amsat project fox-1
fundraising campaign begins（筹款活动）
看来ao-51有继承了
letters mailed to all amsat members this week kicked off the project fox fundraising campaign. "given the sad news on ao-51," amsat president barry baines, wd4asw, said, "we highlighted at the recent 2011 symposium that amsat is actively developing fox-1, a new spacecraft that is designed to replace ao-51. fox-1 development now takes on a great sense of urgency."
amsat vice-president of engineering, tony monteiro, aa2tx says, "fox-1 will advance single-channel fm repeater satellite operation beyond the experience of ao-51. it will advance amsat to the next generation of ao-51 class satellites."
fox-1 is designed for longer operational life with these features:
fox-1 is designed to operate in sunlight without batteries once the battery system fails. this applies lessons learned from ao-51 and arissat-1 operations.
in case of ihu failure fox-1 will continue to operate its fm repeater in a basic, 'zombie sat' mode, so that the repeater remains on-the-air.
fox-1 is designed as the immediate replacement for ao-51. its u/v (mode b) transponder will make it even easier to work with modest equipment.
from the ground user's perspective, the same fm amateur radio equipment used for ao-51 may be used for fox-1.
extending the design, fox-2 will benefit from the development work of fox-1 by adding more sophisticated power management and software defined transponder (sdx) communications systems.
barry concluded, "amsat's ability to provide a replacement spacecraft and get it launched is dependent upon the active support of donors who wish to see fox-1 fly."
several opportunities to make your donation to keep amateur radio in space include:
return the form sent with the letter to reply with your donation for the fox-1 project.all donations over $40 will receive a fox pin.
donations of $120 or more qualify you for amsat president's club
call martha at the amsat office +1-888-fb amsat (1-888-322-6728)paypal donation widget below this article.paypal donation widget for project fox on the fox web page.you can also go to the paypal site and send your donation to
martha@amsat.org.the amsat store web site. the powerpoint presentations from the 2011 amsat space symposium on the project fox web siteprovide a good overview of the technical progress.
fox-1 project overview
fox-1 mechanical design
fox-1 thermal design
fox-1 radiation environment
