[amsat-bb] Sapphire NO-45 alive?

[Robert Bruninga]

Sapphire, NO-45?

Since Sapphire is near the debris field from the Chinese ASAT
test, we thought we would look to see any potential collisions.
We'd like to also know if anyone has heard Sapphire recently.

The SOCRATES engine on the Celestrack.com web page is showing
several potential "conjunctions" over the next few days with
Sapphire (NO-45) #26932.  It would be nice to hear some
"before-and-after" signals to confirm or deny a collision.

http://celestrak.com/SOCRATES/search.asp 

The last reported signal (that I have) for Sapphire (KE6QMD) was
by Bill Bruno KB2RC on October 30, 2004 8:15 PM.  He was using
145.945 up and 437.095 down.  Those are the freqs posted on the
Amsat site.  Even if Sapphire's digipeater is not set, then if
it is alive, it still outputs a brief 1 second carrier beacon
once every minute I think on that 437.095 freq (+/- Doppler).
In another possible mode, those pings might be once every 20
seconds? (If I remember correctly?)

If any AMSAT folks hear from Sapphire, let us know of any
sightings.

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
USNA Satellite Lab