ANS-253 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for September 10, 2023
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-253
In this edition:
* 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Voting Ends Friday * World Radio Conference 2023 Will Impact Amateur Satellite Service * ARISS USA Team Names Director of Education * Updated AMSAT Tri-Fold Brochure Now Available * Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for September 8, 2023 * ARISS News * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, 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[dot]org.
You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
ANS-253 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
To: All RADIO AMATEURS From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653 Washington, DC 20002
DATE 2023 SEP 10
2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Voting Ends Friday
There is less than a week remaining to participate in the 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election. The voting process will conclude on September 15, 2023. To access candidate statements and the online Election Ballot, you can visit AMSAT’s membership portal at https://launch.amsat.org/2023-BoD-Election.
In this year’s election, four seats on the Board of Directors are open for consideration. Once the voting period concludes on September 15th, four of the candidates will take their places on the Board, along with an alternate member. The following individuals have been officially nominated:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW Jerry Buxton, N0JY Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
Upon clicking the poll link, you will be directed to your ballot or poll question. After selecting your preferred choices, simply click the Submit button to cast your vote. Unlike typical online polls, the results of previous votes up until your vote will not be visible. Each AMSAT member is entitled to one vote only. If you attempt to access the poll link again after casting your vote, you will receive a message confirming your vote has been submitted.
The outcomes of the Board of Directors Election, including the total number of ballots cast, the vote count for each candidate, and the names of the newly elected Board of Directors members, will be publicly announced a few days following the conclusion of the election.
[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]
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Join us for the 41st Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 20-21, 2023 – Dallas, TX More Information at: https://tinyurl.com/41st-AMSAT-Symposium
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World Radio Conference 2023 Will Impact Amateur Satellite Service
The World Radio Conference in 2023, WRC-23, will take place on November 20 - December 15 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Some decisions made during the conference will affect Amateur Radio and the Amateur Satellites service.
Representing Amateur Radio at the conference is the IARU, the International Amateur Radio Union, The two most pressing issues affecting the Amateur Satellite Service are:
Additional measures to protect the radionavigation-satellite (space-to-Earth) in the 1240 - 1300 MHz band from amateur interference. As in most microwave allocations, the Amateur Service is secondary and must avoid interfering with primary services operating in the band, even if they are introduced later. An ITU Radiocommunication sector Recommendation that contains guidance for administrations is in the final stage of development. If an agreement is reached prior to WRC-232, it should complete work on the item.
Identification of the 10 - 10.5 GHz band for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in ITU Region 2, including a primary allocation to the mobile service. The IARU opposes the introduction of IMT in the band and has some allies among administrators within and outside of Region 2.
[ANS thanks QST for the above information.]
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The 2023 AMSAT President's Club coins are here now! To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its launch on June 16, 1983, this year's coin features an image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10. Join the AMSAT President's Club today and help Keep Amateur Radio in Space! https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
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ARISS USA Team Names Director of Education
Tanya C. Anderson has been selected as Director of Education for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, Inc. (ARISS-USA). Tanya has been a classroom educator for 18 years, the last 16 years teaching middle school science at St. Joan of Arc in Lisle, Illinois. Her science curricula cover earth and space science, life science, and physical science. Her career focus has been curriculum development in various fields of science.
In addition to her responsibilities as a middle school educator, Tanya has shown her passion as a results-oriented leader in a myriad of science, technology engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) initiatives such as NASA HEAT 2022 where she helped develop and test science curriculum for teaching heliophysics and system science. She also has served as a team leader in NASA's Teaching from Space Microgravity Education Program, working with students to create an experiment that was tested on NASA's microgravity aircraft. Tanya is also a NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador and a Space Foundation International Teacher Liaison. She received the 2015 Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Educator of the Year.
When informed of her selection, Tanya exclaimed, "I am excited to be a part of the ARISS organization and cannot wait to see what the future holds for amateur radio as commercial space stations are built and lunar exploration evolves. I look forward to sharing my passion for STEAM and space education with other educators while we work together to inspire, engage, and educate the next generation."
Tanya currently holds a Technician Class amateur radio license, with the callsign KD9BQZ, and has attended the ARRL Teacher Institute on Wireless Technology Workshop. In 2014, Ms. Anderson organized and held a successful ARISS contact involving the entire student body at St. Joan of Arc School. For the ARISS contact, she developed an extensive curriculum preparing students for their ham radio connection with Astronaut Alexander Gerst. Her first-ever ham radio contact was with Astronaut Gerst on the ISS. Tanya's passion for education and ham radio continued outside the classroom as a troop leader for 6 years with the Boy Scouts of America. Tanya used her educational and amateur radio abilities to immerse the scouts in STEAM as well as help facilitate scout participation in Jamboree on the Air and radio merit badge classes.
ARISS-USA Executive Director, Frank Bauer remarked on Tanya's selection, "Competition for this position was extensive and selection was challenging, given the number of truly outstanding candidates. We are thrilled to welcome Tanya to our ARISS leadership team. Her leadership experience, passion and educational prowess will serve ARISS well, guiding our education volunteers and supporting the implementation of the ARISS 2.0 vision--to develop more comprehensive educational outcomes for youth and life-long learners."
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information.]
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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase 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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Updated AMSAT Tri-Fold Brochure Now Available
Originally created by JoAnne Maenmpaa, K9JKM, the AMSAT tri-fold brochure has always been a favorite handout for use at hamfests and club presentations. Over the past few years, many things have changed at AMSAT and with the satellites we operate. Unfortunately, we did not update the brochure to keep up with the times.
But, now with the pandemic largely behind us, in-person hamfests and club meetings are in full swing and the need for an update to the brochure was apparent. Happily, the brochure has been updated and available for viewing and downloading. You will find on the AMSAT website under "Get Involved/AMSAT Ambassador Program" from the top menu. You will find the link to the file in the "What resources are provided to AMSAT Ambassadors?" section of that page.
Looking for more information to share? The electronic brochure "This is AMSAT" is also available for download at https://tinyurl.com/This-is-AMSAT. "This is AMSAT is 18 pages jam-packed with information about our youth and education programs, engineering activities and member services. It's only 1 Mb big so its easy to share with your friends by email, and its mostly jargon-free so everyone can understand what they're reading!
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]
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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear
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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for September 8, 2023
Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. Elements in the TLE bulletin files are updated daily. TLE bulletin files are updated to add or remove satellites as necessary Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/
The following satellite has decayed from orbit and has been removed from this week's AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:
AAUSAT 4 NORAD Cat ID 41460 Decayed from orbit 06 September 2023
[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for the above information.]
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ARISS NEWS
Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.
+ ESPRIT: Private Higher School of Engineering and Technology, Little Ariana, Tunisia, telebridge via K6DUE. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled crewmember is Andreas Mogensen, KG5GCZ. The ARISS mentor is ON6TI. Contact is go for Tuesday, September 12, 2023-09-12 at 09:01 UTC.
The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.
The packet system is also active (145.825 MHz up & down).
As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.
Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html
The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information.]
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Upcoming Satellite Operations
No operations reported.
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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
+ 2023 AMSAT SA Space Symposium (online only) Saturday, 23 September 2023 Registration at https://bit.ly/45SynOJ
+ 2023 AMSAT-UK Colloquium & RSGB Convention October 14-15, 2023 Kents Hill Park Conference Centre Milton Keynes MK7 6BZ, United Kingdom
+ ARRL Minnesota State Convention Saturday, October 14 Hennepin Technical College 9000 Brooklyn Blvd. Brooklyn Park, Minnesota http://mnconvention.org
+ 41st AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting October 20-21, 2023 Sheraton DFW Airport Hotel 4440 W John Carpenter Fwy, Irving, TX 75063 More information at: https://launch.amsat.org/event-5363188
AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says, “Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”
Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ S5Lab, the owner of the Greencube IO-117 satellite have posted a user survey. More information and link to the survey are on Twitter: https://twitter.com/S5Lab/status/1699039391467901219
[ANS thanks the S5LAB Greencube Team for the above information.]
+ Ironic: Clearspace-1, an ESA mission developed by a Swiss startup firm, is planned to demonstrate a system for deorbiting space junk. Its target is VESPA, a payload adapter left over from a 2013 Vega launch. But before Clearspace-1 could launch and reach its target, VESPA was hit by... you guessed it -- a piece of space junk. Clearspace-1 will still attempt to reach and deorbit the largest remaining chunk of VESPA. But perhaps a better plan than after-the-fact debris removal is to equip satellites and rocket stages with technology to deorbit themselves after mission completion? [ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information.]
+ A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on Sept. 3, marking an historic 62nd orbital launch this calendar year. The mission broke the company's own orbital launch record that it set in 2022 when it launched 61 orbital missions for the full year. [ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information.]
+ After two weather delays in previous weeks, Japan launched its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission and the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite on September 6 at 7:42:11 PM EDT (23:42:11 UTC). SLIM will test precision landing on the Moon and deploy a lunar rover and lunar hopper. XRISM will look into deep space to study the formation of the universe and search for dark matter. [ANS thanks the Parabolic Arc for the above information.]
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Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:
* Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization). * 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 6 post-secondary years in this status. * Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.
Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.
73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
This week's ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW n1uw [at] amsat [dot] org
participants (1)
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Frank Karnauskas (N1UW)