AMSAT General News

Get ready to set sail for the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting – at sea! With only a few months between now and our sailing date of November 10, cabins are starting to fill up quickly. If you have not made reservations, please consider doing so to ensure your cabin preference may be accommodated. While our AMSAT group reservation has a negotiated rate for category 4B inside cabins, many group members have opted to reserve ocean view and balcony cabins.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

– Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40.  This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. Registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website.

– The AMSAT 2016 Space Symposium Cruise flyer included in the 2016 Board of Directors ballot mailing lists an incorrect group booking code. The correct AMSAT group code is 8Z0FR5.

– Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person.

CONTACT INFORMATION AND LINKS:

– Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130

– Cruise registration: 1-800- 438-6744 extension number 70005. Our group name is AMSAT and the group code is 8Z0FR5. Outside of the USA, the number to call is +1 305-599- 2600 extension number 70005 (not available on weekends.)

DATES AND LOCATION:

– 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium and General Meeting
November 10-14 aboard the Carnival Liberty departing from Galveston, Texas.

– 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting
November 9-10 at the DoubleTree Galveston Beach Hotel, Galveston, Texas.

-2016 ARISS International Meeting
November 15-18 at the ISS Conference Center, Houston, Texas. The hotel is the Hampton Inn & Suites-Clear Lake/NASA, Webster, TX. Special tours of NASA Johnson Space Center and a special operations event are planned. Email Frank Bauer at [email protected] or Rosalie White at [email protected] if you are interested in attending.

From Bob McGwier, N4HY:

The GEO project at Virginia Tech being done jointly with AMSAT and using RINCON Research’s AstroSDR has completed our preliminary design review (PDR). Please visit out web site at

Phase 4B Website

We are able to provide much more information to donors if you need it including a sanitized version of our PDR slides giving much greater detail on the internal to the spacecraft project. Your donations are needed to make this project fly.

The bottom line is we have a design, an air interface document, a ground terminal project plan. We have permission from the US government to put our payload on board their spacecraft. We have been told by FEMA that they will use our capability in times of Emergency if we get it into orbit. Flex Radio has agreed to design a high end ground terminal which will be capable of supporting more missions that just this one.

We need your donations! Following the giving link on the web site. This is a tax deductible donation to our Virginia Tech if you are in the United States. We are a 501c3 entity.

Cheers! (73 de N4HY)