AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-085
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* AMSAT Fox Series Launch Schedule Update * ND9M Satellite Gear in VQ917 Chagos Islands * Ex-Alta-1 Alberta Canadia Cubesat Set to Launch * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-03-24 * Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity * 14th Annual CubeSat Developers Workshop
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-085.01 ANS-085 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 085.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE March 26, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-085.01
AMSAT Fox Series Launch Schedule Update
The launches of AMSAT satellites Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D have been rebooked from the original Spaceflight Formosat-5/Sherpa mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on to two separate new launches.
Fox-1D will now ride to orbit on an Indian PSLV vehicle scheduled to launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India in late 2017.
Fox-1Cliff will launch on Spaceflight’s SSO-A dedicated rideshare mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in late 2017 or early 2018.
These moves will serve to expedite the launch of these two satellites, both of which carry an amateur radio U/v FM repeater and an experimental L/v FM repeater. The satellites also carry scientific experiments, from university partners Penn State, Vanderbilt University ISDE, Virginia Tech, and University of Iowa.
In addition to the launch of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D, AMSAT is awaiting the launches of RadFxSat and RadFxSat-2. RadFxSat is currently manifested for launch on August 29, 2017 aboard the ELaNa XIV mission, as a secondary payload with the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 on a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. RadFxSat-2 will be launched by Virgin Galactic on their LauncherOne air launch system from Mojave, CA on the ELaNa XX mission no earlier than December 2017.
[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, and Jerry, N0JY, for the above information]
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ND9M Satellite Gear in VQ917 Chagos Islands
VQ917, CHAGOS ISLANDS. Jim, ND9M (VQ96JC), from Diego Garcia Island (AF-006) informs OPDX on March 14th, "Well, the local licensing office came through for me again. The VQ917JC license I asked for just came through here this afternoon." So start looking for Jim to be on the air signing as VQ917JC. Jim told OPDX he will not make an effort on 60m at this time. His operating hours are still limited to 1200-1600z max which doesn't do much good for the NA/SA ops. He states that he will probably focus on 30, 20, and 17 meters just to get VQ9 into some logs. Jim also mentioned he did bring his satellite equipment. QSL via his home call- sign. Look for more details to be forthcoming.
HH8, HAITI. Doug, KD8CAO, was active as HH8/KD8CAO from Jacmel, Haiti (FK38rf), on both satellite and the HF bands between March 19-23rd. The primary purpose of Doug's travel to Haiti involved missions work (he and his team installed a solar array to power Radio Lumiere's FM broadcast station in Jacmel. QSL via direct w/SASE and/or LoTW (upload upon return to USA).
[ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1309 for the above information]
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Ex-Alta-1 Alberta Canadia Cubesat Set to Launch
Ex-Alta-1, the first CubeSat satellite mission from the University of Alberta’s AlbertaSat team, is set to launch on an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch will be streamed via NASA Live and the United Launch Alliance.
The cubesat will make a brief pit stop aboard the International Space Station before being deployed into low Earth orbit to begin monitoring space weather. Ex-Alta-1 is part of the international QB50 project, which involves cubesats designed and built at universities around the world, representing 15 countries from five continents. The cubesats carry complementary science payloads that will study space weather and the lower thermosphere for a period of nine to 18 months.
After seven years and countless hours contributed by more than 50 team members (including undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty members), measuring roughly the size of a loaf of bread and built with financial support from more than 600 crowd-funded donors as well as the Canadian Space Agency, Ex- Alta-1’s launch marks the beginning of a new era of space exploration for Alberta. Not only did the team build the first ever made-in-Alberta satellite, AlbertaSat is also one of the first Canadian universities to put a satellite into space.
The University of Alberta participated in the first Canadian Satellite Design Challenge (CSDC), prior to focusing its efforts on the QB50 mission, and many members from the Ex-Alta-1 team are competing in the current CSDC. On behalf of the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge, and all the teams participating, I would like to send my congratulations to the entire AlbertaSat team, and hope that the launch, deployment, and mission of the Ex-Alta-1 cubesat will be successful.
The Ex-Alta 1 Satellite has the following science objectives:
1. Serve as a platform for the In Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of a digital fluxgate magnetometer designed at the University of Alberta.
2. Address multi-point space plasma physics with data from the QB50 constellation using the Langmuir probe common payloads and the digital fluxgate magnetometer.
3. Take part in the QB-50 string-of-pearls constellation for in-situ measurements of the lower thermosphere to build an accurate model.
A downlink of 436.705 MHz has been coordinated employing 9k6 GMSK using the published Cubesat Space Protocol and the QB50 whole orbit data specifications.
[ANS thanks Larry Reeves, CSDC Manager, for the above information]
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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-03-24
Quick list of scheduled contacts and events:
Council of State Science Supervisors, Los Angeles, CA, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-03-29 18:03:38 UTC 21 deg
Russia School TBD, direct via TBD (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronauts are Andrei Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov, Oleg Novitskiy (***) Contact is a go for 2017-04-01 21:10 UTC (***)
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Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity
Proposal Window Deadline April 15, 2017
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.
The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2017. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact.
More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS.
For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss at arrl.org.
[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information]
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14th Annual CubeSat Developers Workshop
The 14th Annual CubeSat Developers Workshop will be held in San Luis Obispo, CA April 26-28 2017. The schedule is now on the workshop website at the link below. http://www.cubesat.org/s/2017-Workshop-Schedule.pdf
REGISTRATION Prices are as follows: 3 Day Pass + Banquet Professional - $475 Student - $150
1 Day Pass Early Bird Professional - $160 Professional - $200
[ANS thanks the CubeSat Workshop Team for the above information]
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In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information.
73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org