The Btown Monitoring Post

Welcome to the Btown Monitoring Post, the official blog site of the Teak Publishing Co. in western North Carolina. This where we post current news items, radio related bulletins, and reference material that will be of interest to a wide variety of radio monitors. Copyright © 2006-2021 by Teak Publishing, who is solely responsible for the content on this blog. All rights reserved and redistribution these pages in any format without prior permission is prohibited. Links to stories are permitted.

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM TEAK PUBLISHING

Saturday, December 28, 2019

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-363

Friday, December 27, 2019

Jonathan's Space Report, No. 773

Jonathan's Space Report
No. 773                                                         2019 Dec 27 Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 61 continues.

Progress MS-13 docked with the Pirs module at 1038 UTC Dec 9.

On Dec 12 Dextre was used to remove the HISUI payload from Dragon
CRS-19's trunk and hand it to the JEM-RMS arm, which installed it on
Kibo Exposed Facility EFU 8. On Dec 13 Dextre removed the new Li-ion
battery from the trunk and stored it on the Dextre EOTP. On Aug 16, the
flight support equipment (FSE) adapter from the BCDU removed earlier
this year from ESP3 was moved from ESP3 to the EOTP, and the new battery
replaced it there at ESP3 Site 6.

Starliner
---------

On Dec 20 ULA launched flight AV-080, the first Atlas V N22, from Cape
Canaveral, The N22 has two solid boosters, a dual engine Centaur with
two RL10-A4-1 engines (the first DEC to fly since 2004) and carries the
Boeing CST-100 Starliner spaceship, flying on its Orbital Flight Test
(OFT) without a crew. The mission was to test launch and landing and
to rendezvous and dock with ISS, delivering 272 kg of cargo and
carrying an instrumented anthropomorphic test dummy (ATD) dubbed 'Rosie',

AV-080's Centaur reached its targeted 73 x 181 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
Boeing Space's Starliner, vehicle SC3, separated at 1150 UTC. Starliner
set its master event timer reading data from the launch vehicle, but
apparently because of a software (interface) mistake the value was read
into the Boeing vehicle from an incorrect location in the ULA vehicle's
memory, resulting in an 11 hour offset. Starliner was meant to fire its
Aerojet Rocketdyne OMAC thrusters at 1207 UTC to raise its orbit, but
due to the software timing error this did not occur. After comms
problems possibly related to a TDRS handover, a contingency RCS burn was
finally commanded by the ground, possibly at around 1216 UTC, which
raised perigee by an unknown (to me) amount. Further RCS burns at
unknown times over the next half hour or so raised perigee further and
placed Starliner in a 180 x 221 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

During the period before the burn, the timer error meant that Starliner
was in an incorrect software state and used up too much propellant
controlling its attitude. This precluded the planned rendezvous with
ISS. Later on Dec 20 Starliner raised its orbit to around 250 km and
tested extension and retraction of its docking apparatus as well as
other systems tests. SC3 then returned on Dec 22, landing at about
106.420W 32.952N near the runway at White Sands Space Harbor, New
Mexico.

The flight did demonstrate the basic design of the vehicle including its
life support system and its ability to safely return to Earth; I do not
expect the omitted rendezvous or the software issues to create major
delays to the programme or to require a further uncrewed test flight.

Starliner consists of the following components, with very approximate guesstimated masses:
                  Height   Dia   Mass

Crew Module     2.2m    4.5m 8.3t?        - about 6.4t dry without crew/cargo
Service Module 2.5m    4.5m 3.3t? (dry) - Jettisoned during end of mission, after deorbit burn
SM propellant   -       -     2.3t?
-----------------------------------
Total at Cen sep              13.9t?
Ascent cover    0.3m    1.7m 0.1t?        - Jettisoned suborbital, before Centaur ignition
Aeroskirt       1.8m    4.5m 1.0t?        - Jettisoned suborbital, 20s after Centaur ignition
-----------------------------------
Total at launch               15.0t?

The SM has 20 6kN OMAC thrusters for orbit adjust (plus 4 x 180 kN abort engines and 28 RCS thrusters).
The CM includes a 750 kg base heat shield, a 150 kg forward heat shield, and two 34 kg drogue chutes,
as well as about 90 kg of hydrazine, all of which are jettisoned in the atmosphere prior to landing.
Landing mass is about 7200 kg including crew and cargo. Starliner is built in Boeing's facility
at the C3PF (former OPF3) at Kennedy Space Center; spacecraft development is carried out there
(and possibly at the new Boeing Space headquarters in Titusville) and mission control is at a Boeing
control room in the mission control building at NASA-JSC/Houston.

Here is the approximate timeline of the mission as far as I can estimate it for now:
(times UTC, as always) - I expect a number of these details to change as better info becomes
available.

Dec 20 1136:43 Launch by Atlas V/N22 from SLC41
       1141:12 Atlas cutoff
       1141:18 Atlas separation
       1141:24 Starliner ascent cover jettisoned
       1141:28 Centaur AV-080 main engine burn 1
       1141:48 Starliner aeroskirt jettisoned
       1148:37 AV-080 shutdown, reach 73 x 181 km x 51.6 deg orbit
       1151:37 Starliner separates from AV-080
       1202    AV-080 propellant `blowdown'
       1207:38 Planned Starliner OMAC orbit insertion burn does not occur
               Excessive attitude control thruster use
       1215?   Commanded RCS burn performs initial orbit insertion
               Initial orbit UNKNOWN; burn start time UNKNOWN
       1234    AV-080 Centaur reentered and hits ocean SW of Australia
       1300?   Further RCS burn(s); reach 180 x 221 km x 51.6 deg orbt.
               Burn start time UNKNOWN.
       2200?   OMAC burn 1, 20 m/s?, to approx 214 x 242 km x 51.6 deg orbit
       2235?   OMAC burn 2, 20 m/s?, to 241 x 265 km x 51.6 deg orbit.
               [Times of these burns are highly uncertain]
Dec 22 1223:47 Starliner OMAC deorbit, 150 m/s , 55 s burn; E of New Zealand
       1224:42 Deorbit burn cutoff, orbit about -230 x 246 x 51.6
       1225:59 Service Module jettison
       1241:42 Entry interface, 120 km, 7.5 km/s over equatorial Pacific
       1242?   Service Module destructive reentry over equatorial Pacific
       1253?   Forward heat shield (FHS) separation at 3 km alt.
       1253:06 Main parachutes deploy
       1254:00? Base Heat Shield sep
       1254:40? Airbags inflate
       1257    Base Heat Shield impact
       1257:55 CM landing at White Sands Space Harbor 106.420W 32.952N
       1302:48 Forward heat shield touchdown

Starliner SC1 was used for the pad abort test; SC2 will fly the CFT crewed flight next year;
then SC3 will fly again on the PCM-1 mission to ISS. For that flight SC3 will have the name `Calypso',
chosen by mission commander Suni Williams. SC2 has not yet been named; and it's not clear
whether SC3 will retain the same name for later flights or if they'll get new names under
each new commander.

Glonass
-------

The Glonass M-59 navigation satellite, Kosmos-2544, was launched from Plesetsk on Dec 11.

PSLV-C48
---------

India's PSLV-C48 flight launched RISAT-2BR1, a 628 kg X-band synthetic aperture radar satellite.
Also aboard were some secondary payloads:
- the 100-kg-class Izanagi (QPS-SAR-1), a 3.6m-dia-antenna radar satellite from QPS Labs of Fukuoka, Japan;
- the 22 kg 12U Cubesat 1HOPSAT from Hera Systems of San Jose;
- the 3U Duchifat 3 from Herzliya Science Center, Israel
- four SpireGlobal Lemur-2 satellites;
- a 3U satellite, Tyvak-0092 (possibly also called COMMTRAIL), built by Tyvak for an unnamed Italian company
    for search-and-rescue applications;
- a 6U satellite, Tyvak-0129, or Pathfinder Demo Test 1, a mission built by Tyvak for NASA-Ames to test
    a Busek electrospray thruster.

Beidou
-------

Beidou 52/53 were launched on Dec 16; they are CAST-built medium orbit Beidou 3 satellites M19 and M20.
The previous Beidou double launch, Beidou 50/51, were Shanghai-built satellites M21 and M22 in the Beidou-3
system, and not M19/20 as I wrote in JSR 772.

JCSAT
-----

On Dec 17 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral. The first stage landed on the OCISLY droneshop.
The second stage placed the JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 satellite in a subsynchronous transfer orbit.
The satellite is jointly owned by Sky Perfect JSAT of Tokyo, which operates its Ku-band payload,
and Kacific Broadband Satellite of Singapore, which has a Ka-band payload aboard.

CSG/CHEOPS
----------

On Dec 18 Arianespace launched a Soyuz ST-A/Fregat from the Centre Spatial Guyanais to place several
satellites in sun-synchronous orbit.
The Soyuz third stage reached a -3189 x 608 km x 92.0 deg suborbital trajectory; the Fregat stage
then fired to reach a 625 x 649 km x 97.8 deg orbit and deployed CSG-1, its primary payload, at 0917 UTC.
CSG-1, the first COSMO-Skymed Second Generation satellite, is an X-band
radar satellite for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense built by Thales Alenia/Torino.

Fregat's second burn reached a 443 x 622 km x 98.0 deg orbit; the ASAP-S upper adapter (on which CSG-1 was
mounted) was jettisoned. The third burn was to 445 x 829 km, followed by a fourth burn to 696 x 708 km
for the deploy of CHEOPS at 1119 UTC.
CHEOPS is ESA's Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite. The 273 kg satellite has a 0.3m aperture
telescope and will measure the radii of known super-Earth and mini-Neptune exoplanets using transit photometry.
The PI is Willy Benz (U. Bern).

Fregat burn 5 and 6 went to 468 x 703 km and then to 509 x 527 km, following which three cubesats
were deployed at 1305 UTC:
ANGELS is a 12U cubesat built by Toulouse company Hemeria for the French space agency CNES.
It carries a new version of the long-running ARGOS system which relays data from meteorological buoys.

EyeSat is a 3U cubesat built by student interns at CNES/Toulouse, and carries the IRIS space telescope
to study zodiacal light.

OPS-SAT s a 3U cubesat built by TU Graz for ESA, with an advanced flight computer to act as a testbed
for mission operations software.

Fregat's final burn put it on a -112 x 522 km trajectory; it reentered over the south Pacific at 1509 UTC.

CBERS-4A
--------

The final China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite, CBERS-4A, was launched by CZ-4B on Dec 20.

Chang Zheng 4B s/n Y44 was launched from Taiyuan at 0322:29 UTC Dec 20.
At T+11m39s the third stage finished its burn and entered a 615 x 635 km
sun-synchronous orbit with an equator crossng at 10:30 local time.

At T+13:18 the primary payload, the 1980 kg CBERS-4A China-Brazil Earth
resources satellite, separated and became object 4489, 2019-093A.
The CBERS satellites are part of the larger Chinese ZiYuan series,
and so this is probably also ZY-1 04A. It was built by CAST/Beijing.

CBERS-4A was mounted on an adapter covering the remaining
payloads. The adapter separated into orbit at T+13:53.
It is probably 2.0m high 2.9m dia.

Next the Tianqin-1 satellite separated, at T+14:28. Tianqin-1 is a small
(35 kg) technology development satellite for China's
gravitational-wave-astronomy programme. The satellite was built by
DFH Satellite Co. for Zhongshan Daxue (Sun Yat-sen University) and
Huahzhong U. of Science and Technology. It also carries the CAS-6A
amateur radio payload.

At T+15:05 three further satellites separated:
Tianyan-02, Yuheng and Shuntian.

Tianyan-02 is also called Xingshidai-8; it is a 6U cubesat built by
Weina Xingkong Keji (MinoSpace) for Gouxing Yuhang Keji (ADA Space) of
Chengdu. It is also called "Kehuan shijie hao AI weixing" (SciFi World
AI satellite) and is dedicated to the science fiction community. SF
writers including Cixin Liu were invited to the launch. The satellite
apparently has a low resolution Earth video imager.

Yuheng and Shuntian were developed by the National University
of Defense Technology in Changsha in collaboration with
the Deya Innovation Research Institute of Foshan, in the Guangzhou
region. They are prototype internet distribution satellites.
It is unclear how big these sats are but I suspect they are 50-100 kg class.

At T+15:47 the final four payloads separated:
ETRSS-1, FloripaSat, Weilai-1R and Tianyan-01.

ETRSS-1 is a 70 kg remote sensing satellite and was built by DFH
Satellite for the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute in
Addis Ababa. It is Ethiopia's first satellite.

FloripaSat is a 1U cubesat from the Universidade Federal de Santa
Catarina, in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis.

Weilai-1R is also known as BDS-AGR-1 and Guozhi henghao nianjing
zhongyuan jinshui 1, and is a 65 kg imaging satellite for GZH-NHK BDS
AGR Co. Ltd (Guozhi heng Beidou hao nianjing Agricultural Technology
Co.) of Zhengzhou in Henan province.

Tianyan-01 is also called Yizheng 1. It was built by Weina/Minospace for
the Zhongxing kongjian yaogan (jiangsu) weixing jishu fuwu YG (China
satellite space remote sensing (Jiangsu) satellite technology services
co. ltd.), based in Yizheng, Jiangsu province. The 72 kg satellite
carries a high resolution imager.

At T+25 min the third stage restarted for a depletion burn which lowered
its orbit to 447 x 620 km.

Elektro-L
---------

On Dec 24 Russia's Elektro-L No. 3 weather satellite was placed in geosynchronous
orbit by a Proton-M with the now-rarely-used Energiya Blok DM-03 upper stage.

Gonets
------

On Dec 26 Russia launched the last Khrunichev Rokot vehicle, based on the
UR-100N missile with a Briz-KM upper stage. The rocket put three Gonets-M
communications satellites in a 1500 km orbit. A passive 17 kg Blits-M
laser reflector ball was also placed in orbit.

Parker
------

The Parker Solar Probe passed 3008 km from Venus on Dec 26 at 1815
UTC, its second Venus flyby. Parker was within Venus' Hill sphere from
Dec 26 0605 to Dec 27 0626 UTC. Once back in solar orbit its perhelion will be only
0.130 AU, compared to 0.166 AU before the flyby. Perihelion 4 is on Jan 29.

Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission       INTL.   Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl   Notes

Dec 5 1729   Dragon CRS-19               Falcon 9           Canaveral SLC40 Cargo     83A S44821    203 x   378 x 51.7
Dec 6 0800? Kosmos-2543?                              Kosmos-2542, LEO     Inspector 79D S44835    368 x   858 x 97.9
Dec 6 0818   ALE-2     )                 Electron           Mahia LC1       Tech      84A S44824    397 x   415 x 97.0
              NOOR 1A   )                                                    Com       84D S44827    348 x   403 x 97.0
              NOOR 1B   )                                                    Com       84E S44828    348 x   403 x 97.0
              SMOG-P    )                                                    Sigint    84J S44832    348 x   403 x 97.0
              TRSI-Sat )                                                    Tech      84G S44830    348 x   403 x 97.0
              FossaSat-1)                                                    Tech      84F S44829    348 x   403 x 97.0
              ATL-1     )                                                  Sigint/Tech 84H S44831    348 x   403 x 97.0
Dec 6 0934   Progress MS-13              Soyuz-2-1A         Baykonur LC31   Cargo     85A S44833    186 x   219 x 51.6
Dec 7 0255   Jilin-1 Gaofen 02B          Kuaizhou-1A        Taiyuan         Imaging   86B S44837    531 x   544 x 97.5
Dec 7 0852   HEDE-2A   )                 Kuaizhou-1A        Taiyuan         Comms     87 S44839    495 x   511 x 97.4
              HEDE-2B   )                                                    Comms     87            495 x   511 x 97.4
              Tianqi-4A )                                                    Comms     87            495 x   511 x 97.4
              Tianqi-4B )                                                    Comms     87            495 x   511 x 97.4
              Tianyi-16 )                                                    Imaging   87            495 x   511 x 97.4
              Tianyi-17 )                                                    Imaging   87            495 x   511 x 97.4
Dec 11 0854   Kosmos-2544                 Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/3 Nav       88A S44850 19125 x 19150 x 64.8
Dec 11 0955   RISAT-2BR1)                 PSLV-QL            Satish Dhawan   Radar     89A S44852    564 x   574 x 37.0
              Izanagi   )                                                    Radar     89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              1HOPSAT   )                                                    Imaging   89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Duchifat-3)                                                    Tech      89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Tyvak-0092)                                                    SaR       89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Tyval-0129)                                                    Tech      89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Lemur-2-Unnamed)                                               AIS/Met   89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Lemur-2-Unnamed)                                               AIS/Met   89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Lemur-2-Unnamed)                                               AIS/Met   89            568 x   579 x 37.0
              Lemur-2-Unnamed)                                               AIS/Met   89            568 x   579 x 37.0
Dec 16 0722   Beidou DW 52 )             Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1 Xichang LC3     Nav       90A S44864 21528 x 22192 x 55.0
              Beidou DW 53 )                                                 Nav       90B S44865 21528 x 22192 x 55.0
Dec 17 0010   JCSAT-18/Kacific-1         Falcon 9            Canaveral SLC40 Comms     91A S44868    272 x 20319 x 26.9
Dec 18 0854   CSG 1   )                  Soyuz ST-A/Fregat   CSG ELS         Radar     92A S44873    622 x   623 x 97.8
              CHEOPS )                                                      Astronomy 92B S44874    698 x   709 x 98.2
              ANGELS )                                                      Comms     92D?S44876    508 x   527 x 97.4
              EyeSat )                                                      Astronomy 92E?S44877    508 x   527 x 97.4
              OPS-SAT )                                                      Tech      92F?S44878    508 x   527 x 97.4
Dec 20 0322   CBERS-4A     )             Chang Zheng 4B      Taiyuan         Imaging   93A S44879    615 x   635 x 98.0
              ETRSS-1      )                                                 Imaging   93
              Tianqin-1    )                                                 Sci/Tech 93
              BDSAGR-1     )                                                 Imaging   93
              Yuheng       )                                                 Comms     93
              Shuntian     )                                                 Comms     93
              Yizheng 1    )                                                 Imaging   93
              Xingshidai 8 )                                                 Imaging   93
Dec 20 1136   Starliner OFT              Atlas V N22         Canaveral LC41 Spaceship 94A S44900    180 x   221 x 51.6
Dec 24 1203   Elektro-L No. 3            Proton-M/DM-03      Baykonur LC81/24 Weather 95A S44903 35372 x 35571 x 0.6
Dec 26 2312   Gonets-M No. 24            Rokot               Plesetsk LC133/3 Comms    96A S44905   1500 x 1508 x 82.5
              Gonets-M No. 25                                                 Comms    96B S44906   1500 x 1508 x 82.5
              Gonets-M No. 26                                                 Comms    96C S44907   1500 x 1508 x 82.5

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------

On Dec 12 the US DoD's Strategic Capabilities Office and Northrop
Grumman launched what was reported to be a development test for a new
IRBM. The rocket flew from Vandenberg's Test Pad 1 west to the Pacific,
apparently to a range of about 1200 km (and not 3000 km which the US
defines as the lower end of IRBM range). Pictures suggest it was a
single-stage Castor 4B with an MBRV-class reentry vehicle, probably
surplus from the missile defense targets program. The Castor 4B solid
motor is thought to no longer be in production; I conclude this was
likely largely a propaganda exercise rather than actually representing a
new capability.

Date UT       Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle      Site                  Mission    Apogee/km    Target

Nov 26 0743   ICI 5             Terrer Imp.Malemute Svalbard            Ionosphere    253       Arctic
Nov 28        Topol-E RV        Topol'               Kapustin Yar        Reentry test 1000?      Balkhash
Nov 28 0759   RV                DPRK MLRS            Ryonpo              Test           97       Sea of Japan
Nov 28 0759   RV                DPRK MLRS            Ryonpo              Test           97       Sea of Japan
Nov 30 1350   Agni 3 RV         Agni 3               Kalam Island        Test          500?      Indian O.
Dec 10 0930   CHI               Black Brant IX       Svalbard            Ionosphere    360       Arctic
Dec 11 1753   New Shepard NS12 New Shepard          West Texas          Test          105       West Texas
Dec 12 1630   IRBM Test         Castor 4B?           Vandenberg TP-01    Test          500?      Pacific

-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
| Somerville MA 02143               | inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
| USA                               | twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html                                 |
| Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back                  |
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Saturday, December 21, 2019

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-356

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:

* SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar-OSCAR 106 (MO-106)
* CAMSAT CAS-6 Satellite Launched
* FCC Formally Adopts Proposals to Remove Amateur 3-GHz Band, Invites Comments
* FCC Considers NPRM for 5.9 GHz Band Rules
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for December 19, 2019
* AztechSat-1 CubeSat to Demonstrate Intra-Satellite Communication
* AMSAT CW Day, January 1, 2020 is Just Ahead!
* ESA's OPS-SAT Flying Laboratory Launched
* AMSAT-LU - Dec-15 AMSAT-LU NEMO-1 Buoy Report
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-356.01
ANS-356 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 356.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
December 22, 2019
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-356.01

SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and
Magyar-OSCAR 106 (MO-106)

On December 6, 2019, the Technical University of Budapest SMOG-P and
ATL-1 PocketQubes were launched on an Electron launch vehicle from
the Mahia Launch Complex in New Zealand. SMOG-P and ATL-1 were
developed as part of the university curriculum and operated in
cooperation with the HA5MRC Technical University amateur radio club.
The satellites carry spectrum monitoring payloads and are currently
active.

At the request of the Technical University of Budapest, AMSAT hereby
designates SMOG-P as Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105), and ATL-1 as
Magyar-OSCAR 106 (MO-106). AMSAT congratulates the owners and
operators, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite
community, and wish them a long mission and continued success on this
and future projects.

[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR
Number Administrator 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/

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

CAMSAT CAS-6 Satellite Launched

CAMSAT's amateur radio payload CAS-6 piggybacked on a technology test
satellite TIANQIN-1 was successfully launched on December 20, 2019
at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center of China using a CZ-4B launch
vehicle. The primary payload of this launch is China-Brazil Earth
Resources Satellite CBERS-4A. Specifications for the satellite are
as follows:

- Satellite Name: CAS-6/TIANQIN-1
- Orbit type: SSO
- Apogee: 629km
- Inclination: 97.89 degrees
- Period: 97 minutes
- Satellite Architecture: Micro-satellite
- Mass: 35kg
- Stabilization: three-axis stabilization system
- Amateur Radio Call sign: BJ1SO
- VHF Antenna: one 1/4 wavelength monopole antenna
- UHF Antenna: one 1/4 wavelength monopole antenna
- CW Telemetry Beacon: 145.910MHz 17dBm
- AX.25 4.8k Baud GMSK Telemetry: 145.890MHz 20dBm
- U/V Linear Transponder Downlink: 145.925MHz 20dBm
- U/V Linear Transponder Uplink: 435.280MHz
- U/V Linear Transponder Bandwith: 20kHz bandwidth, Inverted

The satellite is currently in orbit testing, the amateur radio
payload is expected to be operational in about three days.

[ANS thanks Alan Kung, BA1DU for the above information.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------

FCC Formally Adopts Proposals to Remove Amateur 3-GHz Band,
Invites Comments

At its December 12 meeting, the FCC formally adopted a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in WT Docket 19-348 and invited comments
on its plan to remove “existing non-federal secondary radiolocation
and amateur allocations” in the 3.3 – 3.55 GHz band and relocate
incumbent non-federal operations. The FCC said it’s seeking comment
on appropriate “transition mechanisms” to make that happen. ARRL has
indicated that it will file comments in opposition to the proposal.
The amateur 9-meter allocation is 3.3 – 3.5 GHz. The NPRM comes in
response to the MOBILE NOW [Making Opportunities for Broadband
Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless]
Act, approved by the 115th Congress to make available new spectrum
for mobile and fixed wireless broadband use.

“By proposing to delete the existing non-federal secondary
allocations from the 3.3 – 3.55 GHz band, we are taking an important
initial step towards satisfying Congress’s directives and making as
much as 250 megahertz of spectrum potentially available for advanced
wireless services, including 5G,” the FCC said in the Introduction to
its NPRM.

Currently, the entire 3.1 – 3.55 GHz band is allocated for both
federal and non-federal radiolocation services, with non-federal
users operating on a secondary basis to federal radiolocation
services, which have a primary allocation, the NPRM explains.

The FCC said it is seeking comment on relocating non-federal
licensees to another band. With respect to amateur operations, the
FCC invited comments on whether sufficient amateur spectrum exists in
other bands that can support the operations currently conducted at
3.3 – 3.5 GHz. The 3.40 – 3.41 GHz segment is earmarked for amateur
satellite communication. “We seek comment on the extent to which the
band is used for this purpose, whether existing satellites can operate

on other amateur satellite bands, and on an appropriate timeframe
for terminating these operations in this band,” the FCC said. If
non-federal licensees are relocated to 3.1 – 3.3 GHz band, the FCC
proposes that they continue to operate on a secondary basis to
federal operations, consistent with current band allocations.

Some comments began to arrive before the FCC formally adopted the
NPRM, as it points out in a footnote. Kevin Milner, KD0MA, the
secretary/treasurer of the Ski Country Amateur Radio Club in
Colorado, has argued that the club’s equipment cannot be re-channeled
below 3.4 GHz, and the club is seeking relocation costs. Devin
Ulibarri, W7ND, told the FCC that amateur networks in the current
band cannot move easily into other amateur allocations because there
is no readily available commercial equipment to support the
bandwidth, the FCC recounted.

In the event the proposed amendments are adopted, the FCC “seeks
comment on relocation options and on transition and protection
mechanisms for incumbent non-federal operations.”

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.]

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

    AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
    radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
          be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.
   Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

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FCC Considers NPRM for 5.9 GHz Band Rules

Also at its December 12 meeting, the FCC considered another NPRM in
WT Docket 19-138 that would “take a fresh and comprehensive look” at
the rules for the 5.9 GHz band and propose, among other things, to
make the lower 45 MHz of the band available for unlicensed operations
and to permit “cellular vehicle-to-everything” (C-V2X) operations in
the upper 20 MHz of the band. The FCC is not proposing to delete or
otherwise amend the amateur allocation, which would continue as a
secondary allocation.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) has offered its
voice in challenging the FCC proposals on the two bands, saying their
adoption would “eliminate our use of the most-effective resource hams
have to build its networks.”

“The AREDN Project is able to leverage low-cost commercial devices
solely because they are designed to operate on adjacent allocations,”
AREDN said on its website. “Moving to other allocations would be
difficult if not impossible without a complete redesign, manufacture,
purchase, and installation of new custom amateur hardware and
software…, raising the price out of reach for the typical ham.”

Interested parties may file short comments on WT Docket 19-348 via
the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing Service (Express). Visit the FCC
“How to Comment on FCC Proceedings” page for information on filing
extended comments.

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.]

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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for December 19, 2019

The following Amateur Radio satellites have been added to this
week's TLE distribution:

ATL 1 - NORAD CAT ID 44830 (Rocket Lab launch, 12/06/2019).
TRSI-Sat - NORAD CAT ID 44831 (Rocket Lab launch, 12/06/2019).
Duchifat 3 - NORAD CAT ID 44854 (ISRO launch, 12/11/2019).
OPS-SAT - NORAD CAT ID 44878 (ESA launch, 12/18/2019).

Thanks to Nico Janseen, PA0DLO, for satellite identifications.

Note:
1. Duchifat 3 is being used as the TLE name. Duchifat 3 is the name
used by the students who built it, per the university website.
2. TRSI-Sat is not transmitting at the present time. TLEs will be
provided until it is determined that it has failed.

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for
the above information.]

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AztechSat-1 CubeSat to Demonstrate Intra-Satellite Communication

The AztechSat-1 CubeSat, which traveled to the International Space
Station (ISS) last weekend on the 19th Space-X Commercial Resupply
Services (CRS-19) mission for NASA, will listen for emergency
messages in the 439 MHz range and retransmit them for amateur radio
operators to copy on the 437.300 MHz downlink using the Winlink
protocol, once the CubeSat has been placed into orbit. The satellite
is a project of Mexico's Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de
Puebla (UPAEP). Aztechsat-1 is set for deployment from the
International Space Station in late January.

"The primary objective of the project is to establish communication
with the commercial GlobalStar satellites in order to improve data
transmission to Earth," a UPAEP news release said. AztechSat-1 will
create a saturation map of 435 - 438 MHz by listening for the whole
orbit and returning captured data to the ground station on the
437.300 MHz amateur radio downlink (9k6 GMSK or FSK) plus a 1600-MHz
Global-Star link. Emergency messages received via Globalstar to the
AztechSat-1 ground station will be shared on the project's website.

A certificate will be available for amateur stations receiving the
emergency message(s) and reporting these for confirmation by the
AztechSat-1 team.

Details are on the AztechSat-1 website and on the IARU Amateur Radio
Satellite Communication page.

The project is part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, which
offers universities, high schools and non-profit organizations the
opportunity to fly small satellites. "Innovative technology
partnerships keep down the cost, providing students a way to obtain
hands-on experience developing flight hardware," a NASA report said.

NASA explained, "The investigation demonstrates communication within
a satellite network in low-Earth orbit. Such intra-satellite
communication could reduce the need for ground stations, lowering
the cost and increasing the number of data downloads possible for
satellite applications."

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

           Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront.
          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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AMSAT CW Day, January 1, 2020 is Just Ahead!

You are cordially invited to take part in AMSAT CW Activity Day 2020
sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. The
2020 event will be held in memory of Larry Brown, W7LB, and
Keith Pugh, W5IU. Among their many contributions to AMSAT, they were
the AMSAT 20-meter net for many years.

Participation is easy. Just operate CW through any Amateur Radio
satellite on 1 January 2020. Use of straight keys or bugs is
encouraged but not required. If you use AO-7, please observe the QRP
rules currently in effect for that 45-year-old satellite. May it be
with us for many years to come!

[ANS thanks Raphael Soifer, W2RS, AMSAT Senior Advisor for the
above information.]
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ESA's OPS-SAT Flying Laboratory Launched

On December 18 2019 ESA launched a first-of-its-kind space laboratory,

OPS-SAT. The satellite lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou,
French Guiana aboard a Soyuz-Fregat rocket. The small, low-cost,
test satellite has been specifically designed for operational
experimentation in space, and includes the most powerful flight
computer on-board any current ESA spacecraft.

Consumer electronics have gone through a revolution over the last 30
years with computers becoming ever faster, smaller and better. But
when it comes to million- or even billion-euro satellites, their
on-board hardware and software have not seen this revolution due to
the risk of testing new technology in flight.

As spacecraft managers dare to fly only tried-and-tested hard and
software in the harsh conditions of space, innovation on the
operational side of satellites is a very slow-moving process. This is
where OPS-SAT steps in, bringing down the barriers to spacecraft
operations it provides a chance to safely test out new mission
control techniques.

Anyone can apply to become an 'experimenter' and test their
innovative software and new mission operations techniques in space.
OP-SAT provides technology for future missions and paves the way for
satellites to further evolve with minimum risk. Complete information
is available at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-356-OPS-SAT.

[ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information.]

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AMSAT-LU - Dec-15 AMSAT-LU NEMO-1 Buoy Report

On Tuesday 10-Dec at 5AM in the Port of Mar del Plata, Argentina, an
AMSAT-LU team started the Buoy NEMO-1 operation.

There were LU1ESY and LU3ATZ (land-sea communications), and embarked
on the ship 'Porteño' LU1DCX, LU2AOP, LU6EI and LU4BMG. Photo:
http://amsat.org.ar/nemolanz.jpg

Communications were made thru the 'Repelata' (RepeCan), an effective
FM VU repeater made by LU9ATJ, that was raised at 450m height by a
captive balloon on the coast.

El Porteño sailed 70 km offshore, finding severe sea conditions and
impressive waves. However, NEMO-1 was active and between 0800 and
0900 hours there were WSPR reports from 14 stations around the world.

LU3DEI W4DZC LU1KCQ OE5FGL DP0GVN PY1EME PY2GN ZL1RS ZL1ROT DK8FT
OE9GHV DK0ABT IW2NKE ZL2005.

Later, a ship maneuver, hit the buoy damaging one of the solar
panels. The AMSAT team, helped by ship personnel, recovered the buoy
and boarded it on board. After checking the damage, it was decided
to abort the mission.

NEMO-1 returned home and is in Buenos Aires for repairs, spare parts
and reinforcements.

Conversations have already been established in Mar del Plata to,
once the work is finished, repeat and conclude this adventure.

AMSAT thanks the 'NEMO Group', the more than 119 people who helped
realize this dream http://amsat.org.ar/certboyae.htm and the
Menendez Beety family, who selflessly facilitated accommodation in
their house in Mar del Plata.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-LU for the above information.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Upcoming Satellite Operations

Shorts:
- Dec 27-30 EM90 N4DCW – vacation style (Twitter: @MWimages)
- Dec 27-30 EL86 K4WPX FM
- Dec 30 EM94 (overnight) – vacation style (Twitter: @MWimages)
- Dec 30-Jan 01 EL87/88 K4WPX FM

- PNW (CN90, CM99, DM09, DN00, DN10, DN20, DN22, DN13, DN23)
December 20-23, 2019
Casey, KI7UNJ, is about to embark on 9-grid roving trip through the
Pacific Northwest. FM & Linears. Pass schedules posted at
https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ/status/1206626476377772032?s=20. Be sure
to watch Casey’s Twitter feed for further updates.

- Hawaii (BK19, BK28, BK29, BL20) December 21-28, 2019
Alex, N7AGF, is heading back to Hawaii over Christmas. This will be a
holiday-style activation, with special emphasis on the grid that got
away – BK28. Keep an eye on Alex’s Twitter feed for further
announcements: https://twitter.com/N7AGF

- NW Iowa XMAS Rove (EN12, EN13, EN22, EN23) December 23-24, 2019
Mitch, AD0HJ, will be visiting his parents in Iowa for Christmas.
While there, Mitch will take an extra day to put some Northwest Iowa
grids on the air. For a full pass schedule, check
https://twitter.com/AD0HJ/status/1207099665465978880. As always,
keep an eye on Mitch’s Twitter feed for further announcements at
https://twitter.com/AD0HJ

- Mississippi River Delta (EL58) January 4, 2019.
Ron AD0DX, Brian KG5GJT, and Robert KE4AL will operate as W5M/mm from
the mouth of the Mississippi River (EL58) on January 4th. This will
be a 6-hour activation from approximately 1430z to 2030z, on FM and
linear satellites. Further information will be posted as it comes
available.

- Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2019
Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in
the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour
Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may
be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending
on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM
satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through
FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They
will also make the reverse trek on January 27.

- Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020
Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend
National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added
here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep
an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx,
https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5

Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ARISS News

No school contacts will be scheduled until 2020.

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Shorts from All Over

* Your AmazonSmile Purchases Matter!

AMSAT recently received a quarterly donation of $369.69 thanks to
customers shopping at smile.amazon.com. To date, AmazonSmile has
donated a total of $4,563.90 to AMSAT.

The next time you buy that new radio, toaster, socks, or anything for
that matter, make sure you've name AMSAT at the beneficiary for your
AmazonSmile purchases!

[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, AMSAT Executive Vice President for the
above information.]

* Ham Radio Day Aboard the Queen Mary May 2019 Pictures Online

In case you didn't work W6RO aboard the Queen Mary in Long Island,
California, you can still see pictures of the day's festivities on
the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach Facebook page. Enjoy the
fun at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-356-W6RO

[ANS thanks the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach for the
above information.]

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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. 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
student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this
status.

Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student
membership information.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw at amsat dot org

Sent via AMSAT-BB@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.

Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!

Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

Thursday, December 19, 2019

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-353

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.

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service
Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

In this edition:

* SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar-
OSCAR 106 (MO-106)

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-353.01
ANS-353 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 353.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE December 19, 2019
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-353.01

SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar-
OSCAR 106 (MO-106)

On December 6, 2019, the Technical University of Budapest SMOG-P and
ATL-1 PocketQubes were launched on an Electron launch vehicle from the
Mahia Launch Complex in New Zealand. SMOG-P and ATL-1 were developed
as part of the university curriculum and operated in cooperation with
the HA5MRC Technical University amateur radio club. The satellites
carry spectrum monitoring payloads and are currently active.

At the request of the Technical University of Budapest, AMSAT hereby
designates SMOG-P as Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105), and ATL-1 as Magyar-
OSCAR 106 (MO-106). We congratulate the owners and operators, thank
them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and
wish them a long mission and continued success on this and future
projects.

73,
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator

[ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator Drew
Glasbrenner, KO4MA, 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.

73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space,

This week's ANS Contributing Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

Saturday, December 14, 2019

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-359

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation 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 commun-
icating 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.

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service
Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

In this edition:

* Calling All Radio Amateurs: Help Find OPS-SAT!
* FCC Moves to Remove 3.4 GHz Amateur Satellite Allocation
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* FoxTelem version 1.08w Released
* AMSAT-EA works against the clock on GÉNESIS satellites
* New NASA eBook Reveals Insights of Earth Seen at Night from Space
* Israel Applauds Successful Launch of Duchifat3
* Ham Radio University Satellite Operations Forum on January 4
* Possible ARISS SSTV Operation Before Year's End
* Recent ARISS Contacts
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-359.01
ANS-359 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 359.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE 2019 Dec 15
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-359.01

Calling All Radio Amateurs: Help Find OPS-SAT!

Calling all radio amateurs! The European Space Agency (ESA) is chal-
lenging anyone with amateur radio equipment to catch the first signals
from OPS-SAT, ESA’s brand new space software laboratory.

On 17 December, OPS-SAT will be launched into low-Earth orbit on a
Soyuz rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, together with ESA’s Cheops
exoplanet-tracker.

Once launched, the satellite will deploy its solar panels and ultra-
high frequency antenna, and then start to send signals back home.

Could you be the first on Earth to catch them? ESA’s mission control
team in Darmstadt are asking for your help to find the fledgling Cube-
Sat.

OPS-SAT is a first-of-its-kind CubeSat dedicated purely to experimen-
tation. It carries a wide variety of advanced payloads allowing ‘Ex-
perimenters’ to deploy and test their software and apps in space.

Anyone can apply to be an Experimenter! Find out more about the mis-
sion, and how to apply, here: https://tinyurl.com/ul8327f

Lift-off is scheduled for 08:54:20 UTC on 17 December. Deployment will
begin 15044.6 seconds later (T+15044.6 seconds), expected to be at
13:05:04 UTC. OPS-SAT will begin transmitting 15 minutes after satel-
lite deployment and after ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna and solar
array deployment have been confirmed. The first two passes over Europe
are expected on the same evening.

To track OPS-SAT, a preliminary launch TLE is available here, and will
be updated as soon as new orbital information is available.

Main downlink characteristics:
Space segment transceiver GomSpace NanoCOM AX100
Frequency UHF – 437.2 MHz
Modulation GMSK
Occupied Bandwidth 25 kHz
Baudrate 9k6
Modulation Index 0.5
More information can be found at:
https://github.com/esa/gr-opssat/blob/master/docs/os-uhf-specs.pdf

[ANS thanks ESA 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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Donate to AMSAT Tax-Free From Your IRA

Are you over 70-1/2 years of age and need to meet your IRA's Required
Minimum Distribution for 2019? Consider making a donation to AMSAT!

Under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, individuals
over 70-1/2 years of age may make direct transfers of up to $100,000
per year from a traditional IRA to an eligible charity without
increasing their taxable income. Consult your tax advisor or
accountant to make certain you are eligible.

AMSAT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific
organization whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and
operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to
encourage amateurs to utilize these resources. AMSAT's federal tax ID
is 52-0888529.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

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FCC Moves to Remove 3.4 GHz Amateur Satellite Allocation

AMSAT (@AMSAT) tweeted at 11:51 AM on Thu, Dec 12, 2019: "At today's
Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission passed a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking proposing to delete the amateur allocation at
3.3-3.5 GHz, including the amateur satellite service allocation at
3.4-3.41 GHz."

Later, @AMSAT tweeted:
"Noting the importance of microwave spectrum for future amateur satel-
lites in HEO and/or GEO orbits and beyond, AMSAT will file comments
in this proceeding opposing the deletion of this amateur satellite
service allocation."

Watch ANS bulletins for future developments.

[ANS thanks @AMSAT for the above information]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution

The following Amateur Radio satellite has been added to this week's
TLE distribution:

SMOG-P - NORAD CAT ID 44832 (per Nico Janssen, PA0DLO).
1 44832U 19084J   19346.85910300 .00001000 00000-0 50000-4 0    05
2 44832 97.0009 211.0657 0089111 218.3064 289.3286 15.64885322    06
Frequency: 437.1497 MHz.

The Israeli student satellite Duchifat3 was successfully placed in or-
bit by ISRO (India) on December 11, 2019 along with several other sat-
ellites. Therefore, it will take a while for those objects to separate
enough to accurately identify Duchifat3. The following is a set of
preliminary TLEs supplied by Nicholas Mahr, KE8AKW (via AMSAT-BB) on
December 12, 2019 for your use:

Duchifat3
1 84101U          19345.41319444 .00000000 00000-0 50000-4 0    08
2 84101 37.0000 148.0000 0001442   0.0000 140.0000 15.02563222    03

On Dec. 13, Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, verified Doppler measurements show-
ing that Duchifat 3 is object 44854 (2019-089C). The telemetry down-
link frequency is 436.400 MHz. AMSAT

Another PocketQube on this launch (only 5 cm on a side!0 has been iden-
tified as ATL 1
1 44830U 19084G   19346.85945000 .00001000 00000-0 50000-4 0    08
2 44830 96.9998 211.0781 0044791 228.7076 277.5196 15.64736264    09
Frequency: 437.1741 MHz.

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, Orbital Elements Manager, and Nico
Janssen, PA0DLO, for the above information.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

FoxTelem version 1.08w Released

Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA, has announced the release of version 1.08w
of the FoxTelem software. This is a bug fix release to FoxTelem. If you
have been seeing issues then you should upgrade to this new version.

Primarily it addresses the following:
* Crashes seen at run time
* Issue with DDE transmission to SatPC32 which can hang FoxTelem or
another program using DDE
* Some minor issues with HuskySat graphs and display

It is available as usual here:
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/

Thanks to all who reported bugs and issues. Keep them coming. Please
advise Chris if you see any other issues via g0kla arrl.net

Fox-in-a-box orders from the AMSAT Store after December
13, 12:01 UTC (that is, by the time you see this) will also ship with
FoxTelem V1.08w. The FIAB download directory has not yet been upgrad-
ed, but a downloaded SD card as well as existing cards are very easy
to upgrade. Please see previous articles here and in the ANS for how
to do it.

[ANS thanks Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA, and Burns Fisher, WB1FJ for
the above information]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

AMSAT-EA works against the clock on GÉNESIS satellites

AMSAT EA is workin against the clock, together with students from the
European university, in the development of the GENESIS satellites. The
1.5 P pico sats, measuring 7.5x5x5cm are expected to be launched from
the United States in February 2020. These satellites are based on the
designs of EASAT-2 engineering and will allow testings of the EASAT-2
subsytems.

The estimated time in orbit of the GENESIS is estimated at around a
month. They incorporate the linear transponder receiver module design-
ed for EASAT-2 and an Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) transmitter. They
will offer functionality of a regenerative repeater in ASK and CW and
also incorporate the ionic motor experimental for pocketqubes devel-
oped by Applied Ion Systems.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA for the above information]

---------------------------------------------------------------------

New NASA eBook Reveals Insights of Earth Seen at Night from Space

Earth has many stories to tell, even in the dark of night. Earth at
Night, NASA’s new 200-page ebook, is now available online and includes
more than 150 images of our planet in darkness as captured from space
by Earth-observing satellites and astronauts on the International
Space Station over the past 25 years. The book is free for download in
Kindle, ePub, and PDF formats at
https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/earthatnight_detail.html

“Earth at Night” shows how scientists use images such as this astronaut
photo of the Gulf of Mexico taken from the International Space Station
over the southern United States to study our changing planet.

The images reveal how human activity and natural phenomena light up the
darkness around the world, depicting the intricate structure of cities,
wildfires and volcanoes raging, auroras dancing across the polar skies,
moonlight reflecting off snow and deserts, and other dramatic earthly
scenes.

“Earth at Night explores the brilliance of our planet when it is in
darkness,” wrote Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate, in the book’s foreword. “The book is a
compilation of stories depicting the interactions between science and
wonder. I am pleased to share this visually stunning and captivating
exploration of our home planet.”

In addition to the images, the book tells how scientists use these
observations to study our changing planet and aid decision makers in
such areas as sustainable energy use and disaster response.

NASA brings together technology, science, and unique global Earth ob-
servations to provide societal benefits and strengthen our nation. The
agency makes its Earth observations freely and openly available to
everyone for use in developing solutions to important global issues
such as changing freshwater availability, food security and human
health.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

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Israel Applauds Successful Launch of Duchifat3

Israel has applauded the successful launch of Isro’s PSLV-C48 rocket
that put an experimental satellite built by students of its country
into orbit on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The Cuchifat-3 Israeli satellite was
among nine foreign customer satellites piggybacking on India's primary
payload Risat-2BR1, a military radar imaging satellite. The launch oc-
curred at 09:55 UTC. Full article at https://tinyurl.com/uz7p35u

Duchifat3 was built by high school students supported by Herzliya
Science Center in Israel and carries an on-board camera for earth
imaging. The V/u FM transponder has an uplink of 145.970 MHz and a
downlink of 436.400 MHz -- however some reports indicate that the FM
repeater downlink may actually be at 436.420 MHz.

[ANS thanks The Times of India and AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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Ham Radio University Satellite Operations Forum on January 4

The 21st annual Ham Radio University, on Saturday, January 4, 2020
is a "A day of education to share ideas, experiences, knowledge and
fellowship among Amateur Radio operators." The event will be held at:

LIU / Post
Hillwood Commons Student Center
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548
Web: http://hamradiouniversity.org/

The suggested donation $5 - no preregistration is required! Doors
open at 7:30 AM with first forums at 8:30 AM.

Satellite operation is a part of the learning experience:
11:00 a.m. Satellite Operations for Beginners by Frank Garofalo WA2NDV

[ANS thanks the Ham Radio University for the above information]

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    AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
    radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
          be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.
   Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

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Possible ARISS SSTV Operation Before Year's End

ARISS reports the possibility of a worldwide commemorative SSTV opera-
tion from the International Space Station on Friday, Dec. 27 or Satur-
day, Dec. 28 and following days. The SSTV downlink frequency is
145.800 MHz. ARISS will provide more information as it becomes avail-
able. Watch the amsat-bb and follow @ARISS_status on Twitter for up-
dates.

An SSTV system is an integral part of one of the ARISS ham radio sta-
tions, NA1SS/ RS0ISS in the Service Module. It transmits and receives
JPEG still images.This system utilizes the Kenwood D700 and D710 ra-
dios and the ARISS antennas mounted on the Service Module. The SSTV
equipment also includes SpaceCam and MMSSTV software, a radio/computer
interface module and data cables. A Kenwood VC-H1 is also used to pro-
vide near real-time automatically transmitted images once every 3 min-
utes, when active.

A Kenwood D710 radio located in the Service Module was deployed by the
Russian Space Agency, Energia to provide extended support of imaging
experiments using various SSTV formats. It employs SpaceCam and MMSSTV
software to transmit stored images.

The current Expedition 61 crew aboard the ISS includes Dr. Andrew
“Drew” Morgan, KI5AAA, an emergency physician in the U.S. Army; veter-
an pilot Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, RK6ATR; Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP,
an Italian Air Force officer, pilot, and engineer; pilot Cosmonaut
Oleg Skripochka; biologist Dr. Jessica Meir; and electrical engineer
Christina Koch.

[ANS thanks ARISS and NASA for the above information]

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Upcoming and Recent ARISS Contacts

Istituto Comprensivo “Japigia 1 – Verga”, Bari, Italy, direct via
IZ7RTN and Istituto Comprensivo “Caporizzi – Lucarelli”, Bari, Italy,
direct via IZ7RTN. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be
RØISS, The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP. Contact is
go: Fri 2019-12-20 12:35:30 UTC 77 deg

There are few upcoming ARISS school contacts due to school holiday
vacations around the world. Recent contacts were:

A contact with About Gagarin From Cosmos, City of Kursk, Russia and
City of Ufa, Russia, direct via RZ9WWB was scheduled for Wednesday,
Dec. 11. The ISS callsign was scheduled to be RSØISS, and the sched-
uled astronaut was Alexander Skvortsov, RK6ATR.

A contact with Woodridge Middle School, High Ridge, MO, direct via
NØKBA was scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 12. The ISS callsign was
scheduled to be NA1SS, and the scheduled astronaut was to be Luca
Parmitano, KF5KDP.

ANS has verified that these contacts took place as scheduled.

The ARISS contact with Council Rock High School South students at
the Northampton, Pennsylvania school on Thursday, December 5 rece-
ived local press coverage in the Bucks County Courier Times news-
paper: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-349-ARISS-CouncilRock

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

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           Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront.
          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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Upcoming Satellite Operations

For "Ham Radio Day Aboard the Queen Mary" on Saturday, 14 December
2019. Endaf Buckley, N6UTC, and Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, will work
passes as W6RO between 1700 UTC and 0100 UTC (9am-5pm Pacific time)
from the Sports Deck on the RMS Queen Mary, next to the W6RO Wireless
Room. More information about this event is available at:
https://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2019-November/075512.html
and at
https://www.queenmary.com/calendar-of-events/ham-radio-day/home/
On Sunday, 15 December 2019, N6UTC and WD9EWK will go north of the
Los Angeles area to the DM04/DM05/DM14/DM15 (35.0 N 118.0 W) grid
intersection. They plan on working passes for a few hours there,
starting with an AO-92 pass around 1740 UTC.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Board member Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, for the above
information]

South Florida (EL95, EL96) December 11-15, 2019
James, K4WPX, will be in EL96/95 December 11th-15th, vacation style,
mostly evening passes, FM only. James will be staying in EM96 but
~1mile from the EM95 line, so he can skip over there for some passes,
too. Pass announcements via Twitter: https://twitter.com/k4wpx

Hawaii (BK19, BK28, BK29, BL20) December 21-28, 2019
Alex, N7AGF, is heading back to Hawaii over Christmas. This will be a
holiday-style activation, with special empahasis on the grid that got
away – BK28. Keep an eye on Alex’s Twitter feed for further announce-
ments: https://twitter.com/N7AGF

Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020
Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend Nation-
al Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as
they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on
their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx,
https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services, for the
above information]

XT2, BURKINA FASO (Reminder). Harald, DF2WO, is once again active as
XT2AW from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, until December 20th. Activity is
usually holiday style on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital
modes. He states that he works mostly on the Digital modes (FT8, PSK31,
JT65 and RTTY) and slow CW. He will concentrate on 160/80/60 meters.
"PLS Skeds for 80 and 160." He will also be active on the Satellites
(including 3W into 85cm dish for QO-100) See QRZ.com more details. QSL
via M0OXO, direct or by M0OXO's OQRS (www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/).

ZZ, BRAZIL (WFF Op). Operators Joao Carlos/PU4GOD, Leo/PY1CC, Aldir,
PY1SAD and Eduardo/PU1REC will be active from the headquarters of the
Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park (PYFF0226) with special callsign
ZZ1F between December 12-15th. This is during the first weekend of the
Brazilian Parks event, under the coordination of Ronaldo (PS8RV).
Activity will be on 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters including VHF using
CW, SSB, Satellites and the Digital modes. QSL via LoTW or QRZ.com.

[ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1443 for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Some observers have reported that satellite JY1 is, at least occa-
sionally, transmitting image data from its on-board camera.
(ANS thanks Hasan Schiers, N0AN, for the above information)

+ Want to build a satellite? A scholarly book, "Low Earth Orbit Satel-
lite Design" by Dr. George Sebestyen, Steve Fujikawa, Alex Chuchra,
and Nick Galassi, was recently published by Springer, Inc. This
book offers an in-depth guide to engineers and professionals seeking
to understand the technologies behind Low Earth Orbit satellites. At
$139.99 for the hardcover edition, it might be a pricey stocking-
stuffer, but paperback and ebook editions are cheaper, and Springer
is running a holiday book special:
https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319683140#aboutBook
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ ESA’s short film, The Burn, takes us into the heart of Europe’s mis-
sion control during a critical moment in the life of a future mis-
sion. Filmed on site in Darmstadt, Germany, with the help of volun-
teers (many of whom are real-life spacecraft controllers), The Burn
illustrates the critical importance of decades of investment in
state-of-the-art mission operations infrastructure and highly train-
ed teams to flying Europe’s most daring space missions. View the
film at: https://tinyurl.com/yxxewnjt
(ANS thanks ESA for the above information)

+ NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS, aims to carry astronauts to the
moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis project, and has been described
as "the most powerful rocket ever built." The SLS has just completed
its latest round of testing: a "test to failure" pressure test of
the main liquid hydrogen tank. The tank withstood more than 260% of
expected flight loads before buckling and rupturing! The tank was
pushed to its limit and failed at the point predicted by the ana-
lysts, which is good news for the models used by NASA.
(ANS thanks engadget.com and NASA for the above information)

+ Meade Instruments, a company familiar to backyard astronomers, has
filed for bankruptcy. The company has fallen on hard times in recent
years, as they’ve faced increasing competition. Meade also recently
lost a lawsuit, which pushed them over the edge into bankruptcy. The
company is based in Irvine, California, and was founded in 1972.
They started out selling small refracting telescopes. They expanded
and now sell telescope models worth up to $10,000.
(ANS thanks Universe Today for the above information)

+ The Orbital Index blog (orbitalindex.com) maintains a directory of
free space-related software resources for space hobbiests at:
https://github.com/orbitalindex/awesome-space
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ The Orbital Flight Test of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is
scheduled for Dec. 20 at 6:36 a.m. EST. The uncrewed flight test
will be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Sta-
tion for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
(ANS thanks NASA for the above information)

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/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 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week's ANS Editor,

K0JM at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans