AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-143
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org.
In this edition:
* Call for Nominations - 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
* Reminder: AMSAT Server Maintenance Scheduled for Weekend of May 22
* Are Your USPS Mail and E-Mail Addresses Up-to-Date at AMSAT?
* CubeSatSim PCB's Version 1.0 Available at AMSAT Store
* March/April 2021 Issue of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
* FO-29 operation schedule for June 2021
* Astronaut/Ham Assigned to Next ISS Mission
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts from All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-143.01
ANS-143 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 143.01
From AMSAT HQ PO Box 27, Washington, DC 20044-0027
May 23, 2021
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-143.01
Call for Nominations - 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in
the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following four incumbent Directors expire
in 2021 and will be filled by this year's election:
Jerry Buxton N0JY
Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA
Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK
Michelle Thompson W5NYV
Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms.
A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or
five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written
nominations, with the nominee's name, call sign, and contact information, as well as
the nominators' names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the
AMSAT Secretary:
Jeff Davis, KE9V
1909 S. Batavia Avenue
Muncie, IN 47302-2044
ke9v at
amsat.org
A copy should be sent to Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, at n8hm at
amsat.org.
The AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the
Secretary. The Secretary has elected to accept written nomination materials via mail or in
electronic form, including e-mail or electronic image of a paper document. Fax
transmissions cannot be accepted.
No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than
June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qualifications of candidates and nominating
members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether
their nominations are in order by the end of June.
[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]
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Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2" 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won’t want to miss it!
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Reminder: AMSAT Server Maintenance Scheduled for Weekend of May 22
As part of its modernization efforts, AMSAT will be moving its web server to a new vendor
over the weekend of May 22, 2021. This move will result in greater operational
flexibility, ensure continued flow of security updates and may result in lower costs for
server rental and backup services.
End users may see service outages for
www.amsat.org and the central telemetry server
associated with FoxTelem but otherwise no observable changes are expected. Outages are
expected to be brief, perhaps an hour or two, and are presently planned during the USA
overnight hours, and we have confidence that we will be complete by the end of the
weekend. FoxTelem users will find that any telemetry collected during an outage will be
uploaded once the central telemetry server is established in its new home. Mailing lists
and mail forwarding will not be affected, and the membership and events portal at
launch.amsat.org will remain fully operational throughout the migration.
(ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT IT services team for the above information)
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Are Your USPS Mail and E-Mail Addresses Up-to-Date at AMSAT?
Recent attempts to deliver important announcements to AMSAT members shows that many AMSAT
members are not keeping AMSAT headquarters up-to-date with their current U.S. Post Office
mail address and/or email address. It is important that members update their membership
accounts with their current contact information.
The mail servers that deliver AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins and AMSAT-Bulletin Board
posts operate independently from the AMSAT membership roster. Just because a person
receives emails from ANS or the AMSAT-BB does not mean that their contact information is
current in the membership database. The same is true for any email address or mail
address you may have on file in the AMSAT Store. The AMSAT Store operates independently
from the AMSAT membership roster. (Remember, a person does not have to be an AMSAT member
to receive news bulletins or posts or to shop at the store.)
AMSAT headquarters asks all members to ensure that their current contact information is
up-to-date by taking a few minutes to complete the following steps:
- Log into the AMSAT Membership Portal at
https://launch.amsat.org/.
- Click on the light-blue "person" icon near the upper right corner of the
screen.
- Choose "View Profile".
- Review your information, especially your e-mail and mailing addresses.
- If you need to update any information, click on the "EDIT PROFILE" box near
the upper left corner of the screen.
- After updating your information, be sure to click on the "SAVE" box near the
upper left corner of the screen.
By making sure your contact information is current, you can help ensure that you receive
all official announcements and documents from AMSAT Headquarters.
(ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information)
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Need New Satellite Antennas?
Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs
from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT,
a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/
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CubeSatSim PCB's Version 1.0 Available at AMSAT Store
The first release Version 1.0 of the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator printed circuit boards (PCBs)
are now available for a donation at the AMSAT Store
https://www.amsat.org/product/amsat-cubesatsim-pcb/.
The CubeSatSim is a low cost satellite emulator that runs on solar panels and batteries,
transmits UHF radio telemetry, has a 3D printed frame, and can be extended by additional
sensors and modules. Instead of having to get one's own circuit boards made, which
often has minimum quantities, buyers can get one complete set of three boards - a Main
board, Battery board, and STEM Payload board. The Main board comes with the SMD surface
mount components for the Band Pass Filter (BPF) pre-installed. The remainder of the
components are through-hole. Besides the printed circuit boards, builders will need the
components listed on the Bill of Materials at
https://CubeSatSim.org/bom.
For information on building your own CubeSatSim, see the Wiki at
https://CubeSatSim.org/wiki.
For more information about the AMSAT CubeSatSim Project or to borrow a loaner unit for
your classroom or demonstration, contact Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP Educational
Relations at ku2y at amsat dot org.
[ANS thanks Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP, Education for the above information.]
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March/April 2021 Issue of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
The March/April 2021 issue of The AMSAT Journal is now available to members on AMSAT's
Member Portal. Download your copy today at
https://launch.amsat.org/The_AMSAT_Journal.
The AMSAT Journal is a bi-monthly digital magazine for amateur radio in space enthusiasts,
published by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). Each issue is your source
for hardware and software projects, technical tips, STEM initiatives, operational
activities, and news from around the world.
Inside the Current Issue:
- Apogee View by Robert Bankston, KE4AL
- Educational Relations Update by Alan Johnston, KU2Y
- 2021 AMSAT Field Day by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
- Report of the AMSAT Bylaws Committee and Amended Bylaws
- Working FalconSAT-3 Packet Digipeater by Ramadhan Ibrahim, YD1RUH, Juliadi Satyo
Pramudito, YD0AVI, and Creflo Teodoro Sebastian, YD2UUY
- Arizona Roving in an Afternoon by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK
- Design and Flight Results of the VHF/UHF Communication System of Longjiang Lunar
Microsatellites by Mingchuan Wei, Chaoran Hu, Daniel Estévez, Mier Tai, Yuhao Zhao, Jiahe
Huang, Cees Bassa, Tammo Jan Dijkema, Xibin Cao, and Feng Wang.
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]
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AMSAT’s GOLF Program Is About Getting Back To Higher Orbits.
And it all begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for
deployable solar panels, propulsion, and attitude control.
Come along for the ride. The journey will be worth it!
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF
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FO-29 operation schedule for June 2021
The JARL has published the operation schedule for FO-29 for June 2021 is follows:
June (UTC)
4th 23:33-
5th 01:17-
6th 00:22- 14:10-
12th 00:07- 13:53-
13th 00:57- 13:00-
19th 00:42- 10:57-
20th 01:32- 11:48-
26th 01:16- 11:34-
27th 00:22- 12:23-
The UTC time represents the start time for each operating period. The satellite will
remain in operation until the battery voltage falls to a preset level.
[ANS thanks Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU for the above information.]
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Astronaut/Ham Assigned to Next ISS Mission
NASA has assigned Kayla Barron, KI5LAL, to serve as a mission specialist for the
agency's SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is targeted
to launch as early as Oct. 23, 2021.
This will be the first spaceflight for Barron, who became a NASA astronaut in January 2020
after completing two years of training. She will join NASA astronauts Raja Chari, KI5LIU,
and Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC, as the mission's commander and pilot, respectively, and ESA
(European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, KI5KFH, who also will serve as a
mission specialist.
Barron was born in Pocatello, Idaho, but considers Richland, Washington, her hometown. She
earned a bachelor's degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland, in 2010. She earned a master's degree in nuclear engineering from
the University of Cambridge, in England, in 2011, as Gates Cambridge Scholar. Lt. Cmdr.
Barron earned her submarine warfare officer qualification and deployed three times while
serving aboard the USS Maine. At the time of her selection as an astronaut candidate in
2017, she was serving as the flag aide to the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.
NASA previously assigned Chari, Marshburn, and Maurer to the mission in December 2020.
This will be the first spaceflight for Chari and Maurer. It will be the third spaceflight
for Marshburn, who previously served as a crew member of the space shuttle STS-127 mission
in 2009 and Expedition 34/35 aboard the space station, which concluded in 2013.
When Barron, Chari, Marshburn, and Maurer arrive at the orbiting laboratory, they will
become expedition crew members for the duration of their six-month science mission. The
crew will have a slight overlap with the Crew-2 astronauts, who arrived April 24. Crew-2
consists of Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide,
KE5DNI, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG.
This will mark the second time commercial crew missions have overlapped on the station.
The Crew-1 astronauts, who ended their mission with a splashdown off the coast of Panama
City, Florida, on Sunday, May 2, were aboard the station with the Crew-2 astronauts for a
seven-day direct crew handover. Increasing the total number of astronauts aboard the
station enables the agency to boost the number of science investigations conducted in the
unique microgravity environment.
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
No events scheduled.
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Upcoming Satellite Operations
W8LR: May 27. EM99/98_EM89/88 TENTATIVE schedule. Subject to change depending on
obligations. Will post to twitter as needed if I have cell coverage.
EA4M: : Hi guys later in June I’ll be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so, I
will try some birds stay tuned on tweeter for schedules.
ND0C and KE0WPA: In June @kylee_ke0wpa and I, along with our resident photojournalist
(Mom/Amy), will be taking a family excursion to the southwest and working some sats as
time permits. Here are the less commonly worked grids from which we plan to operate. We
will hit other grids too. DM67 6/15 – 6/17, DM56 6/18, DM45 6/19, DN63 7/2, DN64 7/2 &
7/3
WA5RR: I’m looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX around
the last week in June. Details to follow.
DM62: K5TA, I’m tentatively planning for DM62 ~9-July, when there are several good passes
mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for me….
EN57/67: @SeanKutzko KX9X and @Nancy_N9NCY will celebrate Sean’s birthday in the
Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula July 15-19. Look for them on FM and SSB satellites, with the
possibility of some Parks On The Air activity as well.
[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, Rover Page Manager for the above information.]
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ARISS News
+ Upcoming Contacts
Ecole Elémentaire de Saint Leu Centre, Saint Leu, France, (Reunion Island), multi-point
telebridge via ZS6JON.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact is go for: Monday, Mary 24, 2021 at 11:06:02 UTC. 84 degrees.
Windsor School and Liceo Industrial de Valdivia High School, Valdivia, Chile, multi-point
telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP.
Contact is go for: Tuesday, May 26, 2021 at 18:33:34 UTC. 84 degrees.
Ufa State Aviation Technical University, Bashkortostan, Russia, direct via TBD.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy.
Contact is go for Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 13:45 UTC.
About Gagarin From Space. Conducting an amateur radio session with schoolchildren of
Mordovia, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Novitskiy.
Contact is go for Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 12:25 UTC.
+ Successful Contacts
Monaro High School, Cooma, NSW, Australia, telebridge via NA7V.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut was Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 09:25 UTC.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html.
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.]
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Shorts from All Over
+ No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 29, 2021
No changes are noted for the current week.
However, TLE's have been updated and are always available on the AMSAT website at:
https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD for the above information.]
+ Arizona State University Student Satellite to Flash-Back from Ham Commands
NASA has selected an Arizona State University-designed spacecraft to fly as an auxiliary
payload aboard a rocket launching between 2022 and 2025. It is among 14 CubeSats, that
were chosen for this opportunity through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The ASU
CubeSat, named LightCube, is a 1U CubeSat and will be deployed to low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Its unique feature is that it can be commanded by anyone with an amateur radio license and
a ham radio to set off a xenon flash from the spacecraft that will be visible from the
ground. Read more at:
https://news.asu.edu/20210520-asu-student-built-spacecraft-interact-public
[ANS thanks ASU News for the above information.]
+ ESA Advances Its Plan for Satellites Around the Moon
The European Space Agency is devising detailed definitions of how to provide
telecommunications and navigation services for missions to the Moon, under the agency’s
Moonlight initiative. Such a lasting lunar link will enable sustainable space
exploration.Using a shared telecommunications and navigation service would reduce the
design complexity of future individual missions and make them lighter, freeing space for
more scientific instruments or other cargo, making each individual mission more
cost-efficient. Read the full story at:
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-143-ESA.
[ANS thanks SciTechDaily for the above information.]
+ What are NASA's Technology Educational Satellites?
NASA's TechEdSat series of technology demonstrations aims to bring small payloads back
to Earth or to the surface of Mars – while pushing the state of the art in a variety of
CubeSat technologies and experiments. TechEdSat is a series of collaborative projects and
missions that pairs college and university students with NASA researchers to evaluate new
technologies for use in small satellites, or CubeSats. Students do the hands-on work –
designing, building, and testing CubeSat spacecraft systems and analyzing the results –
for each flight mission, under mentorship of engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center
in California's Silicon Valley.; Read about the history and purpose of the program
at:
https://www.nasa.gov/ames/techedsat.
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]
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Not an AMSAT member? Join now at
https://launch.amsat.org/
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 additional benefits. President's Club donations may be made at
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-PresClub.
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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status.
Contact info at the amsat dot org for additional student membership information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw at amsat dot org
Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested
persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the
author and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings see
https://www.amsat.org/mailing-list-faq/.