It had been hoped that the amateur radio SSB/CW satellite HAMSAT (VO-52) would be reactivated on Thursday, March 8 but this has now been postponed.
More time is needed to carry out observations on the state of the satellite, which fell silent Feb. 28, so the activation has been put back by at least a week.
HAMSAT (VO-52) carries two linear transponders for SSB/CW operation. It had been using the Indian transponder but when it is switched back on it will use the Dutch transponder built by William Leijenaar PE1RAH. The frequencies used will be:
Artists impression of LightSail - Image Credit Planetary Society
The amateur radio spacecraft LightSail-1 is a 32 square metre solar sail demonstrator.
The first full scale deployment of the solar sail was conducted on March 4, 2011 at Stellar Exploration in San Luis Obispo, California. Read more
After launch LightSail-1 will spend a few weeks in orbit during which the team will check out the subsystems. The side panels will then be deployed, exposing a folded sail, and a motor driven sail deployment will extend rigid booms.
With the sail deployed, the primary operation for the spacecraft are performing 90 degree slews to get the sail normal to the sun vector, or edge on with the sun vector.
A combination of ground based sensors and on board sensors will be used to characterize the acceleration due to solar pressure. Imagers on the deployed panels are used to capture the sail deployment.
Proposing to have a downlink in the 435 MHz band with 1.5W output, semi-duplex 9k6 GMSK AX25 with a CW preamble to a single monopole. LightSail-1 is a 3U CubeSat weighing around 4.5 kg. More information will be available at http://polysat.calpoly.edu/LightSail.php
Watch LightSail-1 Video Update: Construction Begins!
The Planetary Society‘s LightSail program will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years, beginning with LightSail-1. Lightsail-2 will attempt a longer duration flight to higher Earth orbits, demonstrating that solar sails can increase their orbital energy and taking the next major step toward using solar sails for missions in and beyond Earth orbit.
LightSail-3 will fly to the Sun-Earth Libration Point, L1, where solar sail spacecraft could be permanently placed as solar weather stations, monitoring the geomagnetic storms from the Sun that potentially endanger electrical grids on Earth as well as satellites in Earth orbit.
The Cincinnati press reports that two Anderson Township amateur radio operators recently sent and received a photo from a satellite that was manually deployed from the International Space Station (ISS).
Farrell Winder W8ZCF and his son Jeff Winder KB8VCO achieved this despite the fact that an antenna on the satellite had snapped off prior to launch.
If you have written or would like to write an article for AMSAT-UK’s OSCAR News, please email your articles including any photo and artwork to m0tfo@amsat.org
We are looking for articles relating to ham radio satellites or anything related to ham radio in space. This can be anything from tips on working your favorite satellite
to using satellite tracking software or your latest project.
Just a reminder of the launch Fund that has been created for the FUNcube-1 Cubesat Satellite, all donations are very much appreciated, and will help towards the cost of launching the FUNcube-1 satellite in 2012.
AMSAT-UK 
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