Hmm, unlikely I would say: A typical WX ballon goes up to about 30 km, maybe 50 km if you get a high performance one. The AO-51 orbit is at about 750 km. I witnessed the X2 (Spaceship one) launch in 2004. The rocket for the orbiter fired at about 15 km (from the carrier plane) and burned for 90 seconds just to reach 100 km. This is *a lot* of energy which needs to be invested into the object. Now we are talking 750 km, not 100, and then you still need to do a controlled orbit injection burn. I admin, we are talking 10 kg payload, not 200 kg, but doing this with a single stage booster launched from an unstable wx balloon would be quite a challenge IMHO.
Not sure if that already happened, but did somebody ever talk to the Europeans ? The ariane V is the most powerful, most reliable launch vehicle today. They launch commercial satellites more or less once a month. I wonder if they would donate a <10 kg payload every once in a while ? Andreas ________________________________ From: Lowell White <whit...@usa.net> To: Bob- W7LRD <w7...@comcast.net>; George Henry <ka3...@att.net> Cc: AMSAT <amsat-bb@amsat.org> Sent: Wednesday, 30 November 2011 10:57 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire OK.. a LARGE "punkin' chunker" or two really tall and flexible trees for a slingshot... More seriously, it seems that for anything of reasonable size to be launched, particularly into an orbit that we rapidly enter not only the perview of costly specialization but also of military / government permissions, etc., probably much more delicate than ITAR considerations. Please enlighten me if indeed there might be a way to get something up (and to stay up) more economically. Would there be any feasiblity to an initial "launch" by using high-altitude weather ballons and THEN firing a small booster with appropriate guidance and CCC (command, control, and communications) to steer it into an orbital insertion? If the bird and booster weights were small enough, could a wx balloon lift them adequately? Just wondering... Lowell K9LDW EM12sr ------ Original Message ------ Received: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:38:33 PM CST From: Bob- W7LRD <w7...@comcast.net> To: George Henry <ka3...@att.net>Cc: AMSAT <amsat-bb@amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire > > > Cool George! it's not the building and concepts that's difficult. It's getting the damn things up there. We should have a division of AMSAT that does rockets, and launch our own. Like my Dad told me, "the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer". > > 73 Bob W7LRD > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "George Henry" <ka3...@att.net> > To: "AMSAT" <amsat-bb@amsat.org> > Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:06:39 AM > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire > > Better yet, take the 10.8 MHz IF output from one of their old Bearcat scanners, > > programmed for a 2-meter uplink, add an appropriate local oscillator and high > pass filter, feed the resulting signal to the final stage from one of their old > > sideband CB's, and you've got a mode A *LINEAR* satellite!! > > We could call it OSCAR 10-4! > > > George, KA3HSW > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > > From: K4FEG <k4...@k4feg.com> > > > To: amsat-bb@amsat.org > > > Sent: Tue, November 29, 2011 8:49:31 AM > > > Subject: [amsat-bb] Satellite Satire > > > > > > OK I have a suggestion: a new inexpensive satellite, It will be designated: > > > > >*ReNe-Sat-3, *that will be an abbreviation for: *Red Neck Satellite #3 ( > >Dale > > > > >Ernharts Sr. NASCAR #). > > > > > > *We will take 2 Woxun HT's, 2 Larsen Mag-mounts, 2**1/4 wave antennas, a > >solar > > > > >panel with charger from Northern Hydraulics and last but not least about 100 > > > > >feet of NASCAR 200mph duct tape. > > > > > > We take the 2 radios set them up for our frequencies, duct tape them > >together > > > > >mount the antennas on the solar panel hook the solar panel up to the HT > > >batteries and last but not least we send two of the south's finest: > >*Astronaut > > > > >"Bubba & Cooter"* up with the new bird to deploy it. We will tell Bubba & > > >Cooter that they can have free passes to all the NASCAR races for 2012 when > > > >they get this satellite working and in orbit. > > > > > > I promise they will have that thing (or should i say "thang") up and > >running > > > > >in HEO and be back before the first race in February 2012. > > > > > > For those that are not sure, YES I AM MAKING A JOKE! > > > > > > /*It is difficult work to keep these satellites working and the control > > >operators deserve a round of applause from us for all that they have done to > > > > >extend the life of AO51 and all of the other birds. > > > > > > THANK YOU ONE AND ALL! A JOB WELL DONE! > > > */ > > > Frank > > > K4FEG > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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
