Tuesday, March 12, 2013

AMSAT now preparing for two launch opportunities

AMSAT's focus on STEM education and development of a cubesat platform capable of flying a science mission with a reliable communications link resulted in our previous selection of Fox-1 in the third round and RadFxSat (Fox-1B) in the recent fourth round of NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative. Actual launch vehicle selections are dependent on the availability of auxiliary payload space and on what orbits are required.

AMSAT VP Engineering Tony Monteiro reports that he has been in  conversation with NASA about our orbital preferences/priorities and we're awaiting a response from NASA as to a specific launch selection. In the meantime, the engineering team expects to complete Fox-1 in 2013 and have RadFxSat ready in the 2nd half of 2014 in order to take advantage of launch opportunities that may be offered by NASA.

Fox-1 and the RadFxSat missions are based on similar system architecture. 


(Source: ANS via Sourthgate Amateur Radio News)

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