Hams in Space
                          - Space Flight and Satellite News

     In addition to these satellites Endeavour also deployed student satellites from the University of Texas and Texas A&M. The tiny picosatellites, christened BEVO-1 and AggieSat2 respectively, are
part of an ambitious experiment that will ultimately culminate in autonomous docking of picosats in orbit. For this mission, however, they will launch as one unit and then separate to collect position
data and test the new "DRAGON" NASA GPS receiver.

     For Hams, BEVO-1 will transmit Morse code beacons (20 WPM) or packet radio data telemetry at 437.325 MHz. AggieSat2 will beacon at 436.250 MHz. The satellites will primarily transmit 9600-baud packet Telemetry when over the United States. As with Castor and Pollux, reception reports are welcome.

     Orbiting at a relatively low altitude of 185 miles, all these satellites should be easy to receive with standard FM transceivers and omni directional antennas. They should enjoy an operational life of 3-6 months and will likely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within a year.

From the ARRL Space Bulletin 005  ARLS005 dated 30th July 2009 (reported in VK2WI Broadcast 2nd Aug 2009)

Check out the ARRL's News Bulletin pages at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/ for this and other up to date news  on International Amateur events.

Excerpt Edited by Brian VK2TOX
 

Would you like to go to the Moon or even to Mars over the next couple of years, well not exactly you, but your name and a short message could !!.

    You could be a part of the next Message from Earth on the Pheonix Mission to Mars and with the Selene Mission to the Moon. Send your message and get your Official Participation Certificates -- one for each mission. Your certificates will be your record of your part in the story of space exploration. Adults and children alike can submit names and brief good wishes for inclusion on the spacecraft along with those of the Society’s members. 

    NASA’s Phoenix will be the first lander to explore the Martian arctic, landing near 70 degrees north latitude. The mission will launch in August of 2007, and land on Mars in May, 2008. 

   The Selene Mission’s primary objective will be to investigate the Moon globally from a scientific viewpoint, thereby creating a more detailed map of the lunar surface and learning more about the origin and evolution of the Moon. The year-long mission is scheduled to launch in summer 2007 and enter lunar orbit about a month later.

   When the next lander touches down on the surface of Mars, when the next sample return mission sends its precious cargo back to Earth, when the next spacecraft enters orbit around a giant planet, you could be there too! The Planetary Society is committed to bringing you on board each and every mission launched into space from Earth.

    The Planetary Society has done it before. When the Mars Pathfinder and its rover Sojourner landed on Mars in 1997, the names of all Planetary Society members were affixed to the spacecraft. When the Stardust sample return capsule landed back on Earth, the names of all Society members also returned from a journey of seven billion miles in space, while another copy of the same names is forever orbiting the Sun on board the Stardust spacecraft. Spirit and Opportunity both landed on Mars along with the names of Society members, and another list went out in a blaze of glory as Deep Impact slammed into the core of comet Tempel 1. We will take every opportunity to do it again.

Don't give up on this opportunity to leave your own indelible mark on the great adventure that is space exploration!

For further information go to the Planetary Society site at

http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/

    Looks like the closing date for the Mars Mission listing was the 12^th February and for the Moon Mission is the 28^th February. Check out the site and get your name down for the next listing. 

Above information heard on a local radio show and downloaded from the Planetary Society web site.

Amateurs work on Mars Orbiter

     The Amateur Radio Mars Orbiter P5-A being built by Amsat-DL will deploy a balloon craft called Archimedes. The craft, being built by the privately financed German Mars Society, will hover close to the surface of Mars taking crisp, full-colour images. This is yet another example of radio amateurs teaming up with other technical experts on pioneering projects.

    The radio amateurs building the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft have gained considerable expertise from the construction of previous amateur radio satellites including the recently launched Oscar-40. They will be testing some of the technologies to be used on the Mars Orbiter on their latest amateur satellite, P3-E, due to be launched shortly. The Mars Orbiter will feature a 10GHz beacon that should be receivable by well-equipped amateur radio stations.

   Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, president of Amsat-DL, will be attending the Amsat-UK International Space Colloquium on 28 to 30 July at the University of Surrey in Guildford to give a presentation on the P3-E satellite. For further information about the colloquium, visit www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium. For more details about the Mars Orbiter, visit the P5-A website at www.amsat-dl.org/p5a