[TWIAR] FW: [media-news] CNN - Amateur Satellite Doing well in orbit

Thu, 24 Jan 2002 18:16:17 -0500

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (AP) -- Once every 100 minutes, a bargain-basement
satellite loops around the Earth, sending and receiving digital messages
over antennas made from a metal tape measure.

A sailor on a solo crossing of the Atlantic bounces signals off the
satellite to stay in touch with his family. New Zealanders on a
cross-country hike use it to communicate with friends back home. And any ham
radio user who has the proper transmitting equipment and is within 2,000
miles (3200 kilometers) of the 25-pound (11-kilogram) satellite can use it
to send single-line text messages.

After four months in space, the U.S. Naval Academy's "bird" is proving
surprisingly resilient, to the delight of the midshipmen and faculty
advisers who designed and built it.

The Prototype Communications Satellite, or PCSat, was the 44th amateur
satellite put in orbit. It is one of more than a dozen built by university
students around the world.

At a cost of just $50,000 -- including plane tickets to the Alaska launch
site -- it was constructed using off-the-shelf parts not designed to
withstand the rigors of space. Its lifespan was expected to be only a few
months.

Six students put together the satellite last year with the help of a grant
from Boeing Co. The Pentagon approved the project and put it on a launch
list.

A tape measure from Home Depot provided the antenna. Power comes from two
dozen AA batteries that are recharged by the solar panels. Parts built to
withstand the effects of radiation from the sun would have been too
expensive, so the students went with regular circuit boards.

September 29 was launch day, and there were anxious moments at the academy
as the cube-shaped satellite hitched a ride aboard an Athena rocket that was
blasted into space from Kodiak, Alaska. It took nine hours before PCSat made
its first pass over Annapolis and the midshipmen and faculty advisers could
see for themselves that their satellite was working.

"I was thrilled. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,"
said Steven Lawrence, who helped build the satellite before he graduated in
May.

In the following weeks, people in remote areas began to use the satellite as
word of it spread among ham radio operators.

Except for the failure of one of the six solar panels, damaged when the
satellite separated from the rocket, there have been no problems.

Just how long PCSat will work depends on how much solar radiation bombards
the satellite and how long the batteries, solar panels and thousands of
transistors withstand the sun's damaging effects.

"If we get lucky with radiation, it could last three years," said Darrell
Boden, a professor in the aerospace engineering department.

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