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:
* Upcoming SpaceX CRS-20 Launch
* FO-29 Operational
Schedule
* Georgia Institute of Technology GT-1 To Feature Amateur Radio
Robot Operation
* K7UAZ Radio Club Helps Prepare Satellite Radio
Station for Space Camp at Biosphere 2
* New QO-100 Band Plan
Announced
* ARISS News
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other
Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts from All
Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-061.01
ANS-061 AMSAT News Service Weekly
Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 061.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON,
MD.
March 01, 2020
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID:
$ANS-061.01
Upcoming SpaceX CRS-20 Launch
The spouse of ARISS
Hardware team member Ed Krome, K9EK, pointed out
that the ARISS next
generation radio system, the InterOperable Radio
System (IORS) is
prominently described as a primary payload, not
secondary, on the SpaceX
CRS-20 mission which will be launched no
earlier than March 6, 2020
(ET).
The ARISS Team wants to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone
that
has contributed to helping ARISS realize this major milestone
It
should be noted that the ARISS hardware team is still very busy on
IORS
development and final certification. While certified for launch
and stowage
on ISS, the team is still in deep into the final
certification of the IORS
for flight operations. Also, the build of
the second flight unit is in
progress in Florida and in San Diego.
While CRS-20 represents the launch of
SN 1001, the first flight unit,
it also represents the beginning of the
"ARISS factory build" and
certification of all ten units.
The ARISS
team also notes that November 13, 2020 will represent the
20th year of ARISS
continuous amateur radio operation on ISS!
[ANS thanks Frank Bauer,
KA3HDO AMSAT Vice President, Human Space
Flight for the above
information.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FO-29
Operational Schedule
The operation of Fuji 3 (FO-29) has been unstable,
but the
transmitter will be turned on in the next pass. Since the date and
time are in UTC, add 9 hours to convert to Japan time.
The operation
is until the UVC (lower limit voltage control)
operates.
[Scheduled
time to turn on the analog transmitter of Fuji 3 (UTC)]
March 1 04:00-
14:05
March 2 04:45- 14:55
March 7 03:40- 05:25- 13:50
March 8
04:30- 06:15- 14:40
March 14 04:15- 06:00- 14:25
March 15 03:25- 05:10-
15:15
March 21 03:10- 04:55- 15:00
March 22 04:00- 05:45- 14:05
March 28 03:45- 05:30- 13:50
March 29 04:35- 06:20- 14:40
Because of data acquisition, besides this operation plan, the
transmitter may be turned on for a short time.
[ANS thanks JARL 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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Georgia
Institute of Technology GT-1 To Feature Amateur Radio Robot
Operation
The Glenn Lightsey Research Group, Space Systems Design Lab
at the
Georgia Institute of Technology is sponsoring a 1U CubeSat mission.
The primary function of GT-1 is to be an educational proof of concept
and satellite bus demonstrator. It will use this mission as an
opportunity for undergraduates to get involved in all parts of a
space
mission, from design to implementation and sustainment. It will
test a
prototype deployable antenna and solar panels, which can be
used for future
missions derived from the same baseline design, and
with inclusion of
additional experimental equipment.
It will operate with AX.25 protocol
to collect telemetry data. In
partnership with the W4AQL Georgia Tech
Amateur Radio Club, the
satellite will also host a digital contact ROBOT
payload, inspired by
the Russian ham satellites RS-12 and RS-13. It will
collect QSO
information from individuals who contact the ROBOT as it orbits.
The
satellite will also function as a standard digipeater. Proposing a
9k6 UHF downlink using G3RUH FSK modulation. Planning a JAXA
deployment
from the ISS in October 2020. A downlink on 437.175 MHz
has been
coordinated.
[ANS thanks IARU for the above
information.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
K7UAZ
Radio Club Helps Prepare Satellite Radio Station for Space Camp
at Biosphere
2
In preparation for the upcoming Space Camp at Biosphere 2 , members
of the University of Arizona K7UAZ Amateur Radio Club are helping
with
the placement of an Amateur Radio satellite ground station. The
first step
was to mount the Yaesu G-5500 az-el rotor system to a
Rohn 45 tower. The
complete station will include circularly polarized
M2 beam antennas for 2m
and 70cm, an Icom IC-9700, computers and
tracking software.
Curt
Laumann, K7ZOO, Station Manager for the K7UAZ club reports that
Space Camp
management is enthusiastic about having UAZ students help
with the
installation and setup of the station. Student involvement
will also
include calibrating the rotator system, mapping the
artificial horizon for
the tracking software and integration and
testing the tracking software with
the radio.
Now in its third year, Space Camp at Biosphere 2 will be held
August 3-8, 2020. Space Camp at Biosphere 2 is a joint effort with
the
University of Arizona Biosphere 2, the Arizona NASA Space Grant
Consortium,
and the University of Kyoto, Japan. Students attending
the camp will
experience college-level curriculum and activities
focusing on the
biological/environmental facets of space travel.
More information on
Space Camp at Biosphere 2 is available at
https://spacegrant.arizona.edu/research/spacecamp
[ANS
thanks Curt Laumann, K7ZOO 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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New
QO-100 Band Plan Announced
Just in time for the 1-year anniversary of the
successful
commissioning of the two transponders of Qatar-OSCAR 100, an
encore
is pending: The capacity of the NB transponder will be expanded from
about 250 KHz to almost 500 KHz.
In addition to extended areas for
the various operating modes, more
space is also being created in particular
for "mixed mode" and other
special operating cases. In addition to
frequencies reserved for
emergency radio operations, more experiments are to
be made possible
here.
But all this only with a maximum bandwidth of
2.7 kHz. Automatic
operation requires a special license from the local
licensing
authorities and must be coordinated with the operator beforehand;
this task is performed by AMSAT-DL on behalf of QARS and Es'hailSat.
To
take account of user behavior, AMSAT-DL has almost doubled the
SSB range in
particular.
Detailed information is available at
https://amsat-dl.org/en/neuer-qo-100-bandplan/
[ANS
thanks AMSAT-DL for the above
information.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARISS
News
* Upcoming Contacts
River Ridge High School, New Port Richey,
FL.
Direct via WA3YFQ.
The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan
KI5AAA.
The contact is a go for Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 15:17:44
UTC.
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above
information.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Current schedule:
March 6, 2020, Irving
Hamfest, Irving, TX
March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ
March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
March
21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Scottsdale, AZ
March 28,
2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless
Winterfest, Annandale, VA
May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Assoc. Hamfest,
Sierra Vista, AZ
May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
May 15-17,
Hamvention, Xenia, OH
June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
[ANS thanks
Robert Bankston, KE4AL 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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Upcoming
Satellite Operations
- Shorts
Mar 14-15 DN26/36 KC7JPC Linears (and
possibly FM)
- 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
-
#NevadaMayhem part 1: Central Nevada (DM19) March 21, 2020
David, AD7DB, will
venture deep into Central Nevada to specifically
activate grid DM19 on
Saturday March 21. This is actually down a
side road from "The Loneliest
Road in America." Hardly any hams even
live in that grid. It's for sure
that few ever activate it. On the
way there, Friday March 20, he will try
to also activate some or all
of: DM06, DM16, DM07, DM08, DM17 and DM18.
Going home Sunday,
March 22, he will try to visit them again. This will be
on FM
satellites only. Internet and cell coverage may be very poor up there
but for updates check Twitter: https:/twitter.com/ad7db
[ANS thanks
Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above
information.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite
Shorts from All Over
AMSAT SA Space Symposium Announced
* The
AMSAT SA Space Symposium will be held on July 11, 2020.
Prospective authors
are invited to propose papers by submitting a
brief synopsis to admin@amsatsa.org.za before Friday,
February 28, 2020. While the call for papers is ongoing till the end
of
February, AMSAT SA is pleased to announce that Burns Fisher WB1FJ,
of AMSAT
NA will delivery two papers at the symposium: Fox-in-a-box,
Fox telemetry
reception using an inexpensive Raspberry Pi and a
J-pole antenna including a
discussion on the optimal positioning for
a J-pole antenna for satellite
reception and an overview of what is
in orbit currently and expected in the
near future and their features.
More information available at http://www.sarl.org.za/
[ANS thanks
SARL for the above information.]
* MEMESat-1 Proposed
Let's Go
to Space, Inc.'s first satellite mission is the Mission for
Education and
Multimedia Engagement, better known as MEMESat-1. This
spacecraft will be a
1U amateur radio CubeSat. It's primary mission
is to serve as an FM Repeater
and to downlink donor submitted memes
via UHF SSTV protocol. MEMESat is also
being created to engage people
through the sharing of memes from space and
help fund small satellite
focused research.
More information
available at https://letsgo2space.com/memesat-1-3/
[ANS
thanks Michael Frazier, KJ5Z for the above information.]
* Two
Commercial Satellites Link Up for First Time
A Northrop Grumman robotic
servicing spacecraft has hooked up with an
aging Intelsat communications
satellite more than 22,000 miles over
the Pacific Ocean, accomplishing the
first link-up between two
commercial satellites in space, and the first
docking with a
satellite that was never designed to receive a
visitor.
Northrop Grumman's first commercial Mission Extension Vehicle,
or
MEV 1, will take over propulsion responsibilities for Intelsat 901,
which is running low on fuel after more than 18 years in service
relaying data and television signals. MEV 1 is the first spacecraft
of
its kind, and officials say the successful link-up with Intelsat
901 is a
harbinger for a new era of commercial satellite servicing.
The automated
docking early Tuesday also marked the first connection
of two satellites in
geosynchronous orbit, a region high above the
equator where spacecraft move
at speeds that match the rate of
Earth's rotation.
Complete
information at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-061-Grumman
[ANS
thanks SpaceFlightNow.com 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
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Saturday, February 22, 2020
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-054
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:
* QARMAN and Phoenix CubeSats Deployed from ISS
* AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
* NEMO-1 Buoy Report
* GNU Radio Conference - Tickets and Call for Papers
* U.S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 Scheduled to Launch in Mid-March
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Available with Membership
* ARISS Radio Telebridge Stalwart Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, SK
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-054.01
ANS-054 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 054.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE 2020 Feb 23
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-054.01
QARMAN and Phoenix CubeSats Deployed from ISS
The von Karman Institute in Belgium (VKI) reports the successful de-
ployment of the QARMAN satellite from the International Space Station
on Wednesday, 19 February. QARMAN is one of several cubesats that were
scheduled for deployment this week.
Also, Arizona State University reports that its Phoenix CubeSat was
successfully deployed from the ISS as scheduled at 9:35 UTC Wednesday.
Roughly 30 minutes after deployment, its beacon was heard for the first
time at an amateur radio ground station located in Indonesia.
VKI also reports successful reception and decoding of telemetry from
QARMAN. It is important to note that both of these satellites are using
the same frequency, 437.35 MHz, for telemetry transmissions, and that
they are in very similar orbits. Both satellites also follow the AX.25
protocol at 9600 baud, with GMSK modulation. It will take some trial
and error before each spacecraft’s TLEs can be confirmed.
Operators of these satellites are actively seeking observations from
amateurs. Please report to:
https://community.libre.space/c/satellites-observations
ANS is awaiting reports regarding the other satellites that were
scheduled for deployment on Wednesday, as listed below:
CubeSat Downlink (MHz) Uplink (MHz) Scheduled Deployment Time (UTC)
RadSat-u 437.425 437.425 7:10
CryoCube 2261.00 2082.004 12:55
AztechSat-1 437.3 437.3 12:55
SOCRATES 914.7 914.7 14:30
Argus-02 437.29 437.29 16:00
HARP 468.0 450.0 16:00
SORTIE 468.0 450.0 17:40
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, VKI, and Arizona State for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
AMSAT has filed comments on the Federal Communications Commission's
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which proposes to delete the 3.3 - 3.5
GHz (9 cm) amateur band, including the 3.40 - 3.41 GHz amateur sat-
ellite service allocation.
In the comments, AMSAT opposes the deletion of this allocation and em-
phasizes the necessity of adequate microwave spectrum for future ama-
teur satellite projects, including AMSAT's GOLF program and the Lunar
Gateway.
AMSAT further notes that the most desirable allocations for use as up-
links are the allocations between 2.4 and 5.67 GHz. These allocations
total 80 MHz. The most desirable allocation for downlink use is the
10.45 - 10.50 GHz allocation, totaling 50 MHz. As many of the proposed
uses include amateur television and high-speed data transmission with
satellites in high earth orbit or lunar orbit, these allocations may
quickly become inadequate. AMSAT also notes that the 2.4 and 5.67 GHz
allocations are widely used for ISM and consumer devices, such as WiFi
and Bluetooth-enabled devices. The 3.4 GHz allocation is shared be-
tween amateur use and other non-federal and federal licensees, but is
free from the unpredictable interference of consumer devices.
While acknowledging that the 3.4 GHz amateur satellite service allo-
cation is not currently used by any amateur satellites and that it is
unsuitable for worldwide communication since it is not available in
ITU Region 1, AMSAT identifies a number of potential future uses for
the band as worldwide usage of the other available allocations in-
creases. These potential uses include a future amateur satellite in
geostationary orbit above the Americas.
In the comments, AMSAT also noted several non-amateur satellite uses
of the broader 3.3 - 3.5 GHz amateur service allocation, including its
wide use in mesh networking, EME communications, and contesting.
The full text of the comments as filed can be downloaded at
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-054-FCC
Interested parties may file reply comments on or before March 22,
2020 at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ The proceeding is WT Docket No. 19-
348.
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, Executive Vice President. for the ab-
ove information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NEMO-1 Buoy Report
AMSAT ARGENTINA launched the NEMO-1 buoy into the Atlantic sea on Jan-
uary 30th at noon, using the callsign LU7AA. It was transported 70 km
east of Mar del Plata by the fisherman's ship 'Porteño', from Sandokan.
The buoy, which emits in WSPR mode at 14095.6 KHz and FM VHF in APRS
mode, navigated drifting free for 12 days traveling about 1100 kilo-
meters, until on February 11th it was sighted and taken out of the
water by the tuna vessel 'Juan Pablo II'.
The captain of the ship, Rinaldi Yaco, considered that the buoy was
sailing semi-sunk and decided to rescue it, informing Amsat Argentina
of that event.
The NEMO-1 then traveled eight more days aboard the tuna vessel, con-
tinuing its mission of data capture and broadcasting, until on Feb-19
it arrived at the port of Mar del Plata, where colleagues from the Mar
del Plata Radio Club picked it up and kept in custody.
A group of AMSAT-LU is traveling to recover NEMO-1. The buoy will be
reconditioned and a new launch is planned. It will be tried to take it,
on this occasion, to more than 200 km offshore, so that it will con-
tinue to navigate freely, reaffirming the commitment and contribution
of radio amateurs to QRPp propagation research also helping navigation
and the community.
AMSAT ARGENTINA especially thanks the Captains and crews of the
'Porteño', the 'Juan Pablo II' ships and the Mar del Plata RClub in
the persons of its Secretary, Jose Luis Hermida (LU9DHJ) and Jorge
Garelli (LU5EOR) for the help provided and to the more than 100 'trav-
elers' in NEMO-1, who supported this project helping to carry it out.
http://amsat.org.ar?f=ce
Adventure photos: http://amsat.org.ar?f=buoy
[ANS thanks LU7AA, AMSAT Argentina 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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GNU Radio Conference - Tickets and Call for Papers
GNU Radio is used by spacecraft and ground station developers around
the world. GRCon is the annual conference for the GNU Radio project
and community. GRCon20 will be held September 14-18, 2020 in Charlotte,
N.C.
The GNU Radio Conference celebrates and showcases the substantial and
remarkable progress of the world’s best open source digital signal
processing framework for software-defined radios. In addition to pre-
senting GNU Radio’s theoretical and practical presence in academia,
industry, the military, and among amateurs and hobbyists, GNU Radio
Conference 2020 will have a very special focus: Speed, latency, delay,
and timing!
Enjoy our racing theme throughout the conference, featured in our con-
tests and a high-octane Thursday night dinner. Papers and presentations
on theme will be recognized at the conference with an award.
But wait, there’s more! We’ll be co-located and coordinated with the
TAPR Digital Communications Conference. It’s the weekend immediately
preceding GRCon20. Find out more at: https://tapr.org/?page_id=68
Registration and an online and mobile-friendly schedule will be posted
at https://www.gnuradio.org/grcon/grcon20/
Developers and users from the GNU Radio Community are invited to pre-
sent projects, presentations, papers, posters, and problems at GRCon20.
Submit talks, demos, and code! Please share this Call widely. To sub-
mit your content for the conference, visit the dedicated conference
submission site at: https://pretalx.gnuradio.org/grcon20/cfp
First round closes 17 April 2020. If accepted, your content will be
immediately scheduled. Notifications go out 26 June 2020.
Final round closes 1 September 2019. Submissions received between 18
April 2020 and 1 September 2020 are accepted space permitting, and
notifications will be sent out on a rolling basis.
Those with questions or need assistance with submitting then please
write grcon@gnuradio.org
[ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member, for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 Scheduled to Launch in Mid-March
The U. S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 payload is scheduled to launch in mid-
March from the Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska in Kodiak, AK.
PSAT3 is functionally equivalent to NO-104 (PSAT2), but does not in-
clude PSK31 functionality. It carries a 145.825 MHz APRS digipeater
and SSTV downlink capability.
PSAT3 will not be a free-flying satellite. It will remain attached to
the upper stage of the launch vehicle. Consequently, the mission dur-
ation will be limited to a few months, when the rocket body will de-
orbit.
More information about PSAT3 can be found at
http://aprs.org/psat3.html
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, and the IARU for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
The following Amateur Radio satellite has been added to this weeks
AMSAT TLE Distribution:
SwampSat-2 NORAD CAT ID 45115 (Deployed from Northrop Grumman NG-12
Cygnus 2-3-2020.)
(Thanks to Nico Janseen, PA0DLO, for satellite identification.)
Sadly, AO-85 (Fox-1A) has been declared at end of mission. But, I
think I will retain AO-85 in the TLE distribution for a while just in
case there are some last comments from our friend. (Remember AO-7?)
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Avail-
able for New or Renewing Members
While HuskySat-1 completes it's scientific mission, check out the best
resource for learning how to work through linear transponder sat-
ellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time,
AMSAT is making the "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book
available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership
purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with
purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial
favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest
amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite
operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and
covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio
satellite.
Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store
at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option.
While there, check out AMSAT's other items, including the M2 LEOpack
antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure
to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership
and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add
your free gift.
If you have trouble selecting your free gift, please see this YouTube
video to see the steps necessary. https://youtu.be/oRqk5Am-UzE
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ARISS Radio Telebridge Stalwart Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, SK
When the International Space Station (ISS) orbit is not favorable for
a direct Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) con-
tact with a particular school or location scheduled to speak with an
astronaut, ARISS radio telebridge stations bridge the gap. Gerald
Klatzko, ZS6BTD, of Parklands, South Africa, one of the “regulars”
during the earlier years of the ARISS program, died on February 1 at
age 95.
Klatzko served as an ARISS radio telebridge station in South Africa
for many years until he retired. ARISS telebridge stations establish
the direct ham radio link and feed two-way audio into a telebridge
line for delivery to the contact site. John Sygo, ZS6JON, described
Klatzko as “always bright and cheerful and a great operator,” who made
major contributions to the amateur service.
“He was one of the first to experiment with slow-scan television,”
Sygo said. “For many years, he assisted NASA to link astronauts with
their families using amateur radio links from Mir, the Space Shuttle,
and the International Space Station. For over 2 decades he was the co-
producer and presenter of Amateur Radio Mirror International.”
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Upcoming ARISS Contacts
ARISS lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking
directly with crew members of the International Space Station. A con-
tact is scheduled with the Kittredge Magnet School, Atlanta, GA, direct
via KQ4KMS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS, and
the scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan, KI5AAA. The contact is go for:
Monday, 2020-02-24 at 18:23:55 UTC (31 degrees elevation).
A contact is also scheduled with the Celia Hays Elementary School,
Rockwall, Texas, direct via W5SO. The ISS callsign is presently sched-
uled to be NA1SS, and the scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan, KI5AAA.
The contact is go for: Tuesday, 2020-02-25 at 17:35:18 UTC (31 degrees)
Watch for live stream at https://live.myvrspot.com/st?cid=NWM5NW
The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/
Note that all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do
your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before
the listed time.
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, of the ARISS operation team for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space?
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet-
ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
Current schedule:
March 6, 2020, Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX
March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tuscon
March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Arizona
March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA
May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Assn Hamfest, Sierra Vista, AZ
May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download: AMSAT
Intro Brochure. This color brochure is designed to be printed double-
sided and folded into a tri-fold handout.
To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration,
please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org.
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, 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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Upcoming Satellite Operations
#SnowBirdRove (EL79) – February 1-29, 2020
Joe, KE9AJ, will cross the border into Florida, seeking climatical
asylum in EL79 for the entire month of February. Since he will be
there for an extended period, with both FM and linear gear, keep an
eye on Joe’s Twitter feed for specific pass announcements:
https://twitter.com/KE9AJ
There is a possibility that Joe may have to make a pit stop in EM54
and EM53 on his way down South on February 1st. Monitor Twitter
for updates.
Culebra Island, PR (FK78) February 22-23, 2020
Radio Operadores del Este, Inc, KP3E will be returning to Culebra
Island February 21-23. Listen for Rafael, KP4RV, on FM satellites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xSbPgIyhtA&feature=youtu.be
Vidalia, LA (EM41) February 28 – March 1, 2020
Brian, KG5GJT, will will be operating from the bank of the Missis-
sippi River in Vidalia, La. (EM41), where Jim Bowie was seriously
wounded in the Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827. This will be
vacation style, so keep an eye on Brian’s Twitter feed for updates:
https://twitter.com/KG5GJT
DN26/36 Mar 14-15 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM)
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
#NevadaMayhem part 1: Central Nevada (DM19) March 21, 2020
David, AD7DB, will venture deep into Central Nevada to specifically
activate grid DM19 on Saturday March 21. This is actually down a
side road from “The Loneliest Road in America.” Hardly any hams
even live in that grid. It’s for sure that few ever activate it.
On the way there, Friday March 20, he will try to also activate
some or all of: DM06, DM16, DM07, DM08, DM17 and DM18. Going home
Sunday March 22, he will try to visit them again. This will be on
FM satellites only. Internet and cell coverage may be very poor up
there, but for updates check Twitter: https:/twitter.com/ad7db
Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Students in the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington
have confirmed via their Facebook page that they have been commanding
HuskySat-1 to various transmitter power levels and beacon intervals.
Some amateurs tracking the bird, which carries a linear transponder
to be activated later, had feared that the varying levels were a
sign of problems. But this is part of the experimentation. The Husky-
Sat team has been providing updates on their operations on their
Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/UWCubeSat/posts/
You should not need a Facebook account to view that link.
(ANS thanks UW CubeSat Team for the above information)
+ NASA will accept applications for its next astronaut class March 2
to 31. Applicants must be U.S. citizens with a master's degree in a
STEM field and two years of relevant professional experience. To
sign up, see: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts
(ANS thanks NASA HQ News for the above information)
+ International Astronomical Youth Camp will take place in Spain from
12 July to 1 August 2020. The camp typically hosts around 65 parti-
cipants, aged between 16-24 years old. The IAYC’s main aims are to
promote knowledge on astronomy and related sciences in a unique, in-
ternational atmosphere. Participants work on a research project of
their own choosing over the course of the three weeks, culminating
in a final report. See https://www.iayc.org/ for details.
(ANS thanks Carys Herbert, IAYC Leaderteam, for the above informa-
tion)
+ The ARISS-UK Team have announced that the Electromagnetic Field 2020
event is to host an ARISS contact during the weekend of July 23-26.
The event will be held at Easton Manor Deer Park, near Ledbury in
Herefordshire, UK. Information and event tickets available at:
https://blog.emfcamp.org/2020/02/14/ticket-sales-dates/
(ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information)
+ The maiden flight of the Long March-5B rocket carrying a trial ver-
sion of China's new-generation manned spaceship is expected to take
place in April, indicating the imminent start of construction of
China's space station. The rocket, the prototype core capsule of the
space station, and the experimental manned spaceship are undergoing
tests at the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of south
China's island province of Hainan. https://bit.ly/2VcjXrO
(ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
+ A new version of the game of "chicken" is evolving in outer space.
According to Gen. John Raymond, the U.S. Space Force Chief, Russian
"inspector" satellites are threatening the tenuous stand-off stabil-
ity between adversarial spacefaring nations. Since Novemeber, the
U.S. Space Command has been tracking a satellite known as Cosmos-
2542 which ejected a smaller, nested satellite referred to as Cosmos-
2543. The Russian satellites have been actively maneuvering near USA
245, a classified military imaging satellite.
(ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
+ Amazon has patented a mechanism for throwing satellites into space
with a multi-drone-guided whip, mounted on a boat. See details at:
https://bit.ly/37KWPmL Note, though, that Amazon (and other tech
companies) have a history of patenting things that they’ll never
actually build, such as Amazon’s underwater fulfillment centers:
https://bit.ly/2Tf7DV9 Has April Fool come early?
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index 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.
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
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:
* QARMAN and Phoenix CubeSats Deployed from ISS
* AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
* NEMO-1 Buoy Report
* GNU Radio Conference - Tickets and Call for Papers
* U.S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 Scheduled to Launch in Mid-March
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Available with Membership
* ARISS Radio Telebridge Stalwart Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, SK
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-054.01
ANS-054 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 054.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE 2020 Feb 23
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-054.01
QARMAN and Phoenix CubeSats Deployed from ISS
The von Karman Institute in Belgium (VKI) reports the successful de-
ployment of the QARMAN satellite from the International Space Station
on Wednesday, 19 February. QARMAN is one of several cubesats that were
scheduled for deployment this week.
Also, Arizona State University reports that its Phoenix CubeSat was
successfully deployed from the ISS as scheduled at 9:35 UTC Wednesday.
Roughly 30 minutes after deployment, its beacon was heard for the first
time at an amateur radio ground station located in Indonesia.
VKI also reports successful reception and decoding of telemetry from
QARMAN. It is important to note that both of these satellites are using
the same frequency, 437.35 MHz, for telemetry transmissions, and that
they are in very similar orbits. Both satellites also follow the AX.25
protocol at 9600 baud, with GMSK modulation. It will take some trial
and error before each spacecraft’s TLEs can be confirmed.
Operators of these satellites are actively seeking observations from
amateurs. Please report to:
https://community.libre.space/c/satellites-observations
ANS is awaiting reports regarding the other satellites that were
scheduled for deployment on Wednesday, as listed below:
CubeSat Downlink (MHz) Uplink (MHz) Scheduled Deployment Time (UTC)
RadSat-u 437.425 437.425 7:10
CryoCube 2261.00 2082.004 12:55
AztechSat-1 437.3 437.3 12:55
SOCRATES 914.7 914.7 14:30
Argus-02 437.29 437.29 16:00
HARP 468.0 450.0 16:00
SORTIE 468.0 450.0 17:40
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, VKI, and Arizona State for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
AMSAT has filed comments on the Federal Communications Commission's
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which proposes to delete the 3.3 - 3.5
GHz (9 cm) amateur band, including the 3.40 - 3.41 GHz amateur sat-
ellite service allocation.
In the comments, AMSAT opposes the deletion of this allocation and em-
phasizes the necessity of adequate microwave spectrum for future ama-
teur satellite projects, including AMSAT's GOLF program and the Lunar
Gateway.
AMSAT further notes that the most desirable allocations for use as up-
links are the allocations between 2.4 and 5.67 GHz. These allocations
total 80 MHz. The most desirable allocation for downlink use is the
10.45 - 10.50 GHz allocation, totaling 50 MHz. As many of the proposed
uses include amateur television and high-speed data transmission with
satellites in high earth orbit or lunar orbit, these allocations may
quickly become inadequate. AMSAT also notes that the 2.4 and 5.67 GHz
allocations are widely used for ISM and consumer devices, such as WiFi
and Bluetooth-enabled devices. The 3.4 GHz allocation is shared be-
tween amateur use and other non-federal and federal licensees, but is
free from the unpredictable interference of consumer devices.
While acknowledging that the 3.4 GHz amateur satellite service allo-
cation is not currently used by any amateur satellites and that it is
unsuitable for worldwide communication since it is not available in
ITU Region 1, AMSAT identifies a number of potential future uses for
the band as worldwide usage of the other available allocations in-
creases. These potential uses include a future amateur satellite in
geostationary orbit above the Americas.
In the comments, AMSAT also noted several non-amateur satellite uses
of the broader 3.3 - 3.5 GHz amateur service allocation, including its
wide use in mesh networking, EME communications, and contesting.
The full text of the comments as filed can be downloaded at
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-054-FCC
Interested parties may file reply comments on or before March 22,
2020 at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ The proceeding is WT Docket No. 19-
348.
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, Executive Vice President. for the ab-
ove information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NEMO-1 Buoy Report
AMSAT ARGENTINA launched the NEMO-1 buoy into the Atlantic sea on Jan-
uary 30th at noon, using the callsign LU7AA. It was transported 70 km
east of Mar del Plata by the fisherman's ship 'Porteño', from Sandokan.
The buoy, which emits in WSPR mode at 14095.6 KHz and FM VHF in APRS
mode, navigated drifting free for 12 days traveling about 1100 kilo-
meters, until on February 11th it was sighted and taken out of the
water by the tuna vessel 'Juan Pablo II'.
The captain of the ship, Rinaldi Yaco, considered that the buoy was
sailing semi-sunk and decided to rescue it, informing Amsat Argentina
of that event.
The NEMO-1 then traveled eight more days aboard the tuna vessel, con-
tinuing its mission of data capture and broadcasting, until on Feb-19
it arrived at the port of Mar del Plata, where colleagues from the Mar
del Plata Radio Club picked it up and kept in custody.
A group of AMSAT-LU is traveling to recover NEMO-1. The buoy will be
reconditioned and a new launch is planned. It will be tried to take it,
on this occasion, to more than 200 km offshore, so that it will con-
tinue to navigate freely, reaffirming the commitment and contribution
of radio amateurs to QRPp propagation research also helping navigation
and the community.
AMSAT ARGENTINA especially thanks the Captains and crews of the
'Porteño', the 'Juan Pablo II' ships and the Mar del Plata RClub in
the persons of its Secretary, Jose Luis Hermida (LU9DHJ) and Jorge
Garelli (LU5EOR) for the help provided and to the more than 100 'trav-
elers' in NEMO-1, who supported this project helping to carry it out.
http://amsat.org.ar?f=ce
Adventure photos: http://amsat.org.ar?f=buoy
[ANS thanks LU7AA, AMSAT Argentina 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
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
GNU Radio Conference - Tickets and Call for Papers
GNU Radio is used by spacecraft and ground station developers around
the world. GRCon is the annual conference for the GNU Radio project
and community. GRCon20 will be held September 14-18, 2020 in Charlotte,
N.C.
The GNU Radio Conference celebrates and showcases the substantial and
remarkable progress of the world’s best open source digital signal
processing framework for software-defined radios. In addition to pre-
senting GNU Radio’s theoretical and practical presence in academia,
industry, the military, and among amateurs and hobbyists, GNU Radio
Conference 2020 will have a very special focus: Speed, latency, delay,
and timing!
Enjoy our racing theme throughout the conference, featured in our con-
tests and a high-octane Thursday night dinner. Papers and presentations
on theme will be recognized at the conference with an award.
But wait, there’s more! We’ll be co-located and coordinated with the
TAPR Digital Communications Conference. It’s the weekend immediately
preceding GRCon20. Find out more at: https://tapr.org/?page_id=68
Registration and an online and mobile-friendly schedule will be posted
at https://www.gnuradio.org/grcon/grcon20/
Developers and users from the GNU Radio Community are invited to pre-
sent projects, presentations, papers, posters, and problems at GRCon20.
Submit talks, demos, and code! Please share this Call widely. To sub-
mit your content for the conference, visit the dedicated conference
submission site at: https://pretalx.gnuradio.org/grcon20/cfp
First round closes 17 April 2020. If accepted, your content will be
immediately scheduled. Notifications go out 26 June 2020.
Final round closes 1 September 2019. Submissions received between 18
April 2020 and 1 September 2020 are accepted space permitting, and
notifications will be sent out on a rolling basis.
Those with questions or need assistance with submitting then please
write grcon@gnuradio.org
[ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member, for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 Scheduled to Launch in Mid-March
The U. S. Naval Academy's PSAT3 payload is scheduled to launch in mid-
March from the Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska in Kodiak, AK.
PSAT3 is functionally equivalent to NO-104 (PSAT2), but does not in-
clude PSK31 functionality. It carries a 145.825 MHz APRS digipeater
and SSTV downlink capability.
PSAT3 will not be a free-flying satellite. It will remain attached to
the upper stage of the launch vehicle. Consequently, the mission dur-
ation will be limited to a few months, when the rocket body will de-
orbit.
More information about PSAT3 can be found at
http://aprs.org/psat3.html
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, and the IARU for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
The following Amateur Radio satellite has been added to this weeks
AMSAT TLE Distribution:
SwampSat-2 NORAD CAT ID 45115 (Deployed from Northrop Grumman NG-12
Cygnus 2-3-2020.)
(Thanks to Nico Janseen, PA0DLO, for satellite identification.)
Sadly, AO-85 (Fox-1A) has been declared at end of mission. But, I
think I will retain AO-85 in the TLE distribution for a while just in
case there are some last comments from our friend. (Remember AO-7?)
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Avail-
able for New or Renewing Members
While HuskySat-1 completes it's scientific mission, check out the best
resource for learning how to work through linear transponder sat-
ellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time,
AMSAT is making the "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book
available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership
purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with
purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial
favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest
amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite
operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and
covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio
satellite.
Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store
at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option.
While there, check out AMSAT's other items, including the M2 LEOpack
antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure
to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership
and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add
your free gift.
If you have trouble selecting your free gift, please see this YouTube
video to see the steps necessary. https://youtu.be/oRqk5Am-UzE
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ARISS Radio Telebridge Stalwart Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, SK
When the International Space Station (ISS) orbit is not favorable for
a direct Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) con-
tact with a particular school or location scheduled to speak with an
astronaut, ARISS radio telebridge stations bridge the gap. Gerald
Klatzko, ZS6BTD, of Parklands, South Africa, one of the “regulars”
during the earlier years of the ARISS program, died on February 1 at
age 95.
Klatzko served as an ARISS radio telebridge station in South Africa
for many years until he retired. ARISS telebridge stations establish
the direct ham radio link and feed two-way audio into a telebridge
line for delivery to the contact site. John Sygo, ZS6JON, described
Klatzko as “always bright and cheerful and a great operator,” who made
major contributions to the amateur service.
“He was one of the first to experiment with slow-scan television,”
Sygo said. “For many years, he assisted NASA to link astronauts with
their families using amateur radio links from Mir, the Space Shuttle,
and the International Space Station. For over 2 decades he was the co-
producer and presenter of Amateur Radio Mirror International.”
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Upcoming ARISS Contacts
ARISS lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking
directly with crew members of the International Space Station. A con-
tact is scheduled with the Kittredge Magnet School, Atlanta, GA, direct
via KQ4KMS. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS, and
the scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan, KI5AAA. The contact is go for:
Monday, 2020-02-24 at 18:23:55 UTC (31 degrees elevation).
A contact is also scheduled with the Celia Hays Elementary School,
Rockwall, Texas, direct via W5SO. The ISS callsign is presently sched-
uled to be NA1SS, and the scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan, KI5AAA.
The contact is go for: Tuesday, 2020-02-25 at 17:35:18 UTC (31 degrees)
Watch for live stream at https://live.myvrspot.com/st?cid=NWM5NW
The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/
Note that all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do
your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before
the listed time.
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, of the ARISS operation team for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space?
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet-
ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
Current schedule:
March 6, 2020, Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX
March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tuscon
March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Arizona
March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA
May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Assn Hamfest, Sierra Vista, AZ
May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download: AMSAT
Intro Brochure. This color brochure is designed to be printed double-
sided and folded into a tri-fold handout.
To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration,
please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org.
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, 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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Upcoming Satellite Operations
#SnowBirdRove (EL79) – February 1-29, 2020
Joe, KE9AJ, will cross the border into Florida, seeking climatical
asylum in EL79 for the entire month of February. Since he will be
there for an extended period, with both FM and linear gear, keep an
eye on Joe’s Twitter feed for specific pass announcements:
https://twitter.com/KE9AJ
There is a possibility that Joe may have to make a pit stop in EM54
and EM53 on his way down South on February 1st. Monitor Twitter
for updates.
Culebra Island, PR (FK78) February 22-23, 2020
Radio Operadores del Este, Inc, KP3E will be returning to Culebra
Island February 21-23. Listen for Rafael, KP4RV, on FM satellites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xSbPgIyhtA&feature=youtu.be
Vidalia, LA (EM41) February 28 – March 1, 2020
Brian, KG5GJT, will will be operating from the bank of the Missis-
sippi River in Vidalia, La. (EM41), where Jim Bowie was seriously
wounded in the Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827. This will be
vacation style, so keep an eye on Brian’s Twitter feed for updates:
https://twitter.com/KG5GJT
DN26/36 Mar 14-15 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM)
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
#NevadaMayhem part 1: Central Nevada (DM19) March 21, 2020
David, AD7DB, will venture deep into Central Nevada to specifically
activate grid DM19 on Saturday March 21. This is actually down a
side road from “The Loneliest Road in America.” Hardly any hams
even live in that grid. It’s for sure that few ever activate it.
On the way there, Friday March 20, he will try to also activate
some or all of: DM06, DM16, DM07, DM08, DM17 and DM18. Going home
Sunday March 22, he will try to visit them again. This will be on
FM satellites only. Internet and cell coverage may be very poor up
there, but for updates check Twitter: https:/twitter.com/ad7db
Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Students in the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington
have confirmed via their Facebook page that they have been commanding
HuskySat-1 to various transmitter power levels and beacon intervals.
Some amateurs tracking the bird, which carries a linear transponder
to be activated later, had feared that the varying levels were a
sign of problems. But this is part of the experimentation. The Husky-
Sat team has been providing updates on their operations on their
Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/UWCubeSat/posts/
You should not need a Facebook account to view that link.
(ANS thanks UW CubeSat Team for the above information)
+ NASA will accept applications for its next astronaut class March 2
to 31. Applicants must be U.S. citizens with a master's degree in a
STEM field and two years of relevant professional experience. To
sign up, see: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts
(ANS thanks NASA HQ News for the above information)
+ International Astronomical Youth Camp will take place in Spain from
12 July to 1 August 2020. The camp typically hosts around 65 parti-
cipants, aged between 16-24 years old. The IAYC’s main aims are to
promote knowledge on astronomy and related sciences in a unique, in-
ternational atmosphere. Participants work on a research project of
their own choosing over the course of the three weeks, culminating
in a final report. See https://www.iayc.org/ for details.
(ANS thanks Carys Herbert, IAYC Leaderteam, for the above informa-
tion)
+ The ARISS-UK Team have announced that the Electromagnetic Field 2020
event is to host an ARISS contact during the weekend of July 23-26.
The event will be held at Easton Manor Deer Park, near Ledbury in
Herefordshire, UK. Information and event tickets available at:
https://blog.emfcamp.org/2020/02/14/ticket-sales-dates/
(ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information)
+ The maiden flight of the Long March-5B rocket carrying a trial ver-
sion of China's new-generation manned spaceship is expected to take
place in April, indicating the imminent start of construction of
China's space station. The rocket, the prototype core capsule of the
space station, and the experimental manned spaceship are undergoing
tests at the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of south
China's island province of Hainan. https://bit.ly/2VcjXrO
(ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
+ A new version of the game of "chicken" is evolving in outer space.
According to Gen. John Raymond, the U.S. Space Force Chief, Russian
"inspector" satellites are threatening the tenuous stand-off stabil-
ity between adversarial spacefaring nations. Since Novemeber, the
U.S. Space Command has been tracking a satellite known as Cosmos-
2542 which ejected a smaller, nested satellite referred to as Cosmos-
2543. The Russian satellites have been actively maneuvering near USA
245, a classified military imaging satellite.
(ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
+ Amazon has patented a mechanism for throwing satellites into space
with a multi-drone-guided whip, mounted on a boat. See details at:
https://bit.ly/37KWPmL Note, though, that Amazon (and other tech
companies) have a history of patenting things that they’ll never
actually build, such as Amazon’s underwater fulfillment centers:
https://bit.ly/2Tf7DV9 Has April Fool come early?
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index 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.
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
Monday, February 17, 2020
Jonathan's Space Report, No. 775
Jonathan's Space Report
No. 775 2020 Feb 17 Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 61 continued until undocking of Soyuz MS-13 on Feb 6, which began Expedition 62
under the command of Oleg Skripochka.
On Jan 29 the Cyclops deployer was used to deploy the USAF STPSAT-4
satellite delivered to ISS aboard NG-12. STPSAT-4/Cyclops was extracted
from the Kibo airlock and STPSAT-4 was ejected into orbit at 0720 UTC
Jan 29.
On Jan 31 at about 1115 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed Cygnus NG-12, the S.S. Alan Bean,
from the Unity nadir port. Cygnus NG-12 was released into orbit at 1436 UTC.
On Jan 31 to Feb 1 Cygnus NG-12 released seven cubesats from the Nanoracks NRCSD-E dispenser and
seven cubesats from the SEOPS/SpaceflightInc Slingshot system.
On Feb 6, Soyuz MS-13 undocked from Poisk at 0550 UTC carrying Skvortsov, Koch and Parmitano.
The spacecraft fired its deorbit engine at 0818 UTC, lowering perigee below the Earth's surface.
At 0846 UTC the orbital and service modules were jettisoned, and at 0850 UTC the descent module
began reentry, with landing in Kazakhstan at 0912 UTC Feb 6.
On Feb 15 Cygnus mission NG-13, the S.S. Robert Lawrence, was launched on an Antares from
Wallops Island on a mission to deliver cargo to the ISS.
NROL-151
--------
RocketLab flew its 11th Electron mission from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula on Jan 31.
It placed a satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office in low Earth orbit
with approximately 70 degrees inclination. The mission was designated NROL-151 and the
satellite is codenamed USA 294. Exact orbit of NROL-151 is not yet known. US registration
documents supplied to the UN are apparently stuck in a backlog - the latest made public
online covers up to early 2017.
OneWeb
------
The second launch for the OneWeb constellation took off from Baykonur on Feb 6.
The Fregat upper stage carried a dispenser with 34 satellites, two on a `top hat'
deck K and four decks A, B, C, D with eight satellites each. The satellites were deployed
in a 443 km orbit and will use their on-board propulsion to raise to 1000 km.
(Spacecraft numbers in the table below are in deployment order; thanks to Cameron Meek for data.)
IGS O-7
-------
Japan's IGS O-7 (Information Gathering Satellite/Optical 7, or Joho shushu eisei kogaku 7 goki,
was launched on Feb 9 to sun-sync orbit with 1030 local time descending node.
Solar Orbiter
-------------
The ESA-led Solar Orbiter probe, built by Airbus UK, was launched to an escape trajectory on Feb 10.
Solar Orbiter will enter a 0.513 x 0.991 AU x 1.9 deg solar orbit and make a Venus gravity assist
flyby on Dec 26. After more Venus and Earth flybys it will lower perihelion to about 0.3 AU
by 2022 and by 2028 will increase its orbital inclination to the ecliptic to 25 degrees, allow
imaging of the solar poles. Unlike Parker Solar Probe (which gets closer to the Sun) SO carries a
range of imaging instruments.
X-37 Secret Deployment
-----------------------
Sometime between 2017 and 2019 the US DoD covertly deployed three small
satellites from the orbiting X-37 spaceplane. Those satellites have
finally been added to the US satellite catalog as USA 295-297 (SSN
45169-45171) although with no orbital data provided. A page on Space-Track.org noted
that the three satellites are no longer in orbit; this adds weight to my guess that
they were deployed close to the beginning of the OTV-5 mission in 2017.
I welcome this step of acknowledging the satellites and hope that the
US will bring itself back into compliance with the UN Registration
Convention by providing basic orbital parameters for the satellites, even though
they are no longer up.
Simorgh
--------
Iran launched a Simorgh rocket from Khomeini Space Centre on Feb 9. The upper stage
underperformed or failed, and the payload - an imaging satellite called Zafar - fell in the
Indian Ocean after reaching a 540 km apogee.
Errata
--------
- There is still some confusion about which spacesuits were on which astronaut for the
recent EVAs. In particular, Andrey Krasilnikov tells me for EVA 64 it was
Morgan - EMU 3008 and Parmitano - EMU 3004.
- I put the wrong orbit in last time for Yinhe 1, it's in a 621 x 638 km orbit.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Jan 7 0219 Starlink 1066 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 01AS S44954 301 x 305 x 53.0
Starlink 1069-1104 ) Comms )
Starlink 1106-1119 ) Comms )
Starlink 1121-1126 ) Comms )
Starlink 1128 ) Comms ) 01A-01BM
Starlink 1130 ) Comms ) 44914-
Starlink 1144 ) Comms ) 44973
Jan 7 1520 TJS 5 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 02A S44978 195 x 35804 x 27.5
Jan 15 0253 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 03A S45016 477 x 492 x 97.3
Sophie ) Imaging 03B S45017 475 x 492 x 97.3
Marie ) Imaging 03C S45018 477 x 493 x 97.3
Tianqi-5 ) Comms 03D?S45019 475 x 492 x 97.3
Jan 16 0302 Yinhe 1 Kuaizhou 1A Jiuquan Comms 04A S45024 621 x 638 x 86.4
Jan 16 2105 Eutelsat Konnect ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 05B S45027 499 x 36234 x 6.0
GSAT-30 ) Comms 05A S45026 35775 x 35799 x 0.1
Jan 29 0720 STPSAT-4 ISS, LEO Tech 9867QY S45043 415 x 423 x 51.6
Jan 29 1406 Starlink 1120 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms )
Starlink 1127 ) Comms )
Starlink 1129 ) Comms )
Starlink 1131-1137) Comms ) 06A-06BM 276 x 291 x 53.0
Starlink 1139-1142) Comms )
Starlink 1145-1153) Comms )
Starlink 1155-1186) Comms )
Starlink 1190 ) Comms )
Starlink 1193-1196) Comms )
Jan 31 0256 USA 294 Electron Mahia LC1 Unknown 07A 45110 Unknown orbit x 70.0?
Jan 31? Aerocube-14A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071D S45114 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-14B ) Tech 19071E? S45115 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Aerocube-15A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071F? S45116 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-15B ) Tech 19071G S45117 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31 2230? SwampSat-2 ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071J S45119 459 x 474 x 51.6
HuskySat-1 ) Tech 19071C S45113 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Orbital Factory 2 NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071H? S45118 459 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1544 CIRiS Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071K? S45120? 458 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1943 ORCA-2 Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Tech 19071L? S45121? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1 2115 EdgeCube ) Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Rem.sen. 19071M? S45122? 459 x 473 x 51.6
MakerSat-1?) Tech 19071N? S45123? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? MiniCarb Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071P? S45124? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? VPM Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071Q? S45125? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? Lynk Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Comms 19071R? S45126? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 6 2142 OneWeb 0013 ) Soyuz 2-1B/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 08A S45131 439 x 460 x 87.4
OneWeb 0021 ) Comms 08D S45134 439 x 464 x 87.4
OneWeb 0028 ) Comms 08K S45140 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0026 ) Comms 08J S45139 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0020 ) Comms 08C S45133 449 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0051 ) Comms 08AA S45155 440 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0059 ) Comms 08AH S45162 442 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0036 ) Comms 08P S45144 443 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0032 ) Comms 08L S45141 443 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0058 ) Comms 08AG S45161 444 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0022 ) Comms 08E S45135 446 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0024 ) Comms 08G S45137 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0044 ) Comms 08V S45150 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0041 ) Comms 08T S45148 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0039 ) Comms 08R S45146 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0047 ) Comms 08X S45152 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0056 ) Comms 08AE S45159 448 x 469 x 87.4
OneWeb 0062 ) Comms 08AJ S45163 448 x 470 x 87.4
OneWeb 0057 ) Comms 08AF S45160 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0023 ) Comms 08F S45136 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0038 ) Comms 08Q S45145 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0054 ) Comms 08AD S45154 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0049 ) Comms 08Z S45154 448 x 474 x 87.4
OneWeb 0035 ) Comms 08N S45143 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0017 ) Comms 08B S45132 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0065 ) Comms 08AK S45164 449 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0025 ) Comms 08H S45138 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0052 ) Comms 08AB S45156 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0053 ) Comms 08AC S45157 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0040 ) Comms 08S S45147 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0033 ) Comms 08M S45142 453 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0045 ) Comms 08W S45151 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0048 ) Comms 08Y S45153 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0043 ) Comms 08U S45149 455 x 476 x 87.4
Feb 9 0134 IGS O-7 H-IIA Tanegashima Imaging 09A S45165 477? x 506?x 97.4?
Feb 9 1515 Zafar Simorgh Khomeini Imaging F01 F01548 -2000? x 540 x 55
Feb 10 0403 Solar Orbiter Atlas V 411 Canaveral LC41 Probe 10A S45167 240 x-38671x32.9
Feb 15 2021 S.S. Robert Lawrence Antares 230+ Wallops MARS LA0A Cargo 11A S45175 195 x 267 x 51.6
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
On Jan 7 Iran launched a series of Zulfiqar and Qiam-1 missiles against US military targets in Iraq.
The exact number and mix of missiles is unknown.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 9 0800 S-310-45 S-310 Uchinoura Test 131 Pacific
Jan 19 RV K-4 Visakhapatnam Test 500? Indian Ocean
Jan 27 1340 Polar NOx 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Aeronomy 260 Alaska
Feb 5 0833 FTU-2 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 1300? Kwajalein
Feb 12 USN RVs Trident D5LE USS Maine, Pacific Test 1000? Wake Island
-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 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 |
| Subscribe/unsub: https://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr |
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http://www.planet4589.org/mailman/listinfo/jsr
To unsubscribe, email jsr-leave@www.planet4589.org
No. 775 2020 Feb 17 Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Space Station
---------------------------
Expedition 61 continued until undocking of Soyuz MS-13 on Feb 6, which began Expedition 62
under the command of Oleg Skripochka.
On Jan 29 the Cyclops deployer was used to deploy the USAF STPSAT-4
satellite delivered to ISS aboard NG-12. STPSAT-4/Cyclops was extracted
from the Kibo airlock and STPSAT-4 was ejected into orbit at 0720 UTC
Jan 29.
On Jan 31 at about 1115 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed Cygnus NG-12, the S.S. Alan Bean,
from the Unity nadir port. Cygnus NG-12 was released into orbit at 1436 UTC.
On Jan 31 to Feb 1 Cygnus NG-12 released seven cubesats from the Nanoracks NRCSD-E dispenser and
seven cubesats from the SEOPS/SpaceflightInc Slingshot system.
On Feb 6, Soyuz MS-13 undocked from Poisk at 0550 UTC carrying Skvortsov, Koch and Parmitano.
The spacecraft fired its deorbit engine at 0818 UTC, lowering perigee below the Earth's surface.
At 0846 UTC the orbital and service modules were jettisoned, and at 0850 UTC the descent module
began reentry, with landing in Kazakhstan at 0912 UTC Feb 6.
On Feb 15 Cygnus mission NG-13, the S.S. Robert Lawrence, was launched on an Antares from
Wallops Island on a mission to deliver cargo to the ISS.
NROL-151
--------
RocketLab flew its 11th Electron mission from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula on Jan 31.
It placed a satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office in low Earth orbit
with approximately 70 degrees inclination. The mission was designated NROL-151 and the
satellite is codenamed USA 294. Exact orbit of NROL-151 is not yet known. US registration
documents supplied to the UN are apparently stuck in a backlog - the latest made public
online covers up to early 2017.
OneWeb
------
The second launch for the OneWeb constellation took off from Baykonur on Feb 6.
The Fregat upper stage carried a dispenser with 34 satellites, two on a `top hat'
deck K and four decks A, B, C, D with eight satellites each. The satellites were deployed
in a 443 km orbit and will use their on-board propulsion to raise to 1000 km.
(Spacecraft numbers in the table below are in deployment order; thanks to Cameron Meek for data.)
IGS O-7
-------
Japan's IGS O-7 (Information Gathering Satellite/Optical 7, or Joho shushu eisei kogaku 7 goki,
was launched on Feb 9 to sun-sync orbit with 1030 local time descending node.
Solar Orbiter
-------------
The ESA-led Solar Orbiter probe, built by Airbus UK, was launched to an escape trajectory on Feb 10.
Solar Orbiter will enter a 0.513 x 0.991 AU x 1.9 deg solar orbit and make a Venus gravity assist
flyby on Dec 26. After more Venus and Earth flybys it will lower perihelion to about 0.3 AU
by 2022 and by 2028 will increase its orbital inclination to the ecliptic to 25 degrees, allow
imaging of the solar poles. Unlike Parker Solar Probe (which gets closer to the Sun) SO carries a
range of imaging instruments.
X-37 Secret Deployment
-----------------------
Sometime between 2017 and 2019 the US DoD covertly deployed three small
satellites from the orbiting X-37 spaceplane. Those satellites have
finally been added to the US satellite catalog as USA 295-297 (SSN
45169-45171) although with no orbital data provided. A page on Space-Track.org noted
that the three satellites are no longer in orbit; this adds weight to my guess that
they were deployed close to the beginning of the OTV-5 mission in 2017.
I welcome this step of acknowledging the satellites and hope that the
US will bring itself back into compliance with the UN Registration
Convention by providing basic orbital parameters for the satellites, even though
they are no longer up.
Simorgh
--------
Iran launched a Simorgh rocket from Khomeini Space Centre on Feb 9. The upper stage
underperformed or failed, and the payload - an imaging satellite called Zafar - fell in the
Indian Ocean after reaching a 540 km apogee.
Errata
--------
- There is still some confusion about which spacesuits were on which astronaut for the
recent EVAs. In particular, Andrey Krasilnikov tells me for EVA 64 it was
Morgan - EMU 3008 and Parmitano - EMU 3004.
- I put the wrong orbit in last time for Yinhe 1, it's in a 621 x 638 km orbit.
Table of Recent Orbital Launches
----------------------------------
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Jan 7 0219 Starlink 1066 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms 01AS S44954 301 x 305 x 53.0
Starlink 1069-1104 ) Comms )
Starlink 1106-1119 ) Comms )
Starlink 1121-1126 ) Comms )
Starlink 1128 ) Comms ) 01A-01BM
Starlink 1130 ) Comms ) 44914-
Starlink 1144 ) Comms ) 44973
Jan 7 1520 TJS 5 Chang Zheng 3B Xichang Comms 02A S44978 195 x 35804 x 27.5
Jan 15 0253 Jilin-1 Kuanfu 1 ) Chang Zheng 2D Taiyuan Imaging 03A S45016 477 x 492 x 97.3
Sophie ) Imaging 03B S45017 475 x 492 x 97.3
Marie ) Imaging 03C S45018 477 x 493 x 97.3
Tianqi-5 ) Comms 03D?S45019 475 x 492 x 97.3
Jan 16 0302 Yinhe 1 Kuaizhou 1A Jiuquan Comms 04A S45024 621 x 638 x 86.4
Jan 16 2105 Eutelsat Konnect ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou ELA3 Comms 05B S45027 499 x 36234 x 6.0
GSAT-30 ) Comms 05A S45026 35775 x 35799 x 0.1
Jan 29 0720 STPSAT-4 ISS, LEO Tech 9867QY S45043 415 x 423 x 51.6
Jan 29 1406 Starlink 1120 ) Falcon 9 Canaveral SLC40 Comms )
Starlink 1127 ) Comms )
Starlink 1129 ) Comms )
Starlink 1131-1137) Comms ) 06A-06BM 276 x 291 x 53.0
Starlink 1139-1142) Comms )
Starlink 1145-1153) Comms )
Starlink 1155-1186) Comms )
Starlink 1190 ) Comms )
Starlink 1193-1196) Comms )
Jan 31 0256 USA 294 Electron Mahia LC1 Unknown 07A 45110 Unknown orbit x 70.0?
Jan 31? Aerocube-14A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071D S45114 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-14B ) Tech 19071E? S45115 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Aerocube-15A ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071F? S45116 459 x 474 x 51.6
Aerocube-15B ) Tech 19071G S45117 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31 2230? SwampSat-2 ) NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071J S45119 459 x 474 x 51.6
HuskySat-1 ) Tech 19071C S45113 459 x 474 x 51.6
Jan 31? Orbital Factory 2 NRCSD-E/NG-12, LEO Tech 19071H? S45118 459 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1544 CIRiS Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071K? S45120? 458 x 474 x 51.6
Feb 1 1943 ORCA-2 Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Tech 19071L? S45121? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1 2115 EdgeCube ) Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Rem.sen. 19071M? S45122? 459 x 473 x 51.6
MakerSat-1?) Tech 19071N? S45123? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? MiniCarb Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071P? S45124? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? VPM Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Sci 19071Q? S45125? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 1? Lynk Slingshot/NG-12,LEO Comms 19071R? S45126? 459 x 473 x 51.6
Feb 6 2142 OneWeb 0013 ) Soyuz 2-1B/Fregat Baykonur LC31 Comms 08A S45131 439 x 460 x 87.4
OneWeb 0021 ) Comms 08D S45134 439 x 464 x 87.4
OneWeb 0028 ) Comms 08K S45140 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0026 ) Comms 08J S45139 440 x 465 x 87.4
OneWeb 0020 ) Comms 08C S45133 449 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0051 ) Comms 08AA S45155 440 x 466 x 87.4
OneWeb 0059 ) Comms 08AH S45162 442 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0036 ) Comms 08P S45144 443 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0032 ) Comms 08L S45141 443 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0058 ) Comms 08AG S45161 444 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0022 ) Comms 08E S45135 446 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0024 ) Comms 08G S45137 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0044 ) Comms 08V S45150 447 x 467 x 87.4
OneWeb 0041 ) Comms 08T S45148 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0039 ) Comms 08R S45146 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0047 ) Comms 08X S45152 448 x 468 x 87.4
OneWeb 0056 ) Comms 08AE S45159 448 x 469 x 87.4
OneWeb 0062 ) Comms 08AJ S45163 448 x 470 x 87.4
OneWeb 0057 ) Comms 08AF S45160 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0023 ) Comms 08F S45136 448 x 472 x 87.4
OneWeb 0038 ) Comms 08Q S45145 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0054 ) Comms 08AD S45154 448 x 473 x 87.4
OneWeb 0049 ) Comms 08Z S45154 448 x 474 x 87.4
OneWeb 0035 ) Comms 08N S45143 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0017 ) Comms 08B S45132 449 x 475 x 87.4
OneWeb 0065 ) Comms 08AK S45164 449 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0025 ) Comms 08H S45138 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0052 ) Comms 08AB S45156 451 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0053 ) Comms 08AC S45157 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0040 ) Comms 08S S45147 452 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0033 ) Comms 08M S45142 453 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0045 ) Comms 08W S45151 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0048 ) Comms 08Y S45153 454 x 476 x 87.4
OneWeb 0043 ) Comms 08U S45149 455 x 476 x 87.4
Feb 9 0134 IGS O-7 H-IIA Tanegashima Imaging 09A S45165 477? x 506?x 97.4?
Feb 9 1515 Zafar Simorgh Khomeini Imaging F01 F01548 -2000? x 540 x 55
Feb 10 0403 Solar Orbiter Atlas V 411 Canaveral LC41 Probe 10A S45167 240 x-38671x32.9
Feb 15 2021 S.S. Robert Lawrence Antares 230+ Wallops MARS LA0A Cargo 11A S45175 195 x 267 x 51.6
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
On Jan 7 Iran launched a series of Zulfiqar and Qiam-1 missiles against US military targets in Iraq.
The exact number and mix of missiles is unknown.
Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2245? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Al Asad, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Zulfiqar ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 7 2315? HE Warhead Qiam-1 ?, Iran Weapon 100? Erbil, Iraq
Jan 9 0800 S-310-45 S-310 Uchinoura Test 131 Pacific
Jan 19 RV K-4 Visakhapatnam Test 500? Indian Ocean
Jan 27 1340 Polar NOx 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Aeronomy 260 Alaska
Feb 5 0833 FTU-2 Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 1300? Kwajalein
Feb 12 USN RVs Trident D5LE USS Maine, Pacific Test 1000? Wake Island
-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| USA | twitter: @planet4589 |
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Saturday, February 15, 2020
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-047
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:
* AMSAT-OSCAR 85 Declared End of Mission
* HuskySat-1 Update
* Update from AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG
* Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites"
Available for New or Renewing Members
* Apogee View - January/February 2020
* 5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 13, 2020
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts
* Upcoming AMSAT Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-047.01
ANS-047 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 047.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE February 16, 2020
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-047.01
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
AMSAT's GOLF-TEE satellite recently reached a major milestone
when prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the first time.
Help support AMSAT's path back to HEO by donating today!
https://www.amsat.org/donations/amsat-golf-program-donations/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
AMSAT-OSCAR 85 Declared End of Mission
After a long decline in the health of its batteries, AO-85 has gone
silent. Having not been heard throughout the most recent period of
full illumination, it is reasonable to believe the batteries have
deteriorated to the point of no longer being able to power the trans-
mitter. Should some future event cause a cell to open, it is possible
the satellite may be heard again, but for now it is time to declare
end-of-mission.
AO-85 was conceived as the first AMSAT cubesat, and was designed to be
a successor to the popular AO-51 microsat. Accepted into the NASA
CubeSat Launch Initative in February 2012, AO-85 was launched October
8, 2015. AO-85's success led to further Fox satellites AO-91, AO-92,
AO-95, and RadFxSat2 / Fox-1E which will be launched later this year.
The Fox-1E transponder was also spun off into a radio system now in
orbit onboard HuskySat-1, and soon to be in several other university
cubesats.
Development continues on GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1, which will include a
legacy V/u linear transponder and a SDR-based multiband uplink and 10
GHz downlink radio system. Your continued support of AMSAT by member-
ship and donations will help us Keep Amateur Radio in Space.
[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations
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
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
HuskySat-1 Update
Students in the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington
have been celebrating successes since HuskySat-1, a student built sat-
ellite weighing about 9 lbs, deployed into space on Friday, January
31st:
• After being deployed, HuskySat turned on, deployed the antennas on
the first attempt, and start transmitting in a designated "safe mode".
• On the first active pass over Seattle, just 2 hours after deploy-
ment, students used the UW ground station to command the satellite to
change operational modes.
• With help from AMSAT and the network of amateurs across the globe,
the HuskySat team has been able to closely track the health of the
satellite. Health data includes temperatures, battery charge state,
and solar panel charging.
• Over the weekend, the camera payload took and transmitted the first
pictures from space! The camera included collaboration with Raisbeck
Aviation High School and nonprofit Quick2Space.
Commissioning of the satellite systems is still underway. The sat-
ellite has actually been in space inside a Nanoracks deployer since
launch on Nov 2nd. The main research goal of satellite is to demon-
strate the new propulsion and communication technologies on the sat-
ellite. At the completion of the research phase, the satellite will be
utilized as an amateur transponder.
The mission of the UW program, housed in the Department of Earth and
Space Sciences, is to foster interdisciplinary student participation
in space systems research, to inspire and train future space scien-
tists and engineers, and to advance spacecraft capabilities at the
University of Washington.
On February 15th, AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton,
N0JY, hosted a Twitch stream to discuss the AMSAT Linear Transponder
Module (LTM-1) and HuskySat-1. You can see a replay of the livestream
at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/552209241
[ANS thanks Paige Northway of the HuskySat-1 team and Jerry Buxton,
N0JY, AMSAT Vice President - Engineering, for the above information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Update from AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG
I am humbled by the greetings and congratulatory messages received
over the past ten days since becoming the President of AMSAT. Please
join me in expressing gratitude to our immediate past president Joe
Spier, K6WAO, for his dedication to AMSAT’s mission of Keeping Amateur
Radio in Space.
It was a pleasure to speak with many of our members at the Orlando
Hamcation last weekend. Attending Hamcation afforded me the opportun-
ity to meet with many of our volunteers and reach out to other organi-
zations in amateur radio such as the ARRL and the Dayton Amateur Radio
Association.
My priority, now underway, is to ensure all Directors have equal
access to AMSAT resources to perform their duties. AMSAT complies with
Section 29-413.05 of the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation
Act of 2010. Most of the information Directors use to perform their
duties are already publicly available on the Internet on our website,
published in the AMSAT News Service (ANS), and often in print as part
of The AMSAT Journal. These resources are not password protected and
can be viewed by members and non-members alike.
Once I’ve had an opportunity to speak individually with the Directors,
I will convene a Board of Directors teleconference to address out-
standing business. At any time, three Directors may call on the Pres-
ident to schedule a Board of Directors meeting, per our bylaws Article
II, Section 5, Paragraph A.
73,
Clayton
W5PFG
AMSAT President
[ANS thanks Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, AMSAT President, for the above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Avail-
able for New or Renewing Members
While HuskySat-1 completes it's scientific mission, check out the best
resource for learning how to work through linear transponder sat-
ellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time,
AMSAT is making the "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book
available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership
purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with
purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial
favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest
amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite
operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and
covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio
satellite.
Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store
at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option.
While there, check out AMSAT's other items, including the M2 LEOpack
antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure
to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership
and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add
your free gift.
If you have trouble selecting your free gift, please see this YouTube
video to see the steps necessary. https://youtu.be/oRqk5Am-UzE
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Apogee View - January/February 2020
Happy New Year! 2020 promises to be an exciting year filled with new
satellites to work and significant progress towards our next genera-
tion of satellites. By the time you read this, HuskySat-1 should be in
orbit and completing its science mission before being turned over to
AMSAT for amateur radio use. I want to congratulate all those involved
with this project both at the University of Washington and on AMSAT’s
Engineering and Operations teams who worked to make this mutually
beneficial partnership happen. More details about HuskySat-1 and our
partnership with the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washing-
ton can be found elsewhere in the January/February 2020 issue of The
AMSAT Journal.
While we look forward to the completion of HuskySat-1's primary miss-
ion, we also await the launch of the final Fox-1 satellite, RadFxSat-2
/ Fox-1E, which is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than the
first quarter of this year on the ELaNa XX mission. The ELaNa XX miss-
ion will fly on the second flight of Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne ve-
hicle.
As the Fox project wraps up its series of five 1U CubeSats, progress
continues on GOLF, the next generation of AMSAT satellites. A group of
GOLF-TEE (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint – Technology Evaluation En-
vironment) satellite prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the
first time on Tuesday, January 14th. During the test, the boards were
laid out on a bench as a "flat-sat" with interconnecting wires, bench
power supplies, and a dummy load on the transmitter. The inter-
connected boards included:
• An early RT-IHU (Radiation Tolerant Internal Housekeeping Unit -
i.e., computer) prototype,
• A CIU (Control Interface Unit) prototype, and
• A set of spare boards from HuskySat-1 that act as prototypes for the
LIHU (Legacy IHU) and legacy VHF/UHF RF components.
Now that the team has reached this point, AMSAT Engineering has RF to
use as a basis for developing a GOLF-TEE decoder for FoxTelem, our
ground telemetry receiver software. Thousands of hours of work by many
AMSAT volunteers have gone into the hardware and software that got us
this far, with much work yet to be done before the assembly of flight
units. The GOLF-TEE satellite is designed as a Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
testbed for technologies necessary for a successful CubeSat mission to
a wide variety of orbits, including MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) and HEO
(High Earth Orbit).
The work on GOLF is intended for our CubeSat missions to higher
orbits. However, much as the Fox-1E linear transponder was adapted as
a payload for HuskySat-1, components developed for GOLF, such as the
RT-IHU and the microwave SDR transponder, can be adapted to serve as
the basis for a hosted payload on a commercial or government sat-
ellite in geostationary orbit or perhaps an educational CubeSat des-
tined for MEO or GTO. Should an opportunity arise, the work being done
on GOLF means that we will be ready to build such a hosted payload.
While we continue our work on these satellites, we face the prospect
of regulatory roadblocks. Last year, we submitted comments on the
Federal Communication Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking re-
garding the mitigation of orbital debris. The proposed rules as worded
would severely limit the type of missions AMSAT could pursue. While
the Commission has not yet issued final rules, we are hopeful that
the near-unanimous opposition of commenters to the more harmful as-
pects of the rules, such as the requirement for satellite operators
to indemnify the United States Government for any potential claims
regarding their satellites, will limit the negative impact.
Another serious concern is our access to spectrum. While international
threats that arose in the months before the 2019 World Radiocommunica-
tion Conference to the 144 MHz – 146 MHz and 1260 MHz – 1270 MHz ama-
teur satellite service bands have subsided for the time being, other
threats appear on the horizon. This past December, the FCC issued a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would delete the amateur alloca-
tion at 3.3 GHz – 3.5 GHz, including the amateur satellite service
allocation at 3.4 GHz – 3.41 GHz. While that band has not yet been
used for any amateur satellites as it is not available in ITU Region
3 (Asia & Oceania), it is still a potentially useful resource for a
future amateur geostationary payload over the Americas.
Additionally, we know that many AMSAT members also use this band for
other purposes, such as mesh networking, contesting, and EME commun-
ications. Access to microwave spectrum is crucial for many of our
planned activities, including GOLF and amateur radio on the Lunar
Gateway, and we must vigorously defend our spectrum allocations. AMSAT
is currently drafting comments opposing this proposed rule, and,
working alongside the ARRL, we continue to monitor potential legis-
lative and regulatory actions that could limit or even preclude some
of our current and planned activities.
On a final note, I wanted to let the membership know that AMSAT's ser-
vers will be migrating to a new operating system and a new hosting
service later this year. This is necessary as the operating system
currently running AMSAT's servers will reach its end of life in Nov-
ember. While AMSAT's capable IT team led by Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, will
do their best to minimize any disruptions to AMSAT services, this type
of transition can often result in unforeseen problems. Continue to
monitor the AMSAT-BB and AMSAT's Twitter and Facebook accounts for any
updates.
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for
the above information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
The digital download version of the 2019 edition of
Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a
DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today!
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites
The DX Engineering blog On All Bands recently published an article en-
titled "5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Sat-
ellites" by Sean Kutzko, KX9X.
The article can be found at:
https://www.onallbands.com/ham-radio-satellite-operating-etiquette/
[ANS thanks Sean Kutzko, KX9X, and DX Engineering for the above infor-
mation]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 13, 2020
The following Amateur Radio satellite's name and NORAD CAT ID have
been changed:
1. HuskySat 1 satellite name is now HuskySat-1.
2. Based on changes in Space-Track TLE data, HuskySat-1's new NORAD
CAT ID is now object 45119.
(Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, for satellite identification.)
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming ARISS Contacts
Maple Dale Elementary School, Cincinnati, OH, direct via K8SCH
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan KI5AAA
Contact is go for: Thu 2020-02-20 18:20:28 UTC 48 deg
The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/
Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site.
The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at
https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html
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.
All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601
and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
[ANS thanks Charlie Sulfana, AJ9N, ARISS Operations, for the above
information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Upcoming AMSAT Events
Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in
space?
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club
meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
Current schedule:
+ March 6, 2020, Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX
+ March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ
+ March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
+ March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Scottsdale,
AZ
+ March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
+ March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA
+ May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest, Sierra
Vista, AZ
+ May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
+ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
+ June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download at
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-026-Hamfest
This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded
into a tri-fold handout.
To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration,
please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org.
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Satellite Shorts
Feb 13-16 DM22 AD7DB and N7JY FM
Feb 15 CN78 ADODX FM and Linear (Twitter @ad0dx)
Mar 14-15 DN26/36 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM)
#SnowBirdRove (EL79) – February 1-29, 2020
Joe, KE9AJ, will cross the border into Florida, seeking climatical
asylum in EL79 for the entire month of February. Since he will be
there for an extended period, with both FM and linear gear, keep
an eye on Joe’s Twitter feed for specific pass announcements:
https://twitter.com/KE9AJ
St. Barthelemy Island (FK87) February 15-22, 2020
Operators Pat/N2IEN, Ray/W2RE, Rockwell/WW1X, and Lee/WW2DX will
be signing FJ/homecalls from St. Barthelemy (NA-146) between Feb.
15 and 22. QRV holiday-style on 160 to 6m and via satellite on CW,
SSB, and digital modes. QSL cards for all calls via NR6M.
Vidalia, LA (EM41) February 28 – March 1, 2020
Brian, KG5GJT, will will be operating from the bank of the Miss-
issippi river in Vidalia, La. (EM41), where Jim Bowie was serious-
ly wounded in the Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827. This will
be vacation style, so keep an eye on Brian’s Twitter feed for up-
dates: https://twitter.com/KG5GJT
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
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
Operators Alex/VE1RUS and Pierre/VE3TKB will once again be active as
VY0ERC from the Eureka Weather station between now and March 28th.
This station is operated by the Eureka Amateur Radio Club [probably
the most northerly located amateur radio club in the world] from
Eureka, Nunavut, Canada. The suggested bands are 40 and 20 meters
possibly 80m), as well as FM satellites (from ER60, EQ79) using SSB,
the Digital modes (FT8 and RTTY) and very slow CW. Activity will be
limited to their spare time. QSL via M0OXO, OQRS or direct. For up-
dates, see: https://twitter.com/vy0erc
[ANS thanks The Ohio/Penn Dx Bulletin 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/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ The Nanoracks deployment of several CubeSats has been delayed until
no earlier than February 17 due to delays with the launch of Cygnus
NG-13. CubeSats scheduled to deploy are RadSat-u, Phoenix, QARMAN,
CryoCube, AztechSat-1, SOCRATES, Argus-02, HARP, and SORTIE.
+ AMSAT-UK OSCAR News Editor Slade Stevens, 2E0SQL, is soliciting
articles for the next issue. Send submissions to 2E0SQB at amsat.org
+ The AMSAT-UK shop is now stocking a 5 watt 2.4 GHz amplifier kit for
use with the QO-100 geostationary satellite. For more details, see
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-QO-100
+ The first crewed mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon may launch on May
7th. https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-SpaceX
+ Wouter Weggelaar, PA3WEG, recently released a composite video show-
ing all currently orbiting FUNcube family satellites being launched:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdjXzPEsuxw
+ The EIRSAT-1 CubeSat has passed both environmental and vibration
testing:
https://twitter.com/EIRSAT1/status/1225810684065259520
+ Spaceflight Industries recently signed a deal to sell its satellite
rideshare launch business Spaceflight, Inc. to Mitsui & Co., in part-
nership with Yamasa Co., Ltd. AMSAT purchased the launches for AO-92
and AO-95 from Spaceflight, Inc.
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-Spaceflight
[ANS thanks everyone 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.
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,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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:
* AMSAT-OSCAR 85 Declared End of Mission
* HuskySat-1 Update
* Update from AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG
* Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites"
Available for New or Renewing Members
* Apogee View - January/February 2020
* 5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 13, 2020
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts
* Upcoming AMSAT Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-047.01
ANS-047 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 047.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE February 16, 2020
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-047.01
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
AMSAT's GOLF-TEE satellite recently reached a major milestone
when prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the first time.
Help support AMSAT's path back to HEO by donating today!
https://www.amsat.org/donations/amsat-golf-program-donations/
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
AMSAT-OSCAR 85 Declared End of Mission
After a long decline in the health of its batteries, AO-85 has gone
silent. Having not been heard throughout the most recent period of
full illumination, it is reasonable to believe the batteries have
deteriorated to the point of no longer being able to power the trans-
mitter. Should some future event cause a cell to open, it is possible
the satellite may be heard again, but for now it is time to declare
end-of-mission.
AO-85 was conceived as the first AMSAT cubesat, and was designed to be
a successor to the popular AO-51 microsat. Accepted into the NASA
CubeSat Launch Initative in February 2012, AO-85 was launched October
8, 2015. AO-85's success led to further Fox satellites AO-91, AO-92,
AO-95, and RadFxSat2 / Fox-1E which will be launched later this year.
The Fox-1E transponder was also spun off into a radio system now in
orbit onboard HuskySat-1, and soon to be in several other university
cubesats.
Development continues on GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1, which will include a
legacy V/u linear transponder and a SDR-based multiband uplink and 10
GHz downlink radio system. Your continued support of AMSAT by member-
ship and donations will help us Keep Amateur Radio in Space.
[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations
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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HuskySat-1 Update
Students in the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington
have been celebrating successes since HuskySat-1, a student built sat-
ellite weighing about 9 lbs, deployed into space on Friday, January
31st:
• After being deployed, HuskySat turned on, deployed the antennas on
the first attempt, and start transmitting in a designated "safe mode".
• On the first active pass over Seattle, just 2 hours after deploy-
ment, students used the UW ground station to command the satellite to
change operational modes.
• With help from AMSAT and the network of amateurs across the globe,
the HuskySat team has been able to closely track the health of the
satellite. Health data includes temperatures, battery charge state,
and solar panel charging.
• Over the weekend, the camera payload took and transmitted the first
pictures from space! The camera included collaboration with Raisbeck
Aviation High School and nonprofit Quick2Space.
Commissioning of the satellite systems is still underway. The sat-
ellite has actually been in space inside a Nanoracks deployer since
launch on Nov 2nd. The main research goal of satellite is to demon-
strate the new propulsion and communication technologies on the sat-
ellite. At the completion of the research phase, the satellite will be
utilized as an amateur transponder.
The mission of the UW program, housed in the Department of Earth and
Space Sciences, is to foster interdisciplinary student participation
in space systems research, to inspire and train future space scien-
tists and engineers, and to advance spacecraft capabilities at the
University of Washington.
On February 15th, AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton,
N0JY, hosted a Twitch stream to discuss the AMSAT Linear Transponder
Module (LTM-1) and HuskySat-1. You can see a replay of the livestream
at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/552209241
[ANS thanks Paige Northway of the HuskySat-1 team and Jerry Buxton,
N0JY, AMSAT Vice President - Engineering, for the above information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Update from AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG
I am humbled by the greetings and congratulatory messages received
over the past ten days since becoming the President of AMSAT. Please
join me in expressing gratitude to our immediate past president Joe
Spier, K6WAO, for his dedication to AMSAT’s mission of Keeping Amateur
Radio in Space.
It was a pleasure to speak with many of our members at the Orlando
Hamcation last weekend. Attending Hamcation afforded me the opportun-
ity to meet with many of our volunteers and reach out to other organi-
zations in amateur radio such as the ARRL and the Dayton Amateur Radio
Association.
My priority, now underway, is to ensure all Directors have equal
access to AMSAT resources to perform their duties. AMSAT complies with
Section 29-413.05 of the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation
Act of 2010. Most of the information Directors use to perform their
duties are already publicly available on the Internet on our website,
published in the AMSAT News Service (ANS), and often in print as part
of The AMSAT Journal. These resources are not password protected and
can be viewed by members and non-members alike.
Once I’ve had an opportunity to speak individually with the Directors,
I will convene a Board of Directors teleconference to address out-
standing business. At any time, three Directors may call on the Pres-
ident to schedule a Board of Directors meeting, per our bylaws Article
II, Section 5, Paragraph A.
73,
Clayton
W5PFG
AMSAT President
[ANS thanks Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, AMSAT President, for the above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Avail-
able for New or Renewing Members
While HuskySat-1 completes it's scientific mission, check out the best
resource for learning how to work through linear transponder sat-
ellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time,
AMSAT is making the "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book
available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership
purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with
purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial
favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest
amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite
operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and
covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio
satellite.
Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store
at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option.
While there, check out AMSAT's other items, including the M2 LEOpack
antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure
to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership
and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add
your free gift.
If you have trouble selecting your free gift, please see this YouTube
video to see the steps necessary. https://youtu.be/oRqk5Am-UzE
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Apogee View - January/February 2020
Happy New Year! 2020 promises to be an exciting year filled with new
satellites to work and significant progress towards our next genera-
tion of satellites. By the time you read this, HuskySat-1 should be in
orbit and completing its science mission before being turned over to
AMSAT for amateur radio use. I want to congratulate all those involved
with this project both at the University of Washington and on AMSAT’s
Engineering and Operations teams who worked to make this mutually
beneficial partnership happen. More details about HuskySat-1 and our
partnership with the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washing-
ton can be found elsewhere in the January/February 2020 issue of The
AMSAT Journal.
While we look forward to the completion of HuskySat-1's primary miss-
ion, we also await the launch of the final Fox-1 satellite, RadFxSat-2
/ Fox-1E, which is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than the
first quarter of this year on the ELaNa XX mission. The ELaNa XX miss-
ion will fly on the second flight of Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne ve-
hicle.
As the Fox project wraps up its series of five 1U CubeSats, progress
continues on GOLF, the next generation of AMSAT satellites. A group of
GOLF-TEE (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint – Technology Evaluation En-
vironment) satellite prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the
first time on Tuesday, January 14th. During the test, the boards were
laid out on a bench as a "flat-sat" with interconnecting wires, bench
power supplies, and a dummy load on the transmitter. The inter-
connected boards included:
• An early RT-IHU (Radiation Tolerant Internal Housekeeping Unit -
i.e., computer) prototype,
• A CIU (Control Interface Unit) prototype, and
• A set of spare boards from HuskySat-1 that act as prototypes for the
LIHU (Legacy IHU) and legacy VHF/UHF RF components.
Now that the team has reached this point, AMSAT Engineering has RF to
use as a basis for developing a GOLF-TEE decoder for FoxTelem, our
ground telemetry receiver software. Thousands of hours of work by many
AMSAT volunteers have gone into the hardware and software that got us
this far, with much work yet to be done before the assembly of flight
units. The GOLF-TEE satellite is designed as a Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
testbed for technologies necessary for a successful CubeSat mission to
a wide variety of orbits, including MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) and HEO
(High Earth Orbit).
The work on GOLF is intended for our CubeSat missions to higher
orbits. However, much as the Fox-1E linear transponder was adapted as
a payload for HuskySat-1, components developed for GOLF, such as the
RT-IHU and the microwave SDR transponder, can be adapted to serve as
the basis for a hosted payload on a commercial or government sat-
ellite in geostationary orbit or perhaps an educational CubeSat des-
tined for MEO or GTO. Should an opportunity arise, the work being done
on GOLF means that we will be ready to build such a hosted payload.
While we continue our work on these satellites, we face the prospect
of regulatory roadblocks. Last year, we submitted comments on the
Federal Communication Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking re-
garding the mitigation of orbital debris. The proposed rules as worded
would severely limit the type of missions AMSAT could pursue. While
the Commission has not yet issued final rules, we are hopeful that
the near-unanimous opposition of commenters to the more harmful as-
pects of the rules, such as the requirement for satellite operators
to indemnify the United States Government for any potential claims
regarding their satellites, will limit the negative impact.
Another serious concern is our access to spectrum. While international
threats that arose in the months before the 2019 World Radiocommunica-
tion Conference to the 144 MHz – 146 MHz and 1260 MHz – 1270 MHz ama-
teur satellite service bands have subsided for the time being, other
threats appear on the horizon. This past December, the FCC issued a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would delete the amateur alloca-
tion at 3.3 GHz – 3.5 GHz, including the amateur satellite service
allocation at 3.4 GHz – 3.41 GHz. While that band has not yet been
used for any amateur satellites as it is not available in ITU Region
3 (Asia & Oceania), it is still a potentially useful resource for a
future amateur geostationary payload over the Americas.
Additionally, we know that many AMSAT members also use this band for
other purposes, such as mesh networking, contesting, and EME commun-
ications. Access to microwave spectrum is crucial for many of our
planned activities, including GOLF and amateur radio on the Lunar
Gateway, and we must vigorously defend our spectrum allocations. AMSAT
is currently drafting comments opposing this proposed rule, and,
working alongside the ARRL, we continue to monitor potential legis-
lative and regulatory actions that could limit or even preclude some
of our current and planned activities.
On a final note, I wanted to let the membership know that AMSAT's ser-
vers will be migrating to a new operating system and a new hosting
service later this year. This is necessary as the operating system
currently running AMSAT's servers will reach its end of life in Nov-
ember. While AMSAT's capable IT team led by Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, will
do their best to minimize any disruptions to AMSAT services, this type
of transition can often result in unforeseen problems. Continue to
monitor the AMSAT-BB and AMSAT's Twitter and Facebook accounts for any
updates.
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for
the above information]
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The digital download version of the 2019 edition of
Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a
DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today!
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started
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5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites
The DX Engineering blog On All Bands recently published an article en-
titled "5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Sat-
ellites" by Sean Kutzko, KX9X.
The article can be found at:
https://www.onallbands.com/ham-radio-satellite-operating-etiquette/
[ANS thanks Sean Kutzko, KX9X, and DX Engineering for the above infor-
mation]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 13, 2020
The following Amateur Radio satellite's name and NORAD CAT ID have
been changed:
1. HuskySat 1 satellite name is now HuskySat-1.
2. Based on changes in Space-Track TLE data, HuskySat-1's new NORAD
CAT ID is now object 45119.
(Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, for satellite identification.)
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming ARISS Contacts
Maple Dale Elementary School, Cincinnati, OH, direct via K8SCH
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan KI5AAA
Contact is go for: Thu 2020-02-20 18:20:28 UTC 48 deg
The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/
Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site.
The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at
https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html
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.
All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601
and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
[ANS thanks Charlie Sulfana, AJ9N, ARISS Operations, 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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Upcoming AMSAT Events
Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in
space?
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club
meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
Current schedule:
+ March 6, 2020, Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX
+ March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ
+ March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
+ March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Scottsdale,
AZ
+ March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
+ March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA
+ May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest, Sierra
Vista, AZ
+ May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
+ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
+ June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download at
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-026-Hamfest
This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded
into a tri-fold handout.
To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration,
please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org.
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Satellite Shorts
Feb 13-16 DM22 AD7DB and N7JY FM
Feb 15 CN78 ADODX FM and Linear (Twitter @ad0dx)
Mar 14-15 DN26/36 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM)
#SnowBirdRove (EL79) – February 1-29, 2020
Joe, KE9AJ, will cross the border into Florida, seeking climatical
asylum in EL79 for the entire month of February. Since he will be
there for an extended period, with both FM and linear gear, keep
an eye on Joe’s Twitter feed for specific pass announcements:
https://twitter.com/KE9AJ
St. Barthelemy Island (FK87) February 15-22, 2020
Operators Pat/N2IEN, Ray/W2RE, Rockwell/WW1X, and Lee/WW2DX will
be signing FJ/homecalls from St. Barthelemy (NA-146) between Feb.
15 and 22. QRV holiday-style on 160 to 6m and via satellite on CW,
SSB, and digital modes. QSL cards for all calls via NR6M.
Vidalia, LA (EM41) February 28 – March 1, 2020
Brian, KG5GJT, will will be operating from the bank of the Miss-
issippi river in Vidalia, La. (EM41), where Jim Bowie was serious-
ly wounded in the Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827. This will
be vacation style, so keep an eye on Brian’s Twitter feed for up-
dates: https://twitter.com/KG5GJT
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
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Serv-
ices, for the above information]
Operators Alex/VE1RUS and Pierre/VE3TKB will once again be active as
VY0ERC from the Eureka Weather station between now and March 28th.
This station is operated by the Eureka Amateur Radio Club [probably
the most northerly located amateur radio club in the world] from
Eureka, Nunavut, Canada. The suggested bands are 40 and 20 meters
possibly 80m), as well as FM satellites (from ER60, EQ79) using SSB,
the Digital modes (FT8 and RTTY) and very slow CW. Activity will be
limited to their spare time. QSL via M0OXO, OQRS or direct. For up-
dates, see: https://twitter.com/vy0erc
[ANS thanks The Ohio/Penn Dx Bulletin 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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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ The Nanoracks deployment of several CubeSats has been delayed until
no earlier than February 17 due to delays with the launch of Cygnus
NG-13. CubeSats scheduled to deploy are RadSat-u, Phoenix, QARMAN,
CryoCube, AztechSat-1, SOCRATES, Argus-02, HARP, and SORTIE.
+ AMSAT-UK OSCAR News Editor Slade Stevens, 2E0SQL, is soliciting
articles for the next issue. Send submissions to 2E0SQB at amsat.org
+ The AMSAT-UK shop is now stocking a 5 watt 2.4 GHz amplifier kit for
use with the QO-100 geostationary satellite. For more details, see
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-QO-100
+ The first crewed mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon may launch on May
7th. https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-SpaceX
+ Wouter Weggelaar, PA3WEG, recently released a composite video show-
ing all currently orbiting FUNcube family satellites being launched:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdjXzPEsuxw
+ The EIRSAT-1 CubeSat has passed both environmental and vibration
testing:
https://twitter.com/EIRSAT1/status/1225810684065259520
+ Spaceflight Industries recently signed a deal to sell its satellite
rideshare launch business Spaceflight, Inc. to Mitsui & Co., in part-
nership with Yamasa Co., Ltd. AMSAT purchased the launches for AO-92
and AO-95 from Spaceflight, Inc.
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-047-Spaceflight
[ANS thanks everyone 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.
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,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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