I'm in the process of finishing some of the missing software components. I was waiting for confirmation on budget but with that unlikely I decided to proceed anyway. I'm going to see if I can document things much better as I suspect this could end up sitting on a shelf. Alan is also implementing the pi-pacsat for the cubesatsim, so I will continue to help with that as well.

Chris

On Tue, Mar 11, 2025, 17:36 Bob Stricklin via pacsat-dev <[email protected]> wrote:

This is a nice summary of the status of the PASAT project. Bill has done a great job shepherding it along and the efforts can be enjoyed by future AMSAT missions.

Bob

> On Mar 11, 2025, at 2:40 PM, Bill Reed via pacsat-dev <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> March 11, 2025
>
> Dear pacsat team,
>
> I want to tell you where I think pacsat stands today. We still have no funding, but I have had
> a discussion with Gerry Buxton about the project and I will try to convey to you what I have
> heard him say. ( Gerry, please correct me if I am wrong.)
>
> 2024 ended with a successful pacsat prototype. Our blinky board works but it needs a
> few tweaks before it could fly. Our software works. It may have a few minor defects and
> missing a few enhancements, but it is basically ready for flight. The ground station
> software is ready.
>
> I anticipated that 2025 would be a milestone year. I believed we could build flight ready
> modules. Consequently, in November 2024 I submitted our 2025 pacsat budget. I believe
> that budgets establish a projects direction. I proposed a budget that would, in my mind,
> establish that direction.
>
> I proposed the following:
>
> Monies to resolve the few existing hardware issues with the blinky board.
> It cost us $2000 to build each blinky board and I felt we would need to
> prototype a few fixes. Instead of $2000 for each tweak, I proposed that
> we enhance our launchpad design at a cost of $150 for each tweak and
> then consolidate our final design layout on a cubesat size board.
> This budget item has not been funded yet. I am hopeful it will be.
>
> I recognized that the current design that used the AX5043 was limited.
> The AX5043 is out of production. We purchased some supply of parts
> from questionable suppliers, hoping that those parts were acceptable.
> Also, the AX5043 was limited to FM packets at 1200 bps AFSK and 9600
> bsp GFSK. We would need a new design if we expected to use higher
> data rates and new protocols. I proposed that we start a software
> designed radio (SDR) effort for that new design. Gerry indicated to me
> that an SDR design effort would not be funded.
>
> The University of North Dakota satellite group contacted me indicating
> they would like to fly a pacsat board on an upcoming mission. They
> indicated that previous attempts to contact AMSAT had failed. They
> had no design interface at that time, but I agreed to work with them
> as their flight mission progressed. I proposed some monies in the
> 2025 budget to build them some prototype boards. Gerry indicated
> to me that effort would not be funded.
>
> ARISS engineering approached me about a pacsat system on the
> International Space Station. Again we had no design requirements
> but I proposed some monies to support any hardware we might build
> for them. Gerry indicated to me that effort would not be funded.
>
> Gerry did suggest that we build several "generic" pacsat boards
> and place those boards in inventory. I think we have a challenge
> in defining what a "generic flight board" consists of. It could be
> as simple as our blinky prototype board cleaned up for flight.
> There are a few interface issues that need to be resolved.
>
> Gerry indicated that the Fox-Plus-B flight still planned
> to fly a pacsat board on that mission. There has been
> much discussion about the project but no interface
> description has been provided. I don't know what
> Gerry plans for us to do but I am sure that he will
> provide direction in the future. I requested funding
> for this mission but the status of that funding is unknown.
>
> I believe that the pacsat team's efforts over the last two years have
> been exceptional. I want to thank all of you for your efforts.
>
> From a personal standpoint, my funding efforts have been very
> frustrating. I submitted my budget proposal last November and
> I expected that to be approved by January 1, 2025. In my mind
> that's the way that budgets work. Now, without any budget at all,
> we are not knowing which projects we should be working on and
> how we might progress.
>
> I have decided to step back from my role as pacsat team lead.
> I still intend to be a member of the pacsat team, but at this point
> I would like to participate in the SDR design task. If it continues
> to be unfunded then I will need to determine how we might proceed.
>
> Please don't give up on our pacsat efforts. We have a great design
> and we can make it successful.
>
> Bill Reed, NX5R
>
>
>
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