Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2258, for Friday, February 5, 2021
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2258 with a release date of Friday,
February 5, 2021, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. In Canada, a microwave solution for EmComm needs.
Restoration begins on wartime code machines -- and the space station
contact that wasn't. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number
2258, comes your way right now.
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BILLBOARD CART
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TECHNICAL TROUBLES FOIL ARISS SCHOOL CONTACT
JIM/ANCHOR: January 28th was supposed to be a day to remember for students
in Newcastle, Wyoming: They had an on-air date with the International
Space Station. It never happened due to technical troubles, however,
making it a day to remember for the crew and the ARISS program. Paul
Braun, WD9GCO explains.
PAUL: As students at Newcastle High School in Wyoming waited for their
chance for radio contact with the ISS, Jan, (YON) ON7UX, the Telebridge station
in Belgium, called as ON4ISS as the spacecraft came up on his
horizon -- but only noise came back. Several minutes passed as Jan kept trying;
still nothing. Science teacher Jim Stith, KI7URL, had helped prep
the students on radio protocol in anticipation of their questions to Mike
Hopkins, KF5LJG. Ultimately, however, that contact never happened.
ARISS executive director Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said in a press release
later that a technical problem had apparently taken the ISS radio out of
service. He said additional troubleshooting was needed but possibilities
point to trouble with the new external RF cable recently installed or
related to the interior coax cable. The press release said that NASA has opened
a Payload Anomaly Report for the issue. In the meantime, ARISS has asked Sergey
Samburov, who heads the Russian team, whether the Russians'
radio can be used for school contacts until the problems can be resolved.
The Wyoming students have been told that their contact will be
rescheduled.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Paul Braun, WD9GCO.
(ARISS, YOUTUBE)
**
FRENCH AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITE PART OF SPACEX RECORD LAUNCH
JIM/ANCHOR: The SpaceX launch late last month set records for the number
of satellites aboard but hams are especially interested in one, as Jeremy Boot,
G4NJH, tells us.
JEREMY: When a record number of small satellites left earth aboard a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday January 24th, France's UVSQ-SAT satellite
carrying an FM amateur radio transponder was among them. The satellite is
focusing on broadband measurements of Earth Radiation Budget and on Solar
Spectral Irradiance in the Herzberg continuum. Amateur radio operators are
being encouraged to contact the satellite as well. Toward this end,
AMSAT-Francophone is providing hams with software to receive,interpret and
upload telemetry to the AMSAT-F server or the SatNOGS database. The
software runs on both Linux and Windows platforms.
The satellite, designed by LATMOS, has had its frequencies coordinated by
the IARU. The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Radio-Club F6KRK was also involved
in the project.
It was among the 143 satellites carried on SpaceX's first dedicated
SmallSat Rideshare Program mission, which broke the previous record of 104
simultaneous launches aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in
2017.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
(SPACEFLIGHT NOW, AMSAT, LATMOS)
**
DEVICE PREVENTS 'SPACE JUNK' BY ALTERING SATELLITE ORBITS
JIM:/ANCHOR: Let's face it, no one likes clutter: not in the shack and
certainly not out in space where CubeSats and other amateur radio
satellites keep us connected. Well, help with cleanup has arrived. Neil
Rapp, WB9VPG, has the details.
NEIL: It's called the Iodine Thruster, and it hates "space junk" so much
that it's helping prevent it, using an unconventional, nontoxic
propellant: Iodine. The electronic thruster is being used to control a
satellite's height above the Earth.
That means that when a satellite reaches the end of its mission, it can be sent
down into the atmosphere where it can safely burn up rather than add
more dead clutter to the skies.
The device has already proven its worth: It successfully changed the orbit
of a commercial research nanosat that was launched last November.
Iodine is seen as an ideal propellant to use for this technology because
it is solid at room temperature and pressure, becoming gas when it's
heated without having to liquefy first. It also only takes up a small
space onboard on the satellite. This technology isn't just for dead and
dying satellites, however; experts speculate it can help small CubeSats
extend their mission lifetimes before dying because the thruster can raise
the satellites' orbits if they start to drift back toward earth.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
(SOUTHGATE)
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* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (57:57/10)
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