VO-52 Satellite Decommissioned

The well known satellite VUSat Oscar-52 has been taken out of service.

ARRL article:
http://www.arrl.org/news/india-s-vo-52-satellite-goes-dark

 

The original announcement from the control team ...

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?444019-VO-52-RIP

 

Sorry to hear about VO-52 demise... we know they cant last forever, but wish they could. It was a great bird, and made many contacts via it...

John Neeley W6ZKH
WAS-Sat #320
VUCC-Sat #201

 

To be precise, this originally appeared on the AMSAT-BB mailing list almost 2 hours before the QRZ forum posting:

http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2014-July/050045.html

Mani and others connected with the HAMSAT/VO-52 project used the AMSAT-BB mailing list for spreading information related to VO-52 worldwide, and to solicit feedback from the amateur satellite community from time to time about the performance of this satellite.

VO-52 was the first satellite I could regularly work in SSB. It was easy to hear, easy to get into (I normally ran no more than 5W, and sometimes as little as 500mW), and was a regular feature in my demonstrations at hamfests and other events since late 2008. I used audio and/or video from some of those passes in videos I posted on my YouTube channel. Many hams who started working FM satellites like the current SO-50 or others like AO-27 or AO-51 in the past typically started SSB satellite work on VO-52 before trying FO-29 or AO-7 - and, in recent times, AO-73. Hams in South Asia were permitted to use this satellite in FM, due to the limited availability of VHF and UHF equipment for SSB/CW operating.

The use of lithium-ion batteries on this satellite was a first among amateur radio satellites. Unfortunately, it appears the failure of those batteries lead to the end of the satellite. Then again, getting 9+ years from a satellite that was only expected to be operational for a year is a very good thing. This satellite carried two transponders, of which only one was active at a time. A couple of years ago, one of them failed, and the other was switched on until the recent failure. I hope we see other amateur satellites from India in the future, to go with the others that have been recently launched and are in the pipeline for launches in the future.

73!

 

Satellites have to be replenished on a regular basis. AMSAT just announced a launch opportunity for Fox-1C, but we need to raise $125,000 to cover the commercial launch fees and campaign expenses and finish construction by the launch date Q3 2015.

Fox-1C is a 1-Unit cubesat, just 10cm on a side. It carries a 70cm to 2m crossband repeater. This satellite will be easily accessible to anyone with a dual band mobile or HT with handheld antenna.

See more at http://www.amsat.org/?p=2957 for more info.

73, Drew KO4MA

 

Ham Member

Suggest a new satellite that will be launched, called VO-52M, perhaps it will be as successful.