Tag Archives: CubeSat

Apr 3 2013

Vietnam CubeSat PicoDragon

PicoDragon CubeSat - Image credit VNSC

PicoDragon CubeSat – Image credit VNSC

PicoDragon is a 1U CubeSat project intended to take low resolution Earth images and to test on-board systems.

It is planning to use two amateur radio downlinks and frequencies for these have been coordinated by the IARU. The 100mW CW beacon will be on 437.250 MHz and a 1k2 bps AFSK 800mW AX.25 telemetry downlink on 437.365 MHz. Commands will be uplinked on VHF.

The Vietnam National Satellite Center VNSC say that Pico-satellite Dragon is expected to launch in mid-2013 on a Japanese rocket.

More info at http://vnsc.org.vn/

Apr 2 2013

Video – NextGen CubeSat Project – 2010 Dayton Hamvention

NextGen CubeSat Project, a presentation prepared by Alex Harvilchuck N3NP and presented by Dr. Charles Westgate WC2R during the AMSAT Forum at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention.

Watch NextGen CubeSat Project

See other AMSAT-NA videos at http://www.youtube.com/AMSATNA

Apr 1 2013

Amateur Radio Satellite at 15th European Interparliamentary Space Conference

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 – Image credit PA3WEG

The European Interparliamentary Space Conference (EISC) workshop on small, micro, nano and CubeSat missions took place on March 25 in Redu, Belgium.

AMSAT Belgium and the UBA took advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate the engineering model of the AMSAT-UK FUNcube-1 satellite along with the FUNcube Dongle SDR for telemetry decoding.

Jan Poppeliers ON7UX has released this video of the event which also covers the European Student Earth Orbiter ESEO satellite, ALMASat-1, and the QB50 project:

Continue reading →

Mar 30 2013

DynaCube to explore the South Atlantic Anomaly

DynaCube Project Team leaders (L-R) Rick Botha, Jean-Paul Appel, Esabe Brink, Yoshlyn Naidoo ZS6YOG, Motheo Motlhabane, Yolandi Young - Image Credit Denel Dynamics

DynaCube Project Team leaders (L-R) Rick Botha, Jean-Paul Appel, Esabe Brink, Yoshlyn Naidoo ZS6YOG, Motheo Motlhabane, Yolandi Young – Image credit Denel Dynamics

The Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT) report that after launch DynaCube, a one-unit CubeSat being constructed by Interns at the Denel Dynamics Engineering Academy, will be exploring the South Atlantic Anomaly during orbits over the area.

It is hoped the Cubesat will launch in late 2013 or 2104. SA AMSAT say the cost of a launch for this 1U CubeSat could be as high as 1,300,000 Rand (£92,000 or $140,000).

Continue reading →

Mar 28 2013

New Version of STRaND-1 Telemetry Decoder

The STRaND-1 build and test phase took just 3 months

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN has released a new version of the STRaND-1 telemetry decoder that incorporates the recent telemetry changes from the STRaND team.

Download Version 1.50 [27.03.2013] BETA from http://tinyurl.com/SatSoftwareDK3WN/

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

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

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

Mar 27 2013

New STRaND-1 telemetry spreadsheet and DK3WN magnetic field vector analysis

STRaND-1_20130326_magThe STRaND-1 team have released a new version of the Excel Spreadsheet for the STRaND-1 Telemetry which is now updated with switch details.

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1

Download the new spreadsheet from https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/strand-1-telemetry/

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN has been working on new software which compares the magnetometer values sent by STRaND-1 in comparison to the NOAA World Magnetic Mode (WMM2010). Further information at http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=31826

Surrey Space Centre report that the STRAND-1 satellite is healthy and in the coming weeks they hope to be able to switch-on the Google Nexus One smartphone carried by the CubeSat.

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