Nov 7 2013

1st edition of FUNcube Handbook now available

Thanks to the very good work of Richard Limebear G3RWL the first edition of the “FUNcube Handbook” is now available.

The handbook provides an initial introduction to the project overall and the FUNcube-1 spacecraft in particular. An updated edition may be available sometime after the launch which is currently planned for November 21, 2013.

The primary mission of the FUNcube-1 CubeSat is to provide a telemetry beacon that can be easily received by schools and colleges for educational outreach purposes. When not in educational mode the spacecraft switches on a communications transponder for use by radio amateurs.

It is presently being translated into French, Dutch and Italian and AMSAT-UK would be delighted to receive offers of translation into other languages. Contact AMSAT-UK here.

The handbook and other FUNcube documents can be downloaded from http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/

Direct link to the FUNcube Handbook v1.3 PDF

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

Nov 6 2013

SA AMSAT Turns to Innovation for its Cubesat

Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV gave a presentation “SA AMSAT Turns to Innovation for its Cubesat” at the 2013 AMSAT Space Symposium in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, November 2, 2013.

The mission aim of the KLETSkous Cubesat is to give Radio Amateurs in Southern Africa easy access to a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite on as many of the available passes as possible. KLETSkous will carry a 435 to 145 MHz linear transponder and will carry a scientific experiment for school projects.

Hans also described another transponder opportunity with the Africa Resource Management Constellation of Satellites.

It is hoped that DynaCube, constructed by Interns at the Denel Dynamics Engineering Academy, will launch in 2014. The CubeSat will have downlinks on 145.980 MHz and 145.840 MHz and aims to explore the South Atlantic Anomaly during orbits over the area.

ZACube-1 is due to launch on November 21, 2013 with FUNcube-1 (they share the same launch pod). This CubeSat will carry beacons on 14.999 MHz and 437.345 MHz.

Watch ZS6AKV: SA AMSAT Turns to Innovation for its Cubesat (presentation at 2013 AMSAT Symposium)

KLETSkous https://amsat-uk.org/2013/01/12/sa-amsat-accelerating-the-kletskous-cubesat-project/

DynaCube https://amsat-uk.org/2013/03/30/dynacube-to-explore-the-south-atlantic-anomaly/

ZACube-1 https://amsat-uk.org/2012/08/25/14099-khz-cput-cubesat-to-launch-end-of-november/

Nov 5 2013

Optical marking for UK ham radio exams

UK amateur radio exams have now moved over to optical marking, this video describes the new system.

Paul Whatton G4DCV has re-edited an earlier video to produce this presentation about the Optical Marking System by Alan Betts G0HIQ Chief Examiner for the Radio Communications Foundation (RCF).

The presentation was given during the Training Forum held at the RSGB Convention in October, 2013.

Watch The Optical Marking System

The July and October issues of the free RCF Instructors’ Newsletter have articles on Optical Marking, see http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/tutor-resources-2/newsletters/

The RSGB Training & Education Chair manages a Yahoo Group to allow for regular updates, news and sharing of ideas between trainers, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RSGBtutors/

G4DCV Vimeo page http://vimeo.com/user8087493

Nov 5 2013

March launch for UKube-1 and TechDemoSat-1

UKube-1 on display at UK Space Conference in Glasgow

Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD reports that the Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat-M is now expected to launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on March 27, 2014.

The launcher will carry the satellites Meteor-M number 2, MCA-PN2 (Relek), M3MSat, UKube-1, SkySat-2, TechDemoSat-1, AISSat-2 and DX -1.

TechDemoSat-1 was built by SSTL in Guildford, UK and UKube-1 is the UK Space Agency’s first CubeSat built by Clyde Space which carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards to provide a linear transponder and educational beacon.

UKube-1 communications subsystem:
• Telemetry downlink 145.840 MHz
• FUNcube subsystem beacon 145.915 MHz
• 400 mW inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW
– 435.080 -435.060 MHz Uplink
– 145.930 -145.950 MHz Downlink
• 2401.0 MHz S Band Downlink
• 437.425-437.525 MHz UKSEDS myPocketQub Downlink

UB4UAD report in Google English

Nov 5 2013

KN-SAT Prototype-2

University of Khartoum KN-SAT Prototype-2

The KN-SAT Cubesat team at the University of Khartoum (UofK), Sudan, have successfully completed the design and development of the Prototype-2. This has been a result of hard work and dedication throughout the last year.

Dr. Sharief F Babikir writes: “I must convey my deep respect and admiration to the Technical Manager of the team, Dr. Nader Omer ST2NH whose leadership, unparalleled knowledge and professionalism has been behind the success of Prototype-2 as it has undeniably been behind Prototype-1.”

KN-Sat1 http://cubesat.uofk.edu/

Khartoum Amateur Radio Satellite Ground Station
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/02/03/khartoum-amateur-radio-satellite-ground-station/

Khartoum Students Receive CubeSats
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/02/17/khartoum-students-receive-cubesats/

TEDxKhartoum Presentation on KN-SAT1 CubeSat
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/05/24/tedxkhartoum-presentation-on-kn-sat1-cubesat/

KN-SAT1 Prototype Subsystems Design and Testing
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/11/20/kn-sat1-prototype-subsystems-design-and-testing/

Nov 5 2013

Lunar Mission Looking for Payloads

The Barcelona Moon Google X-Price team is looking for secondary payloads to take on their trip to the Moon planned for June 2015. These documents provide some details on this opportunity (1.35m Euros/kg).

You can contact the Barcelona Moon team directly if you are interested in this opportunity or require additional information.

Read the Barcelona Moon Team Letter

Read the leaflet Barcelona Moon Team Leaflet

Note: This is an ITAR Free project.

Barcelona Moon Team http://www.barcelonamoonteam.com/

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