News Release from AMSAT(r)
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NUMBER 98-01
MARCH 23, 1998

PHASE 3-D FINAL INTEGRATION CONTINUES 

ORLANDO, FLORIDA (AMSAT News Service)   AMSAT teams from a number of
countries recently converged on the Phase 3-D Integration Lab in Orlando,
Florida USA to install the remaining electronic and communications modules
into the new Phase 3-D International Satellite, and make it "flight ready"
for launch.

In a joint statement issued just prior to their departure from Orlando on
March 18th, Dr. Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC, AMSAT-DL President and Phase 3-D
Project Leader, and Bill Tynan W3XO, AMSAT-NA President, outlined recent
progress made on the satellite.  "We are most happy to be here and to
again participate with our international partners in the final integration
of Phase 3-D," said Karl.  "The cooperation with the American integration
team in Orlando remains excellent."  Karl went on to note that, "I am
happy to say that after successfully recovering from the setbacks caused
by the major structural reworks of last summer and fall, the spacecraft is
now once again rapidly nearing flight readiness."  Karl also expressed his
gratitude to Stan Wood WA4NFY, AMSAT-NA's VP Engineering, Lou McFadin
W5DID, P3-D Integration Laboratory Manager, and the other members of the
Orlando Lab team including Dick Jansson WD4FAB, Rick Leon KA1RHL, and Bob
Davis KF4KSS, for their hard work in preparing the satellite for the final
integration phase.

Soon after his arrival, Peter Guelzow DB2OS, AMSAT-DL's Digital
Integration Manager, performed a number of checks and measurements on the
spacecraft's Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU).  The IHU is the
spacecraft's main computer.  Following this extensive checkout, Peter then
successfully accomplished a major integration milestone by sending and
receiving commands from the spacecraft via radio uplink.  This was a
critical task that had to be accomplished before each of the individual
flight electronic modules could be commanded on and tested for flight
readiness.  Dr. Stacey Mills W4SM, P3-D’s North American Command Station,
was also present in Orlando to assist the integration team by putting the
finishing touches on software to format and decode the telemetry stream
from the satellite.  Needless to say, there were big smiles all around
when once again, P3-D team members heard the familiar "growl" of  400 baud
PSK telemetry coming from the new "bird".

In addition to his duties as AMSAT-DL's Vice President, Werner Haas DJ5KQ,
is responsible for coordinating the entire communications suite for Phase
3-D.  While in Orlando, Werner performed yet another bench test on each of
the flight electronic modules just prior to their re-installation into the
satellite.

Then, Werner directed other members of the communications team including
Freddy de Guchteneire ON6UG, and Dr. Matjaz Vidmar S53MV, in successfully
powering up each of the onboard flight electronic modules.  Michael
Fletcher OH2AUE and Harri Leskinen OH2JMS were also on hand in Orlando
during this time to re-install the 10 GHz transmitter hardware.  In
addition, Stefaan Burger ON4FG, assisted the communications team by
connecting and powering up the 24 GHz transmitter.  It performed "as
advertised", delivering its designed 1 watt output into its 26db gain
feed-horn antenna.

The RUDAK team was well represented in Orlando by Peter Guelzow DB2OS,
Bdale Garbee N3EUA, Jim White WD0E, Chuck Green N0ADI, and Harold Price
NK6K.  They gave the RUDAK digital experiment module a thorough checkout
and declared it "electrically flight ready".  Bdale also performed a
complete check of the JAMSAT SCOPE camera.  In addition, Gerd Schrick
WB8IFM, was on hand in Orlando to help the P3-D team put the final touches
on the satellite's all-important Earth and Sun sensors.  These instruments
will help ground controllers determine Phase 3-D’s physical orientation in
orbit for tracking and motor burn considerations.

Meanwhile, Konrad Mueller DG7FDQ, AMSAT-DL's Structural Specialist and his
team consisting of Horst Wagner DB2ZB, and the P3-D Lab's Bob Davis, were
busy preparing the second Specific Bearing Structure (SBS) for flight.
The SBS is the large cylindrical structure that will ultimately carry the
Phase 3-D spacecraft to orbit.  In addition, Phase 3-D's Documentation
Manager, AMSAT-DL's Wilfred Gladish, was also present in Orlando to insure
that all the spacecraft's documentation, including each of the
spacecraft's drawings and photos, match the "as built" spacecraft.

Despite the very good progress made in this most recent integration
effort, a definitive launch opportunity for Phase 3-D remains unsure.
However, negotiations with the European Space Agency for a ride to orbit
are continuing in earnest, and all remain optimistic that Phase 3-D will
be successfully launched...hopefully sometime this year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT US ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:

"http://www.amsat.org"

OR CONTACT:

In North America:					

AMSAT-North America		
Keith Baker, KB1SF; Executive Vice President
1324 Fairgrounds Road
Xenia, Ohio 45385-9514 USA
Phone/Fax:  937-429-5325
Internet: "kb1sf@amsat.org"

In Europe:

AMSAT-Germany
Werner Haas, DJ5KQ; Vice President
Holderstrauch 10
D-35041 Marburg, Germany
Phone: (06421) 283551
Fax: (06421) 285665
Internet: "dj5kq@amsat.org"

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