AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-239

In this edition:

* Cast Your Vote: 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Ending Soon
* Registration Now Open for Upcoming International AMSAT Conferences
* Chandrayaan-3 Makes Historic Soft Landing on Moon's South Pole
* SpaceX Launches Crew-7 Mission aboard Crew Dragon Endurance
* Teams Hack U.S. Air Force Satellite in Space Cybersecurity Contest
* Satellite Top 100 Rovers August 2023 Rankings
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for August 25, 2023
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information
service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news
related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a
worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in
designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital
Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in
Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at]
amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins
via the ANS List; to join this list see:
https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

ANS-239 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2023 Aug 27

Cast Your Vote: 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Ending Soon

There is less than a three-week window remaining to participate in the 2023
AMSAT Board of Directors Election. The voting process will conclude on
September 15, 2023. To access candidate statements and the online Election
Ballot, you can visit AMSAT's Wild Apricot membership portal at
https://launch.amsat.org/2023-BoD-Election.

In this year's election, four seats on the Board of Directors are open for
consideration. Once the voting period concludes on September 15th, four of
the candidates will take their places on the Board, along with an alternate
member. The following individuals have been officially nominated:

Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW

Upon clicking the poll link, you will be directed to your ballot or poll
question. After selecting your preferred choices, simply click the Submit
button to cast your vote. Unlike typical online polls, the results of
previous votes up until your vote will not be visible. Each AMSAT member is
entitled to one vote only. If you attempt to access the poll link again after
casting your vote, you will receive a message confirming your vote has been
submitted.

The outcomes of the Board of Directors Election, including the total number
of ballots cast, the vote count for each candidate, and the names of the
newly elected Board of Directors members, will be publicly announced a few
days following the conclusion of the election.

[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]

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Registration Now Open for Upcoming International AMSAT Conferences

+ AMSAT-DL was founded in 1973, so this year we can look back on 50 years of
space exploration. We have taken this as an opportunity to put this year’s
symposium in a special setting. Ticket sales are now available at
https://shop.amsat-dl.org. The Festive Conference and Symposium will be held
Friday, September 15 to Sunday, September 17, 2023.

With a view to the 50-year history of AMSAT-Germany and its mission of
promoting amateur radio via satellites, the celebratory conference “From
OSCAR 10 to OSCAR 100: 50 years of AMSAT-DL in service to science, research
and education” will take place at the Bochum Observatory radome.
Accommodations are limited, and the booking of the overnight stays is only
possible via the AMSAT-DL store. See
https://amsat-dl.org/en/ticket-sales-festive-conference-50-years-amsat-dl for
more information.

+ AMSAT-UK is pleased to announce that the 2023 Colloquium will take place
alongside the RSGB Convention at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre, Milton
Keynes on the weekend of 14/15th October 2023.

Full details of the Colloquium will be made available nearer the time on the
AMSAT-UK website at https://amsat-uk.org. As in previous years, the AMSAT-UK
Colloquium will run as a separate stream within the RSGB Convention and will
include presentations on a variety of satellite and space related topics.

Entrance to the RSGB Convention is managed by the RSGB and you will be
required to purchase Day Tickets for the Saturday and/or Sunday to attend the
AMSAT-UK Colloquium. These can be booked via the RSGB website at
https://rsgb.org/main/rsgb-2023-convention. Early bird discounts are being
offered by the RSGB via their website.

+ AMSAT will hold their 41st Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General
Meeting on October 20-21, 2023 at the Sheraton DFW Airport Hotel in Irving,
Texas. The schedule will encompass an array of activities, including an AMSAT
Board of Directors Meeting, AMSAT Space Symposium, AMSAT Annual General
Meeting, AMSAT Banquet and Reception, AMSAT Member Breakfast, as well as the
Friday Night Social and Auction.

You can register online for individual events or all events at:
https://launch.amsat.org/event-5363188. Rooms are available for check-in on
Wednesday, October 18, with check-out on Sunday, October 22. The Standard
room with a single King bed is currently SOLD OUT; act quickly to secure your
reservations. Alternatively, the Standard room with two Queen beds is priced
at $137.00* (excluding state and local taxes of 15%). To make phone
reservations, call 972-929-8400 and request the RADIO AMATEUR SATELLITE rate.
For online reservations, visit
https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1689956666782&key=GRP&app=resvlink.

[ANS thanks AMSAT, AMSAT-UK, and AMSAT-DL for the above information]

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The 2023 AMSAT President's Club coins are here now!
             To commemorate the 40th anniversary
of its launch

                        on
June 16, 1983, this year's coin features

                                    an
image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10.

             Join the AMSAT President's Club today
and help

                                    Keep
Amateur Radio in Space!

            
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

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Chandrayaan-3 Makes Historic Soft Landing on Moon's South Pole

In a momentous achievement, the Chandrayaan-3 mission by the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) successfully executed a lunar landing,
establishing India as the fourth nation to accomplish this feat.

Amid palpable tension followed by jubilant cheers at the ISRO mission control
center, the Chandrayaan-3 mission's robotic lander, known as Vikram, made a
triumphant touchdown on the moon's surface near its southern pole at 12:33
P.M. UTC on August 23. The mission, launched on July 14, marked ISRO's
determined return to lunar landing endeavors after the Chandrayaan-2
mission's unfortunate crash in 2019. With the safe landing of the spacecraft,
India joins the ranks of the former Soviet Union, the United States, and
China as countries that have successfully executed soft landings on the moon.

A critical aspect of Chandrayaan-3's landing was its complete autonomy during
lunar descent. Due to the three-second signal delay between the lander and
Earth, Earth-bound engineers couldn't guide the landing in real-time. Vikram
was tasked with reducing its orbital velocity to virtually zero, aligning
with the intended trajectory for a secure landing. This required precise
coordination of its engines based on continuous measurements of distance,
velocity, and orientation.

Learning from the lessons of Chandrayaan-2, ISRO incorporated increased
redundancies and safeguards into Chandrayaan-3. The mission carried extra
fuel and an improved guidance, navigation, and control system, capable of
correcting significant deviations from the intended path. In-depth ground
tests using helicopters and cranes further validated the changes made to 21
subsystems.

The success of Chandrayaan-3 is particularly significant given the recent
history of lunar landing attempts. Out of the past six attempts in the last
five years, only four were successful. Notably, Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft
crashed on August 19, joining the ranks of unsuccessful landers from Israel,
India, and Japan. Chandrayaan-3's achievement aligns with the accomplishments
of China's Chang'e 4 and Chang'e 5 landers, which have also found success in
recent times.