Surrey Space Centre
University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and AMSAT-UK invite anyone with CubeSat equipment to a ‘Bring Your Own Board’ (BYOB) workshop. The aims are to demonstrate your latest CubeSat developments, to foster new partnerships and links within the UK and EU community, and encouraging more interaction with AMSAT-UK and the Colloquium (more info at: http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/).

Poster Stands (if required)

The workshop is free to attend or present at and we will attempt to accommodate everyone in one form or another! Opening times are aimed at from 9 AM to 4 PM, after which there will be the AMSAT Beginners Session. We will also provide ad-hoc tours to SSC’s new cleanroom, ground-station, and CubeSat experimentation facilities.

Information for Demonstrators:
• Must have working hardware for demonstrating to visitors. I.e. TRL 5-6 and above.
• Provide a 1 slide overview of their developments & how it can benefit new UK missions for public show.
• We will provide a 1.5 m table, power & 1 m poster area.

Sign up: If you are interested in attending or demonstrating, please contact Dr Chris Bridges M0GKK so we can guarantee you a table & to estimate numbers.

Dr Chris Bridges M0GKK, Email: c.p.bridges@surrey.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689137, Surrey Space Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, U.K. Website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc

Download poster here.

Key Dates for your diary:
UK Space Agency Conference: 16-17 July 2013
Bring Your Own Boards Workshop: 19 July 2013
AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2013: 20-21 July 2013

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

Murray Hely ZL3MH has uploaded a video by Bob Hudson VK2AOR showing a demonstration of a FO-29 contact made at Wyong 2013 in Australia.

The Wyong Field Day 2013 is the biggest Ham event in Australia and New Zealand. Mal Pizzey VK2MAL is on the Microphone and Murray Hely ZL3MH is on the other end at his home station in New Zealand.

On the down link Murray ZL3MH used a 20 element Yagi to a 70cm Cavity filter and a MRF901 pre-amp to an FT847. Uplink was a FT101ZD MK3 to a FTV250 Transverter and 11 element Yagi fully trackable.

Watch the Wyong 2013 video

FO-29 information http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/fuji-oscar-29-jas-2/

Getting started on satellites http://amsat-uk.org/beginners/radcom-getting-started-on-satellites/

ESTCube-1 – Image credit University of Tartu

Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S, is planning to launch from Kourou in the Caribbean on May 3 on an ESA VEGA rocket.

Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.

The technology is based on the electrostatic interaction between the electric field generated by the satellite and the high-speed particles being ejected from the Sun.  A spacecraft utilizing this method would first deploy a set of electrically charged wires, which allow to generate an electric field over a large area. This area effectively forms a “sail” that can be pushed by the charged particles by being diverted by it and therefore transferring momentum to the craft.

The team also aim to capture images of Estonia for outreach purposes.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have published these frequencies for ESTCube-1
437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

Watch Estonian’s ESTCube-1

Electric solar wind sail http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

EstCube http://www.estcube.eu/en/home

Wiki EstCube-1 http://tinyurl.com/WikiESTCube-1

The first Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System, or NLAS has been shipped for integration for a launch expected in late 2013.

Right now, nanosatellites can be deployed only in small numbers by rocket or from the International Space Station. But NLAS, developed by the Ames Research Center, can hold up to 24 cube satellites, opening up opportunities for smaller research projects to access space.

NLAS is expected to be used by NASA, other government agencies, and commercial entities.

Watch Nanosatellite Launcher

Hojun Song DS1SBO performing final assembly of OSSI-1 satellite on April 9, 2013

The OSSI-1, BEESAT-2, BEESAT-3 and SOMP amateur radio CubeSats lifted off on a Soyuz-2-1a with research satellites Bion-M1, AIST and Dove-2 from Launch Complex 31 at Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 19 at 1000 UT. The OSSI-1 CubeSat was deployed from its Pod on the top of Bion-M1 at 1615 UT.

Soyuz-2-1a Lift-off – Image credit SpaceShuttleAlmanac

The launch vehicle went into an initial elliptical orbit of 290 km by 575 km orbit at an inclination of 64.9°. A series of orbital maneuvers will be carried out to raise the orbit to 575 km circular before BEESAT-3, SOMP, then BEESAT-2 are deployed at around 1045 UT on Sunday, April 21.

The Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure said the satellites attached to the outer surface of the spacecraft “Bion-M” will be deployed in the period between the 4th and the 35th orbit. It is thought this may mean deployments will take place on the 4th and the 32-34th orbit but that there will be no deployments on the other obits.

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO has spent 7 years developing his Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite OSSI-1. He has designed and built it from scratch using readily available components rather than expensive space qualified hardware. The launch was the most expensive part of the project costing $100,000.

It has a 12 WPM CW Morse code beacon on 145.980 MHz, a data communications transceiver on 437.525 MHz using AX.25 packet radio and carries a 44 watt LED optical beacon to flash Morse code messages to observers on Earth.

When deployed the OSSI-1 145.980 MHz Morse Code beacon will send “OS0 DE OSSI1 ANYOUNG”.

Open Source Satellite Initiative blog http://opensat.cc/blog/launch/ossi-1-satellite-launch/

The OSSI telemetry data format spreadsheet can be seen at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjtQ6cJ4QOqJdGpHNnRtUWZJV0w4TTFKRU9WYTZqc3c#gid=5

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 spacecraft

The development of the OSSI satellite has been documented on the Open Source Satellite Initiative Blog http://opensat.cc/blog/ and the Wiki http://opensat.cc/wiki/

Twitter https://twitter.com/OPENSAT

The Korean national amateur radio society KARL described the OSSI-1 CubeSat in their report to the International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 Triennial conference which was held in Viet Nam in 2012. Read the report at http://www.iaru-r3.org/15r3c/docs/019.doc

In this 20 minute video Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO and Donghee Park describe the Open Source Satellite Initiative amateur radio CubeSat OSSI-1.

Watch How OSSI-1 Satellite Works: General Overview

Additional OSSI-1 information at http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/ossi-1/

Watch the BBC TV report: Korean artist has high hopes for his homemade satellite
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19007475

Hojun Song DS1SBO and the NovaNano FlyMate™ deployer

Satellite        Downlink                Mode
———-       —————          ——————

Russian Student Satellite AIST-2 on BION-M1

OSSI-1        145.980/437.525   CW and 1200bps FSK AX.25
SOMP         437.485               1200, 9600bps BPSK
BEESAT-2   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
BEESAT-3   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
Bion-M1      Biological research satellite
AIST           Russian student microsatellite that aims to measure the Earth’s geomagnetic field
(435 MHz downlink, 145 MHz command uplink)
Dove-2        Commercial technology demonstration mission (450 MHz band downlink)

Predicted Keps / TLE’s:

OSSI-1
1 39130U 00000    13108.66833333  .05491454  00000-0  10000-3 0 00014
2 39130 064.8675 103.2000 0241259 064.9287 214.9800 15.56817350000015

BEESAT-2
1 99999U          13110.41666667 -.00000032  00000-0 -27259-5 0 00006
2 99999 064.9888 015.3126 0011850 230.4664 032.8952 14.97640844000015

Bion-M1 is carrying live mice, geckos and gerbils, see the BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22218589

Space News Feed http://www.spacenewsfeed.co.uk/index.php/launches/14433-bion-m-1-aist-2-beesat-2-beesat-3-dove-2-ossi-1-somp

Soyuz-2-1a Bion-M1 Launch – Image credit SpaceShuttleAlmanac

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 spacecraft
BeeSat-2, BeeSat-3 and SOMP are in the three 1U Launchers in the front
OSSI-1 is a 1U and alone in a 3U-Pod behind left
DOVE-2 is a 3U Cubesat and fills the 3U-Pod behind right

Soyuz-2-1a is planned to launch Friday, April 19, 2013 at 1000 UT from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. Among the satellites it will carry are four CubeSats with amateur radio payloads, OSSI-1, BEESAT-2, BEESAT-3 and SOMP.

Unusually the CubeSats will not be deployed straight after launch. Deployment of OSSI-1 is expected to take place after the 4th orbit and BEESAT-3, SOMP then BEESAT-2 are expected to be deployed at 16 second intervals after the 32nd orbit on Sunday, April 21 at around 1045 UT. Until then orbital maneuvers will be carried out to achieve a circular orbit at 575 km altitude.

It is expected that the four CubeSats may be deployed at intervals of about 16 seconds.

The satellites on the launch are:

Bion-M1
Bion-M is the next generation of Russian biological research satellites. While retaining the Vostok/Zenit-derived reentry module of the earlier Bion, the propulsion module has been replace by a Yantar type module, which provides maneuvering capabilities and longer mission support. The mission duration has been increased to up to 6 months by using solar cells for energy generation. The weight of scientific equipment has been increased by 100 kilograms. Source Gunters Space Page
Bion-M1 is carrying live mice, geckos and gerbils, see the BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22218589

Watch Bion-M Mission

Student Satellite AIST-2

AIST-2
AIST is a russian microsatellite developed by designed by a group of students, postgraduates and scientists of Samara Aerospace University in cooperation with TsSKB Progress.

The satellite will measure the geomagnetic field, test the new small space vehicle bus, test methods to decrease microaccelerations to a minimum level and measure micrometeoroids of natural and artificial origin. Source Gunters Space Page
Believed to have a 435 MHz downlink and an 145 MHz command uplink.

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

OSSI-1
Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO has spent 7 years developing his Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite OSSI-1. He has designed and built it from scratch using readily available components rather than expensive space qualified hardware.

It has a 12 WPM CW Morse code beacon on 145.980 MHz, a data communications transceiver on 437.525 MHz and carries a 44 watt LED optical beacon to flash Morse code messages to observers on Earth.
http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/ossi-1/

BEESAT-1 Engineering Qualification Model

BEESAT 2
The Berlin Experimental and Educational Satellite 2 is a 1U CubeSat project intended to test a reaction wheel and an Attitude Determination and Control (ADC) system. It will also carry an experimental camera.
http://tinyurl.com/TUB-BEESAT

BEESAT 3
A 1U CubeSat project intended to test a transmitter using commercial S Band frequencies outside the amateur satellite service but will have a downlink on 435.950. It will have passive attitude control.
http://tinyurl.com/TUB-BEESAT

SOMP
The Student Oxygen Measurement Project (SOMP) is a 1U cubesat developed by students of the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, organized in the Students’ Research Group for Spacecraft Engineering in Dresden (STARD). The CubeSat will be able to determine and to a limited extent, also control the attitude
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/03/22/somp-students-oxygen-measurement-project-carries-amateur-radio-payload/

Dove-2
The Dove-2 mission is a technology demonstration nanosatellite for Cosmogia Inc. for remote sensing purposes based on the triple (3U) CubeSat form factor. It is also an internal company technology demonstration experiment to test the capabilities of a low-cost spacecraft constrained to the 3U cubesat form factor to host a small payload. Dove 2 is licensed to collect images of the Earth and will undertake a short-duration experimental mission in a 290 km by 575 km orbit at an inclination of 64.9°.
Source Gunters Space Page

It is believed Dove-2 will have a downlink in the 450 MHz band. Search for Cosmogia at https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

Satellite        Downlink                Mode
———-       —————          ——————
OSSI-1        145.980/437.525   CW and 1200bps FSK AX.25
SOMP         437.485               1200, 9600bps BPSK
BEESAT-2   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
BEESAT-3   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
Bion-M1      Biological research satellite
AIST           Russian student microsatellite that aims to measure the Earth’s geomagnetic field (435 MHz downlink, 145 MHz command uplink)
Dove-2        Commercial technology demonstration mission (450 MHz band downlink)

Predicted Keps / TLE’s:

BEESAT-2
1 99999U          13110.41666667 -.00000032  00000-0 -27259-5 0 00006
2 99999 064.9888 015.3126 0011850 230.4664 032.8952 14.97640844000015

Space News Feed http://www.spacenewsfeed.co.uk/index.php/launches/14433-bion-m-1-aist-2-beesat-2-beesat-3-dove-2-ossi-1-somp

The planned launch of the Antares rocket carrying three CubeSats with amateur radio payloads has been postponed.

Space Flight Now report the countdown for the launch of the first Antares rocket was halted with 12 minutes on the clock after a second stage umbilical prematurely separated.

The test flight is to prove the booster’s reliability before future flights to service the International Space Station. A new launch date has yet to be announced.

Space Flight Now http://spaceflightnow.com/

Antares Rocket Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The launch of Antares carrying three CubeSats with amateur radio payloads is expected to take place on Wednesday, April 17.

ANS reports that three PhoneSat cubesats will be aboard the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares(TM) rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in eastern Virginia scheduled for April 17 at approximately 5:00 p.m. (EDT). The launch will be shown live on NASA TV at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and also at http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

The three PhoneSats carry amateur radio payloads on 437.425 MHz, each transmits at intervals so all three should be receivable during a pass.

The callsign will be KJ6KRW all three satellites will transmit using AFSK (1200 bps) modulation, AX.25 packet coding. The two PhoneSat 1.0 satellites, Graham and Bell, transmit with a periodicity of respectively 28 seconds and 30 seconds. The PhoneSat 2.0 beta satellite, Alexandre, transmits with a periodicity of 25 seconds.

PhoneSat was chosen as one of the winners in the Aerospace category for the Popular Science magazine “Best of What’s New 2012″ awards. The PhoneSat is a technology demonstration mission consisting of three 1U CubeSats intended to prove that a smartphone can be used to perform many of the functions required of a spacecraft bus.

The satellite is built around the Nexus smartphone which will be running the Android operating system and will be enclosed in a standard 1U CubeSat structure. The main function of the phone is to act as the Onboard Computer, but the mission will also utilize the phone’s SD card for data storage, 5MP camera for Earth Observation, and 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis magnetometer for attitude determination.

One of the nanosatellites, powered by the HTC Nexus One smartphone, will send back pictures of Earth. The other two, running on the Samsung Nexus S, will have two-way S-band radio allowing them to be controlled from Earth.

With a short lifetime of only about one week, the satellites have no solar cells and operate on battery only.

An updated website with telemetry info is now available. Please note the launch date/time may change.
http://www.phonesat.org/packets.php

The Antares launch includes the commercial DOVE-1 satellite, a technology development experiment. The satellite had requested IARU coordination for a 1 watt transmitter on 145.825 MHz to downlink a 1200 baud AFSK AX.25 beacon with telemetry and health data. The AMSAT News Service reported in ANS-027 that according to the IARU DOVE-1 will no longer be using frequencies in the amateur radio bands.

It appears the USA FCC granted the experimental callsign WF9XKA for the use by Dove 1, it is believed it may use a downlink on 2420 MHz. Search for Cosmogia at https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/GenericSearch.cfm
Dove-1  information https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=121393
Dove 2 is slated to launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on April 19 on a Soyuz-2-1a,

PhoneSat http://www.phonesat.org/

TLEs / ‘Keps’ for recent launches http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Check the AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) for the latest information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Thanks to AMSAT News Service (ANS), AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK and Samudra Haque N3RDX / S21X for the above information.

Sharlene Katz WB6FFE and James Flynn WB9AWX – Image credit CSUN

Radio hams Professor Sharlene Katz, WB6FFE and Professor James Flynn, WB9AWX have received $25,000 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a CubeSat project.

There is also an award of $30,000 for the project listed by The University Corporation.

The Daily Sundial newspaper carries a report on the California State University Northridge (CSUN) CubeSat project which says the 2U CubeSat aims to test alternative power techniques for satellites and spacecrafts and is estimated to cost between $60,000 and $80,000.

“And that’s all just parts. Our labor, of course, is for free,” joked Sharlene Katz [WB6FFE], Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Typically, it would cost another $45,000 just to launch the satellite. But thanks to their sponsorship from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, the satellite will be hitching a ride with a shuttle in a few years.

In order to communicate with the CubeSat, the team is also building an automated ground station on top of Jacaranda Hall. The system is going to be using old equipment from a previous experiment.

“There’s a lot of problems with the ground station right now, it’s old equipment,” said member Rufus Simon. “We’re fixing it! Step by step.”

The station will not only help the team track CSUN’s CubeSat, but other satellites as well. It will become part of the Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO), which is a community of universities across the world who track and communicate with satellites.

Phase two of the project is set to start during the fall semester of 2013, and the team is hoping to complete the satellite by December of 2014.

Read the full Daily Sundial story at
http://sundial.csun.edu/2013/04/students-and-faculty-work-to-launch-shoebox-sized-satellite/

CSUN New Sponsored Programs http://www.csun.edu/sponsoredprograms/status/newprojects.php

CSUN Research & Sponsored Projects http://www.csun.edu/grip/research/

Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO) http://www.esa.int/Education/Global_Educational_Network_for_Satellite_Operations

CanSats are tiny satellites, built to fit in the same space as a soda-can. UNISEC is running a training program in Japan later this year, to train people on how to build and teach building of these ingenious devices.

Watch The 2nd CanSat Leader Training Program (CLTP2) held in Nihon University

Applications for the 4th CanSat Leader Training Program (CLTP4) http://www.unisec.jp/flash/index-e.html

Camb-Hams Amateur Radio Van

Members of Camb-Hams will once again activate the Isle of Mull (IOSA NH15, SCOTIA CN10, WLOTA 2485), Inner Hebrides, as GS3PYE/p between May 10-16. The Camb-Hams have been activating the Scottish Isles each year since 2008.

Look for thirteen operators to be active on all bands and many modes from 160-2 meters as well as 472 kHz. The HF bands will be covered by five simultaneous stations, while 6m, 4m and 2m stations will have a great take-off towards the UK and Europ from the island’s south-east coast in IO76 square.

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

They will have an antenna elevation system for 2m EME activity and will also be on many of the VHF/UHF satellite passes. WSPR beacons will be operating on most of the inactive bands to help find the best propagation. Contest operations will take place in 70 MHz CW on May 12th and 432 MHz UKAC on May 14th. The group will be active on the major social networks before, during and after the trip.

You can check on progress or interact with the operators via:

Blog http://dx.camb-hams.com/
Twitter http://twitter.com/g3pye
Facebook http://facebook.com/CambHams
YouTube http://youtube.com/CambHams

Previous trips have generated some great audio and video recordings of the GS3PYE/P signal from around the world. Check their previous blogs and their YouTube channel and see if you can post a better recording.

Please E-mail skeds-2013@camb-hams.com to arrange skeds on the more challenging bands and modes. VHF and EME skeds will also be made via ON4KST and N0UK’s EME Chat. All links are available via http://dx.camb-hams.com/

[Thanks to ANS and Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1107 for the above information]

A Raspberry Pi computer board

On Saturday, April 13 at 1000 UT, two balloons both carrying 434 MHz transmitters were launched from Cambridge, UK . One transmitting video images from a Rapsberry Pi computer board, the other carried a 144.800 MHz APRS beacon M0UPU-11 in addition to the 434 MHz beacon.

The first balloon PIE5 is flying a Raspberry Pi computer board which transmitted live Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) images back to the ground by a pair of transmitters to double the bandwidth. The data was RTTY 300 baud 8N2. The frequencies used were 434.070 and 434.074 MHz. The balloon call sign was $$PIE.

The second balloon AVA flew a 70cms tracker on 434.450 MHz 50 baud 7N2. Additionally once it entered air space where the airborne use of APRS is permitted a second APRS transmitter was enabled (the APRS frequency is 144.800 MHz) with the call sign M0UPU-11.

The balloons had been expected to head for Poland and on Saturday evening they were over Germany but by early Sunday morning PIE5 was over Switzerland and AVA was over Austria.

The 434 MHz downlinks  on the balloons are generated using Radiometrix NTX2 transmitter modules, the batteries were expected to last 24 hours.

A third balloon callsign XABEN transmitting on 434.350MHz, 470Hz shift, 7N1 was also launched. Tthis was configured to have a short lifetime, going straight-up until the balloon burst rather than floating at 30km across Europe.

Live video of the launch was streamed by the British Amateur TV Club (BATC) at http://www.batc.tv/

Tracks of both balloons are at http://www.spacenear.us/tracker

Direct link to M0UPU-11 APRS track
http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FM0UPU-11&timerange=86400&tail=86400

Images from the PIE5 Raspberry Pi balloon transmitted using SSDV can be seen at http://ssdv.habhub.org/

To get details of upcoming launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address: ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Twitter #ukhas https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ukhas

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

Digital Slow Scan Video http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

Artists impression of ESTCube-1 in space – Image credit University of Tartu

Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S, is planning to launch from Kourou in the Caribbean on May 2, 2013 on an ESA VEGA rocket.

Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionalize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.

The technology is based on the electrostatic interaction between the electric field generated by the satellite and the high-speed particles being ejected from the Sun. A spacecraft utilizing this method would first deploy a set of electrically charged wires, which allow to generate an electric field over a large area. This area effectively forms a “sail” that can be pushed by the charged particles by being diverted by it and therefore transferring momentum to the craft.

The team also aim to capture images of Estonia for outreach purposes.

Watch ESTCube-1 Promotional Video

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have published these frequencies for ESTCube-1
437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

Electric solar wind sail http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

EstCube http://www.estcube.eu/en/home

Wiki EstCube-1 http://tinyurl.com/WikiESTCube-1

Arrowhead Systems Ltd of Stoke-On-Trent has partnered with NanoSatisfi on the ArduSat project. They aim to give UK school children the chance to run experiments in space.

Arrowhead Systems have experimental time on Ardusat, with access to every sensor, from the Geiger counter to an open-source spectrometer (called Spectrino), strain gauges, magnetometers, vibration and shock sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers, cameras and more.

Further information at http://tiouk.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/tioukcom

Two ArduSats are planned to launch in 2013, it is understood both will be deployed from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

ArduSat’s are open-source arduino-based nanosatellites developed by NanoSatisfi. They will have an extensive sensor-suite onboard and will allow users to upload their own code and run their own experiments.

ArduSat will use a GomSpace NanoCom U482C which is a half-duplex UHF transceiver operating in the 435-438 MHz band. It implements Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Viterbi coding based on the CCSDS standards in order to improve reliability and throughput of the space link.

NanoSatisfi was founded by Austrian-born Peter Platzer a former high-energy physicist (CERN), former Hedge Fund Quantitative Trader, avid HP-41 hacker and Arduino enthusiast, along with Belgian aerospace engineer Jeroen Cappaert KK6BLQ intern at NASA Ames Research Center, Canadian aerospace engineer Joel Spark KK6ANB intern at EADS Astrium and Hungarian Reka Kovacs intern at NASA Ames Research Center working on alternative methods of public outreach for space science. The four founders met at the International Space University in Strasbourg and thought that they could do something to provide affordable, open-source space exploration for everyone.

Read more about ArduSat on Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575960623/ardusat-your-arduino-experiment-in-space

Nanosatisfi ArduSat http://www.nanosatisfi.com/

Video of ArduSat NASDAQ interview
http://amsat-uk.org/2012/06/24/video-of-ardusat-nasdaq-interview/

NASA Ames Research Center – Attracting the next generation
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/10/attracting-the-next-generation/

Image of a CubeSat in Space

NASA recently selected CU-Boulder as one of 24 institutions or organizations to fly tiny satellites as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned for launch in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The selections are part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, an effort that began in 2010 and involves students at institutions like CU-Boulder developing and flying CubeSat satellites, which are about the size of a loaf of bread, have a volume of about a quart and generally weigh less than 3 pounds.

From 2010 to 2013 CU-Boulder was awarded five launch opportunities for CubeSats by NASA, the most of any university in the nation. Each launch is worth the equivalent of roughly $300,000, the going rate for commercial space payloads of that size and weight, said aerospace engineering Professor Scott Palo, whose team was selected by NASA in 2013 to design and build a flight-ready CubeSat satellite.

The CU CubeSat, known as the High Latitude Ionospheric Thermospheric Experiment, or HiLITE, is a collaboration between the aerospace department and two small Boulder-based companies, Blue Canyon Technologies and ASTRA, which are supported in part by the U.S. Air Force to help develop CubeSat hardware, said Palo

Read the full article at
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2013/04/11/small-satellites-becoming-big-deal-cu-boulder-students

LituanicaSAT-1

Members of the Vilnius University Amateur Radio Club have been involved in the development of LituanicaSAT-1 which will be the first Lithuanian satellite. LituanicaSAT-1 is scheduled to be delivered to the  International Space Station (ISS) on the SpaceX CRS-3 mission towards the end of 2013 and be deployed from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The satellite will use low cost open-source software and hardware for primary and secondary flight computers that will control the payload consisting of an onboard VGA camera, GPS receiver, UHF CW beacon 100mW, 9k6 AX25 FSK telemetry TX 2 watts and FM Mode V/U transponder 150mW Voice Repeater.

A news article estimated the cost of the project at 1.3 million LTL ($493,134) which is believed to include a value of 0.9 million LTL for around 18,000 hours of work by volunteers. An initial 170,000 LTL ($64,486) in cash was raised to commence development of the project with a further 260,000 LTL ($98,626) needed to complete it.

News article in Lithuanian dated March 30, 2013
http://mokslas.delfi.lt/mokslas/lietuva-kosmine-valstybe-vers-ne-valstybes-milijonai-o-studentu-entuziazmas.d?id=61025639

Kosmonautai LituanicaSAT-1 website in Google English http://tinyurl.com/KosmonautaiLituanicaSAT-1

Wiki in Google English http://tinyurl.com/WikiLituanicaSAT-1

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/LituanicaSAT1

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lituanicasat1

Twitter Hash Tag #LituanicaSAT-1

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status Quest-1 page reports that these CubeSats will also be deployed from the ISS along with LithuanicaSAT-1 – Quest-1 1U CubeSat, ArduSat-2 2U CubeSat, GOMSPACE-1 2U CubeSat, SkyCube 1U CubeSat, TaiwanSat 2U CubeSat, GOMEX-2 2U CubeSat, Cosmogia and Twenty Six other 3U CubeSats.

Lithuanian Amateur Radio Society (LRMD) in Google English http://tinyurl.com/LithuaniaLRMD

The April 2013 issue of the RocketSTEM Media Foundation Magazine is now available online.

April’s issue will give you interesting facts about Mars Curiosity, Skylab and Yuri Gagarin and much more. Pages 48-49 cover Yuri’s Night which takes place April 12.

RocketSTEM Media Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization established for the purpose of fostering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, as well as promoting the benefits of space exploration. The new monthly digital magazine with content geared towards teachers, students and parents as well, blends space history – past, present and future – with interviews, career paths, astronomy guide, aerospace and astronomy news, museum features, NASA technology spinoffs, puzzles, games, quizzes, lesson plans and other educational resources, along with easy-to-follow explanations of the mathematics and physics of all things to do with aerospace and space travel.

Read the April issue of RocketSTEM at
http://issuu.com/rocketstem/docs/rocketstem_issue_2_spring_2013

RocketSTEM http://issuu.com/rocketstem

Yuri’s Night is a celebration of humanity’s achievements in space, with hundreds of parties and events held around the world each April.

Yuri’s Night was first held on April 12, 2001, on the 40th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space and the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first space shuttle, STS-1.

The event draws tens of thousands of space explorers, artists, engineers, musicians, scientists and partygoers from around the world each year. At the flagship event hosted by the NASA Ames Research Center in 2010, over 12,000 space fans and students attended. Yuri’s Night was created by Loretta Hidalgo and George Whitesides.

In 2011, the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight, over 100,000 people attended 567 officially-recognized events in 75 countries on all 7 continents, while tens of thousands more watched the 12-hour live Yuri’s Night Global Webcast and participated online in the virtual world of Second Life.

Yuri’s Night http://yurisnight.net/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/yurisnight

Twitter http://twitter.com/YurisNight

MIHS students working with one of the mentors on the Feasibility of their Idea

Florida Today reports that for three years Merritt Island High School students have been working on building a CubeSat.

Affectionately referred to as the “StangSat” — after Merritt Island High’s nickname, the Mustangs — a handful of Merritt Island High students and their NASA mentors are adding finishing touches to a prototype that will soon be tested on a Prospector 18 rocket.

“It means so much, it’s going to be so amazing,” said Briana Luthman, 17, looking forward to seeing the satellite she helped design and build launch in the Mojave Desert. “I can’t wait.”

The high school is partnering with students at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. The Cal-Poly CubeSat, dubbed CP9, is actually two cubes that contain accelerometers, plus a radio to transmit data back to Earth for the high school students to analyze. The Merritt Island High School cubesat, named StangSat, will stream data to the CP9 in real time during the launch using Wi-Fi.

“We’re going to be demonstrating that wireless transmissions inside the P-POD aren’t going to harm the launch,” said Adam Darley, a senior at Cal-Poly who is serving as the CP9 project manager. “If we can demonstrate that, then it will act as a platform to being able to stream information without a radio link.”

Watch the video and read the Florida Today story at
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130410/SPACE/304100015/Merritt-Island-students-work-NASA-mentors-build-tiny-satellite

MIHS CubeSat on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/MIHS-CubeSat/110920062311996

WUSAT Team with CubeSat ready to launch – Image credit Warwick University

On Saturday, April 6 students from the University of Warwick sent a CubeSat 30km into the stratosphere.

Starting from near Welshpool, the CubeSat travelled high into the stratosphere, to over 30km above the Earth’s surface, where the balloon popped and a parachute safely carried the CubeSat back to Earth. The prototype was successfully recovered from near Banbury following the 2 hour flight. The CubeSat carried three cameras and a radio communications link to transmit data and images. The tranceiver used was a XBee-PRO 868 (315mW) operating in the licence exempt 868 MHz band (the UK amateur radio licence prohibits aeronautical operation).

Picture taken by WUSAT – Image credit Warwick University

The Engineer reports:

The successful test launch – and recovery – is said to pave the way towards a longer-term plan to put a small satellite, built almost entirely by undergraduate students in the School of Engineering, into low-earth orbit at around 2,000 km.

The eight students have been working for the past year on the Warwick University Satellite (WUSAT) Project, which has been building a 10cm CubeSat capable of carrying equipment including cameras and sensors.

Read the article in The Engineer at
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/channels/skills-and-careers/news/balloon-launch-for-students-prototype-satellite/1016026.article

WUSAT Warwick University Satellite Project
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/cubesat

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WarwickUniversitySatellite

WUSAT Winter 2013 Newsletter
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/meng/wusat/media/wusat_newsletter_2013_winter.pdf

The Engineer http://www.theengineer.co.uk/