Satgen284  Space Education Studies  by GM4IHJ                3rd Sept 94
BID of this msg is SGEN284  Please use this BID if you retransmit this msg

Satellite amateur radio can be roughly divided into 3 quite separate
groups of users. Group 1 , the builders, rarely operate the satellites.
Group 2 . the communicators continuously use the satellites, and, Group 3
, the experimenters carry out original research, or, educational physics
studies. After 33 years of amateur satellites, and very limited numbers,
Group 3 seems at last, to be increasing in size. Not because the one or
two original researchers have multiplied. They have not. They are still
very few in number. But, educational physics studies in schools and
colleges do seem ( at last ), to be catching on, with experiments in the
following fields, using satellites or natural targets in the solar system
or beyond :-
Doppler, Doppler rate, Differential Doppler ( any sat with CW beacon)
Faraday rotation ( RS10 RS12 AO11 AO17 AO21 )
Scintillation ( AO20 and AO21 )
Aurora ( RS10 RS12 AO10 AO13 AO20 AO21 )
Sporadic E ( RS10 RS12 )
Ionospheric Transparency ( Commercial Geosats )
Satellite spin (AO11 AO17 )
Satellite Eclipse ( AO11 AO13 AO17 AO20 )
Temperature in Space ( AO11 AO17 )
Infra Red in Space (AO11 AO17)
Radiation in space ( AO11 AO22 )
HF Propagation Monitoring ( RS10 RS12 )
Magnetic Fields in space ( AO11 AO17 )
Meteor Scatter observations
Solar radio astronomy
Jupiter radio astronomy
Galactic Noise . The Jansky experiment
Grote Rebers "Radio Stars "
Lunar Libration
Lunar Doppler
Listening/Talking to the Cosmanauts in Mir
Listening/Talking to the Astronauts in the Space Shuttle

The problem for most educators is where to find details of useful
experiments. Amsat Journal has carried some excellent reports from
Chaminade College Preparatory in California, and , from several Amsat NA
specialists. The RSGB Space Radio Handbook has 40 pages describing many of
the experiments in the above list. While separate papers have reported
Dove and Mir experiments. But getting started is not easy for schools in
distant places. They need amateur radio help. So it is good to see various
educator groups getting together to help. Mail to satgen suggests that
what is needed now is plenty of publicity about these groups and their
efforts. F5DGQ himself active in this field in south west France, asks
that satgen publish details of these groups. If therefore, you are active
in this field a packet to GM4IHJ @ GB7SAN with brief details would be
appreciated. A first list will be included in satgen 287 to be broadcast
on 24th September 1994. 73 de GM4IHJ @ GB7SAN