[amsat-bb] Re: The Moon is our Future

[Gordon JC Pearce]

On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 11:15 -0400, David - KG4ZLB wrote:
> On the contrary, we need more LEO's to augment and replace the existing 
> aged fleet.
> 
> Whilst AMSAT works on the HEO's lets put some of our efforts towards the 
> Universities who seem to regularly put up 2/70 satellites!
> 

I'm relatively new to both amateur radio and the LEO satellites, I'll
admit it.  But I just can't see why we aren't constructing and launching
more mode V/U LEO sats.  A couple of the cubesats that are already
flying are basically using stripped-down commercial radios in an
off-the-shelf bus.  It *cannot* be that hard to do, *if* you avoid
getting bogged down in "clever" stuff.

I appreciate that a mode V/U satellite would need to be a little more
sophisticated than a pair of cheap Chinese HTs gaffa-taped together and
thrown out the driver's window of a passing Space Shuttle, but the fact
remains that such a contraption *would* actually work, briefly.  Most
people on this list probably have enough junk lying around to build a
viable mode V/U transponder if not a whole satellite (I'd need to hit
eBay after payday for the solar panels, and scrounge around in Clyde
Space's bins for the chassis).

The tricky bit is getting launches, but it must be possible somehow.

How hard can it be?

Gordon 2M0YEQ