In a 1963 edition of the Sky at Night show Arthur C. Clarke, who in 1945 predicted geostationary satellites, is interviewed by Patrick Moore.
The perils of spaceflight prediction
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1981/1
FUNcube Dongle SDR in CQ Ham Radio
A review of the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle VHF/UHF Software Defined Radio has just been published in CQ Ham Radio magazine.
The review can be seen at
http://www.funcubedongle.com/MyImages/35a.pdf
However, it’s in Japanese so we are none the wiser as to what it says but it looks good.
The FUNcube Dongle SDR’s have been used for a wide variety of applications including:
Weather Satellites
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/09/19/indian-noaa-apt-images-
with-the-amsat-ukfuncube-dongle-sdr/
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/08/19/weather-sat-picture
-received-with-funcube-dongle/
A Software Defined Radio Telescope
http://www.britastro.org/radio/projects/An_SDR_Radio_Telescope.pdf
Reception of 433/434 MHz balloons launched by radio amateurs such as
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2011/
digital_pictures_sent_from_balloon.htm
Earth-Moon-Earth (Moon Bounce) communications
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/10/26/korean-eme-test-with-
funcube-dongle/
The AMSAT-UK FUNcube Yahoo group now has over 2,500 members. You can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/
STARS-II Amateur Radio Satellite
Impression of STARS-II in Orbit
The amateur radio satellite STARS-II has been developed by students at Kagawa University and consists of a Mother satellite and Daughter satellite connected by tether.
STARS stands for Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite. The mission will include formation flight, tether deployment, attitude control and the mother and daughter satellites will take pictures of each other.
It is proposed to fly a 80mW CW beacon and a 800mW AX25 1200bps telemetry downlink. Total mass is 8 kg.
Coordinated frequencies for CW 437.245 MHz (mother) and 437.255 MHz (daughter). FM downlinks 437.405 MHz (mother) and 437.425 MHz (daughter).
Kagawa satellite development project STARS-II http://stars1.eng.kagawa-u.ac.jp/english/index.html
The Google English translation of the Japanese language STARS-II page has additional information http://tinyurl.com/JapanSTARS-II
STARS-II on the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages hosted by AMSAT-UK
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=170
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
Amateur radio satellite AO-51 remembered
Dozens of messages were posted to the Amsat-bb after the news of the amateur radio satellite AO-51‘s end of mission was received. Many remembered their contacts, several thanked the Operating Team. Many noted that AO-51 was the satellite that brought them into this part of our hobby. Continue reading
SwissCube update
On his French language website HB9AFO provides an update on the SwissCube amateur radio satellite.
He says that the Swiss EPFL Space Center annual meeting was held December 1.
EPFL operations with SwissCube are now finished. For the remainder of its life, SwissCube will be controlled by two stations: HB9MFL in Switzerland and a Dutch station.
Volker Gass and Muriel Richard (ex Noca) warmly thanked all those who participated in the project, including amateur radio. SwissCube was a complete success, both technical (with resolution of unforeseen problems) and human (many interested students and many sponsors for future experiments).
Although EPFL has projects in the pipeline none will use the amateur bands in the near future.
Thanks were given to all the radio hams who participated, directly or indirectly in the SwissCube project.
See the HB9AFO SwissCube page in Google English at
http://tinyurl.com/SwissCube
SwissCube Live Amateur Radio Information
http://swisscube-live.ch/
EFL SwissCube
http://swisscube.epfl.ch/
Radio Amateurs Receive Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Science Laboratory
Radio Amateurs have received signals from the NASA Mars Science Laboratory using the AMSAT-DL amateur radio facility at Bochum in Germany.
On November 26, 2011 at 15:02 UTC the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) successfully launched on an Atlas V 541 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41. It is carrying Curiosity, a 900 kg rover about the size of a small car.
It is expected to arrive at the “Red Planet” in August 2012 after a nine month flight.
Just over 7 hours after launch at 21:45 UTC the X-band telemetry signal from the MSL was received using the Bochum amateur radio facility. The signal, received at a distance of 112,000 km, had a spin-modulation of +/- 3.5 Hz with 2 revolutions / minute.
This is believed to be the first reception of the MSL outside the official NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) and the USN tracking station at Dongara, Australia (under contract to JPL for the MSL launch).
Amateur Radio Facility at Bochum
For reception of MSL James Miller G3RUH remotely reconfigured the Bochum tracking and receiving system. The MSL X-Band telemetry signal was received automatically in Bochum, no-one had to be physically on-site. This shows how flexible and reliable the system at Bochum is, ready for the planned AMSAT-DL P5-A mission to Mars.
The 20m dish at Bochum is also used by AMSAT-DL to automatically receive real-time solar data from the NASA STEREO A / B satellites. The data is transmitted to a NOAA server in the USA via the Internet.
Congratulations to the AMSAT-DL team on a remarkable acheivement.
Control Software for the Bochum Radio Telescope by James Miller G3RUH
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/126.html
Stereo A/B Spacecraft Telemetry Reception at Bochum by James Miller G3RUH
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/127.html
AMSAT-DL in Google English http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-DL
AMSAT-UK publishes a newsletter, OSCAR News, full of Amateur Satellite information. Sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf Join online at http://alturl.com/avuca
AMSAT-UK 
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