[amsat-bb] ILN... Is this our future ride to the moon? MM

[MM]

Yes Exactly!

We need to form a proposal team that can evaluate the data to find out if an EME-Repeater is viable.

Time is short.


First ask Experts if building a transponder for the Moon is feasible with current technology.

If it were, How many Amateur radio operators would be able to afford such a project?
We know the are hundreds of Hams, which have used EME at one time, or another.

If we build a working transponder, how many more hams would have access to and EME-Repeater?

Based on the number of users that could build an EME-Repeater link, we would go ahead with the idea and take it to the next phase. 
There no sense in building an EME-Repeater project if only a hundred people would be able to access the EME-Repeater.

So if the project looks feasible and there is a big enough potential group of Amateur Radio stations that would uses such a project, then we would start talking to all of our contacts at NASA, ESA, RSA to see if we can get some additional support to help with the project.


Thanks  Miles






--- On Sun, 7/5/09, Armando Mercado <am25544 at triton.net> wrote:

> From: Armando Mercado <am25544 at triton.net>
> Subject: [amsat-bb]  ILN... Is this our future ride to the moon?
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Date: Sunday, July 5, 2009, 2:48 PM
> Greetings,
> 
> The International Lunar Network appears
> to be the unmanned landers NASA is planning
> to put on the moon.  The program is working to
> put 2 landers on the moon in the 2012-2014
> time frame.
> 
> Here are some excerpts from a Request for
> Information by NASA regarding instruments
> for its International Lunar Network (ILN).
> Pay special note to the mass and power
> limits.
> 
> Is this what we are talking about putting a
> transponder on?
> 
> 73, Armando, N8IGJ
> 
> ******
> 
> Date Released: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
> Source: Goddard Space Flight Center
> NASA Solicitation: Instruments for U.S. International
> Lunar Network (ILN) Lunar Missions
> 
> 
> Description of Anticipated Requirement
> 
> NASA expects to emplace the first two nodes (the "anchor"
> nodes) of the ILN in the 2012-2014 timeframe with two
> additional nodes to be emplaced roughly two years later,
> depending on funds availability. All nodes will carry
> identical core instrument payloads. The ILN mission
> requires
> long lived instruments which can be operated as a network
> for six years (the anchor nodes will necessarily have to
> last
> longer). It is anticipated that a very small amount of
> power
> will be available to enable continuous operation through
> the lunar night.
> 
> Concept studies for the spacecraft are now under
> development
> at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center working with the
> Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of The Johns Hopkins
> University. The mission will be tightly constrained in
> both
> mass and power. It is expected that the total available
> mass
> for all payload instruments will be approximately 15 kg,
> although the precise mass available for the payload will
> depend on the launch vehicle and other trades still being
> considered. The total available payload power will be
> approximately 15 W.
> 
> The total budget for the ILN anchor nodes including
> development and operations is $200M. Schedule and budget
> constraints require that NASA mission planners focus on
> relatively mature instruments.
> 
> ******
> 
> See the following links for more info:
> 
> http://www.moontoday.net/news/viewsr.html?pid=29834 
> (The full Request for 
> Information)
> 
> http://iln.arc.nasa.gov/welcome  (General info on
> ILN)
> 
> 
> http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/file_download/26/ILN+Final+Report.pdf
> 
> (Detailed info
> on ILN... Note: large file 13MB)
> 
> Happy reading,
> 
> Armando, N8IGJ
> 
> 
> 
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