On 8/18/2011 10:38 PM, Phil Karn wrote:
On 8/18/11 11:03 AM, JoAnne Maenpaa wrote:
Yeah, we still have dreams! At various times it had been called AMSAT-Eagle,
Phase IV Lite, C-C Rider, and other things. You'll notice from the dates on
these papers how long we've had this dream of a millions dollar rideshare
with a millions dollar satellite ...
Yes, and the fact that none of these piggyback payloads have ever come
to fruition, while we do continue to get the occasional ad-hoc small
satellite deployment opportunity, suggests that we need our own attitude
determination and control system if at all possible.
The most likely opportunity to piggyback a payload on a controlled
platform with its own power supply would be the ISS itself. Although
they've already got plenty of comm systems, one might pitch this as yet
another backup comm system. It wouldn't be terribly hard to network the
ground stations so that a conversation could be maintained as the ISS
moves from one to the next. To simplify the implementation, provide good
voice quality and a backup data capability, the system would have to be
completely digital.
What kind of digital are you suggesting? Voice and data both? A digital path
from anywhere on the planet to the appropriate ground station is easily doable
with some "documentation" of the ground stations.
Gregg Wonderly
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
