[South Florida DX Association] ARLS013 Useful life of UO-22 satellite appears over

[Bill Marx]

> ZCZC AS13  
> QST de W1AW  
> Space Bulletin 013  ARLS013
> From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington, CT  November 4, 2004
> To all radio amateurs
> 
> SB SPACE ARL ARLS013
> ARLS013 Useful life of UO-22 satellite appears over
> 
> According to AMSAT-UK, the UO-22 satellite is not in good shape and
> its useful life may be over. The Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
> (SSTL) Ground Station control center has tried several times in
> recent weeks to reactivate the satellite, AMSAT-UK reports. The
> satellite did come back to life briefly following one attempt, but
> other tries have failed completely.
> 
> The SSTL ground control station may make further attempts to
> reactivate UO-22, "but it seems unlikely that they will be
> completely successful." The cause of the satellite's failure is not
> known for certain, but SSTL believes it may be related either to the
> spacecraft's batteries or to the fact that the satellite is very hot
> due to orbital precession, which has generally put the spacecraft in
> full sunlight. The elevated temperature has been causing problems
> with the receivers as well as with the batteries.
> 
> Launched on July 17, 1991, UO-22 has served for many years as the
> 9600 baud store-and-forward satellite for the Amateur Radio packet
> radio worldwide SatGate service, which linked packet radio networks
> in many countries. AMSAT-NA reports UO-22 as "non-operational."
> 
> For further information on UO-22 contact Jim Heck, G3WGM, via email
> at, g3wgm at amsat.org.
> NNNN
> /EX
>