[MLB-WIRELESS] [Fwd: [>Htech] Inexpensive Satellite Does the Job (fwd)]

Fri Jan 25 15:45:15 EST 2002

Hehe, yeah..  I kept up with it... amsat-bb :-)

Haven't used that bird yet, will have to drag out the packet gear. :)

Tony Langdon
Systems Development and Support
ATC Training Australasia.  Level 1 310 King St Melbourne 3000.
Phone:  1300 13 1983   WWW:  http://www.atctraining.com.au

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dwayne [mailto:dwayne at pobox.com]
> Sent: Friday, 25 January 2002 14:26
> To: Future Culture; melbourne wireless
> Subject: [MLB-WIRELESS] [Fwd: [>Htech] Inexpensive Satellite Does the
> Job (fwd)]
> 
> 
> wow! I've been following this project for a number of years, 
> but failed
> to notice they'd actually *launched* the thing  :-/
> 
> nanosats rock
> 
> Dwayne
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [>Htech] Inexpensive Satellite Does the Job (fwd)
> Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 08:29:42 +0100 (MET)
> From: Eugene Leitl <eugene.leitl at lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
> Reply-To: transhumantech at yahoogroups.com
> To: <transhumantech at yahoogroups.com>
> 
> 
> 
> -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ICBMTO: N48 04'14.8'' E11 36'41.2'' http://www.leitl.org
> 57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 19:24:02 PST
> From: Yahoo!News <refertofriend at reply.yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: rohit at knownow.com
> To: fork at xent.com
> Subject: Yahoo! News Story - Inexpensive Satellite Does the Job
> 
> Rohit Khare (rohit at knownow.com) has sent you a news article
> 
> Personal message:
> 
> SURFsat, PCsat, anyone with a couple spare kilobucks... munchkins in a
> vaccuum... hmm. Anyway, an inspirational little story!
> --Rohit
> 
> Inexpensive Satellite Does the Job
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020123/tc/cheap_satellite_1.html
> 
> INEXPENSIVE SATELLITE DOES THE JOB
> 
> By TOM STUCKEY, Associated Press Writer
> 
> ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Once every 100 minutes, a bargain basement
> satellite loops around the earth, sending and receiving 
> digital messages
> over antennae made from a metal tape measure.
> 
> A sailor on a solo crossing of the Atlantic bounces signals off the
> satellite to stay in touch with his family. New Zealanders on a
> cross-country hike use it to communicate with friends back home.
> 
> Any ham radio user with the proper digital 
> packet-transmitting equipment
> who is within 2,000 miles of the 25-pound satellite can use it to send
> single-line text messages to a public channel.
> 
> After four months in space, the U.S. Naval Academy's ``bird'' 
> is proving
> surprisingly resilient, to the delight of the midshipmen and faculty
> advisers who designed and built it.
> 
> The so-called Prototype Communications Satellite (PCSat) was the 44th
> amateur satellite put in orbit. It is one of more than a 
> dozen built by
> university students around the world.
> 
> At a cost of just $50,000 - including plane tickets to the 
> Alaska launch
> site - it was constructed using off-the-shelf parts not designed to
> withstand the rigors of space. Its life span was only expected to be a
> few months.
> 
> Six students put together the satellite last year after a three-year
> research and design project made possible with a grant from Boeing Co.
> The Department of Defense (news - web sites) Space Test 
> Program approved
> the project and put it on a launch list.
> 
> A tape measure from Home Depot provided the antenna. Power comes from
> two dozen AA batteries that are recharged by the solar 
> panels, which are
> in sunlight an average of 75 minutes per orbit.
> 
> Midshipmen designed circuit boards, ordering them from an Internet
> supplier. Parts rated for use in space, which are built to 
> withstand the
> effects of radiation from the sun, would have been too 
> expensive, so the
> students went with regular circuit boards.
> 
> Sept. 29 was Launch Day, and there were anxious moments at the academy
> as the cube-shaped satellite hitched a ride aboard an Athena 
> rocket that
> blasted into space from Kodiak, Alaska.
> 
> Save for the failure of one of the six solar panels, damaged when the
> satellite separated from the rocket, there have been no problems. 
> 
> On Launch Day, it was nine hours before PCSat made its first pass over
> Annapolis and the midshipmen and faculty advisers could see for
> themselves that their satellite was working.
> 
> ``I was thrilled. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my
> life,'' said Steven Lawrence, who helped build the satellite before he
> graduated in May.
> 
> In the following weeks, people in remote areas began to use the
> satellite as word about it spread through an international 
> organization
> of ham radio operators.
> 
> Just how long PCSat works depends on how much solar radiation bombards
> the satellite and how long the batteries, solar panels and 
> thousands of
> transistors withstand the sun's damaging effects.
> 
> ``If we get lucky with radiation, it could last three years,'' said
> Darrell Boden, a professor in the aerospace engineering department.
> 
> -
> 
> On the Net:
> 
> http://www.ew.usna.edu/pcsat
> 
> 
> 
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