[amsat-bb] Re: JUBILEE and other frustrations,

[Bruce Robertson]

On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 3:57 PM, Edward Cole <kl7uw at acsalaska.net> wrote:
> Without getting into the issue too much.  I would remind the project
> managers that their constituency (and contributors or potenitial
> contributors) rely on periodic progress reports on developing
> satellite projects.  This complaint is not new to amsat-bb (we heard
> it for AO-40), so it should not be news to project managers.

Isn't the story very simple regarding the critical step of launching
P3E: they're looking for an affordable ride, and there are none on the
horizon?

I assume it is very hard to enter into negotiations looking for a
cut-rate on a launch while publicly naming the party you are
negotiating with. If I were that party, the first thing I'd insist is
that there be no mention until a deal is reached, because my
organization could end up looking like bad guys for even entertaining
the idea.

On the technical side of P3E, I think we've been reasonably
well-informed, but then I don't think AMSAT-DL is obliged to report in
English any more than AMSAT-NA is obliged to publish its reports in
Japanese and German because significant donors came from those
countries. We can always get by with online translators if we don't
know German. It works pretty well; I can show you how.

73, Bruce
VE9QRP