SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS003
ARLS003 Phase 3D Could Launch in July!

ZCZC AS03  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 003  ARLS003
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  March 1, 2000
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS003
ARLS003 Phase 3D Could Launch in July!

The Phase 3D next-generation Amateur Radio satellite has been
tentatively scheduled to launch in late July. The launch is listed
in the ''Provisional Ariane Launch Manifest'' for February through
July of this year appearing in the February edition of the
Arianespace newsletter,
(http://www.arianespace.com/news_espace.html).

If the schedule holds, the Phase 3D satellite would be sent aloft on
Ariane 507, flight V132. A specific date in July was not available.

The Phase 3D satellite now is at the European Spaceport in Kourou,
French Guiana. Phase 3D will be stored in its shipping container,
housed in an air-conditioned integration building at the launch
complex until launch preparations commence. All systems have been
shut down and the batteries left uncharged.

A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first
suitable Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October.

For more information about Phase 3D, visit the AMSAT-NA Web site,
http://www.amsat.org/.
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