Microsatellite and CubeSat launch Nov 19

The Spaceflight SSO-A launch on a Falcon 9 rocket is currently expected at 18:32 UTC on 19th November 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It is planned to launch 15 microsatellites and 56 CubeSats on this mission. Several of those satellites will have amateur radio payloads.

Full details on this complex launch, including the full list of satellites to be deployed - https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/content/-/article/sso-a

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) - https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Information on IARU coordinated satellite frequencies -
http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

UKube-1 Falls Silent

UKube-1, the UK Space Agency’s first CubeSat, was launched into space in July 2014. It completed its successful nominal mission fourteen month later in September 2015

Since that date, for the past three years, the FUNcube based payload has continued to provide a transponder for use by radio amateurs and, additionally, 30+ channels of real time telemetry for STEM outreach and for use by schools and colleges. These downlinks have operated continuously on the 145 MHz band and more than 450 stations have supported this ongoing activity. They have uplinked the telemetry data to the FUNcube Data Warehouse where it is stored and available for research.

Just before midnight (UTC) on Thursday 18th October, the Warehouse received a data frame from KB6LTY, Christy Hunter in California. This is the last record of signals being received from the spacecraft and since that date, careful observations have failed to detect any signals from either of the transmitters carried by the spacecraft.

An early analysis of the last telemetry received has not shown any obvious anomalies, but this work continues.

Although it is obviously sad for both the amateur and educational worlds to lose such a valuable resource, both AO73-FUNcube 1 and EO88-Nayif 1 continue to operate nominally and JY1SAT and ESEO are expected to launch before the end of 2018.

UKube-1 - https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/ukube-1/

Planned South African SDR Cubesat

AMSAT SA has announced that parallel to its analogue Kletskous CubeSat, the group is working on a digital project featuring a Software defined transponder.

Called AfriCUBE, the CubeSat will use the same space frame as KLETSKOUS. Anton Janovsky is current building a prototype transponder.

AMSATSA is inviting persons interested in becoming part of the development team to send their details to admin@amsatsa.org.za.

Meanwhile the development and final construction of the AMSAT SA KLETSKOUS is plagued by electronic component obsolescence. This forces unwanted design changes to be made to ensure that when the time comes to construct the final launch unit, the main components are still available. The KLETSKOUS team decided to freeze the design of KLETSKOUS and purchase a quantity of devices to proactively mitigate future obsolescence. This decision will also speed up the process of putting a final satellite on the table.

“Every time we change designs to mitigate for the discontinued components, it is like starting the design afresh, often creating new problems that have to be solved. By freezing the design, in other words making a final decision on the main specialised devices to be used, we will be able to speed up the process of putting a flight ready unit on the table.”

— Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP

KLETSKOUS is not a textbook design. Most of the sub-components that will make up KLETS KOUS are designed and being built by the volunteer team. "We do not have the finances to go out and purchase sub-units and simply wire them up," Hannes said.