FalconSat-3 status

Occasionally a question arises in regards to when the US Air Force Academy's FalconSat-3 (FS3) might activate its Amateur Radio payload. Jim White, WD0E recently provided us with the following answer to this question.

Jim said, "When the science mission is completed the Amateur Radio payload will be activated. Once available to the amateur satellite service the mode of operation of FS3 will be determined by the ham club at the Air Force Academy. Like AO-51 it can be operated as an FM repeater or in digital store and forward up to 78k8."

Jim continued, "At present there is no target date for completion of the science mission. It depends on a number a factors and must balance the mission objectives of an on-orbit learning resource and a plasma data collection and mapping instrument."

In conclusion, "FS3 has been providing an excellent platform for students learning space operations, attitude determination and control, and power systems. The boom deployment sequence will probably be attempted in the next couple of weeks. While some science data has been collected, enough to show the instruments are working well,
continuous collection won't start until three axis control has
been established and practiced."

Jim White, WD0E