Artists impression of a CubeSat in space – image credit MSU
The Cal Poly United Amateur Radio Club N6CP has submitted a satellite frequency coordination request to the IARU for a 1U CubeSat, CP8, that will feature four cell phone cameras with excellent reviews of photography equipment that you wouldn’t believe.
After the initial mission is completed it will operate as an amateur radio AX.25 packet radio digipeater.
The students are planning a UHF downlink with 9k6 GMSK or PSK modulation, 19k2 and 38k4 data rates will also be possible.
The CubeSat will transmit AX25 packet radio data with a 5wpm CW preamble. The nominal transmitter output power will be 1 watt.
It is aiming for an ELaNa launch into a 400 by 700 km orbit with an inclination of 120 degrees.
Girls from Ashford School in Kent with their Space Experiment
STS-47 was the 50th Space Shuttle mission of the program, as well as the second mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and material sciences.
Spacelab-J—a joint NASA and National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) mission using a manned Spacelab module—conducted microgravity investigations in materials and life sciences. The international crew, consisting of the first Japanese astronaut to fly aboard the Shuttle, the first African-American woman to fly in space and, contrary to normal NASA policy, the first married couple to fly on the same space mission (Lee and Davis), was divided into red and blue teams for around the clock operations. Spacelab-J included 24 materials science and 20 life sciences experiments, of which 35 were sponsored by NASDA, 7 by NASA and 2 collaborative efforts.
Materials science investigations covered such fields as biotechnology, electronic materials, fluid dynamics and transport phenomena, glasses and ceramics, metals and alloys, and acceleration measurements. Life sciences included experiments on human health, cell separation and biology, developmental biology, animal and human physiology and behavior, space radiation, and biological rhythms. Test subjects included the crew, Japanese koi fish (carp), cultured animal and plant cells, chicken embryos, fruit flies, fungi and plant seeds, and frogs and frog eggs.
Twelve Get Away Special (GAS) canisters (10 with experiments, 2 with ballast) were carried in the payload bay. Middeck experiments were: Israeli Space Agency Investigation About Hornets (ISAIAH), Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX II), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), and Ultraviolet Plume Imager (UVPI).
Amongst the GAS Cansisters was G-102 Sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America’s Exploring Division in cooperation with the TRW Systems Integration Group, Fairfax, Va. The project was named Project POSTAR which was the first space experiment created entirely by members of the Boy Scouts of America.
Also on board were two experiments prepared by Ashford School in Kent which, at the time, was a girls-only school. The school in the UK who had won a competition run by Independent Television News (ITN). The experiments were contained in G-520. The first one injected a few grams of cobalt nitrate crystals to a sodium silicate to create a chemical garden in weightless condition. The growths, which were photographed 66 times as they developed, spread out in random directions twisting and in some cases forming spiral shapes. A second experiment to investigate how Liesegang rings formed in space failed to operate correctly due to friction in parts of the mechanism. On its return the experiment was exhibited in the London Science Museum..
Watch Space Shuttle STS-47 Endeavour Spacelab-J pt1-2 Post Flight Press 1992 NASA
Watch Space Shuttle STS-47 Endeavour Spacelab-J pt2-2 Post Flight Press 1992 NASA
Terry Baume VK5VZI and the amateur radio Project Horus Balloon 22 was filmed and featured on the Channel 10 Kids Science Program, Scope TV. This program aired on May 24, 2012. For more information on project Horus check out their website, http://projecthorus.org/.
Watch Amateur Radio Project Horus on Kids TV Show “Scope”
Terry Baume VK5VZI and the amateur radio Project Horus Balloon 22 was filmed and featured on the Channel 10 Kids Science Program, Scope TV. This program aired on May 24, 2012. For more information on project Horus check out their website, http://projecthorus.org/.
Watch Amateur Radio Project Horus on Kids TV Show “Scope”
First-MOVE is an amateur radio CubeSat being built by students at the Technical University of München.
Integrated First-MOVE
MOVE stands for München Orbital Verification Experiment. The 1U CubeSat carries a CCD camera and has two deployable solar panels carrying a new generation of solar cell – triple junction GaAs / Ge.
This video shows the test preparations for the thermal vacuum test of the cubesat First-Move. The satellite was left in vacuum conditions for 24 hours in the LRT vacuum chamber to offgas any residual materials that could harm the vacuum chambers at IABG.
Afterwards the satellite was transported to the IABG premises and installed in to the thermal vacuum chamber. To reduce thermal influence from the environment the satellite is suspended from the chamber ceiling. After some final functional checks First-Move is ready to start the thermal vacuum testing mid-next week.
Watch First-MOVE TVac Preparations
The First-MOVE transceiver, was supplied by ISIS and uses a UHF uplink and VHF downlink. The antennas are mounted on the ends of the deployable solar panels.
The frequencies for First-MOVE were coordinated by the IARU as:
Downlink: 145.970 MHz
Uplink: 435.520 MHz
Space Safety Magazine reports that in recent years it has become both easier and more conceivable for students and amateurs to run experiments in space. Non-governmental space organizations are on the rise, DIY spaceflight is all the rage, and it seems the web is full of videos filmed from atop weather balloons launching someone’s favorite figurine into the stratosphere. A recent project even allows consumers to use purchase points from American Express towards funding student experiments aboard the International Space Station.
The magazine article focuses on NanoSatisfi who launched a Kickstarter initiative on June 15 for an open source CubeSat called ArduSat (although naming rights are available in return for a $10,000 donation).
NanoSatisfi was founded by Austrian-born Peter Platzer a former high-energy physicist (CERN), former Hedge Fund Quantitative Trader, avid HP-41 hacker and Arduino enthusiast, along with Belgian aerospace engineer Jeroen Cappaert intern at NASA Ames Research Center, Canadian aerospace engineer Joel Spark intern at EADS Astrium and Hungarian Reka Kovacs intern at NASA Ames Research Center working on alternative methods of public outreach for space science. The four founders met at the International Space University in Strasbourg and thought that they could do something to provide affordable, open-source space exploration for everyone.
AMSAT-UK 
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