[amsat-bb] NASA - 2011/2012 CubeSat Launch Opportunities
See http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=139845 73 Trevor M5AKA ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
Hi Bob, You are correct on the term planets being wonderers. If I recall correctly, that came from the Greek skywatchers. Yes, many thought the Earth was the center of the solar system. I'm sure more believed it was the center of the universe as well! In any case, with the Sun as the center of the solar system, that was some wild outside of the box thinking since the church frowned upon any type of new findings that disputed what the church layed down. Can you imagine being ostracized, if nothing more serious, in stating and believing that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system? WOW! You'd be excommunicated and strung up. Since the planets revolve around the Sun ,and not the Earth, there can't be any Keps. Keps are based on the Earth being the center of an orbiting object. I should've recalled that. However, my thinking at the time was if there are programs which display where to find planets in the sky, like Starry Night, then there'd have to be a form of calculation to determine it. I just thought of using the wrong type of calculation. 73, Jeff WB3JFS - Original Message - From: Robert Bruninga bruni...@usna.edu To: 'Jeff Yanko' wb3...@cox.net; amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 5:31 AM Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] Planet Pseudo-Keps Are there any pseudo-keps for the planets? Actually, the word planet comes from the meaning wanderers because that is what stumped the early astronomers thousands of years ago. They do not have regular motion about Earth... And Copernicus finally figured it out... They rotate around the sun. Bob ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
You saying that if I lived on another planet or in another star system then my satellites wouldn't have keps and I couldn't use my software to track them? That sounds rediculous. On 27-Feb-10 09:43, Jeff Yanko wrote: Since the planets revolve around the Sun ,and not the Earth, there can't be any Keps. Keps are based on the Earth being the center of an orbiting object. ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
Since the planets revolve around the Sun, and not the Earth, there can't be any Keps. Keps are based on the Earth being the center of an orbiting object. You're saying that if I lived on another planet or in another star system then my satellites wouldn't have keps and I couldn't use my software to track them?... That sounds rediculous. Yep. keps (as we use the term here regularly) either in AMSAT format or in NASA two-line format are just inputs to an Earth orbit propogator that predicts where a satellite is around Earth based on the laws of physics. If you lived on Mars, and had a Mars Orbit Propogator then you could download Martian Keps from the Martians and track Martian satellites. But the Martian tracking program would not be able to track earth satellies, just as ours Earth based programs cannot track theirs. Because the size and mass of Mars is different from Earth, so the propogators have to be different... or something like that. I'm on the limit of my meager knowledge here... Bob, Wb4APR ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
I would have to guess that this is entirely possible otherwise Mars and Moon missions would be shots-in-the-dark. The software to do this is most likely completely different from that which predicts simple satellites around one planet. Tracking other planets relative to ours would be more like predicting angles and velocities from one LEO to another LEO. The software would need to contain the keps of the solar system, and then give results from the perspective of one of the satellites. This software probably already exists, but in the proprietary domain. On second thought, the software that runs the fully-automated personal telescopes already does most of this, except for the relative velocity part. 73's Auke - Original Message - From: Jeff Yanko wb3...@cox.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 2:09 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Planet Pseudo-Keps Which brings to question. Are there any pseudo-keps for the planets? 73, Jeff WB3JFS ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
Feb 27, 2010 08:43:51 AM, bruni...@usna.edu wrote: Since the planets revolve around the Sun, and not the Earth, there can't be any Keps. Keps are based on the Earth being the center of an orbiting object. You're saying that if I lived on another planet or in another star system then my satellites wouldn't have keps and I couldn't use my software to track them?... That sounds rediculous. Yep. keps (as we use the term here regularly) either in AMSAT format or in NASA two-line format are just inputs to an Earth orbit propogator that predicts where a satellite is around Earth based on the laws of physics. If you lived on Mars, and had a Mars Orbit Propogator then you could download Martian Keps from the Martians and track Martian satellites. But the Martian tracking program would not be able to track earth satellies, just as ours Earth based programs cannot track theirs. Because the size and mass of Mars is different from Earth, so the propogators have to be different... or something like that. I'm on the limit of my meager knowledge here... Bob (and Nigel) - That's pretty accurate. Although the laws of physics apply universally around all the planets, the specific implementations of orbit mechanics software are location dependent. You gave one example--size and mass of the Earth vs Mars. Other examples are the oblateness of the planet (how flattened at the poles is Mars vs Earth) and the effects of other objects such as the moon and other planets. (The effects of the earth's moon on an earth-orbiting satellite will be different from the effects of Deimos and Phobos on a Mars-orbiting satellite.) Although the equations are all the same, most programs (that are publicly distributed) assumes the earth as the core body, and embeds those assumptions into the software. I think STK (Satellite Tool Kit) by Analytical Graphics may have the ability to analyze non-Earth geometries, but it's hardly within the realm of amateurs. (A full-up version costs something like US$50,000.) Steve W3HF ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] NASA cubesats...
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=30294 there are going to be more ballast payloads particularly as commercial ops to the space station gens up. Just saw a thing today where almost all the folks who are planning to do commercial ops are looking at ballast rides. Robert G. Oler Life member AMSAT ARRL _ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469229/direct/01/ ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
Your statement is correct, however there is an issue of context. Most satellite tracking software uses Simplified General Perturbations No. 4 (SGP4) as an orbit propagator. SGP4 is one of several orbit propagation algorithms that presume the Earth to be the central attracting body (as both origin and major attracting mass). As such, the associated Keplerian elements are in the context of an Earth-orbiting satellite as are the corresponding output positions and velocities. This is a convenient simplifying assumption for Earth-orbiting satellites and also since Earth station coordinates use the center of the Earth as the origin. Certainly, there are orbit propagation (and ephemeris interpolation) methods that have a different (or a flexible choice of) attracting body (and therefore a different origin and central mass). In using such an algorithm, the software must also (1) know the mass of the central attracting body, (2) compute the Earth's position relative to the origin (the attracting body) and (3) also determine its orientation relative to (for example) the Sun's coordinate system. This requires an additional translation (i.e., vector subtraction) and a re-orientation (i.e., coordinate transformation). These are fairly simple to code into a library and thus simple to use. However, the software needs to have that additional logic already embedded. I do not know of a method in which the Keplerian elements of a planet orbiting the Sun could be used to produce any sort of meaningful answer in software that propagates orbit using an Earth-centered propagator. Indeed, there's nothing wrong with the physics, but one must pay attention to the simplifying assumptions underlying the implemented algorithms. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of ve4yz Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 11:41 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps Keplerian Elements have nothing to do with the Earth. To say it only applies to earth orbiting objects would be like saying Newton's laws of motion only apply to the earth. They are mathematical descriptions of the motion of one body orbiting another in an unperturbed orbit using the 6 degrees of freedom of the orbiting body - i.e the 6 key elements of the keps. They predate computers and software; circa 1605. This not to say that they are universally applicable. Larger or smaller as in galactic or subatomic with perturbed orbits - all bets are off. ___ Sent via amsat...@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...@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
[amsat-bb] working FO-29
I tried to work FO-29 for the first time since it started working again but must be doing something wrong. I could hear several stations loud and clear but could not hear my own downlink. My radio is working fine with the other sats, so it must be someone particular to FO-29. Did perhaps the uplink change frequency or something? 73, Bill NZ5N ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: working FO-29
On Sat, February 27, 2010 18:44, Bill Dzurilla wrote: Hi Bill, I tried to work FO-29 for the first time since it started working again but must be doing something wrong. I could hear several stations loud and clear but could not hear my own downlink. My radio is working fine with the other sats, so it must be someone particular to FO-29. Did perhaps the uplink change frequency or something? I don't now if you use tracking software, but here is my FO-29 entry for SatPC32 FO-29,435850,145950.95,USB,LSB,REV,0,0,Transponder FO-29,435795,0,CW,CW,NOR,0,0,Beacon 73, Bill NZ5N 73 Jan - PE0SAT ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Re: Planet Pseudo-Keps
Auke de Jong, VE6PWN wrote:
On second thought, the software that runs the fully-automated personal
telescopes already does most of this, except for the relative velocity part.
The US government will do that for us via the JPL HORIZONS tracking
system http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons The data below show that as
this being written I should point my antennas to the south, a little
less than half way up from horizon to my zenith. Jupiter is moving away
from me at about six and a half kilometers per second, and a dit
leaving my keyer will take the better part of an hour to reach it's target.
No charge to use this, US hams pay for this with our taxes. That being
said you Canadians are welcome to send me cash gifts, and I will be glad
to pay the appropriate US income tax on it!
-Joe KM1P
***
Revised: Dec 17, 2009 Jupiter 599
PHYSICAL DATA (updated 2009-Jan-28):
Mass (10^24 kg) = 1898.13+-.19 Density (g/cm^3) = 1.326
Equat. radius (1 bar) = 71492+-4 km Polar radius (km) = 66854+-10
Volumetric mean radius= 69911+-6 km Flattening = 0.06487
Rotation period = 9h 55m 29.685s Rot. rate(10^-4 rad/s) = 1.75865
m = w^2a^3/GM = 0.089195 Hydrostatic flat., fh = 0.06509
Inferred rot. period = 9.894+-0.02 hr ks = 3*J2/m= 0.494
Mom. of inert. I/MRo^2= 0.254 I/MRo^2 (upper bound) = 0.267
Rocky core mass (Mc/M)= 0.0261 Y factor (He/H ratio) = 0.18+-0.04
GM (km^3/s^2) = 126,686,511 GM 1-sigma (km^3/s^2) = +-100
Equ. grav, ge (m/s^2) = 24.79 Pol. grav, gp (m/s^2) = 28.34
Geometric albedo = 0.52 Visual magnitude V(1,0)= -9.40
Vis. mag. (opposition)= -2.70 Obliquity to orbit = 3.12 deg
Sidereal orbit period = 11.862615 yrSidereal orbit period = 4332.820 d
Mean daily motion = 0.0831294 deg/d Mean orbit velocity= 13.0697 km/s
Atmos. temp. (1 bar) = 165+-5 KHeat flow/mass (x10^7) = 15 erg/gm*s
Planetary Solar Const = 50.5 W/m^2 Dipole tilt/offset = 9.6deg/0.1Rp
Escape velocity (km/s)= 59.5 Mag.dip.mom(gauss-Rp^3)= 4.2
Aroche(ice)/Rp= 2.76 Hill's sphere rad. Rp = 740
***
***
Ephemeris / WWW_USER Sat Feb 27 10:15:04 2010 Pasadena, USA / Horizons
***
Target body name: Jupiter (599) {source: JUP230}
Center body name: Earth (399) {source: DE405}
Center-site name: (user defined site below)
***
Start time : A.D. 2010-Feb-10 17:00:00. UT
Stop time : A.D. 2010-Feb-10 20:00:00. UT
Step-size : 5 minutes
***
Target pole/equ : IAU_JUPITER {East-longitude -}
Target radii: 71492.0 x 71492.0 x 66854.0 km {Equator, meridian, pole}
Center geodetic : 288.845300,42.2925472,49.999402 {E-lon(deg),Lat(deg),Alt(km)}
Center cylindric: 288.845300,4762.18349,4303.3386 {E-lon(deg),Dxy(km),Dz(km)}
Center pole/equ : High-precision EOP model{East-longitude +}
Center radii: 6378.1 x 6378.1 x 6356.8 km {Equator, meridian, pole}
Target primary : Sun {source: DE405+DE408}
Interfering body: MOON (Req= 1737.400) km {source: DE405}
Deflecting body : Sun, EARTH {source: DE405}
Deflecting GMs : 1.3271E+11, 3.9860E+05 km^3/s^2
Atmos refraction: NO (AIRLESS)
RA format : HMS
Time format : CAL
RTS-only print : NO
EOP file: eop.100226.p100520
EOP coverage: DATA-BASED 1962-JAN-20 TO 2010-FEB-26. PREDICTS- 2010-MAY-19
Units conversion: 1 AU= 149597870.691 km, c= 299792.458 km/s, 1 day= 86400.0 s
Table cut-offs 1: Elevation (-90.0deg=NO ),Airmass (38.000=NO), Daylight (NO )
Table cut-offs 2: Solar Elongation ( 0.0,180.0=NO )
*
Date__(UT)__HR:MN Azi_(a-appr)_Elev dAZ*cosE d(ELV)/dt APmag S-brt
delta deldot 1-way_LT
*
$$SOE
2010-Feb-10 17:00 *m 163.9922 35.9868 867.85184.19 -2.02 5.31
8.8974883901E+08 6.3227121 49.464711
2010-Feb-10 17:05 *m 165.4872 36.2310 871.25167.40 -2.02 5.31
8.8975073674E+08 6.3287606
[amsat-bb] W7LRD 5/4 RPT WORKED AGAIN 2E1EUB
W7LRD 5/4 RPT IO92BX NICE QSO AGAIN VIA AO7 BOB IM STILL LOOKING WEST COAST GUYS!!! CALL ME PLEASE OR ARRANGE A SKED DE PAUL 2E1EUB ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] 2M1EUB/P QRV N.E.SCOTLAND 20/3/10
2M1EUB/P WILL BE QRV FROM N.E. SCOTLAND FROM 20/03/10 ON ALL BIRDS FOR 7 DAYS CHQ OUT 2M1EUB LISTING ON QRZ FOR MORE INFO ..DE PAUL 2E1EUB ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] Recording, AO-51 V/S 23:25 pass?
Anybody have a recording of the 23:25 pass of AO-51 in mode V/S? I was so busy juggling two radios waving a hand-held K5GNA downconverter (w/ corner reflector) around, I forgot to write down the call of the station in EM13 that I worked... And thanks Allen, Angelo, and Leo for the contacts!! I haven't been on V/S since Field Day a couple of years ago, forgot how un-crowded it is! George, KA3HSW ___ Sent via amsat...@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
[amsat-bb] ANS-059 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-059 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-edi...@amsat.org In this edition: * Amateur Satellite Presentation at Edison Amateur Radio Network Meeting * AMSAT Activities at the Greater Houston Hamfest * AMSAT Preparing for Hamvention 2010 * Indonesian Amateur Radio Satellite update * ARISS Status - 22 February 2010 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-059.01 Amateur Satellite Presentation at Edison Amateur Radio Network Meeting AMSAT News Service Bulletin 059.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 28, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-059.01 [Note: times listed are for the local Pacific time zone] AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting his 'Working Amateur Satellites With Your HT' multimedia session at the March 3, 2010 meeting of the Edison Amateur Radio Network. All are welcome to attend. Tentatively, we have a pass of AO-51 at 5:40PM before the meeting, Clint reports. I'll be working the satellite from the AQMD parking lot if you'd like to show up a few minutes early. The club meets at the Diamond Bar AQMD building, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar CA 91765 - close to the 57/60 freeway interchange. Meeting starts at 6PM. Attendees are encouraged to download Clint's four-page tutorial and radio programming matrix before the meeting from ... http://www.work-sat.com And Clint welcomes pre-presentation questions - call him at 909-241-7666, or send email to ... cl...@clintbradford.com [ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-059.02 AMSAT Activities at the Greater Houston Hamfest AMSAT News Service Bulletin 059.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 28, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-059.02 Greater Houston Hamfest 2010 in Rosenburg, TX will feature an AMSAT booth, technical presentation and satellite demos. Second prize drawing at Hamfest will be for Kenwood F6A HT with Arrow antenna and duplexer. Allen Mattis N5AFV Andy MacAllister W5ACM are organizing the AMSAT activities. Listen for special event callsign, KK5W. [ANS thanks Allen, N5AFV, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-059.03 AMSAT Preparing for Hamvention 2010 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 059.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 28, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-059.03 The AMSAT team is preparing for the 2010 Dayton Hamvention AMSAT Booth and activities. We are updating information about the AMSAT presence at Dayton on the AMSAT Web site, follow the left hand navigation to get to the AMSAT Hamvention area. Those wishing to stay with the AMSAT contingent and volunteering to work on booth setup/take down or in the booth itself are invited to contact Martha to make your hotel reservations. Additional information about the hotel can be found under the Dayton Hotel 2010 link. The Friday night AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be at the same location as the last three years, the Kohler Banquet Center. The menu has been selected and posted on the AMSAT/TAPR Banquet 2010 link. TAPR will be selecting the speaker for the banquet this year. The team is looking forward to displaying AMSAT accomplishments, new merchandise and talking with our members during the May 14-16, 2010 event. [ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-059.04 Indonesian Amateur Radio Satellite update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 059.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 28, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-059.04 Wisnu Widjaja YBØAZ brings the latest news on the two new Indonesian Amateur Radio satellites, LAPAN-ORARI and LAPAN-A2 which are planned to launch in 2011. ORARI is the Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia. LAPAN-ORARI will carry a 5 watt output FM voice transponder with a 435.880 MHz uplink and 145.880 MHz downlink as well as an APRS Digi- peater on 145.825 MHz. It will also carry a green light laser for attitude determination. It is planned to be launched from India into a 650km orbit with low (8 degree) inclination as a secondary payload with Megha-Tropique. LAPAN-A2 will use S band (non amateur frequency) for video surveil- lance and the amateur frequency 437.425 MHz for telemetry. Wisnu Widjaja YBØAZ was the responsible operator on the frequency coordination request for the two satellites submitted to the IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination panel which was approved on December 23, 2009. Work on LAPAN-ORARI and LAPAN-A2 satellites is currently at the stage of assembly and testing of components. More information is available on these satellites at http://www.lapan.go.id http://www.orari.or.id http://www.amsat-id.net
[amsat-bb] Wisp Keying Multipsk - Another go for Pacsat with software.
Hi All Another go for Pacsat with software. This time Wisp with Multipsk ver 4.16 Wisp Keying Multipsk via VSPE virtual connector port . So far TX line was testing. Wisp--Multipsk--soundcard Setup Create a Connector virtual com using VSPE software Wisp --com 1 Multipsk serial port for kiss -- com 1 On Multipsk TX/RX screen choose--Packet APRS On Multipsk TX/R screen click kiss icon. Run a pass! Click fill. MSPE will send a packet to Multipsk TX/RX screen and through the soundcard. Again I'm waiting for a bird . For more info and Movie see http://st2nh-blogger.blogspot.com/2010/02/wisp-keying-multipsk.html For my previous Wisp MixW experiments see. http://st2nh-blogger.blogspot.com/2010/02/pacsat-with-out-hardware-tnc.html http://st2nh-blogger.blogspot.com/2010/02/wisp-keying-mixw-direct-via-virtual.html 73's Nader ___ Sent via amsat...@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
