P3E
Phase 3 Express ( P3E ) was an amateur radio satellite planned by AMSAT Germany and currently under construction. In January 2009, P3E was originally supposed to be put into orbit. The satellite should have served as a prototype for the spacecraft P5A (Phase-5-A), which was to be sent to Mars after P3E.
P3E would have had a highly elliptical orbit (HEO) with an apogee of about 36,000 kilometers. The takeoff weight would be around 170 kg, and the analog and digital transponders would cover the frequency ranges 145 MHz, 435 MHz, 1.27 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.67 GHz, 10.45 GHz, 24 GHz and 47 GHz.
It was integrated into the AMSAT-DL facilities in the central development laboratory of the University of Marburg . The project manager was Prof. Dr. Karl Meinzer .
By 2012, the mechanical structure of the satellite had been completed and solar panels, propulsion system and fuel tanks were installed. Final work was postponed until a start date and the further financing of the project had been clarified.
In September 2012 it became known that the German Aerospace Center (DLR) no longer supports the P5 mission and the University of Marburg is withdrawing from the Central Development Laboratory, making the future of the project uncertain.
A completion by Virginia Tech and a potential launch opportunity as a secondary payload of a US rocket was again created in 2015, but was not used.
Individual evidence
- ↑ AMSAT Germany. Retrieved May 17, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Peter Gülzow, Hartmut Päsler, Michael R. Lengrüsser: DLR rejects P5- / Mascot-2 project / english and german version. amsat.org, September 14, 2012, accessed May 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Potential launch opportunity for Phase 3E satellite. In: DARC . July 27, 2015, accessed May 17, 2019 .
- ↑ K9Jkm: AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-DL, and Virginia Tech Announce Potential Phase-3E Opportunity. In: AMSAT -NA. July 25, 2015, accessed July 27, 2015 .