On 7/19/2014 4:50 PM, Phil Karn wrote:
Ah, because launches are scarce and expensive, and (re)developing even
"the same old thing" consumes much of AMSAT's limited resources. And
they're limited because we have yet to interest more than a tiny niche
in what we're doing.
But you arguing about something that has already happened. That makes
no sense.
Arguing for doing something different, as you also did just a bit ago
today, makes sense.
Why did the U.S. go back to the moon so many times? I don't know. But
we did, and that is done. You could argue now that it had been done
before, why did we do it over and over, it was the same old thing. That
doesn't change the facts.
There is an audience for these FM satellites.
It's great to have universities looking to partner, but what do they
bring to the table, really? Are we sure they're not just looking for
free spectrum?
Both universities that I am working with are building amateur radio
ground stations and interesting the students in becoming hams. We all
benefit from that. And some other universities want to fly an ADAC
system. We may benefit from that on Fox-2.
>one flying soon, so that we can learn how well they work and apply those
>lessons to Fox-2 while we're working out the design.
We already know how well they'll work because we've done the same thing
many times before. I hate to say it, but this is no longer "rocket
science". The physics is well understood, and those same physics tell us
how we could accomplish so much more with our (currently) limited resources.
We have already learned a great deal from an engineering process
perspective, as well as about cramming a lot into a little cubesat. Not
rocket science, but certainly for a large all volunteer group a valuable
step toward what it will take to build something more complex. I think
you over estimate the ability of an all-volunteer workforce, in terms of
churning out satellites akin to how a business does it. Amateur radio
is a hobby!
You see lemons. I see lemonade. But by all means, let's go for pink
lemonade and keep on talking about Fox-2 opportunities while people
enjoy what we have already done with the Fox-1 series!
Jerry Buxton, NØJY
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