AMSAT-OSCAR 6

AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (a.k.a. AO-6) was the first Phase 2 amateur radio satellite (P2-A) launched into low Earth orbit. It was also the first satellite constructed by the new AMSAT North America (AMSAT-NA) organization.

AMSAT-OSCAR 6
NamesAO-6
Mission typeAmateur radio
OperatorAMSAT / NASA
COSPAR ID1972-082B
SATCAT no.6236
Mission duration4.5 years (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
BusAMSAT-OSCAR
ManufacturerAMSAT-NA
Launch mass18.2 kg (40 lb)
Dimensions16 cm × 30 cm × 44 cm (6.3 in × 11.8 in × 17.3 in)
Power3.5 watts
Start of mission
Launch date15 October 1972, 17:19 UTC
RocketDelta 300
(Delta 91 / Thor 575575)
Launch siteVandenberg, SLC-2W
ContractorDouglas Aircraft Company
End of mission
Last contact21 June 1977
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit [1]
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude1,448 km (900 mi)
Apogee altitude1,457 km (905 mi)
Inclination101.70°
Period114.93 minutes
 

Launch

The satellite was launched 15 October 1972, by a Delta 300 launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California. AO-6 was launched piggyback with NOAA-2 (ITOS-D).

Spacecraft

AMSAT-OSCAR 6 was box-shaped, measuring 43 cm × 30 cm × 15 cm, with a mass of 18.2 kg. It had a near-circular polar orbit of 1448 × 1457 km with an inclination of 101.70°. It deployed two quarter-wave monopole antennas, one each for 144 and 435 MHz, and half-wave dipole antenna for 29 MHz. It remained operational for 4.5 years until a battery failure on 21 June 1977.[2][3]

Equipped with solar panels powering NiCd batteries, AO-6 provided 24 V at 3.5 watts power to three transponders. It carried a Mode A transponder (100 kHz wide at 1 watt) and provided store-and-forward morse and teletype messages (named Codestore) for later transmission. Subsystems were built in the United States, Australia, and Germany.[4]

AO-6 had a 1.3 watt transmitter into a half-wave dipole antenna. AO-6's receiver input sensitivity was approximately -100 dBm (2 μV per meter) and had an Automatic gain control (AGC) that provided up to 26 dB of gain reduction optimized for single-sideband modulation. The transceiver team consisted of Karl Meinzer DJ4ZC, Wallace Mercer W4RUD, Dick Daniels WA4DGU and Jan King W3GEY.

Firsts

AO-6 demonstrated several uses of new technologies and operations.[4]

  • First complex control system using discrete logic
  • First satellite-to-satellite relay, through AO-7.[5]
  • Demonstrated usage of satellite enabled doppler-location of ground station for search and rescue;
  • Demonstrated practical, low-cost medical data relay from remote locations.

See also

References
  1. McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  2. "AMSAT P2A". Gunter's Space Page. 31 December 1999. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  3. "Oscar 6 1972-082B". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. "AMSAT-OSCAR 6 Satellite Summary". AMSAT. 31 May 2003. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  5. Klein, Perry (October 1975). "Intersatellite communication using the AMSAT-OSCAR 6 and AMSAT-OSCAR 7 radio amateur satellites". IEEE Proceedings. IEEE. 63 (10): 1526–1527. Bibcode:1975IEEEP..63.1526K. doi:10.1109/PROC.1975.9988.
  • Jan King, "The Sixth Amateur Satellite - A Technical Report: Part I," QST, Jul 1973, p. 66-71, 101.
  • Jan King, "The Sixth Amateur Satellite - A Technical Report: Part II," QST, Aug 1973, p. 69-74, 106.
  • John Fox and Ron Dunbar, "Preliminary Report on Inverted Doppler Anomaly," ARRL Technical Symposium on Space Communications, Reston, VA, Sep 1973, pp 1–30.
  • Perry Klein and Jan King, "Results of the AMSAT-OSCAR 6 Communications Satellite Experiment," IEEE National Convention Record, NYC, Mar 1974.
  • Perry Klein and Ray Soifer, "Intersatellite Communication Using the AMSAT-OSCAR 6 and AMSAT-OSCAR 7 Radio Amateur Satellites," Proceedings of the IEEE Letters, Oct 1975, pp 1526–1527.
  • D. Brandel, P. Schmidt, and B. Trudell, "Improvements in Search and Rescue Distress Alerting and Location Using Satellites," IEEE WESCON, Sep 1976.
  • J. Kleinman, "OSCAR Medical Data," QST, Oct 1976, pp 42–43.
  • D. Nelson, "Medical Relay by Satellite," Ham Radio, Apr 1977, pp 67–73.
  • W0LER, "OSCAR 6 - Gone but not forgotten," QST, Nov 1977, p. 31.
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