Tag Archives: UK

Sep 11 2011

Edge of Space for Foundation Australian Ham

Australian student and foundation radio amateur Mark Jessop VK5FDRK, who was staying in the United Kingdom, acheived a new record when his balloon reached a height of 40,575 metres. It was launched from Cambridge and carried a 434.650 MHz transmitter, .

Mark VK5FDRK acheived a UK record and was close to the all-time international amateur altitude maximum. He is now returning to Australia and for the Scout Jamboree On The Air (JOTA), October 15-16, he will be involved in the launch of an Amateur Radio repeater up to 30 km, which Scouts around Australia will be able to talk through.

Read all about the UK record breaking flight at
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/23/balloon_record/

Mark Jessop VK5FDRK & Adrian Snell VK5ZSN Ham Radio Blog http://blog.darklomax.org/

RF Head – HAB & Ham Radio Experimentation http://rfhead.net/

Project Horus http://projecthorus.org/

Sep 9 2011

Calling all UK secondary students: UK Space Settlement Design Competition 2012

Would you like to win a trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas? The UK Space Design Competition gives you and your friends the opportunity to do just that!

2010 UK international team in Houston.

2010 UK international team in Houston.

Supported by the Space Science and Engineering Foundation and the UK Space Agency, the competition will take place at Imperial College London on the weekend of 24 -25 March 2012. It challenges teams of over 40 students, supported by space experts, to design a scientifically viable space settlement for over 10,000 inhabitants, taking several factors into account, ranging from structural engineering and communications to entertainment, food production, construction timelines, and cost. Designs are presented to a panel of expert judges for the chance to represent the UK at the International Space Settlement Design Competition, held annually at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Continue reading →

Sep 8 2011

Experiments on the Prospero Satellite

October 28, 2011 will be the 40th anniversary of the historic launch of Prospero the UK’s first satellite to be launched on the Black Arrow rocket.

A description of the Prospero satellite and its experiments written in 1975 can be downloaded here

Pictures of the Prospero ground station can be downloaded here

Attempts are underway to reactivate Propero, beacon frequency 137.560 MHz see 1970s UK Satellite To Be Revived

Picture of Black Arrow Rocket on Display in Australia

Jul 25 2011

FUNcube Videos Released

AMSAT-UK have released a number of videos showing the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) testing of the FUNcube satellite at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories:

Wouter PA3WEG removes the stack from the Thermo Vac chamber after nearly 5 hot/cold cycles over a period of two and a half days in the chamber. The GOOD news is that the stack was still working after these tests!

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Graham G3VZV and Wouter PA3WEG return to the lab with the stack after removal from the Thermo Vac chamber. They both make comments on how the test have gone so far.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Applying ‘Space Glue’ to the screws holding the side panels in place, ready for Vibration Testing on July 25.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Further FUNcube videos can be seen at
http://vimeo.com/user3575668

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

There will be talks on the FUNcube satellite and FUNcube dongle SDR at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium to be held July 30-31 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, England. The event is open to all.

Either day passes or full packages comprising overnight accommodation and meals are available. For futher information see http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011/

Live webstream at http://www.batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3
The Colloquium schedule, times in BST (GMT+1), is at http://tinyurl.com/2011ColloquiumSchedule
The Spring issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded free at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join AMSAT-UK at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/