[HQRP] PCSat makes the mainstream news

[Craig Davidson]

>ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (AP) -- Once every 100 minutes, a bargain-basement
>satellite loops around the Earth, sending and receiving digital messages
>over antennas made from a metal tape measure.
>
>A sailor on a solo crossing of the Atlantic bounces signals off the
>satellite to stay in touch with his family. New Zealanders on a
>cross-country hike use it to communicate with friends back home. And any
ham
>radio user who has the proper transmitting equipment and is within 2,000
>miles (3200 kilometers) of the 25-pound (11-kilogram) satellite can use it
>to send single-line text messages.
>
>After four months in space, the U.S. Naval Academy's "bird" is proving
>surprisingly resilient, to the delight of the midshipmen and faculty
>advisers who designed and built it.
>
>The Prototype Communications Satellite, or PCSat, was the 44th amateur
>satellite put in orbit. It is one of more than a dozen built by university
>students around the world.
>
>At a cost of just $50,000 -- including plane tickets to the Alaska launch
>site -- it was constructed using off-the-shelf parts not designed to
>withstand the rigors of space. Its lifespan was expected to be only a few
>months.
>
>Six students put together the satellite last year with the help of a grant
>from Boeing Co. The Pentagon approved the project and put it on a launch
>list.
>
>A tape measure from Home Depot provided the antenna. Power comes from two
>dozen AA batteries that are recharged by the solar panels. Parts built to
>withstand the effects of radiation from the sun would have been too
>expensive, so the students went with regular circuit boards.
>
>September 29 was launch day, and there were anxious moments at the academy
>as the cube-shaped satellite hitched a ride aboard an Athena rocket that
was
>blasted into space from Kodiak, Alaska. It took nine hours before PCSat
made
>its first pass over Annapolis and the midshipmen and faculty advisers could
>see for themselves that their satellite was working.
>
>"I was thrilled. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,"
>said Steven Lawrence, who helped build the satellite before he graduated in
>May.
>
>In the following weeks, people in remote areas began to use the satellite
as
>word of it spread among ham radio operators.
>
>Except for the failure of one of the six solar panels, damaged when the
>satellite separated from the rocket, there have been no problems.
>
>Just how long PCSat will work depends on how much solar radiation bombards
>the satellite and how long the batteries, solar panels and thousands of
>transistors withstand the sun's damaging effects.
>
>"If we get lucky with radiation, it could last three years," said Darrell
>Boden, a professor in the aerospace engineering department.
>
>
>
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