Mar 7 2012

UK Space Agency boost for tomorrow’s tiny space tech.

Sixteen UK space labs and companies are set to benefit from the latest round of the UK Space Agency’s National Space Technology Programme (NSTP) which will spur innovation in the fast-moving area of space technology known as ‘cubesats’.Artist's impression of a CubeSat. Credit: AMSAT-UK.

Artist’s impression of a CubeSat.
Credit: AMSAT-UK.

Cubesats are tiny, low-cost spacecraft – weighing only a few kilos – which can be launched ‘piggy-back’ on larger spacecraft. Many of today’s cubesats are proving to be great educational projects helping students hone practical skills in building and operating satellites. However, with advances in technology, many experts believe they will also be used for cutting-edge science or operational uses in the future.

The UK is already the world leader in small satellites through Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). Ten years ago, SSTL benefited from UK government investment helping it to grow into a world-class company. Today, the UK Space Agency is following the same road to space innovation by supporting cubesat technology. Already, UKube-1 – a sophisticated nanosat with an imager, scientific and educational payloads – is being built by leading cubesat company Clyde Space Ltd. in Scotland.

Now, eleven new research projects supported by £310k of grants from the National Space Technology Programme (PDF, 18 Kb)  will drive the next steps in British cubesat know-how.

“It’s going to be exciting to see what emerges”

Dr Chris Castelli, programme manager at the UK Space Agency explains: “We received 30 proposals to our recent competition and have now selected the best ones to fund. We’ve got a great range of ideas – from new technology such as wireless on-board monitoring and tiny thrusters to give cubesats their own manoeuvring capability; to practical uses such as bioscience and space-weather monitoring. All these ideas will feed into our thinking for a successor to UKube-1, which we hope to select in 2013. It’s going to be exciting to see what emerges.”

Cubesats represent only one part of the Agency’s innovation agenda which also encompasses giant communications satellites such as Alphasat and the exploration of the Universe through missions such as Herschel and Planck.

UK Space Agency logo
Mar 6 2012

DQ0STRATEX VHF & UHF Balloon Mission March 10

DL, GERMANY
DQ0STRATEX is a special event call on the occasion of the stratospheric balloon project (StratexB) planned for March 2012 by the local DARC clubs Duelmen (N28) and Luedinghausen (N29). They plan to send an amateur radio load, consisting of an APRS and a speech beacon, to the stratosphere with this balloon project. Another payload will be added by the HAMs of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bremen (I04) with an experimental ADS-B receiver. The special event station DQ0STRATEX is active in all modes on all bands between Jan 13,2012, and Jan 31, 2013, handing out the special DOK STRATEXB.

They have two balloon missions planned, on Mar 10 around 0930 UTC and on Mar 24 around 1600 UTC, both starting on the airport at Borkenberge near Luedinghausen.

The APRS beacon is transmitting on 144.800 MHz and the speech beacon in FM on 430.375 MHz. SWL reports are highly appreciated (also online).

QSL cards via DK4REX. See also: http://www.darc.de/distrikte/n/29

[ANS thanks the DXNL 1770 – Mar 7, 2012 DX Newsletter for the above information]

—
73 de JoAnne K9JKM
k9jkm@amsat.org
Editor, AMSAT News Service

Mar 6 2012

VO-52 in Excellent Health

Hello All,

Are you passion about having excellent health? I am and I do a lot of research on that, I recently found D Bal that I want to try out and see how much more gains I can get in 3 months.
All that I can share at this moment is ‘HAMSAT VO-52′ is in ‘Excellent Health’ after recovery operations. Right now, it is under observation. However, decision about switching ‘ON’ the transponder is pending clearance. Decision expected in other couple of days. The user community will be informed well in advance about the transponder switching.

Mani, VU2WMY
Secretary & Station-In-Charge
Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC
ISRO Satellite Centre

[PE0SAT Thanks amsat-bb and VU2WMY for the above information]

Mar 6 2012

Telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium will call OR4ISS at approximately 13:11 UTC.

 Planned ISS contact Tuesday, March 6, 2012 13.11 UTC

The questions are asked by children who won the Ruimteschip Aarde (Spaceship Earth) competition. In this competition André Kuipers challenged them to turn their class room into a spaceship and to think very good about what they and their class mates needed to survive in space for a very long time. They showed their results in videos. In some of the questions the children refer to inventions they made for this competition, such as the Poep Brandstof Generator (Poop fuel generator, Q4) and the Geur Vergeet Geheugen Machine (a machine that makes it possible to smell forgotten scents from earth, Q6)
Hello Andre, this is Jasper Wamsteker of the Netherlands Space Office and the Ruimteschip Aarde project. I am here together with the proud winners of the first special mission of Ruimteschip Aarde. I see a lot of delighted and excited faces around me. The children here have a lot of questions for you, but first I have a question myself.
1. We can hear you, but we cannot see you. Please could you describe to us where you are at the moment?
2. Will it ever be possible that children go on al long space trip? Or would this be too dangerous for the growth and the strength of their bones and organs?
3. If you eat salt in space, does it affect your bone density?
4. For the competition we designed a PBG (Poop Fuel Generator). Poop is converted into fuel and thus used for relocation in space by the principle of action=reaction. Do you think the PBG can ever be made and used by astronauts on a space mission that takes several years?
5. How long can you survive in space in case no new provisions are brought?
6. For the competition we came up with the idea of the GVGM (Forgotten Scents Remembrance Machine). This helps you to smell and remember smells from earth. Which 3 scents would you like the GVGM to be able to reproduce?
7. You do a lot of experiments in the ISS. Which one has your preference?
8. Did you ever came up with an idea for an experiment yourself, that you would like to conduct in space?
9. What do you do in case the oxygen falls out?
10. Now that you are in space, do you read a science fiction novel there, or is that not necessary anymore?
11. Is there an experiment that you would like to conduct, but which you cannot do because of lack of time?
12. Is there a game that you and your fellow astronauts play together in your free time?
13. When you were launched, did you feel the high speed of the rocket?
14. Can you imagine what it would be like to be so far away that it is not possible anymore to see earth?
15. You travel to the ISS in a very small capsule. How can you take all your clothes with you?
16. Is there a device which can be used in the ISS, that you would like to be made?
17. What effects on your body do you experience now that you are in space?
18. Would you like to live in space forever together with your friends and family?
19. Do you ever have stomach ache as a result of lack of gravity?

Mar 5 2012

Radio Hams send photo via satellite

ARISSat-1 Deployment

ARISSat-1 Deployment

The Cincinnati press reports that two Anderson Township amateur radio operators recently sent and received a photo from a satellite that was manually deployed from the International Space Station (ISS).

Farrell Winder W8ZCF and his son Jeff Winder KB8VCO achieved this despite the fact that an antenna on the satellite had snapped off prior to launch.

Read the Cincinnati press article at http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20120301/NEWS/303010057/

Mar 4 2012

RAMPART CubeSat to use propulsion

RAMPART CubeSat

RAMPART CubeSat

Students at Morehead State University are building an amateur radio CubeSat with a propulsion system that will raise the apogee of its orbit from 500 km to 1200 km.

RAMPART, which stands for RApidprototyped Mems Propulsion And Radiation Test CUBEflow SATellite, plans to launch on a Minotaur from Vandenburgh in June 2013.

It is a 2U CubeSat and will use a self-contained, warm gas, propulsion system to adjust satellite’s initial circular orbit of 500 km to an eliptical orbit with an apogee of 1200 km and perigee of 500 km at a 45 degree inclination.

RAMPART Thruster Design

RAMPART Thruster Design

It will demonstrate use of 3D printing (A.K.A. rapid prototyping) for manufacturing small satellites. Measure flux of energetic particles in lower Van Allen Belt. Test radiation-hardened electronic components and high performance solar cells in high radiation environment over a period of five years.

The students are proposing a UHF downlink of 9k6 GMSK AX25 packet. A downlink frequency of 437.325 MHz has been requested.

RAMPART NanoSat Paper http://ssc.moreheadstate.edu/missions/rampart/rampart.pdf

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status Report http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru