I reached out today and talked to a professional astronomer, and here is the response. Before we start a project to actually take a detailed photo of the AO-40 in Space, could someone work with me directly to determine the coordinates that we could provide as requested:
>> Hi Samudra, We would have to know the exact coordinates ahead of time, point the telescope there, then start imaging as it flies through the field of view. Since we've never done it, I don't know how doable it actually is. I'm pretty certain we don't have the cameras... It's possible, but we would need more info and possible differetn equipment. >> The group I approached is a reputable one associated with their own observatory, locally to the Washington DC area. If anyone is interested to help out with the mathematics required, please contact me directly at [email protected]. I know of two other groups who can be approached locally, but we must given them all the details of size/configuration etc. Could be an interesting intellectual challenge while people are waiting for new sats to be designed. -samudra On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 5:30 PM, Peter Guelzow <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Robert, > > that's indeed the big question... We do not know in which attitude the > spacecraft is.. is it still spinning very slowly or tumbling? What is > the Solar-ß-Angel? > If the S/C has a good orientation to the sun and the battery opens, than > there should be enough power to operate the IHU and Beacon etc... do > some magnetorquing to improve attitude. > Something like this was done when AO-10 was hit by the last rocket > stage, spinning the wrong direction with sun directly on top and almost > no power... > Unfolding the solar panels would give very high power only when they are > oriented towards the sun. With folded solar arrays, all panels around > the satellite can still see the sun around it's spin axis. > Only when it shines on top or bottom, we will have problems... > > 73s Peter > > > > Rocky Jones wrote: >> Peter. >> >> In the current configuration (or the last known config) of the vehicle >> does the vehicle have sufficient solar illumination to "spin" and >> maintain the DC busses without a battery? >> >> Robert WB5MZO >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. Get it now. >> <http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222986/direct/01/> > > _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
