Från ANS kan vi nu läsa att det finns kontrakt att skjuta upp den
geostationära satelliten Es’hail-2 under senare delen av 2016. Det
speciella med denna satellit är att den kommer att ha en
amatörradiotransponder ombord.
Personligen tycker jag detta är den största händelsen inom
amatörradiosatelliter sedan Phase 3D. Vi får hoppas att det går i lås
och att flera tillverkare kommer att erbjuda paketlösningar för
mottagning av 10 GHz och sändning på 2.4 GHz.
Geosynchronous Es’hail-2 with Amateur Payload Contracted for 2016 Launch
The new satellite will be positioned at 26° East. In September 2014, a
contract with MELCO was signed to build the satellite based on the DS-2000 bus. In
December 2014, a launch contract was signed with SpaceX to launch the
satellite on a Falcon-9 v1.1 booster in late 2016.
Es’hail 2 will also provide the first Amateur Radio geostationary
communication capability linking Brazil and India. It will carry two “Phase 4” Amateur
Radio transponders. The payload will consist of a 250 kHz linear transponder
intended for conventional analogue operations in addition to another transponder
which will have an 8 MHz bandwidth. The latter transponder is intended for
experimental digital modulation schemes and DVB amateur television. The
uplinks will be in the 2.400-2.450 GHz and the downlinks in the 10.450-10.500 GHz
amateur satellite service allocations. Both transponders will have broad
beam antennas to provide full coverage over about third of the earth’s
surface. The Qatar Amateur Radio Society and Qatar Satellite Company are cooperating
on the amateur radio project. AMSAT-DL is providing technical support to the
project.
[ANS thanks Gunter Krebs for the above information]