Dr Sandile Malinga, CEO of the South African Space Agency
unveils South Africa’s first CubeSat – Image credit CPUT
The amateur radio CubeSat designed and built by students at the Cape Peninsular University of Technology in Bellville is expected to launch in the 4th quarter of 2013.
Watch NewsyTech – Satellites Powered By Smartphones? Yep, and Cheap
NASA Ames Research Center has built two versions of the amateur radio PhoneSat – PhoneSat 1, which costs about $3500, and PhoneSat 2, which costs just under $8,000. Both versions are based on HTC Nexus One smartphones. The first PhoneSats are scheduled to be launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares launch vehicle. The launch, funded under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2012. It will carry two PhoneSat 1 satellites and one PhoneSat 2. A second PhoneSat launch is expected to occur in 2013.
Watch ISS AX.25 packets on 145.825 MHz FM at approx 7:21pm on August 24, 2012
QRP APRS Packet Radio to the ISS http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=3838
Real time tracking and status information for the amateur radio stations on the ISS can be found on the ISS Fan Club site http://www.issfanclub.com/
Tim DeBenedictis and Anna Vital with the SkyCube satellite
The Huffington Post reports on the imaging CubeSat SkyCube that will be utilizing a network of 915 MHz ground stations operated by the US Navy, the Boeing Corporation, and the University of Utah for CubeSat projects.
Images taken by SkyCube will be transmitted by a 57.6 kbps modem that was developed for CubeSats using the 915 MHz band.
SPROUT Amateur Radio SSTV Satellite
SPROUT, a 20 x 20 x 22 cm amateur radio nano-satellite with a mass of 7.1 kg, plans to launch with the L-band (1236.5 MHz/1257.5 MHz/1278.5 MHz) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite ALOS-2 on May 24, 2014. [Updated May 19, 2014]
SPROUT (Space Research On Unique Technology) was built by students from Nihon University and its objectives are:
1. Operation of satellite by radio amateurs. SPROUT downlinks the digi-talker sound recorded preliminary in the satellite, the digi-peater voice and packet uploaded by radio amateurs, Slow Scan TV (SSTV) and FM packet of the picture of the Earth taken by the satellite camera, which can be received by radio amateurs. SPROUT has two downlink frequencies and two uplink frequencies, and one uplink frequency and one downlink frequency will be open for radio amateurs. They can use the digipeater and packet and use one camera mounted on SPROUT and take the pictures by themselves, and downlink the pictures by SSTV.
2. Demonstration of the deployment of the combined membrane structure and verification of the design method of the structure SPROUT has a triangular membrane supported by two tubes like framework. They are folded and stored in the satellite before the launch. After the launch, the nitrogen gas is injected into the tubes in space, and they extend, so that the membrane deploys (called “combined membrane structure”).
3. Demonstration of attitude determination and control of a nanosatellite Will conduct the attitude determination experiment on orbit by using the sun sensors, gyros, and geomagnetic sensor, and conduct the attitude control experiment by using the magnetic torquers.
It carries two UHF/VHF radio systems – one for Telemetry, Tracking & Control (TTC) using CW, 1200 bps AFSK and 9600 bps GMSK AX.25 packet and one for amateur operations using 1200 bps AFSK AX.25 packet.
SPROUT plans to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center into a 628 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) on May 24, 2014.
Callsign: JQ1ZJQ
Size: 214x210x220 mm
Weight: 7.1 kg
Mode: 1200bps AFSK, 9600bps GMSK
CW downlink 437.525 MHz
FM packet downlink 437.525 MHz
Digi-peater uplink 437.600 MHz
Digi-talker downlink 437.600 MHz
SSTV downlink 437.600 MHz
Sprout Satellite English website http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout-e/
Sprout Satellite Japanese website http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout/
Nihon-Univ. Miyazaki Laboratory on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nihon-Univ-Miyazaki-Laboratory/406566642818860
JE9PEL website http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/jaxalos2.htm
Read the Overview of the L-band SAR Onboard ALOS-2 here.
The Uncertainly Principle 1.1 litre Fiat Panda with AMSAT-UK Logo
Neil Melville PA9N and Helen Woolnough arrived in Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia on Thurday, August 23. They were towed the last part of the journey by pick-up truck having broken down in Mongolia on Tuesday at 46.05N, 100.51E.
AMSAT-UK 
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