[amsat-bb] Re: Amateur as secondary payload

[Dave hartzell]

Pat,

This topic seems to come up now and then.  The idea is actually pretty
old, dating back to the early days of AMSAT, but I think here are the
issues:

1) Most commercial satellite operators don't want to sacrifice space
for an amateur payload.  They'd rather use any excess launch mass for
station keeping fuel.

2) Risk:  The risks of carrying a third-party payload can be mitigated
and well understood, but this takes time, effort and money.

3) Possible interference issues from the payload.

4) Power:  This can be budgeted for, but again, there are time, cost
and money issues associated with a parasitic payload.

73,

Dave
N0TGD

On 4/13/07, Patrick McGrane <N2OEQ at aceweb.com> wrote:
> Greetings from Patrick N2OEQ
>
> What are some general comments regarding secondary amateur payloads on commercial satellites? I remember the old RS series and the new hamsat are secondary payloads. What are the costs involved versus building and launching individual autonomous satellites?
>