October 26-28, 2007 AMSAT-NA held a very successful Space Symposium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Rick Hambly, W2GPS, AMSAT President along with Bob McGwier, N4HY, AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering were able to make public the results of their recent work which will change the face of amateur radio going forward.

AMSAT has been in consultation with Intelsat regarding an application of an Intelsat platform carrying our amateur radio satelites into geosynchronous orbit.

Engineering studies, funding studies, among other negotiations are continuing at this point. However Bob, N4HY made the following observation of the project AMSAT has termed Phase IV Lite, "There is enough in place at this time that AMSAT needs to begin planning engineering work and possible construction of a geosychronous payload so we are ready if Intelsat says they have a ride for us."

The Phase IV Lite Geosynchronous Payload is planned to consist of similar transponders already under development for the Phase 3 satellites. Accelerated development on the digital Advanced Communication Package is anticipated.
In addition to the communication payload flown to space, AMSAT plans to develop an earth station attainable by the average ham so that users can immediately take advantage
of the audio, digital messaging, and video services.

The Advanced Communication Package would be a self-contained earth station which could be sent with amateur radio communication teams or delivered to disaster areas for 24/7/365 emergency communications.

These teams would be able to point a small dish at a predictable spot in the sky and immediately begin delivering disaster communication support without depending on HF propagation.

A Phase IV payload could also be used to provide TDRSS-like relay of ARISS communications. The 10 minute school contact could now be expanded to hours-long contact with the International Space Station. This opens possibilities for student involvement with experiments aboard the space station.

The Intelsat geosynchronous platform would be able to provide the AMSAT Phase IV Lite payload with approximately 400 watts of DC power for 15 years. The primary payload would also perform the GTO boost phase as well as perform station keeping and antenna pointing once it has arrived on station.

Bob, N4HY summarized, "The Intelsat team would be doing all the things nearly impossible for amateurs and that enables AMSAT to do what we do best ... build a communication system that changes amateur radio for the better!"