In the 1980's era of AO-10 and AO-13, AMSAT was just about the only outfit interested in launching small satellites, there was no commercial market for secondary launches, and we got them free or very cheap. In today's world, every university on Earth is building a Cubesat and commercial and government organizations are developing real missions around Cubesats. If they gave AMSAT a free launch today, they would have to give free launches to everybody. That is the main problem that we have today.
The NASA Cubesat launch initiative is accepting applications for up to a 6U Cubesat with proposals due in November, it MIGHT be possible to get a launch to GTO through this program (or it might not be). Can AMSAT design a high altitude satellite in a 6U Cubesat frame with sufficient solar power generation and antenna gain to provide a viable ham radio mission in HEO? It is worth further study over the next two months. Dan Schultz N8FGV >Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 23:58:57 -0700 >From: Peter Klein <pkl...@threshinc.com> >To: amsat-bb@amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] High orbit satellites? >Message-ID: <521ef131.6080...@threshinc.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >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
