AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-028

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, 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 at 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: http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans

In this edition:

• AO-92 Commissioned, Open for Amateur Use
• AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started
• FoxTelem Version 1 06 Software Released
• GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge
• AMSAT Rover Award Up and Running - Already Up to #7 Awarded
• D-Star ONE v 1 1 Phoenix Satellite Planned for Launch February 1
• AO-91 QSO Two YLs Meet on the Air
• Two More US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections
• ARISS APRS Packet Currently Non-Operational
• ARISS School Contact First for Cyprus
• PicSat Requests Amateur Radio Assistance to Capture/Upload Telemetry
• AO-73 Operating Schedule Changes Announced
• Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor
• AMSAT Argentina LU1ESY-3 WSPR Balloon Flight Heading Out of Africa
• OR4ESA Redu Ground Station Belgium on the Air Until February 6
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028 01 ANS-028 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 028 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE January 28, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-028 01

AO-92 Commissioned, Open for Amateur Use

On the 03:25 UTC pass on January 26, 2018, AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, announced that AO-92 had been commissioned and formally turned the satellite over to AMSAT Operations AMSAT Vice President – Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, then declared that AO-92 was now open for amateur use

Initially, the U/v FM transponder will be open continuously for a period of one week After the first week, operations will be scheduled between the U/v FM transponder, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI)

Schedule updates will appear in the AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins and will also be posted to the AMSAT-BB, AMSAT’s Twitter account (@AMSAT), the AMSAT North America Facebook group, and the AMSAT website at https://www amsat org/satellite-schedules/

AO-92 was launched on the PSLV-C40 mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India on January 12, 2018 For the past two weeks, the AMSAT Engineering and Operations teams have been testing the various modes and experiments on board Testing has shown that both the U/v FM transponder and L-Band Downshifter work very well The Virginia Tech camera has returned stunning photos and data from HERCI has been successfully downlinked

AMSAT thanks the 178 stations worldwide that have used FoxTelem to collect telemetry and experiment data from AO-92 during the commissioning process The collection of this data is crucial to the missions of AMSAT’s Fox-1 satellites Please continue to collect data from AO-85, AO-91, and AO-92

RADIO PROGRAMMING CHART Fox-1D Doppler Shift Correction

Memory 1 (AOS)     - TX 435 340 MHz (67 0 Hz Tone), RX 145 880 MHz Memory 2 (Rise)    - TX 435 345 MHz (67 0 Hz Tone), RX 145 880 MHz Memory 3 (TCA)     - TX 435 350 MHz (67 0 Hz Tone), RX 145 880 MHz Memory 4 (Descend) - TX 435 355 MHz (67 0 Hz Tone), RX 145 880 MHz Memory 5 (LOS)     - TX 435 360 MHz (67 0 Hz Tone), RX 145 880 MHz

The L-band experiment will use 1267 350 MHz uplink with 145 880 MHz downlink UHF and L-band uplink operation are set by the command stations; the operating schedule will be posted

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY,  AMSAT Vice President Operatings Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT  Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information]

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AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started

AMSAT membership supports the organization and construction of new satellites Right now, we are offering a free PDF copy of our Getting Started with Amateur Satellites with every new on-line membership This is -the- primer for getting on the sats, and is updated every year See https://www amsat org/product-category/amsat-membership/

AMSAT also sells both the popular Arrow Antenna satellite models and the M2 LEOpack antennas Sales also benefit AMSAT projects https://www amsat org/product-category/hardware/

[ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information]

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FoxTelem Version 1 06 Software Released

Chris, G0KLA, has released version 1 06 of FoxTelem on January 27 This release addresses several defects and instabilities in FoxTelem version 1 05 and earlier It also introduces a new Earth Plot that allows any telemetry value to be plotted as a heat map against a map of the earth For more details about the Earth Plot and some example plots, you can read a quick tutorial posted at: http://www g0kla com/workbench/2018-01-26 php

As always, let Chris know if you see any issues or log them on github at https://github com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/issues

KEY CHANGES ~~~~~~~~~~~ * EARTH PLOTS allow you to plot any telemetry value as a heat map   on a map of the earth * Allow graphs and telemetry results to be searched with UTC dates   and for ranges of uptime/dates * Allow stepping through the telemetry with up/down arrows * Prevent hang when decoder starts if FCD returns an error * Fixed bug where TLEs were not updated in the name is changed   in the spacecraft settings window * Fixed crashes introduced in 1 05 release * Display all HERCI High Speed payloads when Raw Byte Payloads shown * Fix bug where missing TLE disables spacecraft from being tracked   at all * Fixes bug where DDE connection to SatPC32 fails with European   decimal point format * Add MPPT calibration values for Fox-1D * Improved the RF signal measurements * Improved the Find Signal algorithm * Space graph labels more evenly * Put the spacecraft tabs in FoxId order

And many other bug fixes Full list of changes here: https://github com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/milestone/3?closed=1

[ANS thanks FoxTelem author Chris, G0KLA for the above information]

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GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge

In October 2017 AMSAT announced the GOLF (Greater Orbit, Larger Foot- print) program The first project of the GOLF program is a technology demonstrator named GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment) The design is a 3U CubeSat with deployable solar panels, ADAC (attitude determination and control), Software Defined Radio (SDR) Transponder, and a Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment Now is the time to begin work on the GOLF-TEE Project

At the end of 2017, AMSAT has generous offers from two AMSAT Past Presidents for matching funds up to $15,000 for those that contribute to the GOLF-TEE campaign at: https://www paypal com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=s-xclick&hostedbutton_id=STK27W4G9RMLC (Shortened URL without linewrap: http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-PayPal-GOLF-Donation ) between now and Feb- ruary 15th Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next series of satellites of the GOLF program There are also donate buttons for GOLF-TEE on the AMSAT website Planning is for a launch in 2019

Donations of $100 and $1,000 or more will be eligible for a special AMSAT GOLF premium (Both premiums are currently being designed, so please be patient awaiting delivery )

AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help under- write the development and launch expenses of our GOLF satellite program

Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Joe Spier, K6WAO at k6wao@amsat org

(ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information)

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AMSAT Rover Award Up and Running - Already Up to #7 Awarded

On January 1, 2018, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards announced the Rover Award This award is granted to stations who achieve a combined 25 points using any combination of the defined criteria posted at: https://www amsat org/amsat-rover-award/

Bruce says the AMSAT Rover Award is up to #7 - Congrats to Jose, N7AGF, Rover Award #007

Points can be earned for each grid square activated outside of your home grid square using the FM, linear, and digital satellites While FM contacts count for 1 point each multiplier points are available for contacts via the linear and digital satellites

Additional points are available for photographs, publicity, social media promotion, and AMSAT Journal articles The options are numerous so please refer to the Rover Award Website for all of the details

Keep on roving!

[ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO,  for the above information]

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D-Star ONE v 1 1 Phoenix Satellite Planned for Launch February 1

German Orbital Systems GmbH (GOS) and iSky Technology s r o (iSky) have announced a revival of the D-Star ONE satellite project to replace their satellite lost as a result of a failed launch of the Roscosmos Meteor-M No 2-1 meteorological mission on November 28, 2017

GOS and iSky said their teams were actively working together during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and are now happy to announce that they we have completed the assembly and final checks of a replacement satellite named D-Star ONE v 1 1 Phoenix satellite The project is Phoenix as symbol of the rebirth and revival of the project

The launch of D-Star ONE v 1 1 Phoenix plans to launch on a Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket for the launch from the Vostochny launch site on February 1, 2018

D-Star repeater & beacon frequencies: Uplink:   437 325MHz Downlink: 435 525MHz RF-Power: 800mW

Additional information will be posted at: http://www d-star one/ -and- http://www orbitalsystems de/d-star-one-second-birth/?lang=en

Spaceflightinsider com published an article about successful final testing on D-Star ONE: http://tinyurl com/ANS-316-Spaceflightinsider www spaceflightinsider com)

[ANS thanks the D-Star ONE Team for the above information]

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AO-91 QSO Two YLs Meet on the Air

Jeff Johns, WE4B, tweeted about the satellite contact via AO-91 his daughter Marissa, W4AQT, completed with Alyssa and her dad Charlie Azofeifa, TI2CDA

Jeff said Alyssa had seen Marissa's QRZ page and it turns out they are both Harry Potter, Pete the Cat and Minecraft fans and she wanted to get Marissa's QSL card Charlie and I looked for favorable passes and decided the 18:16z pass of AO-91 on 1/20/2018 would be our first attempt to have the girls make contact

Marissa and dad Jeff went outside with radios and our Arrow antenna and waited for AO-91 to crest the horizon As soon as they could hear the bird, W4AQT started calling TI2CDA After a few calls, there was Alyssa with Charlie serving as the control op The girls had a very sweet, quick QSO

Jeff wrote, "Ham radio is supposed to be about learning and progressing the radio art but it's also about forming friendships, even if they are long distance friendships I have no doubt that this will not be the last time that Marissa and Alyssa have a QSO and I am confident that Alyssa will soon get her own license as Marissa is almost ready to take her General exam I was fortunate that my daughter became inter- ested in amateur radio when she would go outside with me and listen to me talking to other hams with my Arrow antenna pointed at the sky Now that she's licensed, it's allowed us to have some great father and daughter time together, as well as, providing her some excellent STEM education "

Jeff's post on the QRZ com satellite forum and photos can be seen at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-AO91-YL-QSO

[ANS thanks Jeff Johns, WE4B for the above information and congratulates  Marissa, W4AQT on her satellite QSO]

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Two More US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections

January 13, 2018 — The ARISS-US team (Amateur Radio on the Inte national Space Station) is pleased to announce that two more US schools or organizations have had their ARISS proposals selected for advancement to the next stage of planning for amateur radio contacts in 2018 These schools will take advantage of new scheduling opportunities to speak  with International Space Station (ISS) crew members using the ARISS equipment

The selected schools submitted proposals before the proposal window closed last November and join the 13 schools and groups chosen a few weeks ago   The two extra scheduling opportunities are special events thanks to ARISS’s two major sponsors, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation group and the Center for the Advance- ment of Science in Space The events that the schools’ students will travel to are aerospace conferences where their ARISS radio contacts will be a highlight open to conference attendees

The schools and venues are:

• Quest for Space/Quest Institute for Quality Education in San Jose,   California, whose ARISS contact will be featured at the ISS R&D   Conference, July 23-26 in San Francisco, California

• Burns Science & Technical Charter School in Oak Hill, Florida,   whose ARISS contact will be featured at the S P A C E Conference,   July 11-13 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

ARISS’s primary goal is to engage young people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and to involve them in activi- ties related to space exploration, amateur radio, communications, and areas of associated study and career possibilities

ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a coop- erative venture of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, and other international space agencies and international amateur radio organizations around the world The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers from amateur radio clubs and coordination from the ARISS team, the ISS crew members speak directly with large group audiences in a variety of public forums such as school assemblies, science centers and museums, Scout camporees, jamborees and space camps, where students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technol- ogies and Amateur Radio

Find more information at www ariss org, www amsat organd www arrl org

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

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ARISS APRS Packet Currently Non-Operational

ARISS NEWS RELEASE no 18-02 January 26, 2018 David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR

An unidentified anomaly involving the radio serving the ARISS APRS Packet System on board the ISS has led to the system not functioning

A similar problem has occurred on other occasions and solutions that resolved the problem proved to be only temporary fixes The system may return to service as it has in the past or it may have finally failed completely

ARISS sees the delivery of the interoperable radio system as the true solution to securing our ARISS packet operation Current target period for delivery and installation of the replacement system is Fall 2018

In the meantime, ARISS continues to investigate the problem and seek opportunities to resolve the issue The ARISS team knows many amateur radio operators really enjoy using the ARISS APRS packet system, and thanks everyone for understanding the issues involved with not having it available

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

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ARISS School Contact First for Cyprus

For the first time, students in Cyprus spoke live with an astronaut on the International Space Station orbiting the Earth on January 24 A video of this historic event can be viewed at: https://youtu be/RJvDskycyj4?t=52m

The English School has established significant partnerships with the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society and the Kition Planetarium & Observatory who have been assisting throughout the long preparation period, while Cyta, PM-ICT Solutions with Polycom and Delta Electronics will offer their specialised technical assistance Also, Alpha Cyprus is the media sponsor for the event The English School thanks them all on behalf of the student “adventurers” who are thrilled by this great opportunity!

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

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PicSat Requests Amateur Radio Assistance to Capture/Upload Telemetry

Cubesat PicSat was launched on the same PSLV-C40 flight from India that delivered AO-92 to orbit PicSat is a nano-satellite aimed at observing the transit of the young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b in front of its bright and equally young star Beta Pictoris, and at demonstrating an innovative technological concept to use optical fibres for astronomical observations from Space

The cubesat contains an embedded FM transponder It will be avail- able when possible during the mission

Frequency information: Uplink FM     145 910 MHz   1750 Hz tone when in amateur mode Downlink FM   435 525 MHz   9k6 BPSK AX25 Data and FM voice                             when in amateur mode

(Despite the documentation, PicSat beacons so far have been 1k2 BPSK )

There is a 1k2 BPSK software modem in: http://uz7 ho ua/modem_beta/other-versions zip A report posted by K4KDR advises to receive using upper sideband with the audio output centered on the middle of the passband

A description of the telemetry and related information are available on https://picsat obspm fr/data/telemetries?locale=en

This week the PicSat team requested amateur radio assistance to capture and upload telemetry packets from the satellite Beacons received from all over the world are especially useful to monitor the status of satellite along its orbit (and not just when it is above our own station) Science data are obviously useful for the science mission And all other packets, even when they do not look like much, can be of great importance! For example, we often receive satellite acknowledgements to our commands from ground station in France or Europe which are listening at the same time as us It may look useless, but it is not We regularly miss those packets our- selves, so it is good to have other people receiving them and sending them to us

There are three ways to send your data The options for your upload will become available on your profile tab after registration at their website: https://picsat obspm fr/connexion?locale=en

Full details of the packet uploading procedure are posted at: https://picsat obspm fr/contributing/send-packets?locale=en

• Fast upload beacon: mainly intended as a way to directly upload   a beacon by copy/paste when you receive, and to get an immediate   overview of the satellite status When you are a new user, this   is also the only way you can upload a packet Upload one beacon   successfully, and you will have access to the other methods!

    This page accepts a hexadecimal string, like "0123456789ABCDEF" in   which whitespaces and upper/lower case are ignored ("01 23 45 67   89 ab cd ef", or even something like "0 1 234 56789 aBc dEf" will   be accepted) The hexadecimal string must represent the AX 25 packet   (without flags), possibly KISS encapsulated (starting with "C0 00"   and ending with "C0")

• Upload data: this can be used to upload files containing multiple   packets at once The files are stored on our servers, and processed   daily

• SiDS requests: This will be implemented in the near future

PicSat shares a similar orbit with AO-91 since they were both deployed at approximately the same time PicSat has been included in the 2 line Keplerian Elements distributions On-line orbit predications for PicSat can be found at: https://picsat obspm fr/operations/orbital-map?locale=en

PicSat news and information is presented in their on-line video: https://www youtube com/watch?v=BadAt92qHdU

[ANS thanks the PicSat Team for the above information]

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AO-73 Operating Schedule Changes Announced

The FUNcube Operations Team says that AO73 will shortly be entering full sun light Already the eclipse periods are only 11/12 minutes every orbit Current predictions indicate that full sun will commence on February 6 and last through until March 14

The FUNcube autonomous, on-board, scheduling system is based upons witching modes when entering and leaving eclipses, was not designed for this situation The scheduling system will therefore not be suit able for operations over the next few months

In line with the recently published plan, AO73 was switched to continuous amateur mode earlier commencing Thursday morning and will stay in this mode until Sunday night or Monday morning We expect that this schedule will continue until mid April The next full sun periods are then expected to return again in late August Further info is available at https://funcube org uk/news/

[ANS thanks Graham G3VZV and the FUNcube Operations Team for the  above information]

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Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor

If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor

Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week (Template is provided to help you format the message )

If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz@amsat org

(Ed note: the need for at least one, hopefully many volunteer  editors, is immediate K9JKM will be retiring at the end of March  with extensive travel plans, often out of reach of the internet )

[ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information]

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AMSAT Argentina LU1ESY-3 WSPR Balloon Flight Heading Out of Africa

AMSAT-LU (Argentina) advises that as part of LUSAT's 28th aniversary celebrations, Ignacio, LU1ESY, launched a PicoBalloon on January 19 from Villa Gessell, Argentina Floating at 12 KM height, it crossed the South Atlantic Ocean, left South Africa, and last reports show it some 500 km SSE from Madagascar, hopefully heading to Australia and New Zealand

It is transmitting as LU1ESY-3 on 14075 6 KHz WSPR, 25 mW, 25 gram payload using a WB8ELK tracker As of January 27, LU7AA reports that the balloon has completed one orbit around the world

The APRS track can be followed on aprs fi: https://aprs fi/#!call=a%2FLU1ESY-3&timerange=604800&tail=604800 and also at http://lu7aa org/wspr asp

Pictures on http://amsat org ar/globo09 htm and http://amsat org ar

Thanks to hams in Antartica, South Africa and Namibia for their WSPR captures & upload to http://wsprnet org

[ANS thanks AMSAT Argentina for the above information]

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OR4ESA Redu Ground Station Belgium on the Air Until February 6

Javier Roldan, EA1HEO, will be activating OR4ESA from the ESA Redu Ground Station in Belgium from the 16th of January until the 6th of February 2018 He is taking advantage of a visit to the site during refurbishment of the 15m dish S-Band antenna

OR4ESA is the temporary special callsign for the activation at the European Space Agency (ESA) - Redu Site and Satellite Tracking Station in Redu, Belgium (Grid locator: JO20na)

Javier will try to be on the air daily (Monday to Friday) in the evening after work approximately 18:00 - 21:00 UTC both in SSB and in digital modes Digital modes will be mainly PSK31 and RTTY as QRP

The contacts are valid for the ESA Amateur Radio Award (2 points per first QSO per mode and band)

All the QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW, eQSL, Clublog, HRDLog and QRZ com He prefers electronic QSLs as they are faster, cheaper, easier to archive and they are more friendly to the environment Paper QSLs should be sent via bureau or direct to DL0ESA Please include SASE and $1 USD Europe, $2 USD outside Europe Paper QSLs will only be sent in reply to the ones received

All details of the activation can be found in www qrz com/db/OR4ESA

[ANS thanks Javier Roldan, EA1HEO and OR4ESA for the above information]

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ESA Announces Winners Cubesat to the Moon Competition

The European Space Agency has announced two cubesat project teams as winners of a competition to send cubesats to the moon

• The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Orbiter, or Lumio for short, would   circle over the far side of the Moon to detect bright impact   flashes during the lunar night, mapping meteoroid bombardments   as they occur

• The other, the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter, or   VMMO, would focus on a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar   south pole, searching out deposits of water ice and other volatiles   of interest to future colonists, while also measuring lunar radiation

The impact-tracking Lumio is a single 12-unit CubeSat, conceived by a consortium including Politecnico di Milano; TU Delft, EPFL, S[&]T Norway, Leonardo-Finnmeccanica and the University of Arizona

VMMO, developed by MPB Communications Inc, Surrey Space Centre, Univer- sity of Winnipeg and Lens R&D, also adopts a 12-unit CubeSat design Its miniaturised laser would probe its primary target of Shackleton Crater, adjacent to the South Pole, for measuring the abundance of water ice The region inside the crater is in permanent darkness, allowing water molecules to condense and freeze there in the very cold conditions

No amateur radio content has been announced for these missions The ESA said the idea behind our lunar CubeSat competition was challenging - up until now CubeSats have operated solely within Earth orbit However, opportunities should open up to piggyback to the Moon in the coming decade, with circumlunar flights of the NASA-ESA Orion spacecraft and planned commercial flights

The ESA announcement can be accessed on-line at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-ESA-CubesatMoon (www esa int)

[ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

• On Jan 31, the Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse will be visible before   sunrise in North America, Alaska and Hawaii   http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-LunarEclipse (space com)

• Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, posted the January 19 video Phase 4 Ground   Weekly Status report at:   Part 1 - https://youtu be/eD5P4tHIb9w   Part 2 - https://youtu be/gY0IQsppSI4   Her reports cover the IEEE Radio and Wireless Week, held in Anaheim,   California from 14 - 17 January 2017 RWW is an annual technical   conference from IEEE, and is sponsored primarily by Microwave Theory   and Techniques Society It consists of five different co-located   topical conferences One of those conferences was the Topical Work-   shop on The Internet of Space or TWIoS, with two sessions There   was also a CubeSat workshop!

• The Humanity Star was carried to orbit on-board the Rocket Lab   launch from New Zealand Their website advises, "Visible from   space with the naked eye, the Humanity Star is a highly reflective   satellite that blinks brightly across the night sky to create a   shared experience for everyone on the planet Created by Rocket Lab   founder and CEO Peter Beck, the Humanity Star is a geodesic sphere   made from carbon fibre with 65 highly reflective panels It spins   rapidly, reflecting the sun’s rays back to Earth, creating a   flashing light that can be seen against a backdrop of stars " More   information and a tracking map (showing when it is visible and when   it is in eclipse) is posted on the project's website:   http://www thehumanitystar com/

• Watch this video as KD2AVU worked KC8QDQ in EM89 on FO29 He doesn't   have elevation rotor so best chance for him to work the bird is when   it's on the low angle Antenna: 2m beam (TX) homebrew DK7ZB 5 element   70cm beam (RX) stacked homebrew 10 element Transceiver: Yaesu FT-847   TX power: 25W Both antennas are in the attic! Watch on-line at:   https://www youtube com/watch?v=ifpZMkACNNw

• A frequently asked question during these good times of new   satellite launches involves how to update the Keplerian Elements   as orbits are identified or new satellites are launched AMSAT-UK   has a nice resource, "Adding new satellites to #SatPC32, Gpredict   and Nova", see: https://amsat-uk org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/

• On January 18, Thursday night at 9 pm Eastern time, Jerry Buxton,   N0JY the vice president for engineering at AMSAT was interview on   the HamTalkLive webcast to talk about the process of building   amateur radio satellites, and the latest on the newest bird,   Fox-1D You can listen on demand 24/7/365 25 at:   https://www spreaker com/show/ham-talk-live - select episode #98

• Enjoy the satellite presentation by Doug Tabor, N6UA, during his   talk at the 2018 Winter Hamfest hosted by Northern Colorado Amateur   Radio Club: https://www youtube com/watch?v=FJoh7g8BWok&feature=youtu be

• Are any of you interested in pursuing a PhD-degree, within space   radio systems (software defined radio) or integrated operations   involving small satellites and other autonomous vehicles? We are   seeking two new PhD-candidates to join our small satellite team,   at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim,   Norway Full text and how to apply:   http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-UnivNorwaySmallSat   More information about our team and on-going missions can be found   here: https://www ntnu edu/ie/smallsat (via cubesat e-mail list)

• Rocket Lab conducted its second Electron launch on January 21   placing three cubesats into orbit The launch occurred from the   remote Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand Mission control is located   in Auckland, New Zealand On board was a Planetlab cubesat named   Dove Pioneer which will conduct Earth resource imaging and two   Lemur-2 cubesats for Spire which will be used for weather and ship   tracking Full report and video posted at:   http://tinyurl com/ANS-028-RocketLabsLaunch

• NASA released this new video on January 11, 2018, which was created   by astronomers and visualization specialists from its Universe of   Learning program These experts have combined visible and infrared   images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to create a   three-dimensional, fly-through view of the Orion Nebula, a fuzzy   patch in your sky tonight, really a place where new stars are   forming: http://earthsky org/space/video-visualization-3d-orion-nebula-nasa

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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 addi- tional benefits Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office

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 stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information

73 and Happy New Year, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans