Six Satellites, Three Continents: AMSAT Organisations Make Their Mark on Transporter-18

Rideshare launches have become one of the easiest ways for the amateur satellite community to get hardware into orbit, and Transporter-18 just delivered one of the strongest showings yet.

Six satellites from three AMSAT organisations reached orbit following the launch of SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 1st October. The international lineup included three ERMINAZ-2 PocketQubes from AMSAT-DL in Germany, HADES-L and UNNE-1B from AMSAT-EA in Spain, and SanoSat-2 from AMSAT Nepal. The spacecraft rode aboard OSSIE-D, the first orbital transfer vehicle developed by Spanish space transportation company UARX Space, which began deploying its payload of small satellites after separating from the Falcon 9 upper stage.

AMSAT-DL's Trio of PocketQubes

ERMINAZ-2U, ERMINAZ-2V, and ERMINAZ-2X are tiny 1P PocketQubes, measuring just 5 cm on each side, developed and prepared for flight at AMSAT-DL's satellite laboratory at the Bochum Observatory. These educational spacecraft are designed to promote amateur radio and space technology through open-source communications, telemetry, and other experiments. ERMINAZ-2U transmits on 435.900 MHz, while ERMINAZ-2V and ERMINAZ-2X transmit on 145.920 MHz and 145.960 MHz respectively. All three travelled inside the Libre Space Foundation's open-source PICOBUS v2 PocketQube deployer aboard OSSIE-D. AMSAT-DL reported on 5th October that the ERMINAZ-2 satellites were transmitting their first signals, with receptions also logged across the worldwide SatNOGS ground station network.

AMSAT-EA's Pair of Voice-Capable Satellites

AMSAT-EA contributed two satellites with voice communication capabilities. UNNE-1B, also known as HADES-E2, carries a VHF-to-UHF FM/FSK repeater with a 145.925 MHz uplink and 436.888 MHz downlink, alongside an Arduino-based educational experiment developed by Universidad Nebrija.

HADES-L takes a more unusual approach, offering a 29.472 MHz USB uplink to a 436.665 MHz FM downlink — giving amateur operators a chance to experiment with a 10-metre uplink. With only three solar panels on board, HADES-L's available power is limited, so its repeater is designed to run intermittently rather than continuously. The OSSIE-D deployment sequence itself began on 2nd October at 11:48 UTC, slightly earlier than originally planned.

AMSAT Nepal's SanoSat-2

SanoSat-2, also known as UTNH-SAJILO-SAT, continues the work begun with SanoSat-1 and adds several features aimed specifically at amateur operators. The 5 cm PocketQube carries a camera capable of transmitting images as SSDV packets using GFSK modulation, letting amateurs receive and reconstruct imagery directly from orbit. It can also function as a digital store-and-forward repeater, allowing operators to upload messages for later transmission. A six-axis inertial measurement unit and sun sensors will gather attitude data to support an active attitude determination and control system planned for a future mission. SanoSat-2 also transmits Morse code identification, with its coordinated amateur downlink on 436.650 MHz.

Libre Space's Technology Demonstrators

Libre Space Foundation also had a significant presence aboard OSSIE-D through its PICOBUS v2 deployer. Alongside the three ERMINAZ-2 spacecraft and Kazakhstan's NIS-PQ educational satellite, PICOBUS carried four Libre Space SIDLOC PocketQubes, designated SIDLOC-PQ-03 through SIDLOC-PQ-06. SIDLOC — short for Spacecraft Identification and Localisation — is being developed by Libre Space Foundation together with the Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas, as part of an ESA-funded ARTES activity, exploring an open standard for identifying and locating spacecraft. Together, the eight PocketQubes aboard PICOBUS offered another demonstration of the open hardware and software ecosystem Libre Space has built around small-satellite missions and its SatNOGS network.

A Broader Haul for the Amateur Satellite Community

Transporter-18 carried an unusually broad collection of spacecraft of interest to amateur operators. Beyond the six satellites from AMSAT-DL, AMSAT-EA, and AMSAT Nepal, IARU-coordinated amateur spacecraft aboard the mission included GUARANISAT-2 from the Paraguayan Space Agency, KENSAT from Swordholder Technologies, and SPRITE from the University of Colorado Boulder. In total, the launch placed at least nine IARU-coordinated amateur satellites into orbit, alongside Libre Space's four SIDLOC technology demonstrators.

Between AMSAT organisations across Europe and Asia, university and educational projects, independent amateur development, and open-source space technology, Transporter-18 marked a genuinely diverse addition to the growing amateur satellite fleet — well worth keeping an eye on as these spacecraft begin coming online over the coming weeks.