Jan Poppeliers ON7UX has put together a short video compilation of the AMSAT-UK Colloquium held in Guildford, Sept. 14-16.
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Kickstarter crowdfunding site launches in the UK
Kickstarter, which been used to fund a number of Amateur Radio projects in the USA, has now launched in the UK.
Radio ham Zac Manchester KD2BHC used Kickstarter to raise $74,586 in donations to fund the development and deployment of 200 amateur radio KickSat sprite satellites.
The amateur radio satellite project ArduSat managed to raise donations of $106,330 in just 30 days.
Kickstarter is not just about raising large sums of money, for example Sandy Antunes used Kickstarter to raise $2,780 to buy a ham radio transceiver and antennas to create an amateur radio satellite ground station Calliope
Read the BBC News report at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20145764
Kickstarter in the UK http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-in-the-uk
Radio Amateurs aim to fly new FPGA in space
Radio amateurs James Cutler KF6RFX, Andrew Mitchell KD8RCO and K. Scott Tripp KD8IPK are involved in developing the Michigan Multipurpose Minisatellite (MCubed-2) at the University of Michigan.
The mission objectives for the MCubed-2 are to capture mid-resolution images of the Earth from Low Earth Orbit, perform a technology demonstration for a novel new Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and train the next generation of Aerospace Engineers.
Testing the FPGA on a CubeSat platform will provide valuable information as to how it survives Low Earth Orbit and how well it operates when processing real image data.
M-Cubed implements a 3 mega-pixel CMOS camera that will transfer the image to the FPGA upon request. MCubed-2 is also an educational project for Engineering students at the University of Michigan. M-Cubed provides hands-on experience for students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to build flight hardware for a space mission.
The training these students gain by working on this project will better prepare them for work in the Aerospace industry. MCubed-2 is a 1U CubeSat and the group is proposing to use a 1 watt output simplex transceiver on UHF with 9k6 telemetry.
It is planned to launch from Vandenberg into a 770 km by 460 km 123 degree orbit with these spacecraft: Medgar Evers – CUNYSat-1 Cal Poly – IPEX: MSU – Firebird: UH – H-2: Kentucky Space – KySat-2: SLU – Argus: LLNL – Udjat: SMDC – TacSat-6, SNaP-1/2/3, SMDC ONE 2.3/2.4 Aerospace Corp. – AeroCube-5a/5b/6 AFIT – ALICE: GSFC/Siena College – Firefly: USC – MaVEx: USU – STACEM:
More information is available at http://exploration.engin.umich.edu/missions/mcubed/iaru/
The MCubed-2 IARU frequency application is http://exploration.engin.umich.edu/missions/mcubed/iaru/MCubed2_oct2012.doc
Hector Martinez CO6CBF speaks at AMSAT Symposium
Hector Martinez CO6CBF
Thanks to the efforts of Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK/VA7EWK and other AMSAT members Hector Martinez CO6CBF was able to attend the AMSAT Symposium in Orlando, Florida.
Ahmedabad students hope for Amateur Radio contact with ISS Commander Sunita Williams KD5PLB
Sunita Williams KD5PLB on the International Space Station
The Times of India reports that a group of students in Gujarat will reach out to the stars. About 500 students hope to have a live amateur radio contact with the Commander of the International Space Station Sunita Williams KD5PLB. It is believed this would be the first ISS contact made by Indian students and should take place using the ham radio station at Science City in Ahmedabad.
The newspaper says it is hoped to hold the contact between November 12 and 16. Read the story at
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Ahmedabad-students-to-make-space-call-to-Sunita-Williams/articleshow/16975944.cms
F-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat Update
F-1 Altitude – Credit Nguyễn Trần Hoàng
Thu Trong Vu XV9AA has provided this update on F-1:
Despite many efforts from the amateur radio community and the team ourselves in tracking F-1, we still haven’t heard from F-1 other than a few uncertain reports during the first few days. The team has been collecting information, analyzing different scenarios and experimenting with F-1’s backup unit in the laboratory. However communication with our American partner to trace back information about F-1 when it was in the States is limited due to ITAR. We hope to come up with an official report about the satellite status by November 4th, and this is not the final conclusion. Thank you for all your support and please continue to help us tracking F-1 if possible!
Nguyễn Trần Hoàng has plotted the descent of the F-1 CubeSat in the 3 weeks since its deployment from the International Space Station (ISS). He comments that the altitude of F-1 appears to be falling faster than the ISS.
F-1 frequency information can be found at http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=27
AMSAT-UK 
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