AMSAT OSCAR 40

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AMSAT OSCAR 40 is classified as:

Amateur radio

NORAD ID: 26609

Int'l Code: 2000-072B

Perigee: 978.5 km

Apogee: 58,856.9 km

Inclination: 8.0 °

Period: 1,146.6 minutes

Semi major axis: 36288 km

RCS: 1.8057 m² (large)

Launch date: November 16, 2000
Source: Germany (GER)
Launch site: FRENCH GUIANA (FRGUI)

Uplink (MHz):
Downlink (MHz):
Beacon (MHz): 2401.323
Mode: 400bps PSK
Call sign:
Status: Inactive

AMSAT OSCAR 40, also known as AO-40 or simply OSCAR 40, is an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series. Prior to launch, the spacecraft was known as Phase 3D or "P3D". AO-40 was built by AMSAT. The 400 kg, 250 W spacecraft is the largest amateur-support spacecraft, carrying 5 receivers (in the HF, VHF/UHF, L, S, and C bands) and seven transmitters (in the HF, K, VHF/UHF, S, and X bands). Also carried on-board are some experimental instruments such as two cosmic ray monitors named TDE, and CPE, two wide-angle cameras in the SCOPE unit available for the amateurs to command their images from locations of interest, a passive ionospheric "sounder" to scan the 0.5 to 30.0 MHz band so as to derive the electron densities in the upper part of the ionosphere, and a GPS-receiver to locate the spacecraft position.