AMSAT Special Bulletin 26 Dec 2000

AMSAT-DL President (and P3D Project leader) Dr. Karl Meinzer,
DJ4ZC, provided ANS with additional information regarding AO-40’s
recent S-band transmissions on 2401.305 MHz:

Ian, ZL1AOX, has succeeded in loading IPS software and a minimal
operational package into AO-40. As a consequence, AO-40 is now
sending telemetry (A blocks) that will enable an analysis of the status
of the spacecraft.

A first (quick) look has revealed that some temperature sensors and
possibly some current sensors have been lost by whatever incident
caused the telemetry transmissions to stop. However, the power
situation, in particular the battery voltages, look nominal.

We will now start a detailed analysis of the situation; the command
stations will continue to follow a conservative philosophy with the
primary target of not causing any additional damage along with
retaining as much evidence as possible for the analysis of the
incident.

Furthermore, command stations will now try to uplink the entire
operational software package, which in particular should establish
positive control over the power generation system. From there on, the
communications capabilities of the spacecraft will be explored. The
2-meter transmitter is considered off limits for the time being (in case
that it may have been damaged and thus might have the potential to
cause the IHU to crash). The risk is too large before the Warte-Orbits
and Command-Assist programs have been updated to reflect the
actual capabilities of the satellite available after the incident.

In summary, we can state that the command stations have now
regained control over AO-40. During the next few days we hope to
learn to what extent the satellite was damaged and to what extent
this will impact mission targets.

When we have further analysis, I will report again.

73’s,

Karl, DJ4ZC

Stay tuned to ANS for additional bulletins from AMSAT, the
official source for information on AMSAT OSCAR-40.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-DL President (and P3D Project leader) Dr. Karl
Meinzer, DJ4ZC, for this information]