AMSAT News Service

May 19, 2002

• AMSAT-UK Colloquium Competition
• Remembering OSCAR 6
• ANS in Brief
• Weekly Satellite Report

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AMSAT-UK Colloquium Competition

In conjunction with the first anniversary of two-way communication through AMSAT OSCAR 40, AMSAT-UK is pleased to announce the 2002 Colloquium Competition. This year the competition is for the "smallest" operational AO-40 groundstation.

The precise definition of "smallest" will be left to the judges who will be appointed by the attendees during the first session at this year's AMSAT-UK Colloquium. It is expected that the definition will take into account the concepts of size, weight, portability, power consumption and other suitable parameters.

There will be two entry categories:

• Category A: Stations set-up and demonstrated at the Colloquium
• Category B: Stations set-up and demonstrated elsewhere, and reported with the fullest detail possible to the Colloquium

Category A judging will take place at a suitable time and place during the Colloquium after the on-site demonstrations have been completed. Category B judging will be completed after station descriptions have been reviewed. Station description should be sent by e-mail to G3VZV@amsat.org

Cash prizes will be awarded to the winner of each section, with the winners to be announced at the Colloquium and on the AMSAT-UK website.

The annual AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at the University of Surrey, in Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom, July 26-28, 2002.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for this information]

Remembering OSCAR 6

Tony Curtis, K3RXK, recently contacted AMSAT News Service asking for information on AMSAT OSCAR 6. Tony will be writing a QST article about OSCAR 6, celebrating the upcoming 30th anniversary of the satellite's launch.

K3RXK would like to ask those who recall OSCAR 6 operations for their assistance with the article. Can you answer the following questions?

• Why were you drawn to amateur radio satellites in the 1970's and what did OSCAR 6, in particular, offer to you?
• What was the special nature of OSCAR 6 and did it have features that you would like to see in a satellite today?
• How did OSCAR 6 influence the future of amateur radio satellites?

Amateur radio satellite operators who would care to offer insights should contact Tony via e-mail at k3rxk@amsat.org

"I would like to say thank you in advance to all AMSAT members who may care to comment," said K3RXK.

[ANS thanks Tony Curtis, K3RXK, for this information]

ANS in Brief

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

• Rescuers pulled six bodies from a mass of mangled beams at Russia's main space launch site and searched for two other workers feared dead, after the towering hangar roof they were standing on collapsed. The building was used for assembling Energia booster rockets and the Buran, (the Soviet copy of the U.S. space shuttle that only flew once in the late 1980s before the program was abandoned for lack of funds). A full-scale test model of the Buran was trapped beneath debris after the collapse.
  - AMSAT-BB
• The last few weeks have offered the chance of a lifetime to observe the five brightest planets appearing close together in the sky, to the west just after sunset.
  -SpaceDaily
• Rocco, IK8XLD, has updated his website, which contains information about satellite, EME, ISS, ATV, and homebrew equipment. Check out his site at http://www.qsl.net/ik8xld.
  -ANS
• Three chicken eggs that traveled 108 times around the Earth aboard China's Shenzhou III space capsule have hatched, becoming the country's first ever 'space chickens'.
  -SpaceDaily
• The 2001 AMSAT Symposium awards included a presentation to Horst Wagner, DB2ZB, for his generous contribution of time and effort during the Phase 3D launch campaign. His willingness to sacrifice personal time for this endeavor is greatly appreciated by hams the world over.
  -ANS
• A pioneering satellite project developed by New Mexico State University and two other western universities is scheduled to be launched from a NASA space shuttle in the summer of 2003, according to New Mexico State University.
  -SpaceDaily
• AMSAT's exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on Space Day was called "Build Your Own Satellite! Learn how radio amateurs build and launch satellites for science and radio communications." Bob, WB4APR, displayed a thermal model of PCSat, N4TPY had a model of the new AMSAT-OSCAR ECHO satellite and also showed microminiaturized components, which was a big hit with students. AMSAT also had an original engineering test model of Microsat, and showed photos of students working on satellites and talking with astronauts on the Space Shuttle.
  -Perry, W3PK
• An eight-year National Science Foundation-funded study of New Guinean rainforest plants and the insects that feed on them has yielded a new and dramatically lower estimate of the number of species on our planet.
  -SpaceDaily
• The ARRL reports that the population of Amateur Extra class operators has topped 100,000 licensees. According to figures available from the FCC there were 100,153 Extra; 85,690 Advanced; 138,980 General; 319,768 Technician and 38,574 Novice licensees. As of the end of April, there were 683,165 total amateur service licensees in the database. According to the FCC 1,888 new licensees came aboard during April 2002 -- 1800 of them as Technicians.
  -ARRL
• NASA said recently that it has narrowed to 15 the concepts it will study in the search for a reusable space plane to replace the existing space shuttle.
  -SpaceDaily
• The FCC says that it will consider rules for a new service capable of providing broadband Internet access via satellite. A Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement sharing among multiple licensees in a new service capable of providing broadband access to the Internet using non-geostationary satellites is being prepared.
  -ARNewsline
• Space expeditions will fly to the Mars in fifteen years if all prerequisites are successfully met. For any future interplanetary expedition, Moscow scientists have developed an efficient system to protect the crew from space radiation during the long-term travel to the Mars and back.
  -SpaceDaily

Weekly Satellite Report

Link to the weekly report on satellite ...

All Satellites
ISS . RS-12 . RS-13 . RS-15 . AO-10 . UO-11 . UO-14 . AO-16 . DO-17 . WO-18 . LO-19 . FO-20 . UO-22 . KO-23 . KO-25 . IO-26 . AO-27 . FO-29 . TO-31 . GO-32 . SO-33 . PO-34 . SO-35 . UO-36 . AO-40 . SO-41 . SO-42 . NO-44 . NO-45 . MO-46

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to the ANS Editors at ans-editor@amsat.org, or to ANS Editor Dan James, NN0DJ, at nn0dj@amsat.org.

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This week's AMSAT News Service bulletins were edited by AMSAT  News Service editor Dan James, NN0DJ.