A quartet of small satellites, better known as CubeSats, flew high above California’s Mojave Desert on June 15, 2013 on a demonstration mission to study the launch environment all the way from liftoff to landing.
The spacecraft are being developed to help simplify and lower the cost of small-satellite missions that could fly on smaller, dedicated rockets. Although the rocket’s parachute deployed prematurely and the vehicle tumbled to a hard landing, the flight is considered a success and a valuable learning opportunity. Teams now are retrieving their data and gearing up for another flight in the coming months.
Watch CubeSat Demo Flight Tests Technologies
Among the CubeSats was StangSat built by students from Merritt Island High School (MIHS). This pre-launch video briefly describes the CubeSats to be launched as well as the new light-weight CubeSat Deployer. There is also an interview with Roland Coelho WH7BE.
Watch CubeSats and Launcher to Test Satellite Innovations
Surrey Space Centre University of Surrey, Guildford
The Surrey Space Centre (SSC) Research blog is dedicated to improving access to the cutting edge research output of the Surrey Space Centre. The standard process for disseminating research output through conference and journal publication is a lengthy and cumbersome process.
The blog aims to provide open access to SSC research output by sharing pre-print copies of publications. Each article is presented in its own, individual post, and SSC encourage visitors to comment and provide feedback on their work. This two-way process of sharing will provide their research staff with robust feedback on the work, complimenting reviewer feedback. In return, visitors are able to access our latest research accomplishments, many months before becoming accessible through journals or conference proceedings.
Situated in Guildford, UK, the Surrey Space Centre is a forms part of the Department of Electronics Engineering at the University of Surrey. Research is focused on many areas of space technology, including antenna and RF systems, astrodynamics, autonomy and AI, control systems, on-board data handling, environments and instrumentation, propulsion and robotics. Their website can be found here for further details.
SSDV picture from a PIE balloon – Image credit Dave Akerman M6RPI
The 3rd UKHAS conference is going to take place on Saturday, September 7, 2013 in London. This year the venue will be at Greenwich University on the banks of the river Thames and just down the hill from the Royal Observatory and the (dreaded to HAB) meridian line (the venue is 51.48381, -0.0050)
http://goo.gl/maps/KeOyc The event is open to all.
A lecture theatre and adjacent classroom are being hired so will have a lot more space than last time. Lunch will be included as before.
The day plan will be most likely lectures in the morning and then in the afternoon workshops, demos and more informal talks. Provisional talks include:
James Coxon M6JCX – Pico Balloons (3 years on)
Ed Moore M0TEK – How GPS works
John Graham-Cumming – Debugging HABs (Part 2)
Ara Kourchian – US Ballooning
Dave Akerman M6RPI – Pi in the sky + Afternoon workshop
James Coxon M6JCX launching a PICO balloon on 434.301 MHz USB
If you would like to do a talk or organise a workshop please contact James Coxon M6JCX directly. Email jacoxon at gmail.com
The conference will start at 0930 and finish 1700, afterwards there will be the traditional pub trip this time into Greenwich.
Greenwich University is easy to get to, it is on the DLR, lots of bus routes, mainline trains, Thames clipper river boat and not too far from the Jubilee line. There is some on street parking in the area but most will be pay and display.
Tickets will be £30 per person but we will offer a reduced price for students of £15, this enables the hire of the lecture theatre, classroom and also provides lunch. Tickets are on sale from HAB supplies.
UKSEDS & ICSEDS Project Officer, TeeJay Taiwo, prepares his rockets for his license assesment. Photo credit: Kishan, ICSEDS
This video is the Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (ICSEDS) entry to the RBS ESSA bronze awards. It showcases their projects and events throughout the 2012/13 year.
In the video are interviews with Engine Design Group member Madeleine Alexander, High Powered Rocketry Member Zoe Edwards, High Altitude Ballooning member Oscar Woolnough and ISEDS Vice Chair Joseph Dudley.
ICSEDS thank Imperial College London Chemical Engineering Department for their support in our High Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project (434 MHz). Also thanks to Alex Cherney at http://www.terrastro.com and David Peterson for giving permission to use the two spectacular clips in the introduction, of the video.
Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas using High-Altitude Balloons (HAB) placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.
The solar powered balloons are expected to stay aloft for over 100 days at a time and support not only air-to-ground Internet communications but also balloon-to-balloon communications enabling the signal to be relayed, if required, by several balloons to a ground-based station connected to an ISP, then onto the global Internet.
Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.
Among those involved in the project is Erin King AK4JG, a student at MIT. She was winner of the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award. See a video of her earlier balloon project while still at high school and a video of her presentation ‘Launching Radios and Other Cool Stuff into the Stratosphere’ at
http://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/03/arnewsline-ham-of-the-year-erin-king-ak4jg/
AMSAT sponsored a senior design project at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) this academic year.
The students included senior EE majors: Bryce Salmi KB1LQC Brent Salmi KB1LQD Ian MacKenzie KB3OCF Dan Corriero
The project was to develop a Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) circuit which is used to maximize the power obtained from a solar panel by forcing the cells to operate at their most efficient voltage regardless of the voltage required by the payload. One can also think of this as an impedance match. This optimum voltage changes slightly with variations in solar irradiance but changes greatly due to variations in solar panel temperature.
The MPPT utilizes a Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller to communicate telemetry data with the Fox satellite Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU) designed by AMSAT for transmission to Earth via ham radio. The senior design group consisting of Brenton Salmi (KB1LQD), Bryce Salmi (KB1LQC), Ian MacKenzie (KB3OCF), and Daniel Corriero successfully implemented an analog MPPT designed for use in orbit over the five year mission intended for Fox-2 providing the amateur radio community with a 3U CubeSat carrying amateur radio communications equipment.
The students completed a working prototype which was on display in the AMSAT engineering booth at Dayton in May.
The project was entered into Texas Instruments’ 2013 Analog Design Contest for university students.
See:
http://tinyurl.com/mf6nzhr
The AMSAT MPPT project was selected as one of the top 10 semi-finalists and the students were invited on an all-expenses paid trip to TI’s contest summit to be held July 21-23 in Dallas where the final winners will be announced.
Frank Bauer, KA3HDO and AMSAT VP for Human Spaceflight Programs presents an update on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program.
The presentation was given at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. Frank takes a quick look at 30 years of amateur radio on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, some changes at NASA that are affecting ARISS, and finishes with how you can become involved.
Watch AMSAT ARISS Program Status, by Frank KA3HDO – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
During the AMSAT Forum at the Dayton 2013 Hamvention, Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT VP for Education Relations gave a quick overview of AMSAT’s recent educational activities, AMSAT’s partnership with the ARRL Education & Technology Program, and how you can become involved.
Watch AMSAT Education and You, by Mark N8MH – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
The editors of OSCAR News always welcome contributions – these can be full articles or simply news, views or gossip!
Please send them to g3wgm [at] amsat.org and/or g3vzv [at] amsat.org
As you will be aware we are presently producing four issues each year so please get in touch with us if you have any concerns about deadlines.
Please submit your articles in any of the following formats:– Text: txt, rtf, rtfd, doc, docx, odt,
Spreadsheets: Excel or OpenOffice,
Images: tiff, png, jpg
Schematics: pdf
(Ideally please send graphics/pics separately, ie not embedded in doc files, etc)
The editors are here to help you so please shout if you have any concerns.
Many thanks in advance for your contributions!
Jim & Graham
E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the PDF of the Summer edition of the OSCAR News magazine here (as well as previous 2012 issues).
The paper edition should be posted to members soon.
In this issue
• GAMANET: Networking QB50
• Spectrum pressures continue
• Tim Peake to be first UK astronaut in space for over 20 years
• CubeSat launches 2013
• OFCOM Consultation
• IARU News
• AMSAT- FOX- launch date announced
• We love the amateur radio enthusiasts!
• D-STAR digital amateur communications in space with OUFTI-1 CubeSat
• FUNcube Report
• The ESEO Project – Spring Update
• Ham Video—a DATV transmitter on Columbus by Gaston Bertels ON4WF
• Raspberry Eye in The Sky
• Shorts and Notices
The AMSAT-UK Membership year lasts for 12 months starting on January 1 each year.
AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch
Membership of AMSAT-UK is open to anyone who has an interest in amateur radio satellites or space activities, including the International Space Station (ISS).
E-members of AMSAT-UK are able to download OSCAR News as a convenient PDF that can be read on laptops, tablets or smartphones anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Join as an E-member at Electronic (PDF) E-membership
