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KA9LCF > NEWS 19.02.12 09:26l 105 Lines 3493 Bytes #999 (0) @ ALLIN
BID : 34249_KA9LCF
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Subj: ARN: Ham Radio in Space
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Sent: 120219/0549Z @:KA9LCF.#NEIN.IN.USA.NOAM #:34249 [165327] FBB7.01.35 alpha
From: KA9LCF@KA9LCF.#NEIN.IN.USA.NOAM
To : NEWS@ALLIN
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ESA FIRST VEGA LAUNCH A
SUCCESS
The maiden voyage of the European Space Agency's
new Vega launch vehicle has successfully lofted
a research satellite along with eight student
built microsats into space.
The first Vega launch took place from the ESA
spaceport in Korou, French Guiana at 10:00 UTC
on Monday, February 13th. The primary payload
was the Italian Space Agency's Laser Relativity
Spacecraft. Its primary mission is the
measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect, also
known as frame-dragging. The satellite may also
be used for measurements in the fields of
Geodynamics and Satellite geodesy.
The secondary payload of the eight student-built
MicroSats will transmit telemetry in the VHF,
UHF and microwave amateur bands. One of the
tiny birds named PW-Sat includes a voice
repeater in addition to its telemetry
transponder. Its uplink is at 435.020 MHz with
its downlink at145.900 MHz. PW-Sat sends its
telemetry using1200 baud packet as well as CW on
435.020 MHz. (ESA, AMSAT)
BT
RADIO IN SPACE: RUSSIA SAYS RADIATION CAUSED
PHOBOS-GRUNT FAILURE
Russia is blaming solar radiation for a computer
glitch that doomed its Phobos-Grunt Mars moon
mission, but space industry experts cast doubt
on the findings of an investigation into the
crash of what was to be Moscow's first deep
space mission in two decades. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, reports:
--
The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was stranded in
Earth orbit after launch in November and crashed
into the Pacific Ocean in January. Russian
Space Agency Chief Vladimir Popovkin said that
in the opinion of the commission, the most
likely reason for the mishap was the local
impact of heavily charged space particles that
led to a failure in the memory of the main
onboard computer in the second stage of flight.
Popovkin went on to say that foreign-made
counterfeit or
defective microchips were partly to blame for
the failure of the $165-million spacecraft,
designed to retrieve soil samples from the
Martian moon Phobos. He said that a burst of
space radiation caused the onboard computers to
reboot and go into standby mode.
But others doubt this to be the case. Rather
experts on spaceflight say that Moscow was
blaming external factors for the loss of its
ambitious Mars mission to distract from chronic
failings with its once-pioneering industry.
Alexander Zakharov, was the mission's lead
scientist. He has been quoted as saying that
even if this was the true which cannot be
completely ruled out because it does happen,
then there is some kind of problem with the
flight system or the programming, which were not
designed to guard against space radiation.
Another space industry source said potentially
damaging bursts of radiation were highly
unlikely in low-Earth orbit, where hundreds of
satellites circle within the protective bubble
of the planet's magnetic field.
But Russia's State News Agency has cited an
industry source of its own. That unnamed source
inferred that the critics are incorrect saying
it was absurd to think that the PhobosGrunt had
not been made to withstand cosmic rays on its
two year interplanetary mission.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl
Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois.
--
The failure of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft to
leave Earth orbit was the latest in a series of
mishaps that have plagued Russua's spavce
program the past year. (Various published news
reports)
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