[amsat-bb] PW-Sat news

[Armando Mercado]

Hello All,

This may be old news, but I
came across this from:
http://www.kosmonauta.net/menu-bezzalogowe/menu-artykuly-bezzalogowe/orbitalne-bz/4709-2012-10-11-pw-sat

The following is a google translation
(a little rough but you can get the idea):

-----------------------------------------------

Since our last report on the PW-Sat
satellite, it's been five months.
What has happened with the first
Polish satellite in the meantime?

PW-Sat - the first Polish satellite
and the first Polish satellite
student - was placed in orbit
13 February 2012. The satellite was
released from the P-POD tray about
70 minutes after launch Vega rocket,
which is at about 12:10 CET. The
original orbit of the satellite is
about 310 x 1442 km. The first
signal from the PW-Sat has already
taken an hour after the release of
the tray P-POD, during his first
flight over the Polish. The signal
received from the radio amateurs
all over the world.

Then began the work of 
PW-SATEMA in orbit. The first
week passed on listening
satellites. Then studied the
satellite parameters and
assumptions were verified. In
the coming weeks, a team of
students from the Warsaw 
University of Technology,
tested the different modes of
operation PW-SATA, which is
one of the goals of this
project. Satellite work 
properly, and then it seemed
like before Easter this year
should lead to the development
of the tail PW-SAT. That did
not happen - it turned out that
during the first work of 
PW-SATEMA were used in a large
amount of stored energy in the
batteries satellites.

In May, there is information
that will be renewed attempt
to open a satellite tail.
Unfortunately, in the coming
weeks, the operation failed.
Currently (11 October 2012)
PW-Sat still stays in orbit
without the striped tail.
Satellite works, although it
is quite a serious problem 
with the communication system,
which is probably a bug in the
hardware (there were similar 
failures with other users of 
the equipment). This problem
very limited communication 
capabilities of PW-SATEMA. 
Soon to be published instructions
for amateurs - perhaps because
it can be spread tail PW-Sata
 - are, therefore, still some 
chance of achieving this mission.

Currently, the mission met PW-Sat
to 4 of 7 total goals of the
expedition. The fifth goal was
partially completed. It is
therefore clear that the mission
PW-Sat, despite the difficulties,
already can be considered a 
great success. On the basis of
experience - the positive and
the negative - it will be 
possible to conduct further
advanced projects. Warsaw 
University of Technology 
recently sent a request to the
mission PW-Sat 2 to the
European Space Agency (ESA),
which offers a small gathering
a CubeSat mission. It was one
of two or three (edit - the 
source of a comment below this
article) CubeSatowych Polish
projects submitted to the ESA.

(IAC 2012, Maciej Urbanowicz)

--------------------------------

The catolog number of PW-Sat is 38083.
It beacons irregularly in daylight on 145.902.
I have not listened for it for several weeks.
It enters an eclipse free period from 
Dec 29, 2012 to Jan. 13, 2013 so the next
couple of weeks would be a good time to
give a listen.  This satellite carries an
AO-16 style transponder, but given the
power and commanding issues, it does not
look like it will ever be turned on.

73, Armando  N8IGJ