Dec 11 2011

AMSAT VP-Educational Outreach

Mark Hammond, N8MH appointed AMSAT VP-Educational Outreach

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW has announced the appointment of Mark Hammond, N8MH as AMSAT Vice President-Educational Relations.

Barry noted, “The subject of educational outreach was well discussed at the 2011 AMSAT Symposium, based upon the paper that I presented as well as other presentations that outlined some of the challenges that AMSAT has experienced in creating a structure for fulfilling our mission component regarding education. Mark has agreed to help AMSAT establish and coordinate an education initiative program and serve as AMSAT s senior point of contact with outside organizations regarding educational outreach.”

Given the increasing importance of fulfilling education goals as
justification for launch opportunities, this is an increasingly important subject for AMSAT.

Mark is aptly suited for this position as he is a professor of biology and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC and is very familiar with the potential for using the amateur radio satellites as a teaching resource and understands the teacher perspective as well.

Dec 10 2011

Keychain Satellite

This “Keychain-Satellite”, just 5*5*5 cm, uses tiny Arduino based hardware

Watch FemtoSatellite model(1/2)

Watch FemtoSatellite model(2/2)

More pictures and information at http://tinyurl.com/cepqnrh

Dec 10 2011

Danish Euroluna Project on TV

Tor Foss Mortensen of Google X-Prize team Euroluna (OZ9LUNA) appeared in the Danish TV show Aftenshowet.

Euroluna is developing a 2U CubeSat MiniRomit1 which was shown on TV.  Watch Tor i Aftenshowet

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Euroluna

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=708263#!/pages/Euroluna/337261739568?ref=mf

Euroluna: http://www.euroluna.dk/

Google Lunar X PRIZE: http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK
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Dec 9 2011

SpaceX Applies for Dragon Frequencies

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has submitted an application for Special Temporary Authority to the FCC.

They request the use of frequencies in the 400 MHz and 2200 MHz bands under the callsign WF9XGI . The application says:

The purpose of this operation is to demonstrate a low-cost, commercial capability to transport cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and return it safely to the Earth. The nominal mission profile calls for launch of the capsule from Cape Canaveral into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), followed by ISS proximity operations, berthing with ISS (nominally remaining berthed for several weeks), unberthing, de-orbit maneuvers, re-entry, and splash-down in the Pacific Ocean. The basic orbital parameters for this mission are as follows: Non-Geostationary circular orbit (approx. 407 km); Equatorial Inclination of 52.5 degrees; Period of Orbit is 5400 s. The scheduled launch readiness date for this mission is currently NET December 19, 2011.

Read the application at https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/STA_Print.cfm?mode=current&application_seq=49678

NASA Announces Launch Date and Milestones for Spacex Flight
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/dec/HQ_11-413_SpaceX_ISS_Flight.html

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf Join online here

Dec 8 2011

Vega to Launch Amateur Radio Satellites

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

The inaugural launch of the ESA Vega rocket will carry the amateur radio microsatellite ALMASat-1 and at least six CubeSats.

The satellites will be launched from the ESA spaceport at Kourou in the Caribbean into an elliptical orbit of 1450 by 354 km at an inclination of 71 degrees. They are expected to have a lifetime before re-entry of 4 years.

ESA say the six CubeSats to be launched on Vega in late January 2012 comprise:

– Xatcobeo (a collaboration of the University of Vigo and INTA, Spain): a mission to demonstrate software-defined radio and solar panel deployment;
– Robusta (University of Montpellier 2, France): a mission to test and evaluate radiation effects (low dose rate) on bipolar transistor electronic components;
– e-st@r (Politecnico di Torino, Italy): demonstration of an active 3-axis Attitude Determination and Control system including an inertial measurement unit;
– Goliat (University of Bucharest, Romania): imaging of the Earth surface using a digital camera and in-situ measurement of radiation dose and micrometeoroid flux;
– PW-Sat (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland): a mission to test a deployable atmospheric drag augmentation device for de-orbiting CubeSats;
– MaSat-1 (Budapest University of Technology and Economics): a mission to demonstrate various spacecraft avionics, including a power conditioning system, transceiver and on-board data handling.

ESA indicate that a 7th CubeSat may be delivered in time to be flown.

PW-Sat carries an FM to DSB amateur radio transponder with an FM input on 435.020 MHz and DSB output on 145.900 MHz.

The primary payload on the launch, LARES, will be deployed into an orbit of 1200 km × 1200 km with an inclination of 71 degrees.

Frequencies and links for the CubeSats can be found at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

ESA CubeSats delivered for first Vega flight http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Education/SEM3L0WWVUG_0.html

ESA Education – CubeSats http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Education/SEM3N03MDAF_0.html

The IARU amateur satellite frequency coordination pages hosted by AMAT-UK list the frequencies of the amateur radio satellites http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

ALMASat-1 http://www.almasat.org/

Dec 8 2011

Announcement of Opportunity: CubeSat Mission Concept Studies

The core of the UK Space Agency strategy is to lead and sustain the growth of the UK Space Sector. In support of this the National Space Technology Programme (NSTP) promotes the development of new commercial and scientific applications by offering grant funding for truly novel concepts to be fully explored.

CubeSats offer huge potential to accelerate technology development of sensors and instruments in a miniaturised package for deployment in space. New technology concepts for space missions can be demonstrated on CubeSat payloads, delivering a test bed at low cost and significantly reduced timescales. The CubeSat is a relatively new concept, which is maturing rapidly, in which the UK has existing leading capability.

This NSTP programme is to facilitate the acceleration of space technologies up the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) curve but can also attract new players into the space sector by offering a low cost route to getting flight heritage. To follow, the NSTP Pathfinder studies programme is to be released in early 2012 and will be specifically to develop technology concepts.