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Summer 2003 Issue |
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 Photo B. The tray receivers of Echo. |
AMSAT OSCAR-E This status report about AMSAT OSCAR-E (“Echo”) is a companion article to the presentation given at the Dayton Hamvention® in May and the two previous articles published in the AMSAT Journal1, 2 and CQ VHF3, 4. By Richard M. Hambly, W2GPS |
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The AMSAT OSCAR-E satellite, also known as Echo, was conceived by the AMSAT Board of Directors on October 8, 2001 when they initiated review of “a new small satellite project.” Since that time an expanding team of AMSAT volunteers has been working in cooperation with our contractor, SpaceQuest, on the design, construction, and launch preparations for this new satellite.
Echo is a Microsat-class satellite that owes a
great deal of its heritage to the original AMSAT Microsats—AO-16, DO-17,
WO-18, and LO-19, which were launched in 1990—and to the AMRAD-sponsored
Microsat AO-27, which was launched in 1993. As shown in photo A, Echo is a
small cube about 9.5 inches (25 cm) on a side, like those first Microsats.
It is fabricated from a stacked set of aluminum trays and covered on all
sides by solar panels.
Echo will offer capabilities that will appeal
to users with a wide range of interests, from “EasySat” operations to
scientific experiments. Here are the highlights: Echo’s internal subsystems have been refined and modified since they were described in the previous articles. As you will see in the accompanying photographs and figures, significant progress has been made and Echo’s hardware is taking shape.
Echo is composed of a number of modules and
subsystems, including: Click here to return to Summer 03 highlights Click here to subscribe to VHF. _________________ © Copyright 2003, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.
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