[amsat-bb] AO-95

[Don KB2YSI]

Thanks to Drew and Jerry for the additional information, even though the
situation is not what anyone wanted hear.

I will echo John's statement. For those who have worked so hard on this
bird, along with those before it and those to come, THANK YOU! Without
people with the knowledge and skills to get a satellite into orbit, we
would not have anything to enjoy.


On Mon, Dec 10, 2018 at 2:03 AM Jerry Buxton <n0jy at amsat.org> wrote:

> On 12/9/2018 18:17, Fred Castello wrote:
> > I am just curious why we are not discussing the apparent failure of the
> receiver of AO-95.  Do we know anything more about the issue?
> > Thanks all,
> > Fred – KF4FC
> >
> Hi Fred,
>
> I'm not sure if you were referring to We the amsat-bb list members?  I
> have to say that I figured there would be much more chatter here than I
> have seen so far, anyway.
>
> If by We you mean We the AMSAT Engineering team, of course we have been
> discussing the problem, possible causes, and working on leads ever since
> the anomaly became known.  Certainly many of us are unhappy at not
> succeeding in making everybody else happy, but that is not the reason
> for my silence in terms of sharing with the public.  Right now, with no
> readily apparent reason or reasons for the behavior, there is nothing
> else to report.
>
> The situation has gone from a commissioning to being challenge, which is
> actually fun and we're on it.   We are looking at data from a number of
> sources, as well as our past experiences with the other Fox-1 satellites
> during their journey from the BOM to orbit.  Ideas such as the one Drew
> mentioned about employing a mega-QRO station to see if it can be heard
> by the bird have been on the table for several days but I don't plan to
> report or discuss every thought we have in working this unless and until
> it is something of merit or actionable.  As you probably know, our
> resources are limited and it's all volunteered time.  Most if not all of
> our remaining Fox-1 engineers are also involved in the GOLF-TEE project
> so I have asked them to give that first priority with their available
> volunteer time in order to keep the schedule.  AO-95 is in orbit now and
> we can vary the amount of attention on her as resources allow in order
> to achieve both goals.  If the results of our investigation point to a
> possibility of recovery be it partial, full, or some workaround method,
> we would all like to see her working as much as the rest of you and that
> is a driver for this investigation.  But perhaps the most important
> driver is that there are lessons to be learned for the betterment of
> future missions.  I expect us to continue to look for the cause or
> causes until we have results or reach a dead end because of the
> inability to take the lid off and look inside AO-95.
>
> The main point of the ANS is to let everyone know that commissioning
> won't be happening, certainly not in the period that everyone has grown
> accustomed to if at all, so that members and users can get on with
> enjoying their activities on all of the other satellites.  Many had been
> waiting in anticipation and wondering why talk of AO-95 commissioning
> seemed so quiet, so once we were sure that it didn't appear to be an
> intermittent thing we shared the news.  And as I said in the ANS, I will
> certainly be keeping everyone posted when we have something new to
> report so in the meantime please carry on and enjoy the birds!
>
> Jerry Buxton, NØJY
>
>
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-- 
73,
Don KB2YSI
https://www.hamqth.com/kb2ysi