EQUiSat – Image Credit Brown University
Students at the Ivy League Brown University are developing an amateur radio satellite EQUiSat.
It will carry a Xenon Flash Tube (XFT) subsystem to act as an Optical Beacon that should be visible to the unaided eye of observers on Earth. The Radio Beacon is planned to operate in the 435-438 MHz band.
Prospective UK Astronaut Tim Peake addressed the conference via Skype
On the anniversary of the launch of Ariel-1, April 26, the UK Space Agency and the Science Museum co-hosted a two-day conference celebrating 50 years of the UK in space. It brought together those who started the UK on the road to being a world-renowned centre for space technology and research with the scientists and engineers of the next fifty years.
Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite. The United Kingdom stepped up to an offer from NASA to launch scientific satellites at an international meeting on space research in 1959. From this point, the UK took the lead in satellite technology as well as beginning the UK’s long history of international collaboration.
As part of the programme on the 26th, there were personal insights from scientists and engineers involved in the original design and build of the Ariel series of satellites, as well as those teams developing the flagship programmes of today and tomorrow. The Science Museum will be highlighting historic milestones in the UK space sector over the course of the week.
Shaun Kenyon of the STRaND project
The future is set to be as innovative and inspirational as the last 50 years. There is a vast potential for space technology. From the growing need for Earth observation satellites to monitor urgent social and environmental issues; to the emerging reality of space tourism; to our ever-improving capability to see deep into the Universe, the UK space sector is at the forefront of facing up to these challenges.
During the conference prospective UK astronaut Tim Peake, currently in the USA, addressed the conference via a Skype video link.
Shaun Kenyon, who has worked on the innovative STRaND-1 SmartPhone satellite project, gave a well received presentation about the future opportunities for the UK Space Industry. He also described another UK first – STRaND-2 – twin 3U CubeSats with docking capabilities using a gridded Lidar system based on that used in the Kinect games controller.
Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/
STRaND on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nanosats
Prospective UK Astronaut Tim Peake addressed the conference via Skype
On the anniversary of the launch of Ariel-1, April 26, the UK Space Agency and the Science Museum co-hosted a two-day conference celebrating 50 years of the UK in space. It brought together those who started the UK on the road to being a world-renowned centre for space technology and research with the scientists and engineers of the next fifty years.
Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite. The United Kingdom stepped up to an offer from NASA to launch scientific satellites at an international meeting on space research in 1959. From this point, the UK took the lead in satellite technology as well as beginning the UK’s long history of international collaboration.
As part of the programme on the 26th, there were personal insights from scientists and engineers involved in the original design and build of the Ariel series of satellites, as well as those teams developing the flagship programmes of today and tomorrow. The Science Museum will be highlighting historic milestones in the UK space sector over the course of the week.
Shaun Kenyon of the STRaND project
The future is set to be as innovative and inspirational as the last 50 years. There is a vast potential for space technology. From the growing need for Earth observation satellites to monitor urgent social and environmental issues; to the emerging reality of space tourism; to our ever-improving capability to see deep into the Universe, the UK space sector is at the forefront of facing up to these challenges.
During the conference prospective UK astronaut Tim Peake, currently in the USA, addressed the conference via a Skype video link.
Shaun Kenyon, who has worked on the innovative STRaND-1 SmartPhone satellite project, gave a well received presentation about the future opportunities for the UK Space Industry. He also described another UK first – STRaND-2 – twin 3U CubeSats with docking capabilities using a gridded Lidar system based on that used in the Kinect games controller.
Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/
STRaND on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nanosats
This is a year of momentous milestones in the life of Britain, ranging from Charles Dickens’ bicentenary to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Adding further significance to 2012 is the UK space industry, which has a golden anniversary to mark: the launch of the nation’s first satellite, Ariel-1, on April 26th 1962.
Built by NASA in collaboration with a team of British academics, Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite, and constituted the foundation of the UK space sector – now annually worth £7.5 billion to the UK economy, and supportive of some 70,000 jobs across a variety of the nation’s industries.
To mark this special anniversary, the UK Space Agency is presenting a two-day space symposium on the 26th and 27th of April, at the home of their active co-hosts, the Science Museum. Now a year old, the UKSA has much to be enthusiastic about; and the symposium will commemorate past achievements, and explore the future direction of Britain’s thriving space industry – with contributions from some of the leading players in the sector today.
The UK Space Agency was founded to provide strategic support to the sector, while making significant investments through its 230m civil space budget. Almost 90 per cent of the agency’s budget currently goes to the European Space Agency, for collaborative pan-European space projects. This strategy is helping to secure Britain’s role as a key player in the development of Europe’s space going future.
SSTL is a case in point; with its current role in the European Commission’s European GNSS program. The company will assemble eight batches of satellite navigational payloads, on top of the 14 it is already building. In addition, the UK government recently announced that it would invest in the development of NovaSAR, SSTL’s small radar satellite. The space agency’s work signifies government recognition of the groundbreaking work in space technology by UK universities, research centres, and companies like SSTL.
SSTL is itself of historical significance, as the creator of the first ‘talking satellite’, UoSAT-1 in 1981. Their current work in nanosatellite and microsatellite technology, is a far cry from the ancestral Ariel-1, which had the aesthetics of a 1950’s ‘sci-fi’ fantasy space craft: multiple, sphere-like radio antennas protruding from a cylindrical body; multiple solar arrays; inertia booms to control the craft’s spin, and a 100-minute tape to store a single orbit’s worth of data.
Perhaps the most dramatic contrast in SSTL’s current work, to the ‘little-green-man’ craft that was Ariel-1, is its Smartphone satellite STRaND-1. This unique nanosatellite is designed around a Google Nexus One, Android Smartphone. In a playful nod to classic science-fictions’ dream of a space-going future, is the inclusion of an App on the phone that tests out the film Alien’s infamous slogan: ‘In space no-one can hear you scream’.
Providing SSTL’s contribution to the UK Space Agency’s symposium, will be Shaun Kenyon, lead System Engineer on the aforementioned, nanosatellite STRaND-1. On the 26th, he will discuss the importance of flagship projects and small satellites to UK space technology. Shaun’s insights will help to put in context the retrospective significance of Ariel-1, as he expounds his belief in the importance of satellite technology and low cost access to space for commercial endeavours.
The CubeSat Program has revolutionized the space industry and space activities. Access to space turned from an obscure dream to a vivid reality to many research and academic institutions around the world. The American University in Cairo has the capacity and the expertise to join this prestigious club of ambitious institutions in the quest for space technology. Contrary to the belief that it requires a team of rocket scientists to design, build, and operate a spacecraft, the project is a multi-disciplinary effort, leveraging insight and expertise accross multiple science and engineering discip-lines. AUC will be the first institution in the Arab Region to design and build a satellite.
This multidisciplinary project will stimulate technological research and innovation across many departments at AUC. Having hands on access to conceiving, designing, building and operating actual spacecrafts will provide students with a level of prestigious, unprecedented, interdisciplinary experience. In addition to the technical knowledge, students will develop leadership qualities, as well as project manag-ement and interpersonal skills that are invaluable in todays market, all of which will start to accumulate at the national level as students leave the university and enter the local industry. If you are interested in joining the CubeSat design team, and being part of this prestigious endeavor, please visit the “Join AUC – CubeSat” page for more information. Fady Michel, Ph.D. AUC – CubeSat System Architect AUC.CubeSat@gmail.com
Artists impression of UKube-1 in orbit
Members of UKSEDS are developing an amateur radio satellite payload called myPocketQub442 (437.425-437.525 MHz) that will fly on the UKube-1 satellite towards the end of the year.
UKSEDS is a space enthusiast organisation for both school and university students. Anyone who is interested can become a member of UKSEDS, young or old, student or non-student. Its aims are:
– To promote the exploration of space, and the research and development of space-related technologies.
– To provide a forum through which students can become involved in the international space community.
– To motivate students to excel in space-related fields.
– To share in the advancing knowledge and growing benefits to be reaped from space.
– To improve space-related education through both academic work and hands-on projects.
UKSEDS holds an annual National Conference, which brings together students throughout the country to learn more about space and to meet professionals in the space business.
Their myPocketQub442 project has been selected to fly on the UK Space Agency’s first mission UKube-1. Read all about it at http://ukseds.org/projects/ukube/
Members of the group took part in a parabolic flight on which they tested the hinges that deploy the solar panels of UKube-1.
Watch Microgravity-on-Demand 1/20111120/P11/3D1L raw video
OpenSpace365 myPocketQub442 List of Missions http://openspace365.appspot.com/
If you are interested in setting up a UKSEDS branch at your school or university please see
http://ukseds.org/branches/
UKSEDS http://ukseds.org/
AMSAT-UK 
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