[Ground-station] Experimental Channels

[Leffke, Zachary]

Oops…resending to the list…

From: Leffke, Zachary
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 10:37 AM
To: Ron Economos <w6rz at comcast.net>
Subject: RE: [Ground-station] Experimental Channels

Last I heard from an Air Force PM I ran into at the FalconSat review a couple years ago, its sitting in a warehouse, not officially cancelled, but on indefinite hold.  Since then Millennium Space Systems has been acquired by Boeing, and the contractors involved with the main sensor have all changed, and the Air Force folks that were on our side have since moved on.  So if it is, its under all kinds of new contractual arrangements, with new people, and we are no longer part of the mission.

From Aug of last year: https://spacenews.com/air-force-seeking-new-partner-to-complete-work-on-experimental-missile-warning-satellite/

-Zach, KJ4QLP
--
Research Associate
Aerospace & Ocean Systems Lab
Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Work Phone: 540-231-4174
Cell Phone: 540-808-6305

From: Ground-Station <ground-station-bounces at lists.openresearch.institute<mailto:ground-station-bounces at lists.openresearch.institute>> On Behalf Of Ron Economos via Ground-Station
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 2:20 AM
To: ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute<mailto:ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute>
Subject: Re: [Ground-station] Experimental Channels


Isn't WFOV (AFSPC 12) scheduled to be launched next month?

Ron W6RZ
On 2/13/20 22:47, Leffke, Zachary via Ground-Station wrote:
While I agree with Phil and Kent on this, do remember we got pretty close to success on a number of those fronts with the Air Force on the WFOV attempt.  In that case, AMSAT and other benefactors cut the checks to cover the study and VT researcher time that lead to a PDR level design and addressed a number of Kent’s points including overall/center of mass, mechanical mating, electrical mating, outgassing, thermal constraints, EMI/RFI, even security type issues (like TEMPEST), etc, etc, etc.  We generally got the ‘no impact to primary mission’ result (which is a ‘go’) from the integrators (Millennium Space Systems) which they formally delivered to the Air Force, who responded with a thumbs up (I remember that review, it was a good day).  In fairness, that was a relatively easier set of constraints due to the experimental nature and relatively short duration of the primary mission (lots of margin in power, propellant, etc.) compared to say a 20-30 year $100M+ operational system.

Had the prime contractors delivered the primary sensor, and had we found a ‘measly’ $5M dollars or so (for the launch costs, a bit more for the actual payload build, which was actually two payloads to have an identical ground copy), and had we met all the design constraints, we would have had a launch and a GEO payload over NA.  We had even begun talks on integration schedule and the initial plans for travel to California for integration and compatibility testing of the payload with the bus (which was scary timeline wise, because we had only gotten to PDR level, and would have only had about a year to get past CDR, build it, bolt it on, and complete the integration testing).

All this to say that while it is a huge challenge (the engineering is ‘almost’ easier than the political/bureaucratic/legal wrangling) it is an achievable goal, and we got pretty close.  And yes, 100% agree that the devil is in the details…..and there are many, many details to cover.

In my opinion, it’s all about confidence.  As I learned from Bob, N4HY, ‘Amateur’ in the sense we’re doing it because we love it, but we can present ourselves as professionals.  We have to be confident in ourselves and our ‘product’ which instills confidence in the people we need to convince such as the vehicle owners (our junk won’t short your bus…), the benefactors that help with funding (it’s worth your time and $...), and the all the rest.  Incremental ‘wins’ are a way to build that confidence...CatSat is a prime example: AstroSDR flight heritage (or should I say more flight heritage), channelizers, DVB-S2 processing, X-band downlink.  Even though it’s a 6U LEO bird, it helps build confidence towards the end goal as it demonstrates what’s possible (no pressure for the folks in Arizona :-) ).  Same same, but different for AMSAT’s GOLF series: SDRs on amateur spacecraft, microwave links, etc.  We have a lot of great people doing a lot of great things and our collective successes get us closer to the goal.

Keep the faith, we can find a way, just need to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves, and be confident that we can do it……and a few more Hams strategically positioned at Intelsat, Inmarsat, dish network, directv, Viasat, Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed, Northrop, NOAA, Air Force, Space Force, NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin and/or Amazon, ULA, and various three, four, and five letter agencies, etc. couldn’t hurt (and maybe a few Texas oil barons as well….also, anyone have a friend of a friend of a friend that plays golf with Musk or Bezos?).

As always, just my two cents…

-Zach, KJ4QLP

--
Research Associate
Aerospace & Ocean Systems Lab
Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Work Phone: 540-231-4174
Cell Phone: 540-808-6305


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