[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 returned to normal attitude

Greg D. ko6th_greg at hotmail.com
Sun Jan 10 10:44:49 PST 2010

Hi Drew,

Did the flipping activity have a net (lasting) effect on the satellite's spin rate?  I recall a discussion on how slow the bird was spinning, implying that we'd like it to go a bit faster (is that true?).  Since we're putting energy into the satellite's orientation via the magnet, I'd expect the energy should partly wind up as heat in the dampers.  Wouldn't the rest go into spin?  

Just curious,

Greg  KO6TH

> Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:03:02 -0500
> From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org; ao51-modes at amsat.org
> Subject: [amsat-bb]  AO-51 returned to normal attitude
> Last night we repolarized the magnet on AO-51 to again favor the 
> northern hemisphere. There may be some rapid fading as the nutation 
> dampers do their job over the next few weeks. The command team 
> appreciates all the reports and observations during this experiment.
> 73, Drew KO4MA
> AMSAT-NA VP Operations
> _______________________________________________
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