UKube-1 is a 3U CubeSat being designed and produced by Clyde Space for the UK Space Agency. UKube-1 is the UK’s first CubeSat and will fly a total of 6 independent payloads. This news piece was prepared by the BBC covering Clyde Space and the UKube-1 mission.
Watch BBC Newsnight item on Clyde Space and UKube-1
UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards providing a 435/145 MHz linear transponder and BPSK telemetry beacon.
Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced the launch of five amateur radio satellites on two launches taking place in May and July.
The first H-IIA launch takes place on May 17, 1639-1642 UT and will carry the amateur radio satellite HORYU-2
The second launch on July 21, 0218 UT of the HTV3 will deliver the JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) to the International Space Station (ISS).
J-SSOD will enable small satellites to be deployed from the ISS using the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) robot arm.
The Japanese amateur radio satellites WE-WISH and FITSAT-1, along with San Jose State University’s TechEdSat and the Vietnamese F-1 will also be delivered to the ISS on this launch and it is planned they will be deployed from the ISS on September 20.
JAXA press releases:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2012/03/20120321_h2af21_e.html
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2012/03/20120321_h2bf3_e.html
Thanks to Masahiro Arai JN1GKZ for this information.
Roke Manor Research Ltd’s (Roke) Gioconda industry consortium has been awarded a contract to deliver a major element of the UK MoD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s ‘Smallsat’ CubeSat Research Programme.
A CubeSat is a type of miniaturised satellite, currently destined for space research that usually has a volume of exactly one litre (10cm cube), a mass of little more than one kilogram and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf electronic components. CubeSats are a disruptive technology that offer the potential for rapid, low cost, short duration deployment of sensing and communications capability in Low Earth Orbit.
For this innovative research programme, Gioconda comprises Roke (a Chemring Group company) as prime, Scisys Ltd, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. It will deliver engineering and flight-ready models (mechanically, electrically, electronically and functionally representative), software and electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) for an advanced experimental RF payload suitable for subsequent deployment in space within a CubeSat.
About Roke:
Roke, based in Romsey, Hampshire, is the principal electronics research and development centre of Chemring Group Plc. Founded in 1956, Roke is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of innovative solutions and contract R&D, pioneering developments in electronic sensors, networks and communications technology. It employs 450 staff and has over 430 patents to its name.
Roke has over 50 years of communications experience, providing customers with technology consultancy through to product development. Roke’s expertise in small form factor electronic solutions has been developed through significant involvement in the design of mobile phones and military handheld radios over the last decade.
For more information visit http://www.roke.co.uk/
Astrobiology magazine posts a piece on the success of NASA’s O/OREOS mission that points out that serious science can be accomplished by tiny spacecraft:
‘The full success of the O/OREOS mission demonstrates convincingly that cubesats can be cost-effective platforms for performing science research and conducting technology demonstrations,’ said Mary Voytek, senior scientist of NASA’s Astrobiology Program at NASA Headquarters, in a statement from NASA. ‘The capabilities of cubesats are growing steadily, making them good candidates to operate precursor experiments for missions on larger satellites, the International Space Station, lunar surface exposure facilities, and planetary exploration.’
O/OREOS monitored the effects of the space environment on microorganism growth and metabolism in a high-inclination, low-Earth orbit.
Wayne
Image credit: NASA Ames
Astrobiology magazine posts a piece on the success of NASA’s O/OREOS mission that points out that serious science can be accomplished by tiny spacecraft:
‘The full success of the O/OREOS mission demonstrates convincingly that cubesats can be cost-effective platforms for performing science research and conducting technology demonstrations,’ said Mary Voytek, senior scientist of NASA’s Astrobiology Program at NASA Headquarters, in a statement from NASA. ‘The capabilities of cubesats are growing steadily, making them good candidates to operate precursor experiments for missions on larger satellites, the International Space Station, lunar surface exposure facilities, and planetary exploration.’
O/OREOS monitored the effects of the space environment on microorganism growth and metabolism in a high-inclination, low-Earth orbit.
Wayne
Image credit: NASA Ames
On 21 and 22 March 2012 (Wednesday, Thursday) we will switch the satellite to silent mode again as a repetition of the last silent mode data aquisition. In silent mode, all RF transmission of the satellite is turned off, the satellite is only on reception. After these experiments regular telemetry transmission will be turned on again.
AMSAT-UK 
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