Newsgroup: it.hobby.radioamatori
Titolo: Cancellata la missione sat SWATCH !!!

Ciao a tutti,
vi segnalo con molta gioia che il progetto "Swatch-Beatnik" e' fallito..
la missione e'
stata cancellata !!
Qui trovate maggiori dettagli:
http://wmbc.umbc.edu/rob/swatch-protest/
http://www.swatch.com/beatnik/index.php3
Saluti a tutti, Andrea Borgnino IW1CXZ

stata cancellata !!
Allah e' grande !!
Good luck in the pile-up!  Paolo I4EWH

stata cancellata !!
Se a qualcuno interessa ecco il testo della lettera dell' American
Radio Relay League; pero' questa non sembra fare maggior chiarezza
dato che vengono riportate voci secondo le quali il lancio e' stato
effettuato.  Essendo due i satelliti amatoriali da lanciare esiste
anche la possibilita' che le agenzie di stampa abbiano fatto
confusione fra l' uno e l' altro.
Scusate se ho postato un testo cosi' lungo, non l' ho tradotto perche'
se no il msg. sarebbe stato chilometrico, in ogni modo mi pare che il
senso  si riesca a capire abbastanza.
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 18, No. 16
April 16, 1999
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SWATCH BEATS AWKWARD RETREAT: SPUTNIK WON'T FLY
Swatch Watch says the "Beatnik" satellite will not be sent into space
today from the Russian Mir space station as planned. The watchmaker
says "a virtual Beatnik" will carry the messages in cyberspace instead
and invited "Beat" fans to "stay tuned and join the first
cybermission!"
At the same time, both the Associated Press and Reuters are reporting
that a satellite was launched by hand from Mir during a space walk by
ESA astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere, FX0STB, and Russian cosmonaut
Viktor Afanasyev. If the reports are accurate, it's not clear whether
the satellite launched was the planned "Beatnik" spacecraft or a spare
mini-Sputnik that's been aboard Mir since 1997. Reuters said the
satellite was one "built by French amateur radio enthusiasts." The
report quotes Russian space center spokeswoman Vera Medvedkova as
saying, "It is finished. They launched the satellite."
AP said the satellite put into space was one "made by Russian and
French schoolchildren" that contained "a recording of their voices."
The spare mini-Sputnik aboard Mir--a duplicate of the one launched in
1997 to mark the 40th anniversary of the original Sputnik--is believe
to contain only a 2-meter beacon transmitter.
As of April 16, there have been no monitoring reports.
Swatch announced early April 16 on its Web site,
http://www.swatch.com/beatnik/frameset.html
, that the controversial
messages the satellite was to have transmitted on the 2-meter amateur
band would instead be read by a Russian cosmonaut aboard Mir during an
April 22 videoconference, to be broadcast via the Internet.
The controversial messages, gathered via the Swatch Web site, related
to the Swatch company's campaign to establish the "Swatch Beat" as a
new "global concept of time." Swatch had solicited more than 5000
messages--including voice and text files--for possible transmission on
the new satellite.
Messages selected for use were supposed to include a reference to the
"beat" theme.
But Amateur Radio operators around the world, citing international
regulations, protested the plans because of their commercial
connection. 
Swatch pinned the blame for cancellation of its Beatnik satellite on
the recent failure of the Luch 1/Gelios satellite the Mir crew uses
for communication with Earth. "Swatch has decided to assist the
Spaceflight Control Centre and donate the batteries supporting the
Beatnik satellite to the Mir cosmonauts, thus cancelling the
possibility of any radio transmission from space," Swatch said in a
brief statement on its Web site.
Full-page Swatch ads in today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times
to announce the change in plans expand on the battery swap
explanation.
According to the Times ads, cosmonauts will use the batteries to run
an onboard printer "which is the lifeline to earth through which the
Cosmonauts receive their daily instructions and key operations
points."
The Luch-1/Gelios, the only geostationary satellite available for Mir
communications, suffered a technical failure April 12. Just how the
nonrechargeable batteries now in the mini-Sputnik aboard Mir would
remedy the Luch-1/Gelios satellite failure was unclear from the Swatch
posting.
The ARRL weighed into the Beatnik satellite controversy April 7 by
suggesting to Swatch Group CEO Nicolas E. Hayek that the Swiss firm
cancel the launch and use a commercial satellite for its project
instead. Sumner noted that international regulations define the
amateur service as one engaged in by "duly authorized persons
interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without
pecuniary interest." 
Although Swatch asserted the messages were not advertising, Sumner
pointed out to Hayek that the commercial nature of the arrangements to
transmit the messages on amateur frequencies was contrary to
international law. "I think this was a new thought to him, frankly,
because this is not the way they had been viewing it," Sumner said.
It's not yet known what will become of the mini-Sputnik itself. The
satellite had arrived on Mir aboard a Progress rocket April 4 and was
set for launch April 16 during a space walk.
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