Tag Archives: CubeSat

Jan 2 2012

FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video

The AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle is a VHF/UHF (64-1700 MHz) Software Defined Radio (SDR) on a USB Dongle. Howard Long G6VLB traveled from London to the 2011 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Baltimore to address the group on this project. He details the trials and tribulations behind designing and manufacturing what turned out to be an extremely popular product.

The primary aim of the FUNcube Dongle is to interest young students in science, satellites and radio. The FUNcube iteslf is a satellite that will be launched specifically to be monitored by all those dongles that have been sold.

Watch 2011 DCC – FUNcube Dongle

FUNcube Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube

Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN) http://www.arvn.tv/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Jan 2 2012

The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio Video

A new promotional video has been released to attract Hackers, Makers and Innovators to amateur radio.

The video features well known hacker and maker Diana Eng KC2UHB along with Ham Nation’s Bob Heil K9EID and ISS Astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC. It follows some of the innovative, imaginative and fun ways “hams” use radio technology in new and creative ways and points out that amateur radio clubs are similar to hacker groups.

Watch The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio in HD

Featured in the video is the Ham Radio HSMM-MESH™. A high speed, self discovering, self configuring, fault tolerant, wireless computer network that can run for days from a fully charged car battery, or indefinitely with the addition of a modest solar array or other supplemental power source. The focus is on emergency communications. http://www.hsmm-mesh.org/

A Hi-Res 480 MB version of the DIY Magic DVD can be downloaded from http://p1k.arrl.org/pub/pr/

Diana Eng KC2UHB joins ARRL Public Relations Committee
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2010/diana_eng_joins_arrl.htm

London Hackspace work on HackSat1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2482

Hackers and Makers in AMSAT-UK are building the amateur radio satellite FUNcube. AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 31 2011

Smart Phone Satellite Presentation Video

In the United Kingdom volunteers from SSTL and SSC are using their own, free time to develop STRaND-1 a CubeSat that will carry a Smart Phone.

However Smart Phone satellites aren’t only being developed in the UK, the United States is developing one as well. Radio amateur Mike Safyan KJ6MVL gave a presentation on the US PhoneSat to the 2011 TAPR Digital Communications Conference and thanks to ARVN a video is now available.

A PhoneSat Really? Use an off the shelf smart phone as the guts of a satellite? Yep, that’s what radio amateur Mike Safyan KJ6MVL is doing over at NASA. He described the project in his talk at the 2011 ARRL/TAPR DCC in Baltimore.

Of course, todays phones have way more computer power than typical satellites, updated phones are released like every 5 minutes, and they’re dirt cheap (relatively). But can they hold up and do the job in the rigors of space? So far, Mike’s sent his phone up on a near space balloon and a small rocket, and yes, it works. A full CubeSat launch is next for Mike and crew.

Watch 2011 DCC – PhoneSat

Make: magazine – PhoneSat Aims to Send a Cellphone into Space (video)
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/10/phonesat-aims-to-send-a-cellphone-into-space-video.html

A six page article on UK PhoneSat STRaND-1 appeared in the Spring issue of the AMSAT-UK publication OSCAR News available for download at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

UK Smartphone CubeSat STRaND-1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/09/07/uk-smartphone-cubesat-strand-1/

Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN) http://www.arvn.tv/

Dec 30 2011

Hackers Plan Space Satellites

A CubeSat in Space

A CubeSat in Space

The BBC report that Hackers plan to put their own communication satellites into orbit. The scheme was outlined at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin.

The project’s organisers said the Hackerspace Global Grid will also involve developing a grid of ground stations to track and communicate with the satellites.

Used together in a global network, these stations would be able to pinpoint satellites at any given time, while also making it easier and more reliable for fast-moving satellites to send data back to earth. “It’s kind of a reverse GPS,” Armin Bauer, said.

“GPS uses satellites to calculate where we are, and this tells us where the satellites are. We would use GPS co-ordinates but also improve on them by using fixed sites in precisely-known locations.”

Armin Bauer, said the team would have three prototype ground stations in place in the first half of 2012, and hoped to give away some working models at the next Chaos Communication Congress in a year’s time.

Read the full BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042

Building a Distrubuted Satellite Ground Station Network – A Call To Arms
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4699.en.html

Hackerspace Global Grid http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg

London Hackspace work on HackSat1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2482

AMSAT-DL presentation to the Chaos Communication Camp in August
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/17/from-oscar-1-to-mars-and-beyond/

Hackers and Makers in AMSAT-UK are building the amateur radio satellite FUNcube.
AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 23 2011

Announcement of Opportunity: CubeSat Mission Concept Studies

The core of the UK Space Agency strategy is to lead and sustain the growth of the UK Space Sector. In support of this the National Space Technology Programme (NSTP) promotes the development of new commercial and scientific applications by offering grant funding for truly novel concepts to be fully explored.

CubeSats offer huge potential to accelerate technology development of sensors and instruments in a miniaturised package for deployment in space. New technology concepts for space missions can be demonstrated on CubeSat payloads, delivering a test bed at low cost and significantly reduced timescales. The CubeSat is a relatively new concept, which is maturing rapidly, in which the UK has existing leading capability.

This NSTP programme is to facilitate the acceleration of space technologies up the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) curve but can also attract new players into the space sector by offering a low cost route to getting flight heritage. To follow, the NSTP Pathfinder studies programme is to be released in early 2012 and will be specifically to develop technology concepts.

Dec 23 2011

Seven Student CubeSats Ready For Flight

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

The first student built amateur radio CubeSats to be sponsored by ESA’s Education Office have passed their Final Acceptance Review and have been declared ready for launch on board the maiden flight of Vega, the new ESA launcher.

The launch window for this historic lift-off opens on 26 January and ends in the first week of February 2012.

The seven university-built picosatellites, each weighing only 1 kilogram, were integrated with the devices that will carry them during launch – the P-PODs, or Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployers – between late October and mid November. Before they could be cleared for launch, they had to pass a detailed technical examination known as the Final Acceptance Review.

The single-unit CubeSats, whose development represented a highly valuable, if not unique hands-on learning experience for the university students that were involved – were developed by teams from 6 different European countries:

  • Xatcobeo (a collaboration of the University of Vigo and INTA, Spain)
  • Robusta (University of Montpellier 2, France)
  • E-St@r (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
  • Goliat (University of Bucharest, Romania)
  • PW-Sat (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland)
  • MaSat-1 (Budapest University of Technology & Economics, Hungary)
  • UniCubeSat GG (Universitá di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy)

As well as the CubeSats Vega will also carry the Amateur Radio microsatellite ALMASat-1.

Frequencies and links for the satellites can be found at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

Read the full ESA story at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMG1C8XZVG_0.html

2007 – AO-51 to switch to V/S 38k4 to support ALMASat ground station testing
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2007/ao51_switch.htm

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK