[amsat-bb] Re: PW-Sat news

[Trevor .]

Thanks Armando.

I believe their original plans were to de-orbit the spacecraft around February. I'm presuming from the Google translation that the failure to deploy the "Tail" means they are unable to de-orbit as planned ? 

I guess this means it may remain in space until the orbit decays naturally.

PW-SAT has the capability of acting as an FM to DSB (U/V) transponder.

73 Trevor M5AKA

--- On Thu, 27/12/12, Armando Mercado <am25544 at triton.net> wrote:

> From: Armando Mercado <am25544 at triton.net>
> Subject: [amsat-bb] PW-Sat news
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Date: Thursday, 27 December, 2012, 17:11
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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