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[ans] ANS-050 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 050.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 19, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-050.01


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NASA Press Release for 3rd Round of Cubesat Space Mission Candidates

On February 14, 2012 NASA issued a press release officially listing
AMSAT-NA and all of the other 32 small satellites selected to fly in
2013 and 2014 as auxiliary payloads.
 
The proposed CubeSats come from universities across the country, the 
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, NASA field centers and Depart-
ment of Defense organizations. 

After launch, the satellites will conduct technology demonstrations, 
educational research or science missions. The selected spacecraft 
are eligible for flight after final negotiations and an opportunity 
for flight becomes available. The satellites come from the following 
organizations: 

-- Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 
-- Air Force Research Lab, Wright-Patterson AFB 
-- California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo 
-- Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 
-- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 
-- Montana State University, Bozeman 
-- Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. (2 CubeSats) 
-- NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
-- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
-- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the 
    California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (2 CubeSats) 
-- NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. 
-- The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, Silver Spring, Md. 
-- Saint Louis University, St. Louis 
-- Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Mont. 
-- Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala. (2 CubeSats) 
-- Taylor University, Upland, Ind. 
-- University of Alabama, Huntsville 
-- University of California, Berkeley 
-- University of Colorado, Boulder (2 CubeSats) 
-- University of Hawaii, Manoa (3 CubeSats) 
-- University of Illinois, Urbana (2 CubeSats) 
-- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
-- University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D. 
-- University of Texas, Austin 
-- US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. 
-- Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg 

Thirty-two CubeSat missions have been selected for launch in the 
previous two rounds of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Eight CubeSat 
missions have been launched (including five selected via the CubeSat 
Launch Initiative) to date via the agency's Launch Services Program 
Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, program. 

The full text of the NASA Press Release can be read on-line at:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/feb/HQ_12-050_CubeSats.html

SpaceDaily.com published a related story at:
http://tinyurl.com/Cubesats 

For additional information on NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative 
program, visit: http://go.usa.gov/Qbf 

Please make your donation to AMSAT's Fox-1 Fund at:
http://www.amsat.org

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]


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Dick Daniels (W4PUJ) - SK, 1932 - 2012

By Jan A. King W3GEY/VK4GEY

One of AMSAT's most important, admired and well loved members, Dick 
Daniels, W4PUJ, ex WA4DGU, died on February 14, 2012. He lost his 
battle with lung cancer, diagnosed only at Christmas time 2011. Dick 
achieved so much working for AMSAT that it is virtually impossible to 
enumerate his individual accomplishments. And we cannot overestimate 
the importance of his sustained support. Dick was many things to us 
but, among them he was our record keeper, photographic recorder, and 
the de facto AMSAT historian. So, his loss also represents the loss 
of many memories of the things we did and the places we've gone as 
an organization, which simply can't be recorded or kept except in 
a mind. So, our loss is huge! The records of our earlier spacecraft 
developments, starting with Australis-OSCAR-5 and continuing to pre-
sent, amount to over 6,000 individual (non-duplicate) 35 mm slides. 
These have since been digitized. These were all kept and maintained 
by him. Many of the photos were his own.

Dick was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 19, 1932. He received a BBA 
degree from the University of Cincinnati in Business Management in 
1956 and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Graduate 
School in 1957. He joined NASA HQ in 1961 where he remained until his 
retirement in 1994. Dick became a licensed radio amateur in 1959. He 
was involved with the formation of AMSAT in 1970 and served on the 
AMSAT Board of Directors from 1992 to 2003. 

Dick was one of the initial AMSAT members and was Life Member 11. His 
first major contribution to amateur radio was his work to obtain per-
mission from the NASA Administrator (then James Fletcher) and the 
NOAA Administrator (then Jack Townsend) for the launch of Australis-
OSCAR-5. It was Dick who pushed our AMSAT letter proposal for the 
launch of AO-5 through the NASA and NOAA systems. Dick was also heav-
ily involved in our efforts to license AO5 with the FCC. That was a 
much bigger deal back in 1970 than it is today. Few will appreciate 
the resistance we had within the system from the TIROS project office 
at NASA/GSFC and what had to be done to overcome it. Few will also 
remember the support we had from places we didn't expect, but, with 
Dick's help and all of us pushing - we were in "business" - the 
"business" of building satellites for free.

Dick became AMSAT-NA's primary mechanical designer and technician, 
having helped design and then assemble just about every spacecraft 
structure we launched starting with AMSAT-OSCAR-6. At the beginning 
of the Phase-3 era it became clear that AMSAT needed to go into the 
propulsion business if we were going to get to higher orbits and 
Dick took on the role of chief propulsion expert, in addition to 
his mechanical technician duties. Dick and I installed the Thiokol 
solid propellant kick motor into the ill-fated Phase-3A satellite 
once it arrived in French Guiana and it was Dick, working with MBB 
who loaded the bi-propellant fuels (UDMH or AZ-50 and N2O4) on-board 
AO-10, AO-13 and AO-40 (all very dangerous compounds). Even though 
the rocket motor each time was pure German technology, Dick was the 
one we all trusted to handle the exacting task of propellant loading. 
He also developed, assembled and tested all of the PFAs (propellant 
flow assembly) units that controlled the fuel flow and pressurization 
of each of the propulsion systems. He also contributed significantly 
to their design details. The utilization of real, high performance 
propulsion systems on small satellites is still something no other 
small satellite organization other than AMSAT has successfully 
achieved. Few have even attempted to follow in our footsteps. We've 
had our difficulties with rocket motors (and what organization that 
has tried to use them has not?) but, at least AO-13 was perfect. No 
professional organization has ever done much better than the perform-
ance of that propulsion system. And, in large measure, the success 
of that system can be credited to Dick Daniels. The other P3 satel-
lites, at least had partially successful motor firings, except for 
Phase-3A which was lost due to a launch vehicle failure, hence we 
never had a chance to fire our solid rocket motor.

Dick constructed the AO-6 2M/10M repeater (or transponder) designed 
by Perry Klein (W3PK) and Karl Meinzer (DJ4ZC). He also constructed 
the follow-on unit flown on AO-7. He assembled major portions of the 
receiver units forming both the command system and packet communica-
tions system developed by Tom Clark (W3IWI) for the four Microsat 
spacecraft launched in 1990. Dick assembled so much hardware that if 
you were to look at each individual sub-assembly that he built or 
worked on - as they exist in our master photo set - and you viewed 
each slide for 10 seconds, it would take over an hour to view all 
of them! That is a lot of space flight hardware.

Dick loved space flight, he loved the challenge represented by the 
amateur satellite program and he loved working with our many friends 
around the world. Together we accomplished something that will take 
years before others reproduce. More importantly, with Dick's huge 
support we actually created a new industry. Few lives can claim to 
have done that. The Small Satellite Industry is very alive and well 
and, as a sector of all space commerce it is now the fastest growing
area. If Dick had not made his contributions, AMSAT would have had a 
very different history but, because of him and others who worked so 
hard to get things started, AMSAT is at the root of all of today's 
small satellite technology. This is a fact, not wishful thinking. 

Dick also loved nature and the outdoors. We spent many happy times 
hiking in the mountains of Virginia, using the "famous" Daniels 
"cabin" as a base camp. We had great times chasing butterflies and 
watching sea turtles in French Guiana. Dick has a wonderful family 
and even though AMSAT took a significant fraction of his free time 
his daughter Kathy and his son Robert are proud of his accomplish-
ments. Like all AMSAT "widows" Jackie supported Dicks "hobby" with 
enthusiasm and never complained about her time alone when Dick was 
integrating AMSAT spacecraft on the night shift (sometimes at home 
and sometimes with me at the AMSAT lab). His family will miss him 
terribly as he was not just an average father and husband.  

Dick spent a lot of time working on the gantry level of many launch 
vehicles, installing AMSAT spacecraft on Delta and Ariane launchers 
and, as a NASA-HQ employee, he built more space flight hardware in 
his basement than anyone working for NASA in Washington, D.C. ever 
even saw in a lifetime. He loved life and he made his count. And he 
made a huge difference to the outcome of our hobby and our belief 
in what an individual can do in space.   

So, we've lost someone that meant a lot to us all and someone who 
will be impossible to replace. History may repeat itself but, it 
will be a long time before someone like Dick Daniels, with his uni-
que set of skills comes our way again. So, W4PUJ is SK. This is a 
sad day for amateur radio and to the small satellite space commun-
ity and even more for those of us who loved him. 

Dick, you made a difference and it will be a long time still before 
others reach where you have been. What you did wasn't just worthwhile
- IT WAS FANTASTIC! I'll never forget our time working together! It 
was an amazing hobby, really! An amazing LIFE! 
   
Jan A. King, W3GEY/VK4GEY

A memorial service will be held for Dick Daniels, W4PUJ on Saturday,
February 25 at 1:00PM at Little Falls Presbyterian Church, 6025 Little 
Falls Rd, Arlington VA 22207. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests 
a contribution to: Capital Caring, 950 N Glebe Rd #500, Arlington VA 
22203. This is the organization that provided hospice care for Dick.
Donations in memory of Dick can also be made on-line:
http://www.capitalcaring.org/donate-online

E-mail messages of condolence sent to martha@amsat.org will be given
to Dick's family.

For those planning to attend Dick Daniels Memorial Service from out 
of the Washington DC area, a block of rooms has been reserved by the 
family. Reservations must be made by Tuesday at 4:00 PM EST. Go to:
http://tinyurl.com/Daniels-AMSAT (Holiday Inn)

[ANS thanks Jan King, W3GEY/VK4GEY for the above information]


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AMSAT Awards Announcement & New Postal Rates Notice

AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says congrat-
ulations are in order for our latest AMSAT Awards recipients.

The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for 
making their first satellite QSO:

+ Ben Jacobs, KC9ROI

The following have earned the AMSAT Communications Achievement Award:

+ Hector Luis Martinez Sis, CO6CBF, #547
+ I Made Sudarsana SE, YB9AY, #548

The following have earned the South Africa Satellite Communications 
Achievement Award:

+ Hector Luis Martinez Sis, CO6CBF, #US178

The following have earned their Robert W. Barbee, Jr. W4AMI Award: 

+ Hector Luis Martinez Sis, CO6CBF #76
+ Jim Adams, K0BAM upgrade to 2,000

The following have earned their Robert W. Barbee, Jr. W4AMI 5000 
Award:

+ Mariusz Kocot SQ9MES, #29

To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or
http://www.amsatnet.com

Postage Rate Increase Drives New Cost of Awards:
------------------------------------------------
The AMSAT Awards web page (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/awards/)
will be updated with the new postage rate information. Please note 
that new U.S. Postage rates in effect January, 2012 now require en-
velopes with stiffeners in them (as AMSAT Awards are packaged) to 
be sent as first class small packages. Postage is now $2.00 within 
the U.S. and $5.00 for overseas.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO
 for the above information]


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AMSAT Preparations for Dayton Hamvention 2012

AMSAT Vice-President of User Services, Gould Smith, WA4SXM says that
planning is underway and the AMSAT Dayton team is busy preparing for 
our presence at the Hamvention, May 18-20, 2012. 

AMSAT will be found in the same booths (444-449) in Ball Arena, right
across from the ARRL area and just inside the door from the Satel-
lite Demonstration area. Plan to visit all of the AMSAT activities!

+ AMSAT satellite prototypes
+ AMSAT Thursday Night Get-together
+ AMSAT Forum planned for Saturday morning
+ AMSAT/TAPR Banquet

AMSAT reserves a block of hotel rooms with priority given for those
volunteering to work in the AMSAT booth for multiple 2 hour shifts 
during the Hamvention. More information will be released when this
is finalized.

Additional information via ANS and the AMSAT web site Dayton area 
will be updated soon. Keep an eye on:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamvention/2012/Dayton.php

[ANS thanks Gould Smith, WA4SXM for the above information]


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Vega Launch Success - Cubesats Heard

The European Space Agency Vega first flight was launched successfully
on Monday, February 13 at 1000 UTC from the ESA Spaceport at Kourou
in French Guiana. A YouTube video playback of the launch can be seen
at: http://tinyurl.com/Vega-Launch

Following the launch signals had been reported from AlmaSat-1, Goliat, 
Masat-1, PW-Sat, UniCubeSat and XaTcobeo by amateur radio operators 
around the world.

Details of the satellite radio frequency and modulation type have 
been published on the web, see:
http://www.amsat.org
http://www.uk.amsat.org/4657
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

The Cubesats have received IARU Coordination for operation on the
following frequencies:

+ AlmaSat-1 437.465 MHz 1200 bps FSK, 2407.850 MHz
- E-St@r   437.445 MHz 1200 bps AFSK (no reception report)
+ Goliat   437.485 MHz 1200 bpx AFSK
+ Masat-1  437.345 MHz 625/1250 bps GFSK, CW
+ PW-Sat   145.900 MHz 1200 bps BPSK AX25, CW
- Robusta  437.325 MHz 1200 bps FM (no reception report)
+ UniCubeSat 437.305 MHz 9600 bps FSK
+ XaTcobeo  437.365 MHz FFSK with AX.25

AMSAT-Francophone has posted a windows and linux version of a tele-
metry decoder for the French student ROBUSTA amateur satellite at: 
http://www.amsat-f.org/site/spip.php?article24

When PW-Sat has finished its primary scientific mission it will be 
reconfigured as a 435/145 MHz FM to DSB transponder for general 
amateur radio communications. The FM to Double Sideband transponder 
was first pioneered by amateurs on the satellite AO-16.

The Masat-1 satellite team have made available software to decode 
their 437.345 MHz GFSK telemetry data via a PC sound card. The soft-
ware can be downloaded from: 
http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/

XaTcobeo got a mention on Spanish TV news, see: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdVt8P1gzfY (in Spanish)

[ANS thanks the Vega Cubesat Teams, AMSAT-UK, and radio amateurs
 worldwide for the above information]


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MASAT-1 Designated MagyarSat-OSCAR-72 (MO-72)

OSCAR Number Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO reports, "Congratula-
tions on the successful launch of the MaSat-1 Cubesat that the team 
at Budapest University of Technology and Economics have been respon-
sible for designing, building and testing. Since you have met all 
of the requirements for being issued an OSCAR number, including 
coordination through IARU and requesting an OSCAR number, I, under 
authority vested in me by the President of AMSAT-NA, do hereby name 
MaSat-1 as MagyarSat-OSCAR-72 or MO-72."
 
Bill concludes, "I, and all at AMSAT-NA wish MagyarSat-OSCAR-72 great 
success in fulfilling all of its mission objectives."

[ANS thanks OSCAR Number Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO for the 
 above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Congratulations to John Papay K8YSE for reaching 1006 confirmed 
 grids for his satellite VUCC award! 

+ Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO is working on an analysis of ARISSat-1
 keplerian element data. He has posted his initial graphic plots
 of the data at: http://tinyurl.com/KJ4JIO-Analysis
 Joe plans to extend this analysis in the future to include correl-
 ation of orbit with temperature, eclipses, etc.

+ ARISS news is available on Twitter. The ARISS twitter account 
 ARISS_status has just surpassed the 1000 followers mark. 
 See: http://twitter.com/ARISS_status

+ Special John Glenn ARISS Contact with Perth, Australia to cele-
 brate the 50th Anniversary of "The City of Lights" will carried
 live via internet streaming, Monday, February 20 at 10:23 UTC:
 
  - EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) and *JK1ZRW* (277208) servers
  - IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector

+ AMSAT-DL received a certificate of appreciation from Japan's
 UNITEC-1 flight to Venus together with AKATSUKI (Venus Climate 
 Orbiter): http://tinyurl.com/UNITEC-Award (amsat.org).
 
+ Reminder that the QSL Manager for the K7UGA Barry Goldwater 
 Special Event stations sponsored by CADXA is Bob Davies, K7BHM 
 (qrz.com) with an SASE. A video showing K7UGA satellite operation
 has been posted by Patrick WD9EWK at:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=790OQThYtX0

+ Yuri, UT1FG/MM has been making satellite contacts in range of North
 America. John, K8YSE has prepared an excellent "working Yuri" pri-
 mer for those trying to make a contact with UT1FG/MM: 
 http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html (scroll down about 1/4 way
 down the web page).

+ AMSAT Keeper of the Keps, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD says that SumbandilaSat
 (SO-67, Cat# 35870) has been added back into the Keplerian Element
 set distribution in light of published plans of recovery of SO-67
 for amateur radio operation.

+ The 2012 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting dates have been
 set for Oct 26-28, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Orlando Airport. More 
 details as they become available.

+ NASA and the American Physical Society have entered into a part-
 nership to share unique videos from the International Space Station 
 with students, educators and science fans around the world. NASA 
 astronaut Don Pettit will use everyday objects from Earth to demon-
 strate physics through the "Science off the Sphere" video series.
 Watch the first video at http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/sots/ 
 (NASA Education Express)

+ Astronaut Nicole Stott posted an image of Egypt on her Twitter 
 account: http://tinyurl.com/pyramids-from-ISS. If you can spot the 
 Great Pyramids at Giza in this small image, you've pretty good eye-
 sight! Click the image for a larger version of the image if can't 
 find them. (UniverseToday.com)

+ DX News Reports say that Gabon, TR, will be activated by Sebastien, 
 F4EIH, who will be in Gabon for at least three years starting on
 1 February. He plans to operate SSB, PSK31 and JT65 on the HF and 
 VHF (EME and Satellite) bands. (425 DX News)

+ Enjoy the view out the window aboard the ISS as you fly over the 
 US East Coast at night: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-Over-EastCoast. At 
 the end of the video you can click on the icons to fly over other 
 places. (UniverseToday.com)

+ Cornell/JA/MIT are organizing the 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Work-
 shop. The conference will be held at the end of May this year at 
 MIT. Abstracts are now being accepted for technical talks. The 
 event website describing keynote speakers, program details and 
 other information can be accessed at: http://www.iCubeSat.org

+ Historical Note: 26 years ago on February 19, 1986 the Mir Space 
 Station was launched. It was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. 
 It was deorbited on March 21, 2001.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]


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/EX


In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors
to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. And, with that,
please keep in mind the size of the universe: Light from the sun takes 
8 minutes to reach you. When you look at the Andromeda galaxy the light 
you are seeing took 2.3 million years to reach you. If the sun were the 
size of a dot on an ordinary-sized letter 'i', then the nearest star 
would be 10 miles away.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org

_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

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