P3E Update - hardware to be completed by year end

It was announced at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium that the hardware for the eagerly awaited P3E satellite should be completed by the end of 2007.

As yet there is no launch date but possibilies are an Arianne launch from the ESA site at Kourou in 2008 or on a Soyuz launcher from the new Russian launch site under construction also at Kourou.

It was reported earlier this year that building work on the Russian facility had slipped and it is likely to be 2009 before that launch pad is available. See the end of the article at
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Space_Agency
_Hopes_Sea_Launch_Will_Resume_Operation_In_2007_999.html

P3E will be the first Amateur satellite to operate at 47 GHz. It is also planned to use 145 MHz and 435 MHz along with the 1.260, 2.4, 5, 10 GHz Amateur Radio Microwave bands.

Amateur Satellites generate very weak signals on the ground and it is vital that the Amateur Satellite Service has long term access to low noise floor spectrum in the microwave bands.

The typical lifetime of on Amateur satellite can be around 15 years although, OSCAR-7 is still operating 32 years after its launch, a tribute to the high standards of Amateur Satellite construction.

P3-E Satellite
http://www.amsat-dl.org/ - http://www.p3e-satellite.org/

• AMSAT-UK publish a Newletter OSCAR News which is full of Amateur Satellite information. For further details contact Jim Heck G3WGM.
Tel: + 44 (0)1258 453959
Email: g3wgm@amsat.org
Web: http://www.uk.amsat.org/

To join AMSAT-UK online see https://secure.amsat.org.uk/subscription/