Detailed Description
Launched September 30, 2001 from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska aboard Athena I. Orbit: 500 km, 67 degree circular.
Starshine 3 is nearly a meter in diameter (37 inches), weighs 91 kilograms (200 pounds) and carries 1,500 aluminum mirrors polished by an estimated 40,000 student volunteers in the United States and 25 other countries.
Project Starshine is currently seeking volunteer amateur radio operators and students worldwide to monitor and report telemetry from the Starshine 3 satellite. Science data supporting an experimental solar cell experiment mounted on the surface of the satellite is being downlinked in a manner that allows students and radio amateurs to participate in collecting the data. Starshine 3 transmits 9600 bps AX.25 packet telemetry at 145.825 MHz every 2 minutes. An attractive QSL card is available to all those reporting telemetry to Project Starshine.
Starshine 3's primary mission is to involve and educate school children from around the world in space and radio sciences. In addition to helping build Starshine 3, students will also visually track the satellite during morning and evening passes by recording its telltale mirror flashes and reporting their observations to Project Starshine. Almost every child on earth is within visual and radio range of Starshine 3 thanks to the high inclination orbit provided by the Kodiak launch. Visual Data gathered by Project Starshine will be used to determine the effects of the atmospheric drag on the spacecraft.
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