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AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-045
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes
news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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.
The news feed on
http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in
Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor@amsat.org
You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service
Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see:
https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
In this edition:
* What Is Keeping The NA1SS Amateur Station Off The Air?
* AMSAT OSCAR-109 Update
* Virtual HamCation Is this Weekend - Don't miss AMSAT!
* AMSAT 2021 President’s Club Welcomes New Members
* Happy New Year on Mars!
* Satellite Operating Awards Available
* AMICALSAT Award Certificates Deadline Approaching
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 12, 2021
* NASA Awards Contract to Launch Initial Elements for Lunar Outpost
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
ANS-045 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 045.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002
DATE 2021 Feb 14
What Is Keeping The NA1SS Amateur Station Off The Air?
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and its partners
are troubleshooting what is keeping the NA1SS amateur station off the air.
ARISS became aware of the problem after an attempted contact with a school
in Wyoming, between ON4ISS on Earth and astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG at NA1SS, had to abort when no downlink signal was heard. ARISS has determined that the problem is not with the radio equipment on board the ISS Columbus module.
ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, explained that during a 27 January spacewalk to install exterior cabling on the ISS Columbus module,
the coax feed line installed 11 years ago was replaced with another built
by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus. It included two additional
RF connectors to support the Bartolomeo payload-hosting platform installed
last spring on Columbus.
"On 26 January, prior to the EVA [extravehicular activity], our Columbus next-generation radio system was shut off and the ISS-internal coaxial
cable to the antenna was disconnected from the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA," Bauer said. “During the spacewalk, an exte
rnal
four-connector coax feed line replaced one with two RF connections. This
change was made to allow ESA to connect ARISS and three additional
customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISS and one additional RF
customer," Bauer explained.
With the spacewalk completed, the ISS crew restarted the ISS amateur radio station on 28 January, but no voice repeater or automatic packet repeater system (APRS) downlink reports were heard and no downlink signal was heard during an attempted scheduled school contact either. Bauer said that
because the exterior cable is not an ARISS cable, ARISS is working with ESA
and NASA on a way forward. "NASA has opened a Payload Anomaly Report on
this issue. We have talked to both the NASA and ESA representatives," Bauer said.
[ANS thanks Southgate Amateur Radio New for this excellent summary of previously reported information]
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++++++++
Join the 2021 President's Club!
Score your 2" 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered "Remove Before Flight" Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won't want to miss it!
++++++++++
++++++++
AMSAT OSCAR-109 Update
The RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E CubeSat has been designated as AMSAT-OSCAR 109
(AO-109). AMSAT engineering and operations teams appreciate the satellite community’s cooperation to date and reiterated their request that u
sers not
attempt to use the transponder until further notice. “The proper identification will allow further characterization of the satellite
s
condition through additional testing,” AMSAT concluded.
RadFXSat-2/Fox-1E was launched on January 17 on Virgin Orbit’s Laun
cherOne,
which carried 10 other satellites into space. AO-109 carries an inverting linear transponder, with uplink at 145.860 MHz – 145.890 MHz, and d
ownlink
at 435.760 MHz – 435.790 MHz. Telemetry will downlink on 435.750 MH
z.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director and Fox Command Team member Mark Hammond, N8MH,
for the above information]
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Virtual HamCation Is this Weekend - Don't miss AMSAT!
HamCation 2021 is a virtual 'Online Only' event this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, February 13th and 14th.
AMSAT will provide three virtual presentations on Sunday:
* 10:00 AM (EST) AMSAT CubeSat Simulator, Alan Johnston KU2Y, AMSAT VP of Educational Relations
* 12:00 AM (EST) AMSAT, Onward and Upward, Robert Bankston KE4AL, AMSAT President
* 1:00 PM (EST) AMSAT Engineering Update, Jerry Buxton N0JY, AMSAT VP of Engineering.
NOTE: > All times are Eastern Standard Time (UTC -05:00)
Be sure to check out the full schedule for other topics of interest.
https://www.hamcation.com/forums-speakers
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above
information]
++++++++++
+++++++
Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through
AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/
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+++++++
AMSAT 2021 President’s Club Welcomes New Members
The following new members of the AMSAT 2021 President’s Club have b
een
added as of January 31, 2021. We thank them for their generous support and helping to keep Amateur Radio in Space!
Core Level
Gerald Buxton, N0JY
Dale Peer, KF7ZBK
Alston Simpson, WA5TJB
Carl Starnes, W4EAT
Richard Steegstra, K1LKR
Bronze Level
Anton Giroux, KF3BX
Edward F. Krome, K9EK
Silver Level
W. Fisher, WB1FJ
Mark Hammond, N8MH
Joseph Lynch, N6CL
Ronald Parsons, W5RKN
David A. Vine, WA1EAW
Gold Level
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Titanium Level
William Brown
All members receive a full color certificate, 2" commemorative coin with
four accent colors and gold polished finish, and an embroidered "REMOVE
BEFORE FLIGHT" key tag. Members at Silver level and above receive a
handsome acrylic desk plaque and tickets for symposium events.
Join the AMSAT 2021 President’s Club today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/.
[ANS thanks Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, VP-Development for the above
information.]
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Happy New Year on Mars!
The countdown to a new year is in many ways a defining moment for our lives
on Earth. Our age, our seasons, filing our taxes, all depend on the
duration of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. On Mars, there are no yea
rly tax
returns, but as the planet also orbits around our Sun, time on Mars is similarly measured in years. However, there are some significant
differences between a year on Mars and a year on Earth. February 7, 2021
marked what scientists here on Earth consider the start of Year 36 on Mars. Let’s look at some similarities and differences between a year on t
he two
planets:
* One year on Mars equals 687 Earth days. It takes almost twice as long as
our Earth to orbit the Sun. This means your age would be a lot less if you lived on Mars! If you would like to feel younger, just divide your current
age by 1.88 and casually mention to your friends that that’s your r
eal
age...on Mars.
* A Martian day is defined, like on Earth, as the time it takes for the
planet to make one revolution around its axis. This is called a sol. A sol
is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours and 39 minutes.
* Mars has four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn. They are
defined by the planet’s position along its orbit around the Sun. Th
e
Martian New Year begins with the northward equinox (northern spring,
southern autumn). As Mars travels through its yearly trajectory, the
planet’s axial tilt causes the northern hemisphere to receive more
sunlight
during the northern summer, and the southern hemisphere to receive more sunlight in northern winter – just like on Earth. Unlike Earth
s seasons
however, the seasons on Mars are not of equal lengths. This is because the orbit of Mars around the Sun is more elliptical than that of Earth. For example, the northern hemisphere spring (southern hemisphere autumn) lasts
the longest, 194 sols, and the northern hemisphere autumn (southern
hemisphere spring) is the shortest season at 142 sols.
* Mars’ elliptical orbit can have important consequences. During so
uthern
spring and summer, Mars swings by the sun closer and faster. The resulting increase in luminosity heats up the atmosphere, causing turbulence to lift
up very fine particles from the Martian soil. For this reason, the second
half of a Martian year is often marked by fierce dust storms that can
sometimes become planet-wide.
* Like on Earth, winters are cold and summers are warm on Mars, but the planet’s overall temperature is a lot cooler, it has a yearly avera
ge
temperature of minus 60 degrees Celsius. The planet experiences different weather phenomena throughout the seasons. A weather phenomenon that
reappears every year around the southern spring and summer is the Arsia
Mons Elongated Cloud, a cloud of ice crystals that can reach up to 1800 kilometres in length. It repeats for at least 80 sols and then disappears
again during the rest of the year.
* The Martian calendar began fairly recently compared to the one on Earth.
The count started in Earth year 1955. This first Martian year coincided
with a very large dust storm in its second half, aptly named ‘the g
reat
dust storm of 1956.’
If you’re looking for a reason to celebrate, here’s to a Ha
ppy New Mars
Year!
[ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information]
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Satellite Operating Awards Available
Awards are a big part of amateur radio in all of its various
manifestations, and the same is true for satellite operations. There are a number of awards that are available for all your hard work on the
satellites. AMSAT sponsors a number of these awards, and others are
available from other amateur organizations. You may not have even known
about some of them, and may have enough QSL cards to qualify now!
AMSAT's Satellite Communicators’ Club award is given to any operato
r for
having made their first satellite contact. To apply for this, and other
AMSAT awards, you should go to the AMSAT.ORG online store and purchase the award. After completing your purchase, email the AMSAT Awards Manager,
kk5do AT amsat DOT org that you have made the purchase and supplying the necessary proof of contacts.
The Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award is for working 20 contacts, on any satellite or combination of satellites, in 20 different states, DXCC countries or Canadian Call Areas. Those that have the RAC CANDADAWARD or ARRL WAS with satellite endorsements, may submit a copy of
their certificate as proof of working the 13 Canadian Call Areas or 50 U.S. States. All QSOs must be completed from locations separated by no more than
50 miles or 80 kilometers.
The Oscar Sexagesimal Award is the same as the Oscar Satellite
Communications Achievement Award but is given for 60 contacts. All the qualifications and costs are the same.
Next there is the Oscar Century Award. This is the same as the other two
awards but is for 100 contacts. Qualifications and costs are the same.
Please note that the previous 3 awards are aggregated. Once you have worked your 20, that applies towards your 60 so you only need 40 more contacts.
The same is true for the 100, once you get your 60, you only need 40 more
for your 100.
The AMSAT Rover Award is given to those intrepid souls who make our grid
counts possible. It is based on a rather complex point system, which is detailed at
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/
Finally, AMSAT offers the Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award. It is awarded for the submission of 1,000 satellite
contacts on OSCAR-6 or later satellites. There is an endorsement for each additional 1,000 and a special certificate at 5,000.
For details on each of the AMSAT awards and how to apply for them, see the AMSAT website at
https://www.amsat.org/awards-2/
In addition, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) offers many of their operating awards with satellite endorsements for those who complete the necessary contacts exclusively using satellites. These include the VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) for working 100 different grid squares, and the Worked
All States (WAS) for confirmed contact stations in each of the 50 states.
Those up for a particular challenge can shoot for the Worked All Continents (WAC) for contacting stations on each of the 8 continents, and DX Century
Club (DXCC) for contacting 100 different DXCC countries on satellite.
For details on the ARRL awards, begin the search by consulting
http://www.arrl.org/awards/
Satellite operating success can earn some impressive wallpaper!
[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Awards Manager, for the above information]
++++++++++
++++++++
AMSAT's GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable sol
ar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The
journey will be worth it!
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF
++++++++++
++++++++
AMICALSAT Award Certificates Deadline Approaching
Diplomas for the AMICALSAT satellite are being sent out. If you have not
yet requested yours, you can do so before 28/02/2021.
The satellite has been active since September 3, 2020. The launch of the
Vega rocket went well. According to the project team, the commissioning of
the satellite is in progress and is proceeding normally. The team has
succeeded in stabilizing the satellite and is beginning to test image
capture and retrieval.
The contributions of radio amateurs have been very important for the
project. This has contributed to the commissioning of the satellite. In the case of AMICALSAT, it is possible to send telemetry to the dashboard hosted
by the Satnogs network via
* a Satnogs station
* the AMICALSAT Decoder software provided by AMSAT-F at
https://bit.ly/3pdTvcm
* the software edited by DK3WN (TLM Forwarder)
Data from AMICALSAT Decoder is also sent to the AMSAT-F database (
https://amsat.electrolab.fr/). To date, more than 42 radio amateurs from
all over the world have contributed more than 28,000 telemetry frames.
In order to thank the radio amateurs who have sent telemetry via AMICALSAT Decoder software before December 31, 2020, AMSAT-F will issue a diploma.
Rules for issuing the diploma
The diploma in electronic format will be given to all radio amateurs or earphones that have received data from the Amicalsat satellite and sent
these data to the AMSAT-F database with the "AMICALSAT Decoder" software.
Depending on the number of data received on the AMSAT-F database (
https://amsat.electrolab.fr/), the nature of the diploma will be different depending on the number of frames received before December 31, 2020 23:59
UTC :
GOLD Diploma for persons having sent more than 5000 frames to the
AMSAT-F database.
Silver Diploma for those who have sent between 2500 & 4999 frames to
the AMSAT-F database.
Bronze Diploma: for those who have sent between 500 & 2499 frames to
the AMSAT-F database.
Diploma without mention for persons having sent between 1 & 499 frames
to the AMSAT-F database
The request for a diploma is done by sending an email to
amsatf@amsat-f.org indicating your callsign or the name given in the AMSAT-F database to send
the data.
Only the received frames actually registered on
https://amsat.electrolab.fr
/
will be taken into account.
[ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F president, for the above
information]
++++++++++
+++++++
Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff
from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes
towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear
++++++++++
+++++++
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 11, 2021
RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) has been renamed as AO-109 in this week's AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution as follows:
AO-109 - NORAD Cat ID 47311.
As of February 7, 2021 RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) was designated AMSAT-OSCAR 109 (AO-109) by Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Director and Command Station.
The following satellite has been added to this week's AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:
YUSAT-1 - NORAD Cat ID 47439.
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, for this satellite identification.
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]
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NASA Awards Contract to Launch Initial Elements for Lunar Outpost
NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Power and
Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the foundational elements of the Gateway. As the first long-term orbiting
outpost around the Moon, the Gateway is critical to supporting sustainable astronauts missions under the agency’s Artemis program.
After integration on Earth, the PPE and HALO are targeted to launch
together no earlier than May 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch
Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The total co
st to
NASA is approximately $331.8 million, including the launch service and
other mission-related costs.
The PPE is a 60-kilowatt class solar electric propulsion spacecraft that
also will provide power, high-speed communications, attitude control, and
the capability to move the Gateway to different lunar orbits, providing
more access to the Moon’s surface than ever before.
The HALO is the pressurized living quarters where astronauts who visit the Gateway, often on their way to the Moon, will work. It will provide command
and control and serve as the docking hub for the outpost. HALO will support science investigations, distribute power, provide communications for
visiting vehicles and lunar surface expeditions, and supplement the life support systems aboard Orion, NASA’s spacecraft that will deliver A
rtemis
astronauts to the Gateway.
About one-sixth the size of the International Space Station, the Gateway
will function as a way station, located tens of thousands of miles at its farthest distance from the lunar surface, in a near-rectilinear halo orbit.
It will serve as a rendezvous point for Artemis astronauts traveling to
lunar orbit aboard Orion prior to transit to low-lunar orbit and the
surface of the Moon. From this vantage, NASA and its international and commercial partners will conduct unprecedented deep space science and technology investigations.
NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy will manage the SpaceX la
unch
service. The HALO is being designed and built by Northrop Grumman Space
Systems of Dulles, Virginia, and the PPE is being built by Maxar
Technologies of Westminster, Colorado. NASA’s Johnson Space Center
in
Houston manages the Gateway program for the agency. NASA’s Glenn Re
search
Center in Cleveland is responsible for management of the PPE.
Learn more about NASA’s Gateway program at:
https://nasa.gov/gatewa
y
Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/ar
temis
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
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+++++++
AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.
Support AMSAT's projects today at
https://www.amsat.org/donate/
++++++++++
+++++++
ARISS NEWS
Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between
amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with
astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The
downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.
Due to antenna problems reported earlier, upcoming ARISS contacts are
probably going to be via the Kenwood TM-D710E radio located in the Service Module. You may or may not notice a difference in signal when compared to
the Kenwood TM-710GA that is in the Columbus module.
A contact with Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua, NH, multi-point
telebridge via AB1OC, is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19 at 17:56:36 UTC. The
ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS and the scheduled astronaut
is Shannon Walker, KD5DXB. Maximum elevation will be 33 degrees. Watch for
live stream at:
https://youtu.be/0-Dsel4_7gM
Congratulations to NA7V for his first ARISS contact as an ARISS telebridge station! The contact with Red Hill Lutheran School of Tustin, Calif. was completed on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, operating
with the station callsign of NA1SS, made contact at 18:26 UTC on a pass
with maximum elevation of 65 degrees. Congratulations to the Red Hill
Lutheran students and Mike!
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors
for the above information]
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Upcoming Satellite Operations
Quick Hits:
****Watch Twitter, there are lots pop-up roves happening lately, and I
can’t keep this page updated with all of them.****
Spring Training Rove! KX9X will be heading down to Ft Myers, FL the week of March 7 for some sun and baseball. Will activate EL86 & 96 holiday style
for sure, possibly a couple other grids as well. Linear/FM. Details soon.
N6UA: I’ve had enough of the arctic zephyr … I’m he
aded south. I don’t have
exact details yet – but the plan is to rove to DM74 for passes on F
ebruary
19th. I’ll be overnight, so plenty of opportunities. Probably heade
d down
via the “7s” and home into the “8s”
AD0HJ will be in EN23 2/11 & 2/12.
KE0PBR: EL87 Holiday Style FM only Week of 2/14… Might want to reac
h out if
you need it.
Major Roves:
CM93 Possibility: N6DNM Very long shot, but might want to put it on your calendar for May 15th, if you can figure out where it is and for #SOTA
folks, that would be W6/SC-336, Santa Rosa Island, activated only once
before.
Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com
[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]
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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, for the above information]
QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo; March 13,14 2021
The second QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo will be held on March 13-14, 2021.
There is an Amateur Radio speaker track and AMSAT will have a virtual booth during the event. Advance tickets are now on sale. More information at:
https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/
[ANS thanks Virtual QSO Ham Expo for the above information.]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ NASA will provide live coverage on NASA Television, the agency’s
website,
and the NASA app of the launch and docking of a Russian cargo spacecraft to
the International Space Station beginning at 11:15 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb.
14. The unpiloted Russian Progress 77 is scheduled to launch on a Soyuz
rocket at 11:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (ANS thanks NASA for the above
information)
+ U.A.E’s Hope (Al Amal) orbiter arrived at Mars on Feb. 9, firing
its
thrusters for 27 minutes to successfully enter Martian orbit. The U.A.E. is
the first Arab country, and the fifth overall, to reach the planet.
Meanwhile, China's Tianwen-1 entered Martian orbit on Feb. 10 for a period
of checkout before a planned release of its instrument-laden lander and
rover sometime in May. And next week, on Thursday, Feb. 18, NASA's
Perseverance rover will slam into Mars’ atmosphere at hypersonic ve
locities
and eventually find itself sitting alone on the surface seven minutes later (hopefully all in one piece). The Mars fleet is arriving! (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)
+ After an incredible 43 years and 22 billion kilometers, Voyager 1 and 2
are still delivering science (which takes 21 hours to reach us at the speed
of light). Using data from both craft, scientists have found evidence for electrons getting reflected off of shockwaves created by our Sun’s
coronal
mass ejections, which then spiral along interstellar magnetic field lines
while accelerating to great speeds (scientific paper at
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/abc337). (ANS thanks
The Orbital Index for the above information)
+ NASA announced Feb. 9 it wants to obtain a seat on the next Soyuz mission
to the International Space Station, launching in just two months, to ensure
a U.S. presence on the station in the event of any commercial crew delays. There are no known issues with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, one
of
which is currently docked to the station for the Crew-1 mission.
“Experience has shown that new launch capabilities may encounter unanticipated delays or difficulties maintaining initial schedules,
NASA
noted. (ANS thanks Space News for the above information)
+ If there's an advanced extraterrestrial civilization inhabiting a nearby
star system, we might be able to detect it using its own atmospheric
pollution, according to new NASA research. The study looked at the presence
of nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2), which on Earth is produced by burning fossil fuels. In their study, the team used computer modeling to predict whether
NO2 pollution would produce a signal that is practical to detect with
current and planned telescopes. They found that for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, a civilization producing the same amount of NO2
as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away. Since NO2 is
also produced naturally, scientists will have to carefully analyze an
exoplanet to see if there is an excess that could be attributed to a technological society. (ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
+ U.S. astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost, on Feb. 14, will
break the record for most days in space by a crew launched aboard an
American spacecraft, NASA said. "They will surpass the record of 84 days
set by the Skylab 4 crew on Feb. 8, 1974", NASA said. Four flight engineers
- Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, Victor Glover, KI5BKC,
Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG - docked the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the US module last November. (ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information)
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/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Store.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at
one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled
in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact info [at]
amsat.org for additional student membership information.
73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week's ANS Editor, Mark Johns, K0JM
k0jm at amsat dot org
-----------------------------------------------
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