[amsat-bb] Foolishness

Sat Jul 11 21:25:00 UTC 2020

Thanks Michelle.  I did not intend to imply that people associated with ORI
shouldn't be on the AMSAT board.  I'm trying to understand if there's an
agenda behind a multi-year attempt at getting a majority on the AMSAT board
- including very public accusations against the existing board and
leadership.

I think that would help people make up their mind about how to vote.

Rich
KD2CQ

On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 2:23 PM Michelle Thompson <
mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:

> I can speak to this. Thank you for the opportunity.
>
> It's the other way around. ORI provides all engineering to the general
> public, free of charge.
>
> We've pledged our successful fundraising to directly benefit AMSAT in
> every way we know how. We've done significant legal and regulatory work to
> reduce ITAR/EAR burden, produced a wide variety of software and firmware,
> and now have the funds to prototype the hardware required for microwave
> broadband communications payloads.
>
> We've published open source implementations of the best forward error
> correction codes that exist. We just bought a full Vivado floating license
> that anyone in the community can use.
>
> The board and associate members (we have no paid members, so we don't even
> compete there) have been completely transparent about the intent and
> purpose of the engineering done by ORI.
>
> ORI is a Member Society of AMSAT.
>
> It's odd how ORI is portrayed here, yet Directors current and previous
> that have dual roles - such as working for NASA, working at Universities
> with commercial satellite projects, and working for commercial satellite
> companies - simply never get any criticism for using AMSAT to help their
> career or projects. In many cases, AMSAT has been used to further outside
> or commercial careers. Many of these people are unquestionably celebrated.
>
> When someone (like myself) that starts a successful 501(c)(3) that works
> in the opposite direction - freely giving to the organization and
> supporting it whenever possible - one would hope it would be perceived as a
> positive.
>
> All of this engineering and fundraising was the exact sort of thing I was
> doing within AMSAT engineering. When Joe Spier shut down the entire
> project, the dozens of people on the team asked if we could keep going.
> Bruce Perens was instrumental here in helping set up a 501(c)(3) that could
> operate as a research institute. And the rest is documented on our website.
>
> While people like me shouldn't have to set up an entirely independent
> formal structure to volunteer for the AMSAT community, it has turned out to
> be fun, successful, and quite complementary to AMSAT's aims and purposes.
>
> ORI is not a membership organization. It's not in competition for members.
> We sign up AMSAT members at every event we hold. We promote AMSAT publicly.
>
> If the leadership of AMSAT really wants to view organizations like ORI as
> some sort of threat or crisis, then they are deliberately choosing to be
> anti-collaborative.
>
> If you have to have Directors that don't have any other interests outside
> AMSAT, then you will end up with people that don't bring things like a
> strong network, experiences, or other organizational assets to the job.
>
> Should Tom Clark have been thrown off the AMSAT board because he was also
> on the Virginia Tech Space Advisory Board? Should Brennan Price not be
> Secretary because he works for Inmarsat?
>
> The opposite is also true. Ordinary people with ordinary common sense
> should also be in leadership. Diversity on the board can only improve it.
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 1:43 PM Rich Gopstein via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
>> I'm guessing it's more complex than that.  I suspect this is really about
>> ORI and trying to get AMSAT to outsource their satellite engineering to
>> ORI.  MIchelle Thompson is the CEO of ORI...
>>
>> https://openresearch.institute/board-of-directors/
>>
>> Rich, KD2CQ
>> AMSAT life member
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 8:34 AM John Spasojevich via AMSAT-BB <
>> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>>
>> > All reads to me like a couple people broke into the old boys club and
>> > weren’t welcomed to the playground. AMSAT has been run by the same
>> people
>> > for years and years and years. Then again not many run for office so our
>> > choices are limited.
>> >
>> > John AG9D
>> >
>> > On Saturday, July 11, 2020, Nick Pugh via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > This is a hobby
>> > >
>> > > Spending money on lawyer instead of satellite is dumb
>> > >
>> > > My hope is you get on a Zoom call and put the fire out and take us to
>> HEO
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Nickk k5qxj
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Cell      337 258 2527
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Helping UL become a world Class Engineering  and Educational School
>> > >
>> > > Disagree I Learn
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> of
>> > > AMSAT-NA.
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>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>> Opinions
>> > expressed
>> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
>> > AMSAT-NA.
>> > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
>> program!
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>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
>> Opinions expressed
>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
>> AMSAT-NA.
>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
>> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>>
>