Hi all,

I don't know how many of you are a member of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles but I am and I just received the latest copy of their Griffith Observer magazine.  Volume 84, Number 7 July 2020, has a nice article on the University of Alberta's (ALBERTASAT) efforts with building a CubeSat.  Their first satellite was called EX-ALTA 1 (it deorbited on November 14, 2018).  This is article is entitled CubeSats: The People's Satellites and is written by Dr. Annie Prud'homme-Généreux and was awarded First Prize in the annual Joan and Arnold Seidel Griffith Observer Science Writing Contest. I don't see any direct reference to any AMSAT efforts but the article does mention that CubeSats were pioneered in 1999 by Jordi Puig-Suari of the California Polytechnic State University and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University.  There is also mention that the beacon was first heard by hams in Japan. The article explains what the students went through in developing their CubeSat.  And since their first one has returned to earth, they discuss their future efforts in building and funding version 2. More info can be found at: http://www.griffithobservatory.org/programs/observer.htmlOrder forms for getting a reprint of the magazine can be found on this page. 73,Charlie Sufana AJ9NOne of the ARISS mentors