AO-40 was the post launch designator given to the long awaited Phase 3D satellite. Shortly after launch a plugged valve vent on the 400 N motor prevented proper functioning of the burn valves and had probably allowed build-up of fuel pressure in the cooling coils around the motor bell housing. AO-40 was recovered several weeks later but several of the subsystems were no longer functioning.
The radio amateur satellite AO-40 was built by an international team of Amateur Radio volunteers. As a partner in this project Amsat-ON realized a K-band transponder. The development of the transponder was done by Stefaan Burger, ON4FG, Danny Orban, ON4AOD, Peter Pauwels, ON1BPS and Philip Sanders, ON7IZ AO-40 K-band, The Challenge (source: www.sunsunsun.net) [gview file=”http://www.sunsunsun.net/kd4app/ao40/Kband4.pdf”] AO-40 – An …
Dec 22
The newspaper “De Standaard” 22 Dec 2000 provides a report on the status of AO-40. On board was a K-band transponder developed by a AMSAT-ON team. The original idea was to have a 24 GHz beacon. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, suggested to build a transponder. Unfortunately, the result of all these efforts was never fully operational. De Standaard, 22 …