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From: "Mark Johns, K0JM via ANS" <ans@amsat.org
Subject: [ANS] ANS-222 AMSAT News Service Bulletins
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2025 20:02:10 EDT
Reply-To: k0jm.mark@gmail.com
To: space@ww
ANS-222
August 10, 2025
In this edition:
* NASA Curtails CSLI Program - GOLF Launches Cut
* 2025 AMSAT Symposium Keynote Speaker Announced
* AMSAT Symposium Call for Papers & Presentations
* Symposium Hotel Rooms Added
* NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Mission Ends in Disappointment
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* ISS Crew Expands to Eleven
* ARISS News
* AMSAT Ambassador Activities
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information
service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes
news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities
of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active
interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog
and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in
Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
*Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at]
amsat.org <http://amsat.org>*
Sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via
the ANS List; to join this list see:
https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
------------------------------
NASA Curtails CSLI Program - GOLF Launches Cut
Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT VP-Engineering received letters from NASA da
ted
July 12, 2025 announcing changes to the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI)
program.
The letters stated, in part, that as a result of the President's pr
oposed
Fiscal Year 2026 budget, the reduction and realignment of personnel, NASA
has fewer resources available to maintain the program as it is currently
operating.
Based on these program uncertainties, NASA said they have made the
difficult decision to discontinue its cooperative work on those missions
where launch services have not been manifested. AMSAT's GOLF-TEE an
d the
GOLF-1 missions are among those that have not been manifested, meaning they
have not yet been scheduled for a particular launch.
As such, NASA said they will not be able to provide launch opportunities
for either of the GOLF missions and there is no expectation that
circumstances will change.
Upon receiving this news, Buxton brought the matter to the attention of the
AMSAT Board of Directors and its Executive Committee who met on August 5th.
*The Board of Directors and committee members unanimously supported
continuation of the final development of the GOLF-TEE mission which is
expected to be flight-ready in 2026.*
Knowing that being accepted to the CSLI program does not actually guarantee
a government funded launch, AMSAT engineering and operations officials have
maintained long-standing relationships with private integrators and launch
services. In past years it might have taken years to schedule a ride on a
non-government launch. But, in today's competitive market among com
mercial
integrators and launch services, rides for CubeSats can be secured in a
matter of months.
*The Board of Directors and Executive Committee were emphatic that, despite
the loss of a government funded launch, the GOLF-TEE mission should be
completed on schedule and will be launched with the resources on hand.*
Still, the final chapter on this development has not been written. NASA
states that the CSLI Panel is planning to reconvene in the Spring of 2026
to reassess program challenges and opportunities.
In concluding his report, Buxton noted that changes in the CSLI program do
not affect the timetable for the Fox-Plus satellites since they were never
considered for the CSLI program.
The AMSAT Board of Directors will take further action to ensure the timely
launch of its satellite projects at its annual Board of Directors meeting
on October 16-17 immediately prior to the AMSAT 43rd Annual Space Symposium
and Annual General Meeting being held in Phoenix, Arizona.
[ANS thank Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT VP-Engineering, for the above
information.]
------------------------------
*Your 2025 AMSAT President's Club Coin Is Waiting!*
*Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight*
*Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.*
*[image: 2025 PC Coin Set]*
*Join the AMSAT President's Club today and help*
*Keep Amateur Radio in Space!*
*https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/*
<https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/>
------------------------------
2025 AMSAT Symposium Keynote Speaker Announced
AMSAT has announced that Liam Cheney, an aerospace consultant and founder
of Footstep Aerospace by AG3, LLC will be the keynote speaker at the 43rd
Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting to be held on
October 16-19, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona.
*Liam Cheney (Photo: Footstep Aerospace)*
In his capacity as an aerospace consultant Mr. Cheney supports mission
integration, strategy, and business development for the space industry.
Over the past decade, he has contributed to the successful launch and
deployment of numerous CubeSat missions, including many flown through
NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), where he previously served
as a
Mission Manager. He has helped launch multiple AMSAT-supported missions
during his time at NASA, Tyvak, and SRI International. Liam also served as
the launch services Mission Manager for PREFIRE, which launched in 2024 on
back-to-back Rocket Lab Electron flights to study polar heat loss and
improve climate modeling.
He holds a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cal Poly,
San Luis
Obispo, where he authored a thesis on safety standards for CubeSat
propulsion systems and contributed to the university's CubeSat Prog
ram.
Liam is a certified Project Management Professional and a member of AMSAT.
He lives in Kansas City with his wife and two children and enjoys
astrophotography and craft coffee.
Information on Symposium registration and hotel reservations can be found
at:
https://www.amsat.org/43rd-amsat-space-symposium-and-annual-general-meeting
/
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]
------------------------------
*Need new satellite antennas?*
*Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.*
*When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards*
*Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.*
*https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/*
<https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/>
------------------------------
AMSAT Symposium Call for Papers & Presentations
Registrations & room reservations are now available for the 43rd Annual
AMSAT Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting to be held Thursday, October
16 to Sunday, October 19 at the Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North,
1515 North 44th Street Phoenix, AZ.
Early Bird registration remains available until September 15 at
https://launch.amsat.org/Events
Proposals for Symposium papers and presentations are invited on any topic
of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative
title of your paper or presentation as soon as possible, with final copy
submitted by October 8th for inclusion in the Symposium Proceedings.
Proposals for presentations at the Symposium do not require a paper.
Presentations will be recorded and made available on AMSAT's YouTub
e
Channel and transcribed and published with its slides in the Proceedings.
Proposals should be sent to Frank Karnauskas, N1UW via f.karnauskas [at]
amsat.org
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]
------------------------------
Symposium Hotel Rooms Added
If you tried to make a hotel reservation for the 2025 AMSAT symposium and
found yourself left out - Good news - More rooms have been
added!
Rooms for the 43rd AMSAT Annual Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting
have been going fast but more are now available. At an affordable price of
$140 per night plus tax, these rooms will go fast.
All rooms at the Holiday Inn and Suites Airport North are two-room suites
with a choice of 1 King bed or 2 Queen beds.
*Credit: Holiday Inn Suites Phoenix Airport North*
In addition to a free airport shuttle and free parking, the hotel offers
free Wi-Fi; a fitness area; an outdoor pool and hot tub in a large, lovely
palm-shaded courtyard; and free hot breakfast for all guests! During the
day, It's a great setting for spouses to relax while you're
enjoying
Symposium presentations. In the evening, it's the perfect way to re
lax and
enjoy a beverage or snack under the stars in Phoenix.
More information on room reservations can be found at:
https://www.amsat.org/43rd-amsat-space-symposium-and-annual-general-meeting
/
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.]
------------------------------
*Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?*
*Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!*
*25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards*
*Keeping Amateur Radio in Space*
*https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear* <https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear>
------------------------------
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Mission Ends in Disappointment
The Lunar Trailblazer mission to the moon officially ended on July 31, but
it wasn't a complete journey. NASA said on August 4 that its teams
lost
contact with the satellite shortly after its launch on February 26.
*(Photo credit: NASA)*
The NASA satellite was part of the IM-2 mission by Intuitive Machines,
which launched from Kennedy Space Center. The Lunar Trailblazer
successfully separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as planned about 48
minutes after launch. Operators in Pasadena, CA established communication
with the satellite, but two-way communication was lost the next day and the
team was unable to recover the connection. From the limited data ground
teams received before the satellite went dark, the craft's solar ar
rays
were not correctly positioned toward the sun, which caused its batteries to
drain.
[ANS thanks Engadget for the above information. See the complete story at
https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-lunar-trailblazer-mission-ends
-in-disappointment-201318932.html
]
------------------------------
Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for August 8
Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps
in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical
model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly
updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin
files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin
files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available
for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at
https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.
With HamTV becoming active on ISS, orbital elements are now updated twice
daily at 00:18 and 12:18 UTC.
Assignments to some of the Tevel2 satellites have been updated to match
object numbers.
The following satellites have been removed from this week's distrib
ution:
Foresail-1 NORAD Cat ID 52766 Decayed from orbit on or about 25 June 2025
[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for the
above information]
------------------------------
*AMSAT Remove Before Flight Key Tags Now Available*
*Yes, These are the Real Thing!*
* <https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_car_flag-256716714380264543>*
*Your $20 Donation Goes to Help Fly a Fox-Plus Satellite Includes First
Class Postage (Sorry - U.S. Addresses Only) Order Today
at https://www.amsat.org/product/amsat-remove-before-flight-keychain
<https://www.amsat.org/product/amsat-remove-before-flight-keychain/>*
------------------------------
ISS Crew Expands to Eleven
Four new crew members are adjusting to life on the International Space
Station and gearing up for several months of microgravity research to
benefit humans living on and off the Earth. Meanwhile, another quartet that
has been orbiting Earth since March is packing up and handing over
responsibilities to the new crew before returning to Earth this week.
Expedition 73 expanded to eleven individuals on Saturday, August 2, when
NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission docked to the orbital outpost aboard
the
Dragon spacecraft after launching from Florida about 15 hours earlier. Crew
11's Commander and Pilot, Zena Cardman, KJ5CMN, and Mike Fincke, KE
5AIT,
both from NASA, and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui, KG5BPH, from JAXA
(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Oleg Platonov from Roscosmos spent
the weekend unpacking their Dragon spacecraft, reviewing safety procedures,
and getting familiar with space station systems.
*Expedition 73 welcomes NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission aboard the
International Space Station. In the front from left are, Crew-11 members
Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, Zena Cardman, KJ5CMN, and Kimiya Yui,
KG5BPH. In the back are, Expedition 73 members Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS,
Kirill Peskov, Alexey Zubritsky, Sergey Ryzhikov, Jonny Kim, KJ5HKP,
Nichole Ayers, KJ5GWI, and Anne McClain. (Photo credit: Nichole Ayers
@Astro_Ayers and NASA)*
The crew is well trained for its space research program and will soon begin
investigating a wide variety of microgravity phenomena to gain insights
only achievable in space. They will explore manufacturing high quality stem
cells, alternatives to antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, cell
division in plants to promote space agriculture, and more.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, KJ5GWI, along with JAXA
astronaut Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are
helping their new crewmates get up to speed with living and working on the
orbital lab. NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 crewmates also will be going hom
e this
week aboard another Dragon spacecraft completing a five-month mission.
During their stay in space, the crew studied space-caused mental and
physical changes in astronauts, blood flow from the brain to the heart,
future lunar navigation techniques, and more.
The homebound foursome has spent the last two weeks gathering personal
items and cargo for loading inside Dragon. Over the next couple of days,
Crew-10 will also pack critical research samples stowed in portable science
freezers inside Dragon for retrieval and analysis back on Earth. During the
final cargo-packing and scientific sample-stowing duties, the crew will
also review departure procedures before entering Dragon and undocking.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, KJ5HKP, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov
and Alexey Zubritsky will continue their mission aboard the station and
conduct their complement of space research until December. The trio have
been assisting with the crew swap activities as Kim helped Fincke learn to
work out on the advanced resistive exercise device. Ryzhikov showed the
Crew-11 foursome the location of emergency hardware and how to use NASA and
Roscosmos station hardware. Zubritsky helped Peskov as he tested the lower
body negative pressure suit that may counteract space-caused head and eye
pressure and help crews adjust quicker to the return to Earth's gra
vity.
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]
------------------------------
ARISS NEWS
Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between
amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with
astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The
downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.
N. Sultanov International Aerospace School, Republic of Bashkortostan,
Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sergey Ryzhikov
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR
Contact is go for Monday 2025-08-11 07:45 UTC
The crossband repeater continues to be *ACTIVE* (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} &
437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is
pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband
repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.
The packet system is also *ACTIVE* (145.825 MHz up & down).
Ham TV is *CONFIGURED* for scheduled digital amateur television operations
(2395.00 MHz down)
As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios
are turned off as part of the safety protocol.
Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own
orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed
time.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html
The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors
for the above information]
------------------------------
AMSAT Ambassador Activities
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through
amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests,
conventions, maker faires, and other events.
[image: AMSAT Ambassador News Logo]
AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, writes: "There's no
salary. There's
no expense report to hand in to anyone. We just volunteer because we happen
to really, REALLY like this aspect of this magnificent hobby. I gave my
183rd "Work the Easy Satellites" presentation last night to
a great club in
Minnesota. The Maple Grove Radio Club has been around almost FIFTY years
-
and have been an ARRL Affiliate Club almost as long. From the club
president: `A big thanks to you Clint and Karen for the presentatio
n
tonight, it was wonderful and I appreciate you taking the time on your
birthday to present to our club ... I know we have a lot of members
interested in satellite ... I can't wait to get more interest
ed in working
satellite, our club should probably fire up a tape measure antenna lab
session to get a bunch of members making antennas and on the air.'"
*August 16-17, 2025*
*Huntsville Hamfest 2025*
Von Braun Center South Hall
700 Monroe St. SW
Huntsville, AL 35801
*August 21-24, 2025*
*Northeast HamXposition (HamX) & New England ARRL Convention*
Best Western Royal Plaza & Trade Center
181 Boston Post Road W
Marlborough, MA 01752
http://www.HamX.org
W1EME, WD4ASW, WB1FJ
*September 6, 2025*
*Greater Louisville Hamfest*
Paroquet Springs Conference Centre
395 Paroquet Springs Drive
Shepherdsville, KY 40165
W4FCL
*October 11, 2025*
*North Star Radio Convention*
Hennepin Technical College
9000 Brooklyn Boulevard
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
https://northstarradio.org/
ADØHJ
*October 16, 17, 18, 19, 2025*
*AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and 43rd Annual AMSAT Space Symposium &
Annual General Meeting*
Holiday Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport North
1515 North 44th Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Details at https://www.amsat.org/2025-symposium/
Ambassador Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, writes: "We had a good time showi
ng off
Amateur radio satellites at the `Moon Day' space themed STE
M event at the
Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field back on July 19th. They had
980 people through the doors that day. Although, I know we did not see all
of them at our exhibit, those we did had a chance to see and understand who
we are and what we do via the Cubesat simulator, Fox, model, visualization
of satellite orbits and FM contacts."
[ANS thanks Bo Lowrey, W4FCL, Director - AMSAT Ambassador Program,
for the
above information]
------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Kees Van Oosbree, WØAAE and Nathan Wood, K4NHW and a variety of inte
rnet
remote operators will be activating the Frying Pan Tower lighthouse (
fptower.org), located 32 miles off the coast of North Carolina in
gridsquare FM13fl, from August 7 to August 11. The special event callsign
for this trip will be K4F/MM. The primary objective is to establish a
permanent internet-connected remote station, equipped with a Flex 6400, an
end-fed half-wave antenna, and an 80-meter vertical. This remote station
will be used by youth operators and serve as a platform for propagation
experiments in a saltwater-rich environment. K4F/MM will be active on all
bands from 160 to 6 meters, as well as on satellite (both FM and linear)
and terrestrial VHF (FM and SSB) throughout the duration of the trip. For
information, email W0AAE at arrl.kvan@gmail.com or on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fpthamradio (ANS thanks Kees Van Oosbree, WØ
AAE,
for the above information.)
+ Ham Radio Prep is offering an online course, "Satellite and Space
Operations" at an "Early Bird Special" price of $59
US if enrolled by
August 15. See https://hamradioprep.com/satellite-and-space-operations/ for
details. (ANS thanks Ham Radio Prep for the above information.)
+ NISAR, the $1.5B joint NASA-ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organisation)
mission launched last week from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre
on a
GSLV rocket--becoming the first satellite collaboration for the agen
cies.
Carrying a 12-meter-wide antenna on a 9-meter boom, NISAR will map the
planet's surface twice every 12 days with two different SAR bands:
L-Band
with an instrument from JPL, good at moisture, biomass, and land motion
detection, and S-Band from ISRO, good at sensing changes to agriculture,
grassland ecosystems, and infrastructure. Combined, these measurements will
provide change detection at centimeter resolution and be invaluable for
monitoring land motion (earthquakes, landslides, volcanic activity), ice
shelves, erosion, as well as forest and wetland ecosystems. NISAR orbits in
a 747 km SSO and is expected to generate 80 terabytes of data products per
day. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information. See the
complete article at https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2025-08-06-Issue-330/)
------------------------------
Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:
* Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
* Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at
one-half the standard yearly rate.
* Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status
shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary
years in this status.
* Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.
Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.
73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
This week's ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
mjohns [at] amsat.org
ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H
Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002
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