The U.S. Air Force will no longer permit amateur radio
student satellites from the U.S. Naval Academy to be carried to orbit aboard
Defense Department rockets, according to Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the developer of
APRS and a senior research engineer in the academy's department of aerospace
engineering.Bruninga's comment came in the context of a report on the AMSAT News Service in which he is seeking a launch host for a fully flight-qualified digipeater and DTMF transponder module. "Unfortunately," Bruninga wrote, "the Air Force (responsible for all DoD satellite launches) has unilaterally declared that they will not accept any more Amateur Radio student satellites from the Naval Academy for flight on DoD launches." No reason for the action was given.