Category: Ham Satellite news

Active magnetorquing of AO-40 to hold ALON relatively steady and begin to lower ALAT has begun. On 18 May 2003 ALON/ALAT was approximately 329/7. A better determination will be possible now the ALAT has dropped below 15 degs. and the earth enters the camera field of view.

Hopefully passbands will be on soon during the first half of the orbit, if all goes well.

The A-blk message of the day section now includes height, Lon/Lat of the subsatellite point, and ALON/ALAT. All of these values are generated by the IHU-1 software based on its orbital and magnetorquing calculations. ALON/ALAT is also updated from the ground when a new magnetorquing command is issued.

[ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM, for the above information]

Klla: ANS 138

ALON/ALAT is now ~327/11, with ALAT decreasing slowly toward 0.

The passbands will be on starting tomorrow, MA 20-100.

Please remain well clear of the middle beacon as both image downloading and FEC testing will be taking place
intermittently.

— W4SM for the AO-40 Command Team

Klla: amsat

The passbands will be operational again within a few days from approximately MA 20 to 100.

This interval will change as we follow the sun and ALON increases toward 360.

We are awaiting one more good set of images and verification of ALON/ALAT before activating the passbands.

– –W4SM for the AO-40 Command Team

Alon/Alat 18/5 329/7

Klla: amsat

From Stacey: We are about to begin active magnetorquing to hold ALON relatively steady and begin to lower ALAT. Current ALON/ALAT is approximately 330/25, but better determination will be possible once the ALAT drops below about 15 degs. and the earth enters the camera field of view.

We hope to have the passbands on during the first half of the orbit within about 1 week, if all goes well.

The A-blk message of the day section now includes height, Lon/Lat of the subsatellite point, and ALON/ALAT. All of these values are generated by the IHU-1 software based on its orbital and magnetorquing calculations. ALON/ALAT is also updated from the ground when a new magnetorquing command is issued.

Klla: AMSAT-DL