Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Discovery Project: Which Mission Next?

[Jeffrey Davis <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

James, KD4DLA said:
> What's the concensus? SHOULD WE OR SHOULDN"T WE? 

My own opinion is, "no", I don't think AMSAT should pursue the Discovery
Project.

We have not begun to exploit earth orbit. By my present count we have
one satellite in a high orbit that is brain-dead, we have one
sophisticated bird setting on the ground nearly ready to go, and we have
a couple of low-earth orbiting single channel FM repeaters buzzing
overhead. There are a few store and forward digital birds that work like
e-mail only much slower and at 50000 times the cost of email service.

I hardly think that means:

> We have done plenty with orbiting spacecraft

On a personal level, I want to see more high orbit linear transponders.
I want to sit in my basement and have a two-hour ragchew with my buddy
in Germany via a satellite without it inciting a riot on this list about
me being a "channel hog" :-)

That's just my opinion....

-- 
jeff davis, n9avg
http://n9avg.org/
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