[Ground-station] Launch opportunity - 6U or 12U CubeSat - Jan/Feb 2020 - launch philosophy

[Michelle Thompson]

Through Virginia Tech (thank you!), we've been informed of a launch
opportunity for a 6U or 12U CubeSat launch this coming JAN/FEB 2020 that
would be free to anyone who can make a delivery by the end of this year.
The institutions involved in getting this message to us were Virginia Tech,
Virginia Space Consortium, and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. The
offer is from the California Space Grant Consortium. I have names and
numbers and the office is up the street here in San Diego at UCSD.

1) This is really aggressive schedule. Let's see who we know and what we
can do. Do we know of anyone, anywhere (preferably with Phase 4 Ground
relevant hardware) to move on this, right now?

2) Another contact emphasized having something "on the shelf" to go was the
right approach. They have had a number of partner offers to get free rides.

I would like everyone to pay close attention to item 2. This is essentially
our philosophy with Phase 4 Space and is why we wrote the ARDC proposal. It
is the point of the paper Howie DeFelice and I wrote for QEX couple of
years ago about space industry changes and how they would affect AMSAT-NA.
It is why I volunteer to do this full time. We can get a launch if we have
something built.

We cannot wait for launches to start work or raise money.

Real opportunities like this one are the reason we are "paying it forward"
by working on all the required technology to get an advanced digital
payload built.

Can we take advantage of this (or help another project) through our
network? Does anyone know of a CubeSat that needs a launch? Even if we do
not directly benefit, getting open source, scientific, and amateur payloads
of any type a launch serves the community.

Spread the word, ask around, and let's see what we can accomplish with this
opportunity!

Worst case? We meet more people, learn more things, and get better insight
into future launch opportunities and the processes required to take
advantage of them.

-Michelle W5NYV
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