Dear all,
Due to the significant damage to the RFA's One launcher stage during the static firing test at SaxaVord's spaceport in the Shetland Islands, Scotland (UK) on August 19th, AMSAT-EA's UNNE-1 and MARIA-G satellites launch will be delayed.
They were originally planned for launch on September 30th, and are now it is not expected before 2025. Video of the BBC's coverage of the incident is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgEn6-8ekJQ
UNNE-1 and MARIA-G are both based on the currently orbiting HADES-D (SO-121) hardware, providing a repeater service for voice and data communications in FM and FSK-derived modes. They have been designed and built by AMSAT-EA together with private sector companies and with the collaboration of Universities and educational centres.
Both satellites will offer licensed radio amateurs around the world the opportunity to make FM and FSK QSOs, including FT modes, such as FT-4 and FT-8, or AX.25/APRS. The satellites will also transmit telemetry with their status, voice messages and CW.
UNNE-1 includes an Arduino-based board with software from Nebrija University of Madrid. The students have developed a small decoding game with a space story as a background. The satellite sends a clue each week in its FSK telemetry so that radio amateurs can solve the challenge. This game will be detailed on the AMSAT EA website and on the Nebrija University one.
MARIA-G also includes two CW reception games/challenges implemented by students from the María Guerrero high school in Collado Villalba, also from the region of Madrid.
One of the games consists of receiving the coordinates of a significant place on Earth (for example a city, a monument...) and the other about receiving a code that will correspond to a question about Science. Both games will have a dedicated web page.
MARIA-G also includes a small experiment, developed by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research center in Germany. It consists of a proof of concept for the transmission of a TS-UNB waveform from a low Earth orbit. Therefore, it will transmit a TS-UNB message according to the ETSI-TS-103-357 standard. It is intended solely as a research and development project with no commercial intention.
The ITU modulation classification would be 100K W2DWW but the bandwidth will be reduced. The operation of this experiment will be carried out by AMSAT-EA.
The UNNE-1 and MARIA-G satellites are part of the Erminaz mission, a joint effort of AMSAT-DL, AMSAT-EA and LibreSpace Foundation, each organization flying its own satellites and using LibreSpace's PicoBus deployer.
The mission management with the German Space Agency (DLR) and the launcher (RFA), as well as with the UK authorities, has been carried out jointly, with AMSAT DL leading it.
73
Felix EA4GQS (AMSAT EA)