AMSAT
Encyclopedia
AMSAT is a name for amateur radio
satellite
organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT-NA) with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland
, near Washington DC. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then operate (command) satellites carrying amateur radio payloads, including the OSCAR
series of satellites. Other informally affiliated national organizations exist, such as AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL) and AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT).
. Its first project was to coordinate the launch of OSCAR 5, constructed by students at the University of Melbourne
. Some design modifications were needed and were made by AMSAT members, and the satellite was successfully launched on January 30, 1970 on a NASA
Thor Delta
launch vehicle.
AMSAT's next launch was AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (AO-6) on October 15, 1972. AO-6 was AMSAT's first long-life satellite, and was built with participants from Australia
and West Germany
. Command stations in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Morocco, New Zealand, the United States and West Germany controlled the satellite, contributing greatly to its 4½ years of service. Further launches continued to emphasize international cooperation, with AMSAT-OSCAR 7
(AO-7) launching with a new transponder developed and built by Karl Meinzer and AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL). AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT) contributed a transponder to AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (AO-8).
In order to launch its satellites, AMSAT has worked with space agencies and commercial launch contractors to develop new ways to take advantage of unused areas of launch vehicles. In return, AMSAT sometimes can negotiate a reduction or waiver of launch costs. One of the most significant is the Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads (ASAP), developed and manufactured in partnership with the European Space Agency
in 1990 for use on its Ariane IV launch vehicle. AMSAT was again able to take advantage of unused space with the launch of AMSAT-OSCAR 40
(AO-40), occupying unused space on an Ariane V.
The IPS (Interpreter for Process Structures) programming language was specifically written for the RCA 1802
AMSAT Phase III satellite.
A unique amateur satellite was SuitSat
, an obsolete Russian space suit with a transmitter in it, which was launched in 2006 from the International Space Station
. In a twist of fate, "Oscar" was the name given to an obsolete space suit by its young owner in the book Have Space Suit, Will Travel, by Robert A Heinlein. This book was originally published a year after the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik.
.
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT-NA) with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
, near Washington DC. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then operate (command) satellites carrying amateur radio payloads, including the OSCAR
OSCAR
OSCAR is an acronym for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio. OSCAR series satellites use amateur radio frequencies to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations. These satellites can be used for free by licensed amateur radio operators for voice and data communications...
series of satellites. Other informally affiliated national organizations exist, such as AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL) and AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT).
History
AMSAT-NA was founded in 1969 in Washington DC to continue the efforts begun by Project OSCAROSCAR
OSCAR is an acronym for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio. OSCAR series satellites use amateur radio frequencies to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations. These satellites can be used for free by licensed amateur radio operators for voice and data communications...
. Its first project was to coordinate the launch of OSCAR 5, constructed by students at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
. Some design modifications were needed and were made by AMSAT members, and the satellite was successfully launched on January 30, 1970 on a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Thor Delta
Delta rocket
Delta is a versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. There have been more than 300 Delta rockets launched, with a 95 percent success rate. Two Delta launch systems – Delta II and Delta IV – are in active use...
launch vehicle.
AMSAT's next launch was AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (AO-6) on October 15, 1972. AO-6 was AMSAT's first long-life satellite, and was built with participants from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. Command stations in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Hungary, Morocco, New Zealand, the United States and West Germany controlled the satellite, contributing greatly to its 4½ years of service. Further launches continued to emphasize international cooperation, with AMSAT-OSCAR 7
AMSAT-OSCAR 7
AO-7 is the second Phase 2 amateur satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit on 15 November 1974. It remained operational until a battery failure in 1981...
(AO-7) launching with a new transponder developed and built by Karl Meinzer and AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL). AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT) contributed a transponder to AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (AO-8).
In order to launch its satellites, AMSAT has worked with space agencies and commercial launch contractors to develop new ways to take advantage of unused areas of launch vehicles. In return, AMSAT sometimes can negotiate a reduction or waiver of launch costs. One of the most significant is the Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads (ASAP), developed and manufactured in partnership with the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
in 1990 for use on its Ariane IV launch vehicle. AMSAT was again able to take advantage of unused space with the launch of AMSAT-OSCAR 40
AO-40
AO-40 is the on-orbit name designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as Phase 3D.The Project Manager was Peter Guelzow of AMSAT Germany ....
(AO-40), occupying unused space on an Ariane V.
The IPS (Interpreter for Process Structures) programming language was specifically written for the RCA 1802
RCA 1802
The RCA CDP1802, also known as the COSMAC , is an 8-bit CMOS microprocessor introduced by RCA in early 1976. It is being by Intersil Corporation as a high-reliability microprocessor...
AMSAT Phase III satellite.
AMSAT organizations worldwide
From its first launch, AMSAT projects have had international scope. As of 2006, 21 countries have launched an amateur satellite. Many of these countries have their own AMSAT affiliate, some of which are noted below:- AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL, AMSAT Deutschland) has built and managed projects of several amateur radio satellites, notably AO-40AO-40AO-40 is the on-orbit name designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as Phase 3D.The Project Manager was Peter Guelzow of AMSAT Germany ....
. - AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT) has contributed to many satellites, in addition to launching its own satellites in cooperation with JAXAJapan Aerospace Exploration AgencyThe , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the...
: the Fuji-OSCAR series. - AMSAT India (AMSAT-IN) launched its first amateur satellite, VUSat-OSCAR 52 in 2005 aboard an ISRO PSLV rocket from SriharikotaSriharikotaSriharikota is a barrier island off the coast of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It houses India's only satellite launch centre in the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is used by the Indian Space Research Organisation to launch satellites using multi-stage rockets such as the Polar...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. - AMSAT United Kingdom (AMSAT-UK) is building and launching FUNcube, an Amateur CubeSat
- AMSAT Italia (AMSAT-I) is building HAMTV payload for International Space Station
Phase system
The AMSAT Phase system describes an amateur satellite based upon its capabilities or mode of operation and roughly parallel the development of amateur satellites.- Phase 1: No solar cells (battery-powered only), short-lived, technology test-bed. Must be able to orbitOrbitIn physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
to be classified as a satellite. - Phase 2: Long life using solar cells, communications capabilities, Low Earth OrbitLow Earth orbitA low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
. - Phase 3: Long life, more powerful communications, telemetry and command systems. Highly elliptical orbit, usually a Molniya orbitMolniya orbitMolniya orbit is a type of highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 63.4 degrees, an argument of perigee of -90 degree and an orbital period of one half of a sidereal day...
; usually the initial orbit is a geostationary transfer orbitGeostationary transfer orbitA geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit is a Hohmann transfer orbit used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit....
, onboard propulsion systems boosting it to its final orbit. Because of the highly elliptical orbit, the satellite remains over an area for long periods of time, allowing amateurs longer contacts through the satellite. - Phase 4: Amateur satellite in geostationary orbitGeostationary orbitA geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...
. Phase 4 amateur satellites have been designed, but not built, though they have received favorable attention. - Phase 5: Spacecraft capable of lunar or planetary missions.
Satellite names
Most amateur satellites do not receive their sequential OSCAR designation until after they are successfully in orbit, and then only at the request of the launching organization. Regardless, amateur satellites will have been named by the organization that constructed it, and that name is frequently prepended to its OSCAR designation, resulting a name such as CubeSat-OSCAR 57. In conversation, names are usually abbreviated as CO-57 or similar.A unique amateur satellite was SuitSat
SuitSat
SuitSat is a retired Russian Orlan spacesuit with a radio transmitter mounted on its helmet. SuitSat-1 was deployed in an ephemeral orbit around the Earth on February 3, 2006...
, an obsolete Russian space suit with a transmitter in it, which was launched in 2006 from the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. In a twist of fate, "Oscar" was the name given to an obsolete space suit by its young owner in the book Have Space Suit, Will Travel, by Robert A Heinlein. This book was originally published a year after the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik.
Satellites previously launched by AMSAT-NA
The names of the satellites below are sorted in chronological order by launch date, ascending. The status column denotes the current operational status of the satellite. Green signifies that the satellite is currently operational, orange indicates that the satellite is partially operational or failing. Red indicates that the satellite is non operational and black indicates that the satellite has re-entered the earth's atmosphere. The country listing denotes the country that constructed the satellite and not the launching country.| Name (a.k.a) | Status | Launched | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (OSCAR 6, AO-6, AO-C, P2A) | Non-Operational | 1972-10-15 | USA |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 7 AMSAT-OSCAR 7 AO-7 is the second Phase 2 amateur satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit on 15 November 1974. It remained operational until a battery failure in 1981... (OSCAR 7, AO-7, AO-B, P2B) |
Semi-Operational | 1974-11-15 | USA |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (OSCAR 8, AO-8, AO-D, P2D) | Non-Operational | 1978-03-05 | USA/Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... /Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... /Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 10 (Phase 3B, AO-10, P3B) | Non-Operational | 1983-06-16 | USA/Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 13 (Phase 3C, AO-13, P3C) | Decayed | 1988-06-15 | Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 16 AMSAT-OSCAR 16 AO-16 is the in-orbit name designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as Pacsat. It was launched on 22 January 1990 from Kourou, French Guiana on a Ariane 4 launch vehicle... (Pacsat, AO-16, Microsat-1) |
Semi-Operational | 1990-01-22 | USA |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 40 AO-40 AO-40 is the on-orbit name designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as Phase 3D.The Project Manager was Peter Guelzow of AMSAT Germany .... (AO-40, Phase 3D, P3D) |
Non-Operational | 2000-11-16 | USA |
| AMSAT-OSCAR 51 AO-51 AO-51 is the in-orbit name designation of a LEO amateur radio microsatellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as ECHO. It was launched on June 29, 2004 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on a Dnepr launch vehicle... (Echo, AO-51) |
Non-Operational | 2004-06-28 | USA |
Current projects
In 2006, AMSAT is currently building the P3-E and Eagle satellites (Both Phase 3, see above), and has cooperated in developing the AMSAT Widget, a system used to communicate from one device to another using as few wires as possible. It works over the CAN interface, using an AMSAT-developed protocol called CAN-DO. AMSAT-DL is planning the GO-Mars/P5A spacecraft (Phase 5), to be launched to MarsMars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
.
Currently operating missions
- On June 29, 2004, AMSAT-NA launched a new microsat-class satellite, designated AO-51AO-51AO-51 is the in-orbit name designation of a LEO amateur radio microsatellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as ECHO. It was launched on June 29, 2004 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on a Dnepr launch vehicle...
. AMSAT-NA also operates the AO-7 and AO-16 satellites, which are open for general amateur use.