Small oommunioations satellites have been employedrnby the Amateur Radio oommunity for overrntwenty five years. These satellites have beenrnused by tens of thousands of J adio amateursrnfor reoreation, eduoation and s(.ientifio investigation.rnThe Amateur satellite program todayrnis international in f,Soope with nine oountriesrnhaving contributed space fJ.1ght hardware to thernoverall effort. A total of 14 satellites havernbeen fabricated in the OSCAR program resultingrnin 29 spaoeoraft-years of orbital exPerience.rn'l'h1s paper will address the history of thernspaoeoraft developed for the Amateur SatelliternService with emphasis on teohno10gy trends inrnthe program. Particular emphasis will be plaoedrnupon the mass, oost, system capability and construotionrnphase duration for each of the fourteenrnsatellites of the OSCAR series. ThernAmateur satellite program has not simply adoptedrnteohno1ogy from other larger satellite programs.rnIn many cases entirely unique des1an oonceptsrnwere employed, required because of the smallrnsize of the spaoeoraft, the very l1m1ted powerrnavailable or the l1m1tation of fisoal resouroes.rnThe development of btih efficienoy linear communicationsrntransponders and the des1an of btihlyrnintegrated oommand, control and telemetry equipmentrnare two examples. For many years theserntecludques have been of llttle value to des1anersrnof larger spaoeoraft, who have alternatives.rnWith the new interest in lightweight satellitesrnat low oost, these tecludques Ilay take on renewedrnapplioability.
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