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[Bob West]

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        Amateur Sats Among Lost Equipment in Launch Explosion        
        
      
       
    
   
      
        Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:10 am        (PDT)        . Posted by:      

      
        
        
                 k6lcs         
        
      
    
   
        
             From the ARRL site ...


 Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio Payloads Among Those Lost in Launch Explosion 10/28/2014





 The GOMX-2 and RACE CubeSats were among more than 2 dozen satellites 
that were lost after an unmanned Orbital Space Sciences (OSC) Antares 
130 vehicle exploded spectacularly shortly after launch at 2222 UTC on 
Tuesday, October 28, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops
 Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Both satellite packages carried 
payloads that operated on Amateur Radio frequencies. The Antares is a 
new medium-class launch vehicle developed by OSC. The rocket exploded 
about 6 seconds after launch, sending a huge ball of fire hurtling 
toward the ground, which set a massive fire at the NASA launch site.


 





 “A mishap has occurred at pad 0A,” a launch conductor said during the 
live broadcast on NASA TV. “There is no indication there is personnel in
 danger, although we do have significant property damage and significant
 vehicle damage.”


 





 The 2U GMX-2 CubeSat was intended to test a de-orbit system designed by
 Aalborg University in Denmark. Karl Klaus Laursen, OZ2KK, is listed as 
the “responsible operator” on International Amateur Radio Union 
frequency coordination documents. The Amateur Radio payload proposed 
using a 9.6 k MSK data downlink on 437.250 MHz. Also on board was an 
optical communications experiment from the National University of 
Singapore. The mission also hoped to flight qualify a new high-speed UHF
 transceiver and SDR receiver built by an Aalborg University team.


 





 The Radiometer Atmospheric Cubesat Experiment (RACE) CubeSat was a 
joint project between The Texas Spacecraft Laboratory (TSL) at the 
University of Texas-Austin and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). 
It carried a 183 GHz radiometer, a new science instrument designed by 
JPL. The primary objective of the RACE mission was to collect 
atmospheric water vapor measurements. The spacecraft was equipped to 
transmit using GMSK at 38.4 k and CW telemetry on a downlink frequency 
of 437.525MHz, as coordinated with the IARU. TSL’s Edgar Glenn Lightsey,
 KE5DDG, was listed in the IARU coordination documents as the 
responsible operator.


 





 The Antares 130 launcher was on a resupply mission, carrying some 5000 
pounds of cargo to the International Space Station. GOMX-2 and the other
 satellites onboard the rocket were to be launched into orbit from the 
International Space Station.


 





 The Antares 130 also was carrying the Flock-1d array of 26 satellites as well as Arkyd-3, Cygnus CRS-3, and the RACE CubeSat.


 





 /end/




 		 	   		  
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