Find out about the BIS Kicksat Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

Andrew Vaudin of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) will be giving a presentation on the BIS Kicksat Sprite satellite to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Sunday, July 21.

The event takes place on Saturday/Sunday July 20-21 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK and is open to all.

KickSat Sprite satellites enable individuals to have their own satellite orbiting in space for very low cost, typically £200 ($300). Andrew Vaudin’s presentation should start at 9:50 AM on Sunday and is understood to include a demonstration.

Thanks to volunteers from the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) this presentation and the 17 others will be streamed live to the internet to a global audience. See https://amsat-uk.org/2013/07/18/webcast-of-international-space-colloquium/

Information about KickSat can be found at:
http://www.bis-space.com/category/bis-projects
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

16 year-old UK student to work on KickSat Sprite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/23/uk-student-to-work-on-kicksat/

The KickSat Sprites from both the BIS and London Hackspace are planned to launch on the SpaceX Falcon 9 ELaNa 5 / CRS 3 mission early in 2014.

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.

Webcast of International Space Colloquium this weekend

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium takes place at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK this weekend, July 20-21.

Thanks to BATC volunteers all 18 presentations should be streamed live to the web, enabling them to be seen by a global audience.

Clearly a webcast cannot match actually being there, with the opportunity to chat to satellite builders and inspect space hardware, but if you can’t get to Guildford then the webcast provides the next best thing.

Watch live at http://www.batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3 (view stream AMSAT 2013)

There will also be a Chat facility available that can be used to ask the presenters questions, set your chat ID by entering: /nick “your callsign” or /nick “your name”.

The schedule, times in BST (GMT+1), is at http://tinyurl.com/2013ColloquiumSchedule

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.

UKube-1 with Amateur Radio Transponder may launch October

Artists impression of UKube-1 in orbit

Artists impression of UKube-1 in orbit – Credit Clyde Space

BBC News is reporting that the UK Space Agency’s first CubeSat UKube-1, being built by Clyde Space in Glasgow, may launch in late October 2013.

Clyde Space Senior Systems Engineer Steve Greenland will be giving a presentation on UKube-1 to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium which takes place July 20-21 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK.

The Colloquium is open to all but for those unable to attend the event all 18 presentations including UKube-1 will be web streamed live on the BATC site at http://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3

Flight and Engineering Models of FUNcube-1 with FUNcube-2 boards

Flight and Engineering Models of FUNcube-1 with FUNcube-2 boards

UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube-2 boards which will provide:
• 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.915 MHz
• Linear transponder downlink 145.930-145.950 MHz for SSB/CW communications
• Linear transponder uplink 435.080-435.060 MHz

In addition UKube-1 also carries:
• ISIS 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.840 MHz
• UKSEDS myPocketQub 442 on 437.425-437.525 MHz with 11 mW output using spread spectrum
• 1 watt transmitter on 2401.0 MHz from Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, for high data rate mission data downlinking using up to 1 Mbps QPSK or OQPSK modulation

Gunter’s Space Page lists UKube-1 as manifested on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M rocket to be launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

If the launch does go ahead as planned in late October then the FUNcube-2 boards will be in orbit before the FUNcube-1 satellite which may launch in November, 2013 on a Dnepr rocket from Dombarovsky near Yasny.

FUNcube-1 will be using these frequencies:
• 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.935 MHz
• Linear transponder downlink 145.950-145.970 MHz for SSB/CW communications
• Linear transponder uplink 435.150-435.130 MHz

There will be a presentation on FUNcube-1 at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium which will be streamed live to the web. The presentation schedule is here.

Read the BBC News story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23319103

Watch UK Space Agency video – UKube-1 CubeSat payload animation

On Friday, October 19, 2012 after some final testing and characterisation checks completed at the facilities of ISIS BV in Delft, AMSAT-UK handed over the set of three PCBs that form the FUNcube-2 subsystem on the UKube-1 spacecraft to Clyde Space Ltd in Glasgow. Clyde Space are leading the development and assembly of this CubeSat project for the UK Space Agency.

Steve Greenland of Clyde Space receives the AMSAT-UK FUNcube-2 boards that will be incorporated into UKube-1

Steve Greenland of Clyde Space receives the AMSAT-UK FUNcube-2 boards that will be incorporated into UKube-1

The PCBs were taken to Glasgow in a Pelicase by Graham Shirville G3VZV who handed them to Steve Greenland Senior Systems Engineer at Clyde Space.

The three PCB’s comprise:
• CCT Board – Command, control and telemetry, interfaces via I2C with the antenna deployment system and the main OBC (On-Board Computer).
• RF Board – Command receiver, telemetry transmitter and linear transponder of the FUNcube satellite educational payload also includes telemetry sensors.
• PA Board – 400 mW VHF amplifier and sensors.

The telemetry transmitter provided by AMSAT-UK will be available for educational outreach to school students around the world.

UKube-1 on display at UK Space Conference in Glasgow

UKube-1 on display at UK Space Conference in Glasgow

Ham Radio Workshop held at Satellite Event

Participants at the 2013 small satellite developer workshop

Some of the participants at the 2013 small satellite developer workshop

The National Institute of Amateur Radio was involved in the Small Satellite Developer Workshop held July 8-13, 2013 at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, in Kancheepuram.

The event was organized by Dhruva Space, a Bangalore based Small Satellite and High Altitude Ballooning Start-up, in association with the National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad.

Satellite experts with engineering models on display helped participants to grasp the challenges in designing and developing the subsystems of the small satellites.

To understand space based applications an Amateur Radio workshop was conducted to give participants a live example of usage of communications during disaster management.

Read the full report of the event in the Small Satellite Developer Workshop Newsletter

Dhruva Space http://dhruvaspace.com/outreach/amateur-radio/
https://www.facebook.com/DhruvaSpace

National Institute of Amateur Radio http://www.niar.org/ar.html
https://www.facebook.com/NationalInstituteOfAmateurRadio

Team STRATODEAN High Altitude Balloon Talk

Team STRATODEAN - Cassie Phelps and Mark Ireland

Team STRATODEAN – Cassie Phelps and Mark Ireland

The members of Team STRATODEAN, Cassie Phelps and Mark Ireland, will be giving a web streamed presentation on their High Altitude Balloon project to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Saturday, July 20.

The event takes place at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK and is open to all.

Image from STRATODEAN Two

Image from STRATODEAN Two

The STRATODEAN team have sent high altitude weather balloons complete with payload from the Forest of Dean up to the edge of space (approx. 34 km up into the Stratosphere). Each balloon was equipped with a camera and video recorder as well as GPS and a 434 MHz telemetry transmitter running 50 bps, 350 Hz shift, ASCII. The transmitter enables the balloon to be tracked during its flight and then located once it has burst and returned to earth with the help of a parachute.

Their first balloon STRATODEAN One launched on April 21, 2013 followed by STRATODEAN Two on May 18, 2013 and they managed to capture some stunning pictures and video.

For those unable to get to the Colloquium all the presentations on the Saturday and Sunday should be broadcast live on the web thanks to dedicated BATC volunteers on their Live Events page at http://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3 The STRATODEAN talk is expected to start at 1:50 PM Saturday.

The times (BST, GMT+1) for all the presentations during the weekend are at http://tinyurl.com/2013ColloquiumSchedule

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium July 20-21 https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/

STRATODEAN High Altitude Balloon Project http://www.stratodean.co.uk/

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.

Registration Needed for SSTL Kepler Visit

SSTL-Kepler-Building

SSTL Kepler Building

As part of the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium there will be two opportunities to visit the satellite facilities at the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) Kepler building.

Visit # 1 –  Friday, July 19 at 5 PM

Visit # 2 – Sat, July 20 at 9 AM

In both cases the time refers to the pick up time at the main entrance to the Holiday Inn hotel, Guildford, GU2 7XZ and each visit will last approx 1 hour.

For security reasons SSTL need visitor details in advance

The details they need are first name, last name, nationality, and employer (if you have one)

If you wish to go on one of the tours please contact Jim Heck G3WGM by email g3wgm at amsat.org ASAP with these details, including which tour you wish to go on, Fri or Sat. Responses must be received by 1100 GMT on Thursday, July 18.

 Sorry, but no details in advance, no visit !

CubeSat Workshop Friday, July 19 https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/cubesat-workshop-2013/

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium July 20-21 https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/