Es’hail-2/P4A Satellite is Designated as Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100)

Es’hail-2/P4A Satellite is Designated as Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100)

AMSAT has now granted OSCAR status to 100 Amateur Radio satellites.

The latest, Es’hail-2/P4A — now Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100) —launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in November. It carries the first geosynchronous Amateur Radio payload. Es’hail-2/P4A was developed jointly by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) and Es’hailSat (the Qatar Satellite Company), with AMSAT-DL as the technical lead.

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OrigamiSat-1 Granted FO-98 OSCAR number

On 18th January 2019, OrigamiSat-1 was launched on an Epsilon launch vehicle from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center in Japan. The first satellite of the ORIGAMI (ORganizatIon of research Group on Advanced deployable Membrane structures for Innovative space science) Project of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, OrigamiSat-1 includes a deployable membrane structure experiment, as well as a 5.8GHz high speed downlink experiment. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch.

At the request of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, AMSAT hereby designates OrigamiSat-1 as Fuji-OSCAR 98 (FO-98). We congratulate the owners and operators of FO-98, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and future projects.

More information - http://www.origami.titech.ac.jp/

Ailing ARISS “HamTV” Transmitter Back Returns for Inspection

Ailing ARISS “HamTV” Transmitter Back Returns for Inspection

The malfunctioning Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) “HamTV” transmitter now is back on Earth for repair or replacement, and it likely won’t be until sometime in 2020 at the earliest that Amateur Radio TV (DATV) capability will be restored to the orbiting laboratory. An onboard repair was not possible.

Also known as “Ham Video,” the DATV system transmissions were not seen by ARISS ground stations as of last April, and a subsequent test using a second L/S band patch antenna on the ISS Columbus module failed. The DATV transmitter since February 2016 has served to provide a visual dimension to ARISS school and group ham radio events.

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