FO-29 status

Yutaka Murata, JA1COU reported news from the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) FO-29 command team testing this past weekend when continuous commands were transmitted to the satellite when it was in range of Japan.

The current hypothesis of the recent shutdown of the satellite is that the temperature aboard FO-29 is too high to allow continuous operations and to accept commands or any other satellite operations.

Eclipse of FO-29 is:
November 1 0% (full illumination)
November 20 14%
November 30 17%

It is expected that the temperature aboard FO-29 will drop as the length of eclipse increases. FO-29 is designed to work over a wide temperature range.
Because of degradation over time in orbit it is possible that some components may have lower performance. The JARL Command Team hopes that FO-29 will accept commands and resume operation when the temperature cools down during increased eclipse.

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