Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jan 19 2015

Radio ham interviewed on TV about Beagle 2

Illustration of the UK Beagle 2 lander on Mars - Credit ESA

Illustration of the UK Beagle 2 lander on Mars – Credit ESA

Essex-born radio amateur Dave Rowntree M6DRQ was interviewed on Channel 5 TV news about the Beagle 2 Mars mission.

Dave, formerly drummer in the band Blur, is currently a DJ on London radio station XFM 104.9 MHz.

On December 25, 2003 the pioneering UK spacecraft Beagle 2, developed by a team led by Professor Colin Pillinger, landed on Mars, however, communications with it could not be established. This meant it was not known if the landing had been successful or where on the planet it was.

On July 30, 2004 Professor Pillinger gave a presentation about Beagle 2 to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford, he received a standing ovation from the audience.

On January 15, 2015 it was announced that Beagle 2 had been located in images taken of Mars. These confirmed it had made a successful soft landing on the planet. Sadly Professor Pillinger had passed away a few months earlier on May 7, 2014.

Watch Dave talking about Beagle 2

Radio ham becomes XFM 104.9 DJ
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2014/february/radio_ham_becomes_xfm_dj.htm

Dave Rowntree M6DRQ on Twitter https://twitter.com/DaveRowntree

2011 BBC interview with Professor Colin Pillinger
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2011/bbc_interview_with_colin_pillinger.htm

Jan 17 2015

AESP-14 CubeSat deployed from ISS

AESP-14 CubeSat

AESP-14 CubeSat

The AESP-14 is a 1U CubeSat developed by undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the Technology Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) in Brazil. The satellite’s primary mission is to test the various subsystems in the space environment.

AESP-14 CubeSat released from ISS - Photo by Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF

AESP-14 CubeSat released from ISS – Photo by Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF

The satellite was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) as cargo on the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission CRS-5. Launch had been scheduled for December 16, 2014 but was postponed three times and it wasn’t until January 10, 2015 that the launch eventually took place. Since arriving at the ISS on January 12 AESP-14 has been awaiting deployment by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) which is in the Japanese Experimental Module, Kibo.

The deployment took place around 1250 UT on Thursday, February 5. The AESP-14 telemetry beacon has a power output of 500 mW and uses AX.25 with 9600 bps GMSK modulation (G3RUH standard) on 437.600 MHz. It should have started transmitting 30 minutes after deployment but as of February 11 nothing had been heard. It may be the battery did not survive several months without being recharged or the antenna may have failed to deploy.

AESP-14 CubeSat deployment from ISS - Image JAXA

AESP-14 CubeSat deployment from ISS – Image JAXA

The AESP-14 team would like to ask the help of radio amateurs around the world to forward any received telemetry frames back to the team. For this, please save the AX.25 frames in KISS format and forward the file to aesp14@ita.br

The satellite has an amateur radio experiment developed by the Americana Amateur Radio Club (CRAM). The experiment consists of the random transmission of 100 sequences of ASCII characters prefixed with the “CRAM” word that will used as part of a contest among receiving stations. The first 10 amateur radio stations that complete receiving the 100 sequences will be awarded a commemorative diploma. Further details at http://wabicafe.com.br/aesp14/cram.php

AESP-14 website http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14

Telemetry information sheet http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14/AESP-14Telemetry.pdf

AESP-14 CubeSat released from International Space Station
http://www.spaceflight101.com/iss-expedition-42-updates-february-2015.html

AMSAT-UK thanks Edson Pereira PY2SDR for this information.

Jan 14 2015

UK Space Industry in Guardian Newspaper

Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC / 2E0OBC working on STRaND-1 - Image credit Surrey Space Centre

Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC / 2E0OBC working on STRaND-1 – Image credit Surrey Space Centre

The Guardian interviewed radio amateur Dr. Chris Bridges 2E0OBC for their story on the growing UK space industry.

Chris 2E0OBC worked on the Surrey Space Centre’s STRaND-1 spacecraft which carries an amateur radio payload. The newspaper also interviewed Steve Greenland, Senior Systems Engineer at Clyde Space, who worked on the UKube-1 spacecraft which carries the FUNcube-2 amateur radio transponder.

Read the Guardian article at
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/14/the-space-industry-is-growing-and-looking-for-talented-postgrads

Both Steve and Chris have given presentations to the annual AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium, see the videos from 2014 at https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/presentation-videos/

STRaND-1 https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/digital-satellites/strand-1/

UKube-1 transponder test https://amsat-uk.org/2015/01/05/funcube-2-ukube-1-update/

Jan 14 2015

Video of FUNcube-1 demonstration at IARU-R1 conference

Graham Shirville G3VZV demonstrates FUNcube-1 with Kjetil Toresen LA8KV holding the antenna

Graham Shirville G3VZV demonstrates FUNcube-1 with Kjetil Toresen LA8KV holding the antenna

Riaan Greeff ZS4PR has released a video of the demonstration of the FUNcube-1 (AO-73) CubeSat by Graham Shirville G3VZV to delegates at the IARU Region 1 Conference in September 2014.

Watch the video Graham G3VZV demonstrates FUNcube satellite

Mats SM6EAN has posted a brief report on the Swedish Amateur Radio Society (SSA) website about the FUNcube-1 CubeSat presentation at the IARU Region 1 General Conference in Varna-Albena, Bulgaria.

The following is translated from the original Swedish post.

After the session of the VHF, UHF and Microwave C5 Committee had completed the delegates were given two interesting presentations.

Graham Shirville G3VZV did a poolside demonstration of the FUNcube-1 satellite which was launched in November 2013. Using a computer, FUNcube SDR dongle and a turnstile antenna, held by Kjetil Toresen LA8KV, he received FUNcube-1 and displayed the telemetry data on the computer screen. The satellite’s telemetry beacon on 145.935 MHz was also heard using a handheld SSB receiver.

A presentation was also made about Hamnet which is being expanded, especially in Germany. Hamnet is a high-speed multimedia network and it was discussed whether and how IARU Region 1 could support the expansion of this network.

Post by Mats SM6EAN in Swedish http://www.ssa.se/iaru-reg-1-dag-4/

FUNcube http://FUNcube.org.uk/

FUNcube SDR Dongle http://FUNcubeDongle.com/

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

Dashboard App – Telemetry Decoder http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/

Data Warehouse – Telemetry Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/

Hamnet http://hamnetdb.net/

IARU Region 1 Conference documents and pictures http://iarur1con2014.bfra.bg/

Jan 13 2015

UK’s Sarah Brightman starts space flight training

Private Spacefarer Sarah Brightman Undergoes Medical Tests

Private Spacefarer Sarah Brightman Undergoes Medical Tests

Sarah Brightman hopes to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 10 day mission on September 1, 2015. If the launch were to take place as expected she would become the UK’s second astronaut, the first was Helen Sharman GB1MIR on May 18, 1991. Tim Peake KG5BVI is expected to launch in November 2015.

The TASS news agency reported that the UK’s Sarah Brightman will start training for her ISS mission in January 2015.

Sarah Brightman will train in Russia’s Star City. “She will arrive here on Wednesday, January 14, and will start her training the following day,” the press service of the space training facility told TASS. UPDATE: start of training was postponed until January 19.

Her flight is scheduled for September 1-11, 2015 and she is expected to spend 10 days at the ISS.

Sarah Brightman is paying $52 million for the flight considerably more than the $20 million that Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari paid for her mission to the ISS in 2006, highlighting the dramatic escalation in launch charges in recent years.

Sarah Brightman - DreamchaserSarah started her singing career in the 1970’s and had hits such as “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper” and “Love in a UFO”. She is now a classical crossover artist.

In 2012 in conjunction with Virgin Galactic, The Brightman STEM Scholarship program (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was launched to help young women in the US pursue STEM education across their four year college careers.

Her album, “Dreamchaser” was released on January 22, 2013. She said “I don’t think of myself as a dreamer. Rather, I am a dream chaser, I hope that I can encourage others to take inspiration from my journey both to chase down their own dreams and to help fulfill the important UNESCO mandate to promote peace and sustainable development on Earth and from space. I am determined that this journey can reach out to be a force for good, a catalyst for some of the dreams and aims of others that resonate with me.” She intends to become the first professional musician to sing from space.

It is not yet known if she will make any amateur radio contacts while on the ISS. In 1991 the first UK astronaut Helen Sharman was issued with a special callsign GB1MIR by the Radiocommunications Division of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). She was then able to contact radio amateurs on Earth during her stay on the MIR space station. The RSGB has reported that the UK communications regulator Ofcom will make the callsign GB1SS available for issue to UK astronauts who wish to operate from the ISS.

Read the TASS story at http://itar-tass.com/en/non-political/770688

You can sign up to receive updates on Sarah’s mission at http://www.sarahbrightman.com/

Wiki – Sarah Brightman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Brightman

Space Adventures http://www.spaceadventures.com/

International Space Station - Image Credit NASA

International Space Station – Image Credit NASA

Jan 11 2015

OGMS-SA CubeSat to provide FM transponder

OGMS-SA CubeSat - Paris-Est Creteil University

OGMS-SA CubeSat – Paris-Est Creteil University

OGMS-SA is a 3U CubeSat being developed by students at the Paris-Est Creteil University as part of the QB50 constellation.

The purposes of this CubeSat include upper atmosphere science; radio communication experiments; technology demonstrator; education, training and outreach.

Additionally it will provide an FM voice transponder for amateur use.

Planning to use VHF uplink and UHF downlink with 9k6 FX25 GMSK modulation. A downlink of 437.545 MHz has been coordinated.

OGMS-SA CubeSat http://www.esep.pro/-CubeSat-OGMS-SA-En-construction-.html

Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

QB50 CubeSat Launch Contract Signed
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/28/qb50-cubesat-launch-contract-signed/