[amsat-bb] AO-95

[Robert McGwier]

I want to thank Jerry, Drew, and others for the transparency that has been
observed here.  It is appreciated.

Bob
N4HY


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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-- 
Bob McGwier
Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc
Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc
Research Professor Virginia Tech
Chief Scientist:  The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and
Technology
Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY
Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn, Trustee K4KDJ
Member of PVRC (Roanoke-Blacksburg), TAPR,  life member of ARRL and AMSAT,
NRVR.ORG (Rocketry)