SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.01 Multiple CubeSats Lost AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.01 The anticipated Dnepr night launch of 14 University CubeSats on 26 July only lasted 86 seconds according to a report by the Geocities Space Launch Report. See: http://www.geocities.com/launchreport/slr.html About a minute and a half into the flight the main engine shut down causing the rocket and its' multiple satellite payload to fall back to earth about 25 km south of the launch site. The Cal Poly team after learning the news vowed to press on with their next CubeSat. This is the first failure of the Dnepr launch vehicle since they were re-commissioned to carry non-military payloads and the first failure of the rocket since 1988. A video clip of the launch can be seen at: http://polysat.calpoly.edu/DNEPR-BelkA.wmv. A second launch is planned with ISC Kosmotras on a Dnepr launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan during September 2006. Seven CubeSats will fly as secondary payloads on this mission. The CubeSats will be deployed after the primary spacecraft has been deployed into a nearly circular, 700 km, polar orbit. Three P-PODs will hold the CubeSats on the launch vehicle and deploy them at the correct point in the deployment sequence. [ANS thanks the CubeSat Team at CalPoly for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.02 AMSAT Eagle Presentation at CSVHFS and UK Colloquium This Weekend AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.02 Bob, N4HY, AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering and Tom, K3IO, AMSAT Board of Directors member are presenting a paper on AMSAT's efforts on EAGLE and P3E at the Central States VHF Society meeting in Minneapolis on July 28-29. Meanwhile Rick, W2GPS, AMSAT President will be at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England the same weekend giving a presentation on the EAGLE satellite project. Tom wrote, "Our paper contains a number of updates concerning EAGLE which you will read about in much more detail in the next AMSAT Journal. But for an advance view, you can see our CSVHFS paper, available as a ~3.9 MB PDF file at http://mysite.verizon.net/~w3iwi/EAGLE_CSVHFS.pdf." [ANS thanks Bob, N4HY; Tom, K3IO; and Rick, W2GPS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.03 SSTV Test From the ISS AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.03 The ARRL reports that a test of the ARISS SSTV system aboard the International Space Station may be conducted over Russia the weekend of July 29th. This news was released by the ARRL Amateur Radio News, July 26, 2006. Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS is expected to test the SSTV system over Moscow using the downlink frequency of 144.49 MHz. All amateurs within range are encouraged to receive the FM broadcast. More details are on-line at: http://www.arrl.org/?artid=6627. Those of us in other parts of the world eagerly await further testing of the amateur radio SSTV system and look forward to receiving pictures from the ISS. Cor, PD0RKC reports on his Space Station Ham Radio Info Site (http://www.pd0rkc.com) that PY4MAB received a SSTV picture from the ISS when it was over Brazil on Friday, July 28 at 19:00 UTC. This testing may be very limited. It is not known when the Project will be officially opened to the worldwide public. The tentative down link for SSTV will be on 144.490 FM. The uplink will not be published until testing has been completed. For the rest of this week, listen to both 145.800 MHz and 144.490 MHz FM. If you hear packet on 145.800, then you know SSTV will NOT be active. If you do not hear Packet, then monitor 144.490 MHz and be ready to decode your images. The ISS crew is awake from 0600 to 2200 UTC time. Try to monitor every pass the crew is awake. Please send images you have received to marexmg@comcast.net. Additional information about the SSTV system can be found on the MAREX-MG site at: http://www.marexmg.org/. Do not try to send images up to ISS at this time. [ANS thanks Miles, WF1F, Cor, PD0RKC, ARRL and ARISS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.04 AMSAT 2006 Symposium Information AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.04 For the first time AMSAT is matching up drivers and riders who may be driving to the Symposium. Sharing a ride is a wonderful way to ease parking congestion and expenses, while sparing the air. You can sign up as a local participant who is driving in each day, or as a long distance driver coming from Southern California and surrounding states. Please visit the "Ride Sharing" link from the main Symposium page for additional information. This year AMSAT will provide a limited amount of space for vendors and exhibitors. Exhibitors and demonstrations will have space in a breakout room adjacent to the main Symposium room, and vendors will be located in the foyer outside the Symposium room. Vendor space is limited, so space will be reserved for vendors donating prizes for the Symposium first. Please see the "Exhibitors and Vendors" link from the main Symposium page. Go to: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium In addition to online registration you can download the registration form in PDF format and mail it in. Registration forms will also be included in the next edition of the AMSAT Journal and with AMSAT Board election ballots. [ANS thanks Emily Clarke, N1DID, Symposium Chairperson, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.05 Florida AMSAT Net On The Air and on Echolink AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.05 The Florida AMSAT Net meets on Thursday at 19:30 ET or 23:30 UTC. For hams checking in on-the-air there are several options: + Orlando N4HHA repeater on 443.1 MHz, (tone 103.5 Hz) + NI4CE repeater system, covering most of Florida's west coast (see http://www.NI4CE.org for details on access). + N4LEM repeater in Brevard County on Florida's east coast on 147.360 (tone 107.2). Elsewhere around the world, the net can be heard through echolink on the N4HHA-R and KG4YZY-R nodes. [ANS thanks the Florida AMSAT Net for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.06 Project OSCAR and Cal Poly Honor AMSAT's Cliff K7RR AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.06 On July 26, 2006 the Project OSCAR Board of Directors awarded long time Project OSCAR and AMSAT member Clifford C. Buttschardt, K7RR with its highest award, the Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to Amateur Satellite Radio. The award was presented at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), where Cliff has been mentoring students for many years. In her opening remarks Project OSCAR Vice-President Emily Clarke, N1DID, noted "In March of 2006 the Board of Project OSCAR voted to recognize Cliff with an award for his achievements and his lifetime of contributions to amateur satellite programs. Over the years Cliff contributed much to Project OSCAR, AMSAT and was one of the guiding forces behind the CubeSat program at Cal Poly, where he has been working quietly behind the scenes as an advisor." Project OSCAR President Don Ferguson, KD6IRE, then read the award inscription, "This award is given to Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR, for his lifetime contribution to Project OSCAR, AMSAT, and Amateur Satellite Radio." Professor Jordi Puig-Suari, CubeSat Program Co-Director also acknowledged Cliff's contributions. "Cliff was a crucial part of the mentoring that the students received from the AMSAT community. We wouldn't be here without his help. The students and myself want to do something special for Cliff, and we are changing the name of the CP-1 satellite to K7RR-Sat in his honor." Unfortunately Cliff could not be in attendance for health reasons, but after the event Don and Emily met with Cliff and his wife at their Morro Bay home where the Lifetime Contribution & Achievement Award was officially presented. [ANS thanks Emily, N1DID and Project Oscar for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-211.07 ARISS Status for the Week of July 24, 2006 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 211.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 30, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-211.07 1. School Contacts A contact took place during an ESA Event, the Children’s Club Camp, in Patras, Greece for Saturday, July 29. ESA Astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, partcipated in the contact via the telebridge station, WH6PN, in Hawaii. Robinson Elementary School in Anderson, Indiana has been scheduled for a contact with the ISS on Wednesday, August 2. The Central Experimental Farm in Ontario, Canada is a research facility in the City of Ottawa. The ARISS contact with the camp originally planned for July 25 was cancelled due to EVA activities. The contact has been rescheduled for Friday, August 4. 2. Astronaut Training Status On July 18, Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria participated in an abbreviated ISS Ham training session which focused specifically on the school contact operations including hands on training with the ARISS hardware. On July 20, astronauts Bob Behnken and Nicole Stott were provided with the Basic Ops class that covered ISS Ham operations on the ISS. 3. Repeater Group Provides Shuttle Transmissions The Rib Mountain Repeater Association in Wisconsin picks up shuttle transmissions from NASA using satellite dishes and broadcasts them through transmitters for those space enthusiasts without internet access. The transmissions can then be picked up via police scanners. The Wausau Daily Herald covered this in a July 13 article, “Group airs shuttle transmissions.” See: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060713/WDH0101 /607130608 4. Technical Interchange Meeting Status Plans continue for the ARISS Technical Interchange Meeting to be held the week of August 7 in Houston. An agenda has been compiled and meetings are currently being arranged with JSC personnel. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX