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Winter 2003 Issue |
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AMSAT
OSCAR-E Project Status Update By Richard M. Hambly,* W2GPS |
 Photo A. Mechanical model of AO-E class Microsat. |
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This status report about AMSAT OSCAR-E (“Echo”) is an update to the presentation given at the Dayton Hamvention® last May. Articles were published in the May/June 2002 issue of the AMSAT Journal and the Summer 2002 issue of CQ VHF. |
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Following the 2001 Annual AMSAT-NA Meeting in Decatur, Georgia, the Board of Directors met and asked Dick Daniels, W4PUJ, Tom Clark, W3IWI, and Rick Hambly, W2GPS, to review a proposal for “a new small satellite project.” The team’s report was presented to the board during a teleconference on January 17, 2002, and the project was approved unanimously. In 1990 AMSAT-NA built and launched the original Microsats : AO-16, DO-17, WO-18, and LO-19. The descendants of the Microsat legacy include IO-26, AO-27, MO-30, and SO-41. Each of these Microsats has improved upon the original design, and the project team recommended that AMSAT-NA take full advantage of these improvements. On February 8, 2002 AMSAT-NA entered into an agreement with SpaceQuest, Ltd. of Fairfax, Virginia, whereby SpaceQuest will provide AMSAT with the basic components of AO-E (photo A and figure 1) and leave it to AMSAT members to add any specialized payloads that may be desired. SpaceQuest is led by AMSAT members Dr. Dino Lorenzini, KC4YMG, and Mark Kanawati, N4TPY. On April 20, 2002 the AMSAT Board met at SpaceQuest to see firsthand that everything was going as planned (photo B). After the tour of SpaceQuest, the board reconvened across the street in the ARRL’s DC area offices, where there were presentations and an extensive review of the project. At this meeting the board agreed to postpone the launch until late 2003 in order to provide adequate time for the development of optional payloads. The first public presentation on AO-E occurred during the annual spring AMSAT-DC symposium on May 5, 2002 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The presentation was compressed significantly for the Dayton Hamvention® AMSAT Forum on May 18, 2002. Full details of the project were published in the May/June issue of the AMSAT Journal. A reprint of the article appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of CQ VHF. |
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