SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-126.01
ANS Special Bulletin - AO-51 Batteries Failing

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 126.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 6, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-126.01

AMSAT Vice-President of Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA reported
the AO-51 Command Team is having a difficult time trying to restore
AO-51 to operation.

The current situation is the satellite will not retain the upload of
the flight software across eclipse. The batteries are in very poor
condition.

AO-51 ground control stations plan a few more things to try, but with
eclipses peaking around July at approximately 27 minutes, the long
term situation is grim.

There is a brief period around November where eclipses are as short
as 16 minutes, but past that it is a long climb to 30 minutes or
longer eclipses for many years.

At this time the Command Team cannot provide an estimated "return to
service" date. Stations with 9k6 digital capability can listen in on
control station attempts at recovery on 435.150 MHz on many passes
over the US.

Please support AMSAT-NA and the other AMSAT groups around the world,
and help us get new satellites into orbit. Projects like Fox, FunCube,
P3E, and Kiwisat need your financial support to keep our amateur sat-
ellite fleet flying. You can donate to AMSAT-NA via the link on the
front page at http://www.amsat.org.

Keep up with the latest AO-51 Control Team News on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA VP Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the
above information]