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OSCAR 7 is Alive

Posted by timothy on from the greatly-exaggerated dept.

AB3A writes :"Originally launched November 15, 1974, OSCAR 7 was long thought to be dead from natural causes (radiation, battery failure, space junk, etc.). However, AMSAT reports that it has recently been heard on the air! This probably isn't a record, but it does rank right up there with spacecraft such as Pioneer. I wonder how many other satellites out there have been given up for dead but are still functional at some reduced capacity?"

3 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. More info... by robslimo · · Score: 3, Informative

    More AO-7 status info here

    Interesting to note that it is expected (and wasn't made clear in the original article) that OSCAR-7 is operating on the solar array only. Meaning that it shuts down when it's not in sunlight and may or may not reboot each sunlight period. I find that believable because I wouldn't expect a NiCd battery pack to last even half that number of years. Especially given the type of charging circuit that was probably used in those days. Nobody used the dV/dT fast/smart charge method way back when.

  2. Re:Anyone got the Keps? by robslimo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Arg.

    Should have checked the front page at www.amsat.org

    Here are the keps for AO-7 if anyone else cares...

    AO-07
    1 07530U 74089B 02167.52996888 -.00000029 00000-0 10000-3 0 935
    2 07530 101.7955 212.2077 0012102 193.4285 166.6467 12.53558681262239

  3. Re:Anyone got the Keps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    And here's an heavens-above link that will plot AMSAT-Oscar-7's orbit for you