[amsat-bb] I'm dreaming of a Medium Earth Orbit.......

[M5AKA]

O3B had to buy the capacity of two GTO capable rockets to get to their custom orbit of 8,000 km, don't know what that costs these days but I don't reckon you'll get much change out $100 million.
The cheaper approach might to go to a 600 km orbit and use an onboard electrical propulsion system to steadily increase the apogee over 2 or 3 years - but unfortunately no-one has achieved that yet. 

But yes 8,000 km would be a great orbit for amateur satellites and if it used the 29 and 50 MHz bands you'd hardly notice the Doppler.

73 Trevor M5AKA

 


     On Monday, 22 December 2014, 20:02, Jerry Buxton <amsat at n0jy.org> wrote:
   

 Could anyone get pricing for this, please?

Jerry Buxton, NØJY

On 12/22/2014 08:37, David G0MRF wrote:
> Hi
>
> Did anyone see the Soyuz launch from Arianespace a few days ago and think how nice it would be to have an amateur radio satellite somewhere above LEO ?
>
> Interestingly, the launch of 3 communication satellites providing internet services to remote areas, was to an altitude around 8000km. - An unusual destination.
> Apparently the 'latency' or time delay on signals from 36,000km is too high for an internet service, whereas the number of satellites needed for a constellation at LEO is too many.
>
> The company O3B  (Other 3 Billion) decided that MEO at 8000km which is between the 2 Van Allen belts answered their needs.
>
>
> http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/12/18/soyuzo3b-launch-timeline/
>
> For the launch, the satellites were mounted on a cylindrical  launch adaptor, (see pics in link) the inner part of which looks an ideal place for a 3U cubesat secondary payload.
>
> Wouldn't it be nice to get something up to that altitude with Omni antennas, or a gravity gradient boom with a simple beam and about 4 Watts output !
> A leisurely 5 orbits a day with Paris to California routine......... http://g0mrf.com/MEOSAT.htm
>
> Oh well, back to dreaming of a white Christmas
>
> Seasons greetings
>
> David  G0MRF
>
>
>
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_______________________________________________
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