> However, the question of meeting orbital debris mitigation requirements > remains
There are, however, no legally binding requirements regarding debris mitigation. In the case of amateur transponder satellites they can be assumed to have an operation lifetime of 40+ years (think OSCAR-7), as I recall debris mitigation suggests re-entry within 25 years of the end of mission. For amateur transponder satellites this might imply 65 years in orbit. But we can see plenty of examples of satellites currently being launched that will still be in orbit thousands of years from now. Certain missions require that satellites are placed in (or achieve through on-board propulsion) near circular orbits in the 1200-2500 km range - it is accepted that such missions could be up there for many tens of thousands of years. The amateur service could certainly justify transponder satellites in in near circular orbits at that altitude because that is what is required to fulfill the communications mission. In the case of the Dnepr Upper Stage it looks like it does have a satellite attached to it although that was unintentional - BRITE-Montreal failed to deploy. 73 Trevor M5AKA On Saturday, 5 July 2014, 13:43, Andrew Glasbrenner <[email protected]> wrote: You are not the only one to notice! All I can say at this point is that it is being investigated. However, the question of meeting orbital debris mitigation requirements remains. 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 5, 2014, at 8:28 AM, Paul Stoetzer <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good morning, > > I noticed that after the last Dnepr launch, it's upper stage was raised to an > apogee of 1454 km, putting it in a 1454 km x 609 km orbit with a 97.9 degree > inclination, in order to avoid collision with any of the 37 satellites it > released. > > Would it be possible for a future amateur satellite to be deployed AFTER the > Dnepr completes it's final burn to take advantage of that high apogee? This > would provide service similar to FO-29 with opportunities for > intercontinental communications every few months. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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
