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Ärende: [ans] ANS-246  AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin
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[ans] ANS-246  AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 246.01

  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 2, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-246.01


Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15

AMSAT Corporate Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA reminds all AMSAT-NA
members, "Your ballots for the 2012 Board of Directors election need
to be received at AMSAT-NA headquarters by September 15th, 2012. This
is one of your best opportunities to make your views on the path of
our organization known."

Ballots for the 2012 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election have been
mailed to all members. Also included is biographical information
about each of the candidates.

Select no more than three of the six listed candidates (in alphabet-
ical order):

+ Tom Clark, K3IO
+ Steve Coy, K8UD
+ Mark Hammond, N8MH
+ Lou McFadin, W5DID
+ Gould Smith, WA4SXM
+ Patrick E. Stoddard, WD9EWK

The 3 candidates receiving the most votes will become directors serv-
ing 2 year terms. The 2 receiving the next highest number of votes
will be seated as alternates for 1 year terms.

You must mail your ballot back to be received at the AMSAT-NA Office
no later than the close of business on September 15, 2012:

    AMSAT
    850 Sligo Avenue, #600
    Silver Spring, MD  20910

[ANS thanks AMSAT Corporate Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the
  above information]


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IARU International Amateur Radio Satellite Forum

The IARU International Amateur Radio Satellite Forum will this year
be held in conjunction with the AMSAT-UK Colloquium which takes place
in Guildford, England on the weekend of September 15-16.

(See: http://www.uk.amsat.org/9862)

The forum, chaired by IARU Amateur Satellite Advisor Hans van de
Groenendaal ZS6AKV, takes place on Saturday, September 15 at 1700 BST
(1600 UT).

On the Agenda is a report on the activities of the IARU Satellite
Adviser and his Advisory Panel.

Colloquium information: http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve

IARU Amateur Radio Satellite Frequency Coordination:
  http://www.iaru.org/satellite/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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Atlas V Launch From Vandenberg Re-scheduled to September 13

The Atlas V NROL-36 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Cali-
fornia, originally planned for August has been now re-scheduled for
September 13. This date was selected as one of the first available
for launch range operations.

This launch will be carrying a pair of ocean surveillance satellites
to locate ships at sea. Also aboard this flight at four cubesats as
part of ELaNa IV mission and seven cubesats for government missions.

The ELaNa Cubesats aboard are:
+ CINEMA (Cubesat for Ion, Neutral, Electron, Magnetic fields)
   o Downlinks for engineering telemetry and command are in the
     2400-2450 MHz range; Science telemetry is in 2200-2300 MHz
     range.

+ CSSWE (Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment)
   o Downlink 437.345 MHz, 9k6 with AX25

+ CP5 (PolySat)
   o Downlink 437.405 MHz at 1 watt, AFSK on LSB AX.25 over NRZI at
     1200 baud, every 2 minutes, begins 3.5 hours after first turn-on.

+ CXBN (Cosmic X-Ray Background Nanosatellite)
   o Downlink 437.525 MHz, GFSK, AX.25

The US Government Satellites aboard are:
+ Aeneas
   o First cubesat to deploy 2.4 GHz Dish Antenna. WIFI transmitter
     will transmit on 2425.0 MHz with 1 watt of output power.
   o Downlink 437.600 MHz AX25 1200 bps beacon every 10 seconds and
     spread spectrum two-way link elsewhere in the 70cm band.
+ ORSES (ORS Enabler Satellite)
+ Horus
+ Re
+ Aerocube 4A, 4B, 4C
   o Testing deployable solar panels.
   o Technology demonstration of =93parachute-like=94 devices to deorbit
     satellites.
   o Testing closed-loop attitude control system based around a
     three-axis gyroscope.

A discussion of the launch re-scheduling can be found on-line at:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/uatlas-v-launch-nrol-36-vandenberg/

Please refer to the prior bulletin for mission summaries and satel-
lite team web pages: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2012/000637.html

A detailed article of the launch can be found on-line at:
http://www.americaspace.org/?p=3D23568

[ANS thanks NASA, the CubeSat Teams noted above, AMSAT-UK, Gunter's
  Space Page and nasaspaceflightnow.com for the above information]


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Rooms Still Available for AMSAT-UK Colloquium

AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim Heck, G3WGM says, "There are still rooms avail-
able at the hotel at which the AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held on
September 14, 15 and 16. The location of the Colloquium is at the
Holiday Inn, Guildford, Surry, UK. TO BE SURE OF A ROOM AT THE HOTEL
YOU SHOULD BOOK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID DISSAPPOINTMENT!"

This week, Dave Johnson, G4DPZ announced on behalf of the AMSAT-UK
Committee that the program for the Colloquium is now posted on-line
at: http://tinyurl.com/amsat2012

AMSAT-UK is pleased to welcome senior representatives from AMSAT-NA,
AMSAT-DL and AMSAT-SA who will be giving status updates on their res-
pective development programs.

There will be an update on the FUNcube project as well as some real-
time demos of the Engineering model.

There are some other surprises in the programme, so please take a look.

Details of the Colloquium itself can be found at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve


Exclusive New Product Launch at AMSAT-UK Colloquium
---------------------------------------------------
AMSAT-UK are delighted to announce that Howard Long, G6LVB, will be
present at the Colloquium this year and will be launching a new "FUN-
cube Dongle PRO-PLUS" during his presentation.

Full technical details have been embargoed until his talk and we are
not permitted to steal his thunder by releasing further details of
this new product in advance. Attendees at the Colloquium will there-
fore be the first to learn about Howard's latest development which
will further advance the applications for SDR devices.

Further details are at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/9565#more-9565 - and
at - http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve.

You can book online using PayPal or Credit Card at:
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/catalog/browse

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim Heck, G3WGM, =

Dave, G4DPZ and Trevor, M5AKA for
  the above information]


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Smartphone and Kinect Satellite Presentations at AMSAT-UK Colloquium

Dr Chris Bridges recently appeared on the nationwide TV channel Sky
News discussing why space is cool. On September 15-16 he will be giv-
ing two presentations to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium
at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK. For the details of the
Colloquium see: http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve

Chris will cover the Nexus Android Smartphone amateur radio satel-
lite STRaND-1 which will carry both a Resistojet and a Pulsed Plasma
Thruster (PPT) module and STRaND-2 which will use Microsoft Xbox
Kinect controller technology.

STRaND stands for Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demon-
stration and the programme is intended to be a long-term arrangement
between the space company SSTL and academic researchers at the Surrey
Space Centre (SSC), with STRaND-1 the first of a long line of STRaND
nanosatellites.

The dual STRaND-2 cubesats will test a novel in-orbit docking system
based upon XBOX Kinect technology that could change the way space
assets are built, maintained and decommissioned. The identical twin
STRaND-2 satellites will each be a 3 unit Cubesat. Components from
the XBOX Kinect games controller to scan the local area and provide
the satellites with spatial awareness on all three axes.

SSTL says on their web site, "The STRaND-2 twins will be separated
after launch. After the initial phase of system checks, the two sat-
ellites will be commanded to perform the docking procedure and, when
in close proximity, the Kinect-based docking system will provide the
satellites with 3D spatial awareness to align and dock. Other appli-
cations for STRaND-2 include the safe removal of space debris and
spacecraft maintenance, with a low cost "snap-on" nanosatellite pro-
viding backup power, propulsion or additional on-board computing
capability."

SSTL Project Lead Shaun Kenyon says, "We were really impressed by
what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used
Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once
you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the pos-
sibilities are endless, like space building blocks."

Dr. Chris Bridges, Surrey Space Centre Project Lead says, "It may
seem far-fetched, but our low cost nanosatellites could dock to
build large and sophisticated modular structures such as space
telescopes. Unlike today's big space missions, these could be re-
configured as mission objectives change, and upgraded in-orbit with
the latest available technologies."

The SSTL employees involved with the STRaND programme are volunteers.
It is a condition of the programme that volunteers from SSTL and SSC
use their own, free time for STRaND activities (such as lunches and
breaks). The project has no budget for staff so is entirely dependent
on volunteers.

For further information see http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=3D9946

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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TAPR Digital Communications Conference in Atlanta September 21 - 23

The ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference is an international
forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present
new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees will have the
opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and
software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical
applications.

Topics include, but are not limited to: Software Defined Radio, digi-
tal voice (D-Star, P25, WinDRM, FDMDV, G4GUO), digital satellite com-
munications, Global Position System, precision timing, Automatic Posi-
tion Reporting System, Digital Signal Processing, HF digital modes,
spread spectrum,

This week TAPR published the schedules for the technical and intro-
ductory sessions: http://www.tapr.org/pdf/DCC_2012_Schedule.pdf

The DCC Saturday Night Banquet Speaker & Topic will be Bdale Garbee,
KB0G talking about the "Sharing the Joy of Making"

The DCC Sunday Morning Seminar will be a hands-on tutorial  using
Gnuradio  to design and implement software defined radios on your
laptop presented by Tom Rondeau, KB3UKZ, the leader of the Gnuradio
project.

All of the seminar information and registration can be accessed at:
http://www.tapr.org/dcc.html

[ANS thanks ARRL and TAPR for the above information]


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NASA Issues Request for Information - Nano Satellite Launch Challenge

On August 10, 2012 NASA published a Request for Information (RFI),
titled, "Centennial Challenges Nano Satellite Launch Initiative".
The full text of this RFI is available on the US General Services
Administration web at: http://tinyurl.com/NASA-NanoSatellite-RFI

Centennial Challenges is a program of prize competitions to stimu-
late innovation in technologies of interest and value to NASA and
the nation.

In 2010 NASA announced a Nano-Satellite Launch (NSL) Challenge to
encourage development of safe, low-cost, small-payload delivery
systems for frequent access to low Earth orbit (LEO) through inno-
vations in propulsion and other technologies as well as operations
and management for broader applications in future launch systems
that could result in a commercial capability for dedicated launches
of small satellites at a cost comparable to secondary payload launch-
es. To assist in formulation of the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge,
NASA is seeking additional information on the nano-satellite market
and on approaches to address the market needs.

There are currently several existing launch vehicles and new launch
vehicle programs that could provide ride-sharing opportunities for
nano-satellite.

This NASA Nano Satellite Launch Challenge focuses on:

+ Launch vehicle design dedicated to providing greater payload
   design flexibility for cubesats and other small payloads, more
   frequent access to space at costs comparable or less than exist-
   ing or proposed ride-share launch options.

+ Tradeoff designs for a payload market for a very low cost vehicle
   but with less orbital accuracy or lower reliability?

+ How frequently should the vehicle launch?

+ Initially the Challenge competition would be for one year and a $3M
   prize purse would be divided between all successful competitors.

+ A second phase of the competition would require successful competi-
   tors to deliver payloads to LEO at least ten times within a one-year
   period using a launch system sized to deliver up to 10Kg to LEO.

   o A total prize purse of $6M would be offered for at least 10 suc-
     cessful payload deliveries to LEO orbit: 1st Place receiving $3M
     for most deliveries; 2nd place, $2M for next most deliveries; and
     3rd place, $1M for next most deliveries.

Responses must be submitted in electronic form no later than Sept-
ember 10, 2012 to Dr. Larry Cooper, Centennial Challenges Program,
NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20546-0001.
E-mail address: larry.p.cooper@nasa.gov.

For general information on the NASA Centennial Challenges Program
see: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The AMSAT News Service Bulletins are translated into French by
   Jean-Claude Aveni, TK5GH, and published on the AMSAT-Francophone
   web page at: http://www.amsat-f.org/site/index.php

+ Check out the unveiling of the new ICOM IC-7100 HF/50/144/430 MHz
   transceiver at the Ham Fair 2012 in Tokyo:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DM9rd6nQKV9s&feature=3Dshare

+ Korean artist Hojun Song traveled to Malm=F6 in Sweden to give this
   keynote presentation about his innovative amateur radio CubeSat
   OSSI-1 to the Media Evolution Conference on August 23. OSSI-1 has
   a beacon in the 145 MHz band and a data communications transceiver
   in the 435 MHz band. It carries a 44 watt LED array to flash Morse
   Code messages to observers on Earth. Watch the video at:
   http://www.uk.amsat.org/9921 - and - http://www.uk.amsat.org/9600

+ Enjoy Hubble's Hidden Treasures selected from an archive of more
   than 700,000 raw images. More than 3,000 submissions which include
   some of Hubble's incredible celestial treasures are revealed at:
   http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/hiddentreasures/

+ Danish photographer Hans Nyberg has an interactive, scrollable
   panorama for Apollo 11:
   http://www.panoramas.dk/moon/apollo-11-the-first-man-on-moon.html

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]


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ARISS Status - 27 August 2012


1. Upcoming School Contacts

The Iruma Junior Ham Club in Iruma, Japan will participate in an ARISS (Ama=
teur
Radio on the International Space Station) contact on Sunday, September 2 at
08:32 UTC. The club members recently received their amateur radio licenses =
and
are learning about satellite orbits and space. They look forward to speaking
with Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide on the ISS.


2. Students Make Connection with Akihiko Hoshide on ISS

Students from Institute for Education on Space, =

Wakayama University in Wakayama,
Japan spoke with on-orbit Astronaut Akihiko =

Hoshide, KE5DNI via an ARISS contact
on Sunday, August 26. The contact highlighted science lessons about space,
satellites and radio waves.


3. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The monthly ARISS International Team meeting was =

held on Tuesday, August 21. The
team discussed whether ARISS supporters should be recognized on the ARISS
website and a status was given on the HamTV project and on the new Ericsson=
 VHF
radio which is scheduled to launch later this year. Minutes have been poste=
d:
http://ariss.rac.ca/arisstel2012-08-21.htm


4. Astronaut Training Status

Gregory Wiseman, KF5LKT is scheduled for a basic operations training sessio=
n in
September. Wiseman is slated to fly with the Expedition 40 crew in May 2014.


[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]


/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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org


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

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