Reid, Still up there, and will be for years.
Early on, after the propulsion incident, there WAS a reluctance to command certain functions for fear of making things worse. I recall some discussions at an AMSAT Symposium, perhaps imperfectly, on the subject. For instance, the solar panels were not deployed. They were working adequately in the stowed position. If only one deployed, then you would have had an unbalanced spacecraft, which would have made attitude control difficult to impossible. Also, the damage to the wires was unknown, and a short might be induced. Post final failure, there were some amazing tests run, including the use of a radio telescope which could hear the internal local oscillators responding to commands. The nature of the failure was well understood. I doubt anyone would be worried about making things worse, now. There is just little probability that it will pull an AO-10. 73s, Alan WA4SCA -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of w4upd Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 8:05 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AO-10 and AO-16 On a side note. Do we know the 'physical' status of AO-40? Is it still orbiting the earth? I don't believe I heard anything about it re-entering. I do remember a conversation here on the BB some time ago about making an attempt to command AO-40 again to see if it will respond. However, the command team stated they were reluctant to do so in the event it might cause further harm to an already bad situation. My comment would be that if this were the case what can we lose since we've gone this long without having its access. I think that if there is even a 1 percent chance of commanding it, it should be attempted since we've nothing to lose. Again, I may be in left field and missed something here, but I feel if there is a chance, it should be given a shot. If things go wrong, we're not any worse off then we have been without it being operational so long. Then again the command team may have already made an attempt and my comments are mute. Reid, W4UPD On 9/7/2012 6:42 AM, Mark L. Hammond wrote: > Hi Joe, > > Actually, I checked on AO-16 last Saturday. I didn't even get the transmitter to come on, let alone stay on. It was a low pass, and I hope to check again in the next few weeks. If you'll remember, the problem with keeping the satellite ON is temperature related. If it gets lots of sun (little eclipse), it will be warm enough to remain on. Otherwise, it won't...and the orbit is such that it doesn't get enough sun--and it probably won't for another 10 years or so. But I check periodically. > > About every week or two Drew KO4MA and I try to turn AO-51 back on. My latest try was last Saturday. Nothing heard. > > IO-26 is still up there, and still humming; it needs to be turned on from time to time, so I do that. But we haven't figured out how to run it in voice like we did with AO-16; it doesn't appear possible. > > Don't know about AO-10; I haven't listened for a while. And I don't know if it is expected to come on without commanding (which I cannot do). > > 73, > > Mark N8MH > > At 10:28 PM 9/6/2012 -0500, Gary \"Joe\" Mayfield wrote: >> Has anyone checked on AO-10 or AO-16 lately? >> >> >> >> 73, >> >> Joe kk0sd >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5252 - Release Date: 09/06/12 > > _______________________________________________ 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
