Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jan 29 2013

ESA Call for Proposals: FLY YOUR SATELLITE!

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

’Fly Your Satellite!’ is an exciting new initiative from the European Space Agency (ESA) Education and Knowledge Management Office. It is focused on CubeSat projects run by university students and builds on the successful ‘CubeSats for the Vega Maiden Flight’ pilot programme, which culminated in 2012 with the launch of seven university student-built CubeSats on board the Vega Maiden Flight.

In the future, this new initiative is intended to cover the complete development process of a satellite from concept to launch. However, the 2013 edition will be dedicated to teams whose satellite is already at an advanced stage of development and able to complete the Flight Model assembly by June 2013. One, two or three-unit CubeSats are eligible.

Fly Your Satellite (FYS) – Call for Proposals – Iss.1

FYS – instructions guidelines – Iss.1

The opportunity will be open to European university teams from ESA Member States or Cooperating States:
• ESA Member States – Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
• ESA cooperating States – Canada, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovenia.

Further information on the ESA website at http://www.esa.int/Education/Call_for_Proposals_Fly_Your_Satellite

Jan 27 2013

Nigerian CubeSat – EregbuSAT

 

EregbuSAT CubeSat

EregbuSAT CubeSat Prototype

EregbuSAT is a CubeSat prototype that is being developed by the Postgraduate students of the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in English (ARCSSTE-E) to simulate the communication (send and receive data) between a Satellite and its Ground Station.

When completed, it will provide an opportunity for future students in the Satellite Communication option of ARCSSTE-E Postgraduate Diploma program to experience operating a Satellite (send commands to Satellite using the prototype) during their short stay in Nigeria.

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Jan 26 2013

Ham Radio Satellite Explorer App

Satellite Explorer Screenshot

Tom Doyle W9KE has made available the amateur radio Satellite Explorer app for Windows 8 devices.

Satellite Explorer is a Windows 8 app that runs on Intel based tablets, laptops and desktops as well as Windows RT tablets like the Microsoft Surface. It is available in the Windows Store – search for ‘Satellite Explorer’.

Tom says the app is of course free but if you find it of value please contribute something to your favorite AMSAT project.

This video shows how you can use Satellite Explorer:

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Jan 26 2013

DX Contact Via Amateur Radio Satellite OSCAR 7

Paulo PV8DX made this video of a CW contact with Joe EI5EV over a distance of 7383 km using the amateur radio satellite OSCAR 7.

Although OSCAR 7 is over 38 years old and it’s solar panels have been severely degraded by radiation it still provides some excellent DX contacts.

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Jan 23 2013

Scottish Companies Head Into Space

Bright Ascension

Bright Ascension stand at the UK Space Agency CubeSat Community Workshop

Scotland seems to be taking advantage of the expanding satellite and space market with several new companies involved in CubeSat development.

Glasgow’s Clyde Space, who are developing the UK Space Agency’s first CubeSat UKube-1, has already established a global reputation and the new start-up Alba Orbital is also based in the city.

It can, however, be all too easy to think of satellites only in terms of hardware, in practice software can be the key part of any satellite.

Fife-based Bright Ascension Ltd develop both onboard and ground station CubeSat software and are currently involved in the UKube-1 project.

Bright Ascension Ltd http://www.brightascension.com/

Jan 23 2013

UK CubeSat Pulsed Plasma Thruster shown at CubeSat Workshop

Mars Space Ltd CubeSat Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT)

Mars Space Ltd CubeSat Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT)

An innovative CubeSat Pulsed Plasma Thruster (PPT) was shown at the UK CubeSat Community Workshop attended by AMSAT-UK. The event was organized by the UK Space Agency (UKSA).

Mars Space Ltd CubeSat Pulsed Plasma Thruster - 2Produced by the Southampton based company Mars Space Ltd the unit is claimed to be capable of generating up to 44 Newtons/second of thrust. It could be used to significantly extend the life of a CubeSat in a very low orbit (250-450 km) or to raise or lower the orbit.

The company says the PPT could enable a 1U CubeSat deployed in a 400 km orbit to extend its life before re-entry from 6 months to 15 months.

Mars Space Ltd Pulsed Plasma Thruster http://www.mars-space.co.uk/Pages/MicroPPTforCubesats.aspx