From the Dungeon. 5th November 2006 GM1SXX
Ramblings from the Dungeon.
I've always had a keen interest in rocketry and in particular Russian rocketry This in large part was that when I got interested as a kid, nobody ever really knew what Russia was up to and all launches seemed to be COSMOS something-or-other. This made is difficult (and therefore fun) to try to find out what they were up to. I have a load of books from the 70's and 80's full of stuff on Russian rocketry, much of it inaccurate, rubbish in fact, simply because it *was* so difficult to get good information. Since then of course, things have changed greatly, especially since the demise of communism in Russia and the new 'openness' that seems to prevail. Russian launches are now sometimes carried on TV, especially launches to the ISS of crews and cargo. I'm constantly surprised by the number of people I talk to who think that Glasnost and Perestroika brought with them the end of space and commercial launches from Russia. This seems to be a common misconception in the UK. The true facts of course are that nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the launches of crews and cargo to the ISS are on Russian vehicles, and have been, since the ISS was launched. The Russians are still major players on the space scene. Things have changed greatly since the end of the cold war and now of course, the Russians have many joint ventures with other countries (notably the US) and sell launches commercially at market prices.
The history of the UK in rocketry also interests me and there seems to currently be some sort of media feeding frenzy going on re the old British satellite Prospero which of course was launched on a British launcher in 1971 when I still owned hair!
Credit, Science Museum.
You can read more at
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/bkarrow.htm
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~woomera/site.htm
http://www.spaceuk.org/ba/ba.htm
Even AMSAT have jumped on this particular band-waggon. See..
http://www.uk.amsat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=307&Itemid=86
Prospero 'snake oil' from John Heath G7HIA.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200608/msg01728.html
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200608/msg01798.html
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200608/msg01834.html
and "Roger Kolakowski" at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200608/msg01732.html
Roger's note quoting WA1KAT is something I've seen in print some time ago..
I found this.... Maybe it's store and forward? "The satellite carries a transponder at 137.56MHz. After 10 years in orbit satellite was still occasionally reactivated and telemetry was received at the Lasham groundstation." Roger WA1KAT
I believe this is indeed the case. The bird was switched on very occasionally (once annually?) and then closed down again.
I don't know anything about store and forward. I think that one is a Red Herring and could explain why it can't be copied.
Al.GM1SXX