Fox-1Cliff

Fox-1Cliff, AO-95 or AMSAT OSCAR 95 is an American amateur radio satellite. Fox-1Cliff is a 1U CubeSat built by AMSAT-NA that carries a single-channel transponder for mode U/V in FM.^[1]

Fox-1Cliff

Mission type	Communications
Operator	AMSAT
COSPAR ID	2018-099N
SATCAT no.	43770
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	1.3 kg (2.9 lb)
Dimensions	10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (3.9 in × 3.9 in × 3.9 in)
Start of mission
Launch date	13:34, 3 December 2018 (2018-12-03T13:34:00) UTC
Rocket	Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5)
Launch site	Vandenberg SLC-4E
Contractor	SpaceX
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Semi-major axis	6,960 kilometres (4,320 mi)
Eccentricity	0.0013176
Perigee altitude	580.6 kilometres (360.8 mi)
Apogee altitude	599 kilometres (372 mi)
Inclination	97.7217°
Period	96.3 minutes
RAAN	108.0793°
Argument of perigee	289.6601°
Mean motion	14.94902621
Epoch	3 February 2020

The satellite carries several student experiments:^[2]

• Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) radiation experiment (flight spare from Fox-1A)
• Penn State University Erie gyroscope experiment

It also carries a VGA camera provided by Virginia Tech.

Mission

Waterfall capture of Fox-1Cliff safe mode beacon, commonly called the "Veronica" beacons.

Beacon transmitted by Fox-1Cliff (AO-95) every 2 minutes.

Fox-1Cliff was launched on 3 December, 2018 via Falcon 9 Block 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States.^[3]

Receiver failure

Shortly after deployment, AO-95's receiver suffered a failure for unknown reasons.^[4]

Name

The satellite is the third of five Fox-1 satellites, and was originally named Fox-1C. In 2016, it was renamed Fox-1Cliff in honor of Cliff Buttschardt, a long time member of AMSAT and a contributor to the project, who died earlier that year.^[5] After its launch, Fox-1Cliff was renamed AO-95.

See also

• Fox-1A
• Fox-1B
• Fox-1D