Black Arrow payload follow up?

[Grey Havoc]

An interesting story from the BBC; Plan to revive 1970s UK satellite.

Prospero [IMAGE CREDIT: BBC]​

 

[blackstar]

"But even with the codes, the engineers still have to build equipment to "talk" to the satellite and win approval from the broadcast regulator Ofcom to use Prospero's radio frequencies - these days being employed by other satellite operators."

This plan might not be a good idea. Radio frequency interference is a nasty problem. For many satellite operators it is a more immediate problem than space junk. Satellite transmitters can be like an open microphone at a wedding, amplifying noise, including stuff that nobody wants to hear.

I suspect that one question these guys will be asked is how confident are they that they can turn the satellite transmitter off after they turn it on. If they cannot answer that satisfactorily, I imagine that the regulators would worry about this old satellite broadcasting away for no reason, interfering with other satellites. I think that a number of satellites these days are equipped with the equivalent of kill switches to prevent them from coming alive again.

 

[shedofdread]

Please forgive any potential ignorance on my part but I rather thought Prospero was continually broadcasting. The reason for this belief comes from an episode of the BBC documentary 'Coast' where ex Black Arrow staff were re-united and they listened to a transmission suposedly from the satellite.

 

[blackstar]

Please forgive any potential ignorance on my part but I rather thought Prospero was continually broadcasting. The reason for this belief comes from an episode of the BBC documentary 'Coast' where ex Black Arrow staff were re-united and they listened to a transmission suposedly from the satellite.

Are you sure they weren't listening to a recording?

40 years of continuous broadcasting seems unlikely.

 

[Michel Van]

Please forgive any potential ignorance on my part but I rather thought Prospero was continually broadcasting. The reason for this belief comes from an episode of the BBC documentary 'Coast' where ex Black Arrow staff were re-united and they listened to a transmission suposedly from the satellite.

Are you sure they weren't listening to a recording?

40 years of continuous broadcasting seems unlikely.

the record holder for that is space probe Pioneer 6
launch on December 16, 1965 in solar orbit, last Successful telemetry contact in 2007
that's 42 years

Voyager 1&2 still works and transmit data to earth since 34 years

 

[blackstar]

Please forgive any potential ignorance on my part but I rather thought Prospero was continually broadcasting. The reason for this belief comes from an episode of the BBC documentary 'Coast' where ex Black Arrow staff were re-united and they listened to a transmission suposedly from the satellite.

Are you sure they weren't listening to a recording?

40 years of continuous broadcasting seems unlikely.

the record holder for that is space probe Pioneer 6
launch on December 16, 1965 in solar orbit, last Successful telemetry contact in 2007
that's 42 years

Voyager 1&2 still works and transmit data to earth since 34 years

But that's not continually broadcasting--it turns on and off.

 

[shedofdread]

Please forgive any potential ignorance on my part but I rather thought Prospero was continually broadcasting. The reason for this belief comes from an episode of the BBC documentary 'Coast' where ex Black Arrow staff were re-united and they listened to a transmission suposedly from the satellite.

Are you sure they weren't listening to a recording?

40 years of continuous broadcasting seems unlikely.

I know what you mean but they did [once again if memory serves] make a big thing about searching for it. However, it was TV and as the old adage goes - "believe nothing you hear and only half you see"...