SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-126.01 ANS Special Bulletin - AO-51 Batteries Failing

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 126.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 6, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-126.01

AMSAT Vice-President of Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA reported the AO-51 Command Team is having a difficult time trying to restore AO-51 to operation.

The current situation is the satellite will not retain the upload of the flight software across eclipse. The batteries are in very poor condition.

AO-51 ground control stations plan a few more things to try, but with eclipses peaking around July at approximately 27 minutes, the long term situation is grim.

There is a brief period around November where eclipses are as short as 16 minutes, but past that it is a long climb to 30 minutes or longer eclipses for many years.

At this time the Command Team cannot provide an estimated "return to service" date. Stations with 9k6 digital capability can listen in on control station attempts at recovery on 435.150 MHz on many passes over the US.

Please support AMSAT-NA and the other AMSAT groups around the world, and help us get new satellites into orbit. Projects like Fox, FunCube, P3E, and Kiwisat need your financial support to keep our amateur sat- ellite fleet flying. You can donate to AMSAT-NA via the link on the front page at http://www.amsat.org.

Keep up with the latest AO-51 Control Team News on-line at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA VP Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the above information]

/EX