. If you are not subscribed to AMSAT-BB and wish to continue to receive human spaceflight announcements, please go to http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo and subscribe to AMSAT-BB. Your existing SAREX subscription will not be automatically carried over since not everyone will wish to do so. [ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio – a hobby for the 21st century The RSGB has launched a new amateur radio promotional video on their YouTube channel. The video was produced in conjunction with TX Factor and has generated lots of positive comment since it was first shown publicly at the RSGB Convention on October 10. One person commented “the video is really good, hardly an oldie to be seen !!” The amateur satellite service features prominently in the video, Peter Goodhall 2E0SQL is shown working the amateur satellites and astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC puts in an appearance from on-board the International Space Station. Among those spotted in the video were amateurs from the Silcoates School, Camb Hams and Essex Ham. Watch the video at https://youtu.be/8x6x_6mDVlQ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Membership Offer for Fox-1A Launch AMSAT’s Fox-1A , AO-85 was launched as part of the GRACE (Government Rideshare Advanced Concepts Experiment) auxillary payload on the NROL- 55 mission October 8, 2015 from Vandenburg AFB on an Atlas V vehicle. NRO has released this factsheet about the mission: http://tinyurl.com/ANS291-FactSheet General information on Fox-1A is available in the downloadable AMSAT Fox Operating Guide. http://tinyurl.com/ANS291-OperatingGuide FoxTelem software for decoding and submitting telemetry has been made available for download at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532 . As part of the celebration for the launch and activation of this new satellite, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With The Amateur Satellites” book available for a limited time as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The 132 page book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ and selecting any membership option. While there, check out our other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, AMSAT shirts, hats, and other swag. Thank you, and see you soon on Fox-1A! [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, Vice-President Operations for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS-US Contact Proposals Accepted Through November 1 Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window September 1 – November 1, 2015 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1 and December 31, 2016. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is November 1, 2015. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an- ariss-contact. The next and last of these will be offered Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. E-mail ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss- contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA awards launch services contracts for CubeSat satellites NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) has awarded multiple Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contracts to provide small satellites (SmallSats) - also called CubeSats, microsats or nanosatellites - access to low-Earth orbit. The three companies selected to provide these new commercial launch capabilities, and the value of their firm fixed-price contracts, are: Firefly Space Systems Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, $5.5 million; Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Los Angeles, $6.9 million; Virgin Galactic LLC of Long Beach, California, $4.7 million. At present, launch opportunities for small satellites and science missions mostly are limited to rideshare-type arrangements, flying only when space is available on NASA and other launches. The services acquired through these new contract awards will constitute the smallest class of launch services used by NASA. "LSP is attempting to foster commercial launch services dedicated to transporting smaller payloads into orbit as an alternative to the rideshare approach and to promote the continued development of the U.S. commercial space transportation industry," said Jim Norman, director of Launch Services at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "VCLS is intended to help open the door for future dedicated opportunities to launch CubeSats and other small satellites and science missions." Small satellites, including CubeSats, are playing an increasingly larger role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA. These miniature satellites provide a low-cost platform for NASA missions, including planetary space exploration; Earth observations; fundamental Earth and space science; and developing precursor science instruments like cutting-edge laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement capabilities. LSP supports the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) by providing launch opportunities for more than 50 CubeSats that are awaiting launch during the next three years. The VCLS contracts will demonstrate a dedicated launch capability for smaller payloads that NASA anticipates it will require on a recurring basis for future science SmallSat and CubeSat missions. Small satellites already are used to provide imagery collection for monitoring, analysis and disaster response. In the future, CubeSat capabilities could include ship and aircraft tracking, improved weather prediction, and the provision of broader Internet coverage. The Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington has partnered with LSP to fund the VCLS contracts. These VCLS launches of small satellites are able to tolerate a higher level of risk than larger missions and will demonstrate, and help mitigate risks associated with, the use of small launch vehicles providing dedicated access to space for future small spacecraft and missions. "Emerging small launch vehicles have great potential to expand the use of small satellites as integral components of NASA's Earth science orbital portfolio," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division. "Today's CubeSat technology fosters hands-on engineering and flight research training; with the addition of reliable, affordable, and dedicated access to space on small launchers, constellations of SmallSats and CubeSats could revolutionize our science-based spaceborne Earth-observing systems and capabilities. We're eager to work with the VCLS providers as they develop new launch capabilities for the Earth science community." [ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News A Successful contact was made between Bay View Elementary School, Burlington, WA, USA and Astronaut Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2015-10-14 19:41 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridge via IK1SLD. ARISS Mentor was K4SQC. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-15 07:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future, Saku City, Japan, direct via 8NØSDF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-10-22 09:47:21 UTC 62 deg West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-10-22 17:10:02 UTC 36 deg [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + 2016 Colloqium Dates Set The dates for the next Colloquium have now been confirmed as Fri 29 Jul to Sun 31 July 2016. It will be held in the same location as in 2015, ie the Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK [ANS thanks Jim G3WGM for the above information] + Eimac Moonbounce Notes collection Way back in 1980 when I first got interested in amateur satellites and AMSAT, I wrote off to Eimac Corporation for their "Moonbounce Notes" collection. While on a household paper eradication campaign I came across them and scanned them. I thought others might enjoy a look back at some bleeding-edge ham activities from the mid-late 1970s. It's particularly amusing to see how much effort was spent just tracking the moon with the technology then available. http://www.ka9q.net/moonbounce-notes This is a raw collection of pdf files, but the file names are pretty descriptive. Collect the entire set! If anybody has any notes missing from my collection, please let me know. [ANS thanks Phil KA9Q for the above information + Space Diary: Fire up your imagination! Fire up your imagination and get ready for launch Lucy Hawking and Curved House Kids launch a STEM literacy project to get 500 primary schools involved in Tim’s mission to the ISS. As Tim lifts off in December, school students will follow his mission by creating a personalised log book, the Principia Mission Space Book. Each month a video will be released from amazing space crew including Dallas Campbell, Stephen Hawking, Richard Garriott and Lucy Hawking. To learn more visit https://principia.org.uk/news/spacediary/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK 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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ANS-284 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-284 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: * Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015 * AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV * AMSAT's Fox-1A Receives AO-85 Designation * Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download * Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86 * ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5 * LQSat Launched on Monday, October 5 * AMSAT at Pacificon 2015 * AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated * AO-85 Update * New OSCAR Status Page * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284.01 ANS-284 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE October 11, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015 Launch and Deployment was Successful! PE0SAT, ON4HF, and R2ANF heard signals on the first pass! Video of liftoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drTsIV7nR3w&feature=youtu.be Keplerian elements: GRACE2 1 99992U 15281.53437500 .00015007 00000-0 15580-2 0 00009 2 99992 064.7657 291.6734 0216442 282.3705 182.7702 14.73904028000019 AMSAT’s Fox-1A launched as part of the GRACE (Government Rideshare Advanced Concepts Experiment) auxillary payload on the NROL-55 mission October 8, 2015 from Vandenburg AFB on an Atlas V vehicle. The launch occurred at 5:49 AM PDT, with the NASA TV webcast starting at 5:29 AM PDT. NRO has released this factsheet about the mission: http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GRACE_CubeSat_ FactSheet.pdf General information on Fox-1A is available in the downloadable http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi.pdf FoxTelem software for decoding and submitting telemetry has been made available for download at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532 Keplerian Elements: We will provide the Keplerian elements (aka Keps or TLEs) to enable you to track Fox-1a as soon after launch as we get them (and are cleared to release them). The information will be placed on http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt . INITIAL COMMISSIONING PERIOD: Initially the transponder will not be on and will not respond to uplinks. Please do not attempt to uplink while we check out the satellite and commission it. We will publicize when we have opened the transponder to general use. You should expect the checkout phase to last for a minimum of several days and possibly for several weeks. What To Listen For: During the initial checkout period and when the satellite is in range, every two minutes you will generally hear about 5 seconds of data followed by a few seconds of a voice ID (and possibly a second data packet). You may occasionally hear ‘data’ mode which Chris, G0KLA, has famously described as sounding like an old-fashioned telephone modem. If you should happen to hear what appear to be QSOs, please resist the temptation to join in before the commissioning period is over. Please Send Telemetry Reports and Data: We would love to have you collect and upload as much data as you can, and to give any other kind of report on the amsat-bb mailing list (which some of the Fox team will monitor). You can also report hearing or not hearing it on http://www.amsat.org/status/ You can upload data using the FoxTelem telemetry program that we recently released. (Check the “upload to server” box in the properties/preference page). More data will help us do the checkout faster! Remember if you hear the “telephone modem” sound, you must switch FoxTelem to high-speed mode manually. Similarly FoxTelem must be in low-speed mode at other times. We are planning a special award to the person who submits the first data from the satellite (by which we mean the earliest downlinked mission elapsed time), so get your rigs ready! As part of the preparations for the launch and activation of this new satellite, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With The Amateur Satellites” book available for a limited time as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The 132 page book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store and selecting any membership option. While there, check out our other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, AMSAT shirts, hats, and other swag. Thank you, and see you soon on Fox-1A! [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV Radio amateurs Jerry Buxton, N0JY and Courtney Duncan, N5BF were on the panel at a NASA prelaunch briefing on Wednesday, October 7. Participants in the news briefing discussed several of the specific CubeSats aboard the National Reconnaissance Office’s NRO-L55 mission. Four of the CubeSats are NASA-sponsored and nine are NRO-sponsored, one of which was developed with NASA funding. The mission is scheduled to launch Oct. 8 from California’s Vandenburg Air Force Base. The panel comprised: • Richard Welle, director, Microsatellite Systems department at The Aerospace Corporation • Tim Olson, principal investigator for BisonSat, Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana • Morgan Johnson, team lead for the ARC CubeSat, University of Alaska, Fairbanks • Jerry Buxton, N0JY Vice President, Engineering, for AMSAT Fox-1 • Courtney Duncan, N5BF, principal investigator for LMRST-Sat, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=b6duPV3BwcY Jerry described the Fox-1A mission and science, and answered questions. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 OSCAR Number Assigned for Fox-1A William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release: I have been informed of the successful launch today, October 8, 2015 of the AMSAT-NA-built Fox-1A CubeSat. I am also informed that the satellite has been heard by several amateurs in various countries. This successful launch comes after years of diligent and dedicated work on the part of AMSAT-NA volunteers including Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, who became a silent key in March, 2014. It was Tony who spearheaded and guided the work on all AMSAT-NA CubeSats until his untimely passing. Thus, it is only fitting that this spacecraft be dedicated to his memory. Following Tony’s death, the work of completing and preparing for launch fell to Jerry Buxton, N0JY, who took over Tony’s post of AMSAT-NA’s Vice President for Engineering and saw to Fox-1A’s successful completion and its preparation for launch. All of those who had a part in designing, constructing and testing Fox-1A and its various subsystems are to be congratulated for jobs well done. Since Fox-1A was properly coordinated through IARU as an Amateur Radio satellite, has been successfully launched and its signals have been received; I, under the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, do hereby issue to Fox-1A the designation AMSAT-OSCAR-85, or AO-85. May AO-85 serve the radio amateurs of world for many years to come. [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download Congratulations to AMSAT's Fox-1A team on their successful launch, orbital deployment, and activation of the Fox-1A satellite. (Now to be known as AO-85.) AMSAT has produced a free, commemorative issue of the AMSAT Journal highlighting the Fox-1A launch success. This full color PDF issue can be downloaded from our current top news story, "Fox-1A launch 5:49 AM PDT on October 8, 2015" at http://www.amsat.org. A direct link to this news item is http://www.amsat.org/?p=4591 If you aren't already a member of AMSAT this issue of our magazine will give you an inside look at the best ham radio club in the world. You'll read and see the dedicated efforts of the Fox-1A team that got us to October 8. Please consider joining AMSAT to support our series of launches coming in 2016 and beyond. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86 William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release: AMSAT-NA has received information from YE0EEE of the successful launch, September 28, 2015 of an Indonesian Amateur Radio satellite, Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2). According to the information I have, this satellite meets all of the requirements to receive an OSCAR number, including IARU coordination. Accordingly, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I hereby confer on this spacecraft the designation Indonesia OSCAR- 86. or IO-86. Dirgan, YE0EEE, and all who had a part in the design, construction, test and launch of IO-86 are to be congratulated. May this Amateur Radio spacecraft have a long and useful life serving the amateurs of the world. The following response was received from Dirgantara, YE0EEE from AMSAT-ID: Many thanks for good news. I, the AMSAT-ID Team, and LAPAN are all very happy about the new Oscar number. By today, I will have informed all the ORARI members. Link to AMSAT-UK article on LAPAN-A2 launch http://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/28/lapan-a2-fm-and-aprs-satellite-launched/ [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5 Two Danish CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, October 5 at 1405 UT. Originally launched to the ISS on August 19, 2015, the two CubeSats, AAUSat-5 and GomX-3, were deployed from the ISS Japanese Kibo module airlock using the Kibo robotic arm. After deployment the CubeSats stated transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. The frequencies to listen on are: • AAUSat-5 – 437.425 MHz with 30 WPM CW beacon every 3 minutes and 9600 bps GMSK packet every 30 seconds • GomX-3 – 437.250 MHz with 1200-9600 bps GMSK data using CSP protocol AAUsat-5 is a 1-Unit CubeSat built by students at Aalborg University. The primary mission is to test an improved receiver for detecting Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals emitted by ships. Down on the ground, these signals are short-range, operating mainly on a ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship basis, leaving large spans of the world’s oceans uncovered. But signals also travel up to orbital altitude, opening up the prospect of worldwide monitoring. GomX-3 is a 3-Unit CubeSat which aims to demonstrate new radio technology. A reconfigurable software-defined radio receiver will intercept L-band spot beams from telecom satellites in geostationary orbit, to provide independent measurements of their signal strength and quality. This receiver can also be re-purposed to receive any other L-band signal, such as navigation satellite signals or radar beams. A receiver will pick up Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) signals automatically broadcast by civilian aircraft, to build up an overview of regional air traffic. Additionally there is a high data rate X-band transmitter developed by Syrlinks. The CNES X-band ground station in Kourou, South America, will be used to demonstrate the link. The GomX-3 amateur radio payload uses a NanoCom AX100 UHF transceiver and ANT430 antenna. Mineo Wakita JE9PEL in Japan reported receiving the GomX-3 beacon in Japan from 1505-1510 UT on October 5 and Luciano Fabricio PY5LF reported hearing GomX-3 in Brazil at 1605 UT. Jan van Gills PE0SAT in the Netherlands received AAUSat-5 at 1800 UT. The two spacecraft may have a lifetime of around 7 months before they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. GomX-3 telemetry beacon https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4mipoz9gmqhlib/GOMX3_Beacon.pdf AAUSat-5 telemetry beacon http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo ESA article CubeSats set for Monday Release (with video) http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_CubeSats… _for_Monday_release ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSat-5 CubeSat http://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/24/esa-listen-for-aausat-5/ [ANS thanks ESA and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LQSat Launched Monday, October 5 LQSat was launched into a 656 km sun synchronous orbit at 0413 UT on Wednesday, October 7 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in Inner Mongolia on a Chang Zheng 2D (CZ-2D) rocket. The satellite was developed by researchers and students at the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) and carries an amateur radio payload. LQSat is technology demonstrator measuring 40x40x60 cm with a mass of 50 kg and carries a 2 m resolution camera as the main payload. The IARU coordinated downlink frequencies are • 437.650 MHz at 0.5 watts (27 dBm) with either 25 WPM CW or 4800 bps MSK CSP packet data • 2404 MHz at 1 watt (30 dBm) using 1 Mbps QPSK Launch report http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/10/china-launches-jilin-1-mission-long- march-2d/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Pacificon 2015 AMSAT will participate at Pacificon on October 17, 2015 in San Ramon, California. The ARRL Pacific Division's Conference, Pacificon 2015 will be held in the Marriott, 2600 Bishop Drive in San Ramon. The host for Pacificon is the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club (MDARC). Alan, WA6DNR will be representing AMSAT with a table and Michael, WA6ARA will be giving a forum presentation titled, “Satellites - Amateur Radio's Future.” Micheal's forum presentation will be at 1100 PDT, October 17 in the San Ramon Marriott's Pleasanton Room. Say Hi Hi to both! If you're on the west coast and cannot make it to Dayton for the AMSAT Space Symposium, Pacificon is always a fun alternative with swap meet, forums, dinner, events, and Gordo West. Further details on Pacificon are at: https://sites.google.com/a/mdarc.org/pacificon2015/home [ANS thanks Alan Bowker, WA6DNR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated The 435 to 145 MHz FM voice transponder on AO-85 was activated during Friday, October 9 allowing many contacts to be made. Among those active on the satellite was 9-year-old Hope KM4IPF. Hope is the daughter of Michelle N8ZQZ and James WX4TV, other radio amateurs in the family are Hope’s elder sister Faith WA4BBC and brother Zechariah, WX4TVJ. Her younger sister is studying for her license. In this video Hope KM4IPF describes her first AO-85 (Fox-1A) contact https://vimeo.com/141916942 Fox-1A Real-time track and Orbital Predictions (click on Draw Footprint to show coverage area) http://www.n2yo.com/?s=40967 Read the Fox Operating Guide to find out how to set up your handheld radio to work the satellite http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi.pdf Note: If your rig has selectable FM filters use the wider filter for 5 kHz deviation 25 kHz channel spacing. See http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/09/fox-1a-fm-transponder-activated/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 Update AO-85 is still being tested. Please note that while AO-85 is in Transponder Mode right now, we have not officially commissioned her and testing is still underway. Part of the testing involves observations in Transponder and Data Modes. We may switch out of Transponder Mode at any time without notice, until we are done testing. If AO-85 is in Safe Mode or Data Mode when it passes and you were expecting Transponder Mode, don't be surprised or angry! [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President for Engineering Jerry, N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New OSCAR Status Page Thanks to the efforts of Joe KM1P and Pete 2E0SQL, and with the permission of David, KD5QGR, we have set up a copy of the OSCAR satellite status page at http://www.amsat.org/status This page will be maintained by multiple volunteers, including myself, and we will be able to add and delete satellites as required, as well as keep information links current. It will take a few days to populate the database, but please begin using this page as soon as possible. In the near future the old page will point to this one for a while, until people get used to the new address. There are still some satellites to add and delete, so this will be a work in progress for a bit. First and foremost we will delete the reentered sats, and add Fox-1A for next Thursday! [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza) *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, ARRL Pacific Division Convention (Pacificon), San Ramon, California *Saturday, 7 November 2015 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 November 2015 – Stone Mountain Hamfest and ARRL Georgia Section Convention in Lawrenceville GA *Monday, 16 November 2015 – Tri-City Amateur Radio Association meeting in Goodyear AZ *Saturday, 5 December 2015 – Superstition Superfest 2015 in Mesa AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts October 6, 2015 * A telebridge contact via LU1CGB with students at Corpus Christi Catholic School, Chambersburg, PA, USA was successful Tue 2015-10-06 16:29:32 UTC 33 deg. Students received answers to 18 questions from astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS. Listen to a recording of the contact: http://www.ariss.org/news.html School Information Corpus Christi Catholic School is a K - 8 Roman Catholic Elementary School, located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. With an enrollment of 215 students and 17 full-time and 3 part-time faculty members, Corpus Christi School is committed to the pursuit of excellence in Catholic education. The school strives to be on the cutting edge of technology with Smartboards in every classroom, two computer labs, iPads, and Chromebooks. Students in the primary grades participate in weekly swim lessons at the local YMCA. Intermediate grades place a strong emphasis on STEM related concepts and careers. Grades four through eight have background knowledge of NASA starting with Gemini and continuing onto Mars. In 2013, three teachers were selected to be on the Reduced Gravity Flight through NASA Explorer Schools. This experience increased the entire students’ awareness of space flight and experiments being conducted in microgravity on the International Space Station. Middle school students are able to expand their curriculum by traveling to major cities such as Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and Williamsburg, VA. Scores on standardized tests are above the national average. School pride runs deep with the students, faculty, staff and parents. * A direct contact via 9M2RPN with students at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was successful Fri 2015-10-09 08:00:04 UTC 47 deg. The scheduled astronaut was Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS. Video Link of Contact https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCMo_BkXOaI School Information Our first ARISS contact was made in 2007 when, Malaysia's first Astronaut Shiekh Muzapher went on board the ISS. We made 5 direct contacts when, some 80 school children talked to him and asked questions. Since then it has become a highly sought after yearly event which is tied up with the Prime Minister's Space Challenge Trophy. This year we will be making our 8th yearly contact. Since the schools do not have ground stations, they make use of Satellite Ground Station at the National Planetarium established in 1995 under the call sign of 9M2RPN. The schools are the nurseries to produce future astronauts and space scientists. The forthcoming contact in October 2015 provides the hands on experience and the seeding operation for tomorrow's space scientists. Upcoming Contacts * A telebridge contact via IK1SLD with students at Bay View Elementary School in Burlington, Washington, USA is scheduled for Wed 2015-10-14 19:41:44 UTC 59 deg. School Information Bay View School in Burlington, Washington has been serving kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Burlington-Edison School District for 22 years. Named after the small community of Bayview, which was later incorporated by the town of Burlington, it serves mainly in-district neighborhood students. This year 562 students are enrolled. The town of Burlington is 66 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Located at the intersection of two major highways, Burlington serves as a retail and commercial hub for the region. Industry is mainly agricultural, retail, and commercial. Over the past three years, Bay View has committed to becoming a school of inquiry. Through inquiry and collaboration, Bay View’s purpose is to nurture compassionate, creative, knowledgeable growth-minded world citizens, who pursue dreams and positively impact the future. Bay View continually inquires to understand one essential question. What do we need to understand, commit to and implement to prepare students to be career, college, and/or world ready for the 21st century? This journey has led them to begin creating concept-based units of inquiry at each grade level. Multi-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary units support school-wide connections through inquiry. The opportunity to ask questions of astronauts on the ISS was pursued as an experience that could spark students’ interest in space, engineering, technology, mathematics, and support a school-wide inquiry. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over AMSAT Highlighted in This Week at NASA Fox, amateur radio, and AMSAT are briefing featured this week in the short weekly news update “This Week at NASA.” See: https://youtu.be/tWOiU2oJMSA [ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO for the above information] Magazine Archive Free (hams like free!) access to electronics and radio magazines from the past. Something to read while waiting for that next AO-85 pass ... See http://americanradiohistory.com/ Hover mouse over Broadcast & Consumer for a menu Hover mouse over Consumer Electronics then Popular Electronics & Similar The old issues download as PDF files. Gotta try it on my tablet to see if it works in the little room down the hall ... [ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] AMSAT Symposium / VUCC/WAS QSL Card Checking Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards reports that if you have any cards you would like checked for VUCC/WAS, I will be at the Symposium. I will give preference to satellite contacts first before I check other bands/modes. If you are going to have cards checked, I prefer the list be in Grid Square order using an Excel spreadsheet or Word doc with the second column being the call sign worked. Place all your cards in the same grid square order as the list with any cards that contain multiple grids at the end of the stack. If you have lists (from Yuri, etc), I can go through them as well. [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information] NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch Contract October 07, 2015 MEDIA ADVISORY M15-150 NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch ContractNASA will host a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce the outcome of the Venture Class Launch Service (VCLS) competition. The news conference will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. The participants are: • Garrett Skrobot, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission lead for the Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy • Eric Ianson, associate director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington • Mark Wiese, flight projects office chief, NASA Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center • Representatives from the selected launch service providers [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] See you in Dayton! - Joe, K6WAO --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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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