We need a very wealthy individual or two to get into the hobby and decide they want to work a HEO! If I were to win the lottery or somehow come into a few tens of millions of dollars, I'd pony up for the launch.
Honestly, though, the numbers aren't completely unrealistic. A long and coordinated worldwide fundraising campaign could get it done. However, the website includes the following sentence: "The P3E-satellite should be ready for launch by mid-2007." http://www.p3e-satellite.org/en_EN/amsat.html Who's going to donate to a project when the website hasn't even been updated in over six years? I see it mentioned often that P3E is "essentially ready to go." If that's the case, why not press forward. As a relative newcomer, I'm often frustrated about the lack of updates about anything and websites that are wildly out of date. I know that everyone is a volunteer and busy with other things, but would it be so difficult to send out an update about what's going on once in a while? For example, TurkSat-3USAT was launched back in April. There have been absolutely no updates from anyone about what happened. Obviously the beacon is not transmitting and the transponder is not on, but what happened? Is there hope for recovery? If it has failed, the entire community could benefit from knowledge about what has happened so that similar failures don't happen in the future. Then there is AO-27. The website was last updated in January saying it will be several months before they know if the satellite can be recovered. A quick update would be appreciated, even if it's something like: "Due to time constraints, we haven't been able to attempt recovery." Things like this lead to the perception that this aspect of the hobby is dying. There is very little traffic on this reflector and not too much traffic on other web forums for amateur satellite operation. (See the QRZ forum topic "Is AMSAT dead?") I know there's always a lot going on "behind the scenes," but the lack of conversation and updates about what's going on doesn't really encourage hams to get involved or make donations. 73, Paul, N8HM Washington, DC On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Alan <wa4...@gmail.com> wrote: > Peter, > > Most of us really miss the old birds. I was transferring satellite QSOs > from the 1980s through the > early 2000s to my electronic logbook, and was amazed at what I worked. > > AMSAT-DL has an excellent P3 satellite, currently being updated, but > essentially ready to go. Here is > the problem: $5M - $10M launch costs to HEO. Even a super discount rate > of $1M would be impractical. > In the old days, we could beg, borrow, and barter for launches at nominal > rates on test flights. > Unfortunately, the launch industry has matured, and can find buyers for > even the smallest spaces and > mass. Sometimes counties can get what I think of as National Prestige > Rates for a first launch, but > those days are largely behind us. Personally, I am confident that > AMSAT-DL will fly their satellite, > but it is clear that future HEOs will be few and far between. > > That is the highly abbreviated answer. > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > > -----Original Message----- > From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On > Behalf Of Peter Klein > Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 1:59 AM > To: amsat-bb@amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] High orbit satellites? > > What are the chances that there will be another high-orbit satellite > like AO-10 and AO-13? Does AMSAT have any plans in that direction since > the demise of AO-40? My main satellite interest is live communication > with faraway places, and I really miss those Molnya birds. > > --Peter, KD7MW > _______________________________________________ > 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
