A Brief History of Amateur Satellites

1961

OSCAR I

A group of enthusiasts in California formed Project OSCAR and persuaded the United States Air Force to replace ballast on the Agena upper stage with the 4.5 kg OSCAR I package. The satellite was box shaped with a single monopole antenna and battery powered. The 140 mW transmitter onboard discharged its batteries after three weeks. 570 Amateurs in 28 countries reported receiving its simple "HI-HI" morse code signals on the VHF 2 meter band (144.983 MHz) until January 1, 1962. The speed of the HI-HI message was controlled by a temperature sensor inside the spacecraft. OSCAR I re-entered the atmosphere January 31, 1962 after 312 revolutions.

From The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook, Martin Davidoff writes:

"OSCAR I was an overwhelming success. More than 570 amateurs in 28 countries forwarded observations to the Project OSCAR data reduction center. The observations provided important information on radio propagation through the ionosphere, the spacecraft's orbit and thermal satellite design. The OSCAR I mission clearly demonstrated that amateurs are capable of (1) designing and constructing reliable spacecraft, (2) tracking satellites and (3) collecting and processing related scientific and engineering information. Because of its low altitude, OSCAR I only remained in orbit for 22 days before burning up as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere."

Listen to OSCAR I's "HI-HI" from the Sounds from the First Satellites page.

References:

• William Orr, "Sixty Years of Radio Amateur Communications," QST, Feb 1962, pp 11-15, 130, 132.
• H. Gabrielson, "The OSCAR Satellite," QST, Feb 1962, pp 21-24, 132, 134.
• William Orr, "OSCAR I: A Summary of the World's First Radio-Amateur Satellite," QST, Sep 1962, pp 46-52, 140.

1962

OSCAR II

OSCAR II was very similar to OSCAR I. Differences included (1) changing the surface thermal coatings to achieve a cooler internal spacecraft environment, (2) modifying the sensing system so the satellite temperature could be measured accurately as the batteries decayed, and (3) lowering the transmitter power output to 100 mW to extend the life of the onboard battery [from The Satellite Experimenter's Handbook].

OSCAR II lasted 18 days ceasing operation on June 20, 1962 and re-entered June 21, 1962.

References:

• William Orr, "OSCAR II: A Summation," QST, Apr 1963, pp 53-56, 148, 150.

OSCAR*

1965

OSCAR III

Firsts: The first amateur satellite to operate from solar power and relay signals from Earth.

OSCAR III was the first true amateur satellite relaying voice contacts in the VHF 2 meter band through a 1 W 50 kHz wide linear transponder (146 MHz uplink and 144 MHz downlink). OSCAR III's transponder lasted 18 days. More than 1000 amateurs in 22 countries communicated through the linear transponder. The two beacon transmitters continued operating for several months.

References:

• William Orr, "The OSCAR III V.H.F. Translator Satellite," QST, Feb 1963, pp 42-44.
• Arthur Walters, "OSCAR III -- Technical Description," QST, Jun 1964, pp 16-18.
• Arthur Walters, "Making Use of the OSCAR III Telemetry Signals," QST, Mar 1965, pp 16-18.
• William Orr, "OSCAR III Orbits the Earth!," QST, May 1965, pp 56-59.
• H.C. Gabrielson, "OSCAR III Report -- Communications Results," QST, Dec 1965, pp 84-89.

OSCAR IV

OSCAR IV was built by the TRW Radio Club of Redondo Beach, California. It had a 3 Watt 10 kHz wide linear transponder (144 MHz uplink and 432 MHz downlink). In operation until March 16, 1966. Re-entry April 12, 1976. Total operation 85 days. OSCAR IV provided the first US-Soviet amateur link.

References:

• "OSCAR IV News," QST, Dec 1965, p 41.
• "OSCAR IV Due Dec 21," QST, Jan 1966, p 10.
• E.P. Tilton and S. Harris, "The World Above 50 Mc.," QST, Feb 1966, pp 80-82.

1970

Australis-OSCAR 5

Firsts: The first amateur satellite to be remotely controlled.

Built by students at The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Battery powered, Australis-OSCAR 5 transmitted telemetry on both 2 meter (144.050 MHz at 50 mW) and 10 meter (29.450 MHz at 250 mW) bands that operated for 23 and 46 days respectively. Passive magnetic attitude stabilization was performed by carrying two bar magnets to align with the Earth's magnetic field in order to provide a favorable antenna footprint. The University of Melbourne compiled tracking reports from hundreds of stations in 27 countries.

For more information see:

• AMSAT Australis - Australis OSCAR 5

References:

• William Dunkerley Jr., "Australis Oscar 5: The Launch Story," QST, Apr 1970, p. 61.
• David Bellair and Stephen Howard, "Australis Oscar - Its Design, Construction and Operation," QST, Jul 1969, pp 58-61.
• David Bellair and Stephen Howard, "Obtaining Data from Australis-Oscar 5," QST, Aug 1969, pp 70, 72, 82.
• Jan King, "Proposed Experiments with Australis-Oscar 5," QST, Dec 1969, pp 54-55.
• "Strays," QST, Mar 1970, p. 86 (a bibliography on AO-5).
• Ray Soifer, "Australis-Oscar 5 Ionospheric Propagation Results," QST, Oct 1970, pp 54-57.
• Jan King, "Australis-Oscar 5 Spacecraft Performance," QST, Dec 1970, pp 64-69.

1972

AMSAT-OSCAR 6

Firsts: complex control system using discrete logic; satellite-to-satellite relay communication via AO-7; demonstrated doppler-location of ground station for search and rescue; demonstrated low-cost medical data relay from remote locations.

Equipped with solar panels powering NiCd batteries, AO-6 provided 24 V at 3.5 W power to three transponders. It carried a Mode A transponder (100 kHz wide at 1 W) and provided store-and-forward morse and teletype messages (named Codestore) for later transmission. AO-6 lasted 4.5 years until a battery failure ceased operation on June 21, 1977. Subsystems were built in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

References:

• Jan King, "The Sixth Amateur Satellite - A Technical Report: Part I," QST, Jul 1973, p. 66-71, 101.
• Jan King, "The Sixth Amateur Satellite - A Technical Report: Part II," QST, Aug 1973, p. 69-74, 106.
• John Fox and Ron Dunbar, "Preliminary Report on Inverted Doppler Anomaly," ARRL Technical Symposium on Space Communications, Reston, VA, Sep 1973, pp 1-30.
• Perry Klein and Jan King, "Results of the AMSAT-OSCAR 6 Communications Satellite Experiment," IEEE National Convention Record, NYC, Mar 1974.
• Perry Klein and Ray Soifer, "Intersatellite Communication Using the AMSAT-OSCAR 6 and AMSAT-OSCAR 7 Radio Amateur Satellites," Proceedings of the IEEE Letters, Oct 1975, pp 1526-1527.
• D. Brandel, P. Schmidt, and B. Trudell, "Improvements in Search and Rescue Distress Alerting and Location Using Satellites," IEEE WESCON, Sep 1976.
• J. Kleinman, "OSCAR Medical Data," QST, Oct 1976, pp 42-43.
• D. Nelson, "Medical Relay by Satellite," Ham Radio, Apr 1977, pp 67-73.
• W0LER, "OSCAR 6 - Gone but not forgotten," QST, Nov 1977, p. 31.

1974

AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (Phase-IIB)

After being declared dead in mid 1981 due to battery failure, AO-7 miraculously sprung back to life and was first detected by Pat Gowen, G3IOR on June 21, 2002 at 1728 UTC. Jan King, W3GEY reports AO-7 is running off the solar panels only. It will only be on when in sunlight and off in eclipse. Therefore, AO-7 will reset each orbit and may not turn on each time.

Status: Semi-operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - AO-7)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMSAT-OSCAR 7.

1978

AMSAT-OSCAR 8

Another cooperative international effort (United States, Canada, Germany and Japan). AO-8 had a similar store-and-forward service as AO-7 and carried Mode A (145.850-900 MHz uplink and 29.400-500 MHz downlink) and Mode J (145.900-146.000 MHz uplink and 435.100 MHz downlink (inverted)) linear transponders and telemetry beacons on 435.095 MHz and 29.402 MHz. AO-8's primary mission was for educational applications and amateur communications. It was in operation for six years until the battery failed on June 24, 1983.

References:

• Perry Klein and Joe Kasser, "The AMSAT-OSCAR D Spacecraft," AMSAT Newsletter, Vol. IX, No. 4, Dec 1977, pp 4-10.
• Martin Davidoff, "Predicting Close Encounters: OSCAR 7 and OSCAR 8," Ham Radio, Vol. 12, No. 7, Jul 1979, pp 62-67.
• Frank Wiesenmeyer, "The Last Days of OSCAR 8," QST, May 1984, p. 48.

Radio Sputnik RS-1 and RS-2

RS-1 and RS-2 both contained sensitive Mode A (145 MHz uplink and 29 MHz downlink) linear transponders telemetry beacon and Codestore unit similar to AMSAT-OSCAR 6. Transponders aboard RS-1 and RS-2 could be kept operating for only a few months before battery problems disabled both spacecraft.

References:

• Pat Gowen, "RS - The Amateur Radio Satellites of the Soviet Union," AMSAT Newsletter, 10(4), Dec 1978, p. 4.
• Bernie Glassmeyer, "Two Russian Amateur Radio Satellites Launched," QST, December 1978, p. 54.

1980

AMSAT-Phase 3A

Weight 92.2 kg. Mode B (435 MHz uplink and 145 MHz downlink) transponder and 145 MHz beacon. VHF and UHF helix wide beam antenna.

References:

• Steve Place, "Phase III Suffers Watery Fate," QST, Jul 1980, p. 45.

1981

UoSAT-OSCAR 9 (UoSAT 1)

Firsts: First on-board computer (IHU - Integrated Housekeeping Unit) for battery and attitude management, remote control, and experiments. S-band beacon.

Built by the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, UO-9 was UoSAT's first experimental satellite. It was a scientific and educational low-Earth orbit satellite containing many experiments and beacons but no amateur transponders. UO-9 was fully operational until it re-entered October 13, 1989 from a decaying orbit after nine years of service.

UO-9 was the first amateur satellite to carry an S-Band beacon. It was switched on for the first time on May 19, 1983 and heard on the first available pass that day (ref: RSGB Radio Communication, August 1983, p. 713). The S-Band and X-Band beacons on board UO-9 are described in an article in The Radio and Electronic Engineer, Vol. 52, No 8/9, pp. 412-416 August/September 1982. (Thanks G3WDG).

For more information see UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and UoSAT-1 Microsatellite Mission.

References:

• Bernie Glassmeyer, "A New Amateur Radio Satellite--UoSAT OSCAR 9 (Strays)," QST, Nov 1981, p. 105.
• Bernie Glassmeyer, "UoSAT-OSCAR 9," QST, Dec 1981, p. 69.
• Vern Riportella, "UoSAT-OSCAR 9 Lives! (Strays)," QST, Nov 1982, p. 25.
• Robert Diersing, "Microcomputer Processing UoSat-OSCAR 9 Telemetry," QST, Aug 1984, p. 23.
• Bob Ruedisueli, "UoSAT's Propagation Experiment," Orbit, No. 9, Jan/Feb 1982, p. 5; Amsat Satellite Report, No. 192, Dec 15, 1989.
• Vern Riportella, "Preparing For the Fiery End: Adieu UoSAT-1 (Amateur Satellite Communications)," QST, May 1989, p. 84.

Radio Sputnik RS-3, RS-4, RS-5, RS-6, RS-7 and RS-8

RS-5 and RS-7 both contained "autotransponders" called ROBOTS. These ROBOTS made it possible to carry on a CW telegraphy contact with the spacecraft. A typical communication with the ROBOT would be initiated by the radio amateur on the ROBOT uplink frequency and the satellite would respond with a short message and issue a QSO number.

References:

• Bernie Glassmeyer, "Soviet Amateur Satellites Launched," QST, Feb 1982, p. 56.
• Amsat Satellite Report, No. 23-24, Dec 31, 1981.

1982

ISKRA-2 and 3

• Iskra-2 launched May 17, 1982 - Re-entered July 9, 1982.
• Iskra-3 launched November 18, 1982 - Re-entered December 16, 1982.

1983

AMSAT-OSCAR 10 (Phase 3B)

Status: Semi-operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - AO-10)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMSAT-OSCAR 10.

1984

UoSAT-OSCAR 11 (UoSAT 2)

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - UO-11)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - UoSAT-OSCAR 11
• UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and UoSAT-2 Microsatellite Mission

1986

Fuji-OSCAR 12 (JAS-1a named Fuji)

FO-12 was the first Japanese amateur satellite developed by the Japan Amateur Radio League (English version) with system design and integration performed at NEC. FO-12 was taken out of service November 5, 1989 because of battery failure. (see also Fuji-OSCAR 20 (JAS-1b) and Fuji-OSCAR 29 (JAS-2)).

References:

• Amsat Satellite Report, No. 131, Sep 1, 1986.
• Shozo Hara, "The Flight of JAS-1," QEX, Aug 1986, p. 4.
• Vern Riportella, "Introducing Japanese Amateur Satellite Number One (JAS-1)," QST, Jun 1986, p. 71.
• Vern Riportella, "Birth of a New OSCAR: First All-Japanese Project Debuts," QST, Oct 1986, p. 73.

1987

Radio Sputnik (RS) 10/11

Status: Non-operational

Spacecraft is not responding to commands.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - RS-10/11

1988

AMSAT-OSCAR 13 (Phase 3C)

AO-13 is the third in a series of Phase-3 type high-altitude, elliptical orbit amateur communications satellites.  It was built by an international team of radio amateurs led by Dr. Karl Meinzer of AMSAT-Germany.  It carried four beacon transmitters and four linear transponders. AO-13 also contained a digital communications transponder called RUDAK-1.  However attempts to get the experiment operating failed.

Operational life span was 8 years.  Careful analysis of AO-13's orbit in early 1990 by Victor Kudelka, OE2VKW revealed that resonant perturbations exist which lead the satellite into a negative perigee altitude.  The perigee was down to 150 km by August 1996 which drastically increased atmospheric drag on the satellite until it reentered the Earth's atmosphere December 5, 1996. See the AMSAT-DL Press Release dated December 7, 1996.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMSAT-OSCAR 13
• ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/

1990

UoSAT-OSCAR 14 (UoSAT-3, UoSAT-D)

UoSAT-OSCAR 14 was launched January 22, 1990 by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. Launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and five other microsatellites:UO-15, AO-16, DO-17, WO-18, and LO-19.

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - UoSAT-OSCAR 14
• UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary
• UoSAT-3 Microsatellite Mission
• ARRL Web: UO-14 Satellite Declared Dead (Nov. 11, 2003)

UoSAT-OSCAR 15 (UoSAT-4, UoSAT-E)

Contained scientific payloads to complement UO-14. On-board electronics failed shortly after UO-15 reached Earth orbit.

For more information see UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and UoSAT-4 Microsatellite Mission.

References:

• Martin Sweeting and Jeff Ward, "UoSAT-D and UoSAT-E Spacecraft to Fly on Ariane," OSCAR News, Oct 1988, pp 15-19.
• "University of Surrey Launches Two New Satellites," OSCAR News, Feb 1990, pp 16-22.
• "Six for the Price of One - Part I," The AMSAT Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, Mar 1990, p. 1; Part II: The AMSAT Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, May 1990, p. 1.
• Doug Loughmiller, "Successful OSCAR Launch Ushers in the 90's," QST, Apr 1990, p. 52.
• Joe Kasser, Martin Sweeting, and Jeff Ward, "The UoSAT-OSCAR 14 and 15 Spacecraft," The AMSAT Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, May 1990, pp 9-12.
• Jeff Ward, "A Tale of Two UoSATs," QST, Jul 1990, p. 62.

AMSAT-OSCAR 16

AMSAT-OSCAR 16 was launched January 22, 1990 by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. Launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and five other microsatellites:UO-14, UO-15, DO-17, WO-18, and LO-19. 

Status: Semi-Operational in digipeater mode only (see Weekly Satellite Report - AO-16)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMSAT-OSCAR 16

DOVE-OSCAR 17

DOVE-OSCAR 17 was launched January 22, 1990 by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. Launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and five other microsatellites:UO-14, UO-15, AO-16, WO-18, and LO-19. 

Status: Non-operation

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - DOVE-OSCAR 17

WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18

WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18 was launched January 22, 1990 by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. Launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and five other microsatellites:UO-14, UO-15, AO-16, DO-17, and LO-19. 

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18

LUSAT-OSCAR 19

WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18 was launched January 22, 1990 by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. Launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and five other microsatellites:UO-14, UO-15, AO-16, DO-17, and WO-18. 

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - LO-19)

• The CW beacon is sending eight telemetry channels and one status channel on 437.126 MHz. 
• No BBS service is available. 
• The digipeater is not active.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - LUSAT-OSCAR 19

Fuji-OSCAR 20 (JAS-1b named Fuji-2)

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - FO-20)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Fuji-OSCAR 20

1991

Radio Sputnik/AMSAT-OSCAR RS-14/AO-21

Here is a moving message from UA3CR breaking the news on RS-14/AO-21's shutdown and a memorial to the dedication and hard work that made the amateur equipment a reality.

For further information see:

• AO-21 Information (AMSAT-DL)(German)

References:

• Peter Guelzow, "RUDAK-II on AMSAT OSCAR-21: Full System Overview, Current activities and future planning," The Amsat Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, Mar/Apr 1993, p.14.
• John A. Magliacane, "Spotlight on RS-14/OSCAR-21," The AMSAT Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1993, p. 23.

Radio Sputnik (RS) 12/13

Both satellites had a 40 kHz wide linear transponder allowing for CW and SSB contacts. One unique feature of both these satellites was the ROBOT autotransponder. The autotransponders made it possible to carry on a CW telegraphy contact with the ROBOT computer carried on the spacecraft. Upon calling the satellite on the ROBOT uplink frequency, the computer would return with a short message and issue a QSO number.

It is thought that after superpower proton flashes from the Sun about July/August 2002 caused damaged to the COSMOS2123 and RS-12/13 transponders (thanks Jerry, K5OE/3).

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Radio Sputnik RS13/RS13

UoSAT-OSCAR 22 (UoSAT-5)

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - UO-22)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - UoSAT-OSCAR 22
• UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and UoSAT-5 Microsatellite Mission

• Jeff Ward, "UoSAT-OSCAR-22 in Orbit (Amateur Satellite Communications)," QST, Sep 1991, p. 70.

1992

KITSAT-OSCAR 23

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - KITSAT-OSCAR 23
• UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and KITSAT-1 Microsatellite Mission
• KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC)

1993

Arsene-OSCAR 24

Arsene was a French packet relay satellite built by French Radio Amateur Club de l'Espace. The packet system was never implemented because the 2 meter transponder failed soon after launch. Arsene was then used to relay SSB and CW signals on 2.4 GHz for several months until this transponder failed as well.

References:

• "The ARSENE Project," Orbit, No. 5, Jan/Feb 1981, p. 13.
• Steve Ford, "ARSENE - An Orbiting Packet Digipeater," QST, Feb 1993, p. 97.
• Steve Ford, "ARSENE: The First Amateur Radio Satellite of 1993," QST, Jul 1993, p. 94.

KITSAT-OSCAR 25

KITSAT-OSCAR 25 was a South Korean experimental microsatellite based on the SSTL UoSAT bus built by the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). KO-25 was operated from The Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC) in South Korea.

KITSAT-2 was one of three amateur satellites that was launched together on a Arianne V59 rocket from French Guiana at approximately 0147 UTC, 26 September 1993. It was later designated KITSAT-OSCAR-25 once in orbit. The other two amateur spacecraft were Italy-OSCAR-26 (IO-26) and AMRAD-OSCAR-27 (AO-27) (aka Eyesat-A).

KO-25's mission was to take CCD pictures, process numerical information, measure radiation, and receive and forward messages. The Infrared Sensor Experiment (IREX) was designed to acquire I/V characteristics of IR sensors. A passive cooling structure was devised for this experiment where ground controllers monitored the temperature of the experiment.

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - KITSAT-OSCAR 25
• UoSAT & SSTL Satellite Mission Summary and KITSAT-2 Microsatellite Mission.
• KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC)

Italy-OSCAR 26

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - IO-26)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Italy-OSCAR 26
• ITAMSAT IO-26 Home Page

AMRAD-OSCAR 27

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - AO-27)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMRAD-OSCAR 27

PoSAT-OSCAR 28 (PoSAT-1) - Portugal

Status: Unknown

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - PoSAT-OSCAR 28

1994

Radio Sputnik 15

Status: Semi-operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - RS-15)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Radio Sputnik 15

1995

UNAMSAT-1 (Mexico) and TechSat-1a (Israel)

In a second attempt, UNAMSAT-B was launched September 5, 1996 and was designated as Mexico-OSCAR 30 (see below). Unfortunately, it failed after about a day of transmitting due to a dead uplink receiver.

Israel's successful second attempt is called TechSat-1b.(see below)

1996

Fuji-OSCAR 29 (JAS-2 named Fuji-3)

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - FO-29)

For more information see:

Amateur Satellite Summary - Fuji-OSCAR 29

Mexico-OSCAR 30 (UNAMSAT-B) - National University of Mexico (UNAM)

MO-30 was constructed at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). The UNAMSAT web pages are http://serpiente.dgsca.unam.mx/unamsat/unameng.htm

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Mexico-OSCAR 30

1997

Sputnik-40 / Radio Sputnik 17

RS-17 broadcast its bip-bip signal for 55 days. The last known recordings were made on December 29, 1997, at about 2100 UTC by an American radio amateur from Washington State, USA and by FR1AJ from Reunion Island, France.

For more information see:

• Spoutnik a 40 ans
• The micro satellite Sputnik 40/RS-17
• Amateur Satellite Summary - Radio Sputnik 17

1998

Thai-Microsatellite-OSCAR 31 (TMSAT-1)

Status: Non-operational

For more information see

• TMSAT-1 mission pages from Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd
• Amateur Satellite Summary - Thai-MicroSat-OSCAR 31

Gerswin-OSCAR 32 (TechSat-1b) - Haifa, Israel

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - GO-32)

The GO-32 is a micro-satellite project conducted at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel by an academic group of scientist and students.

The Israel Amateur Radio Club is involved in the TechSat project.

The first picture taken by GO-32 of the French Riviera near Saint-Tropaz.

SEDSat-OSCAR 33 (SEDSAT) - University of Huntsville, Alabama

Status: Semi-Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - SO-33)

The University of Huntsville, Alabama, in conjunction with Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) USA, designed and constructed SEDSAT-1.

PANSAT-OSCAR 34 (PANSAT) - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

Status: Telemetry downloads only (see Weekly Satellite Report - PO-34)

For more information about PANSAT and the Space Systems Academic Group at NPS, visit the web page at http://www.sp.nps.navy.mil/pansat/

Sputnik-41 / Radio Sputnik 18

For more information see:

• Sputnik 41/RS-18
• SPUTNIK 41 - RS-18 : a satellite for education

1999

SUNSAT-OSCAR 35 (SUNSAT) - University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa

Status: Non-operational

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - SUNSAT-OSCAR 35
• SUNSAT Home Page

UoSAT-OSCAR 36 (UoSAT-12)

Launched April 21, 1999 by a Russian launcher from the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Status: Unknown

• Amateur Satellite Summary - UO-36

• Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

  • UoSAT-12 Home

  • UoSAT-12 Mission

  • UoSAT-12 Status Reports

  • UoSAT-12 Technical Details

• University of Surrey

  • UoSAT-12 MiniSatellite Mission

  • The UoSAT-12 Merlion Payload

• The Satellite Encyclopedia

  • UoSAT 12

2000

Arizona State-OSCAR 37 (ASUSat1) - Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

Launched January 27, 2000 from Vandenburg AFB in California.  ASUSat-1 contained an amateur packet hardware system and a 2-meter/70-cm FM voice repeater.

Status: Non-operational

OPAL-OSCAR 38

Launched January 27, 2000 from Vandenburg AFB in California.

Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics - Stanford University, Stanford, California Satellite Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL) 

SQUIRT - Satellite QUIck Research Testbed

• SQUIRT2 named OPAL - Orbiting Picosat Automatic Launcher

StenSAT

Launched January 27, 2000 from Vandenburg AFB in California. Was launched by OPAL on February 10, 2000.

StenSat was developed by a group of amateur enthusiasts in the Washington DC area as part of Stanford University's OPAL Orbiting Picosatellite Automated Launcher project. Stensat was one satellite out of a cluster of six picosatellites that were ejected from the OPAL platform.  

StenSat is a small (12 cubic inch, 8.2 ounce) satellite which was intended for use by amateur radio operators world wide and operate as a single channel mode "J" FM voice repeater.  The uplink frequency was 145.84 MHz and the downlink 436.625 MHz.  StenSat would periodically transmit 1200 baud AX.25 for broadcasting telemetry.  Additionally, amateur radio operators would be able to "PING" the satellite by transmitting a six digit DTMF command to the receiver uplink. 

For more information see:

• StenSat Amateur Radio Picosatellite

Thelma and Louise (a.k.a. Thunder and Lightning) - Santa Clara University ParaSat Program Artemis Picosatellite Project

Launched January 27, 2000 from Vandenburg AFB in California. Was launched by OPAL on February 12, 2000.

For more information see:

• Artemis Home Page

Weber-OSCAR 39 (JAWSAT - Joint Air Force Weber Satellite)

Launched January 27, 2000 from Vandenburg AFB in California.

JAWSAT served as a bus for several deployable payloads and the Plasma Experiment Satellite Test experiment -- called PEST. The telemetry stream from JAWSAT, including data from the PEST project, was to be transmitted on Amateur Radio frequencies.

For more information see:

• The JAWSAT Project at the Center for Aerospace Technology (CAST) at Weber State University, Utah, USA

AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (P3D)

Launched November 16, 2000.

Status: Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - AO-40)

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - AMSAT-OSCAR 40

SaudiSat-OSCAR 41 (SaudiSat-1a)

Launched: September 26, 2000 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. SaudiSat-1a was one of three Amateur Radio satellites on the same launch.

Status: Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - SO-41)

SaudiSat-1A can operate as 9600 baud digital store-and-forward systems as well analog FM repeater mode capability. One of two new ham satellites from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia built by the Space Research Institute at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Saudi-OSCAR 41
• SaudiSat Homepage

Launched: September 26, 2000 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. SaudiSat-1b was one of three Amateur Radio satellites on the same launch.

Status: Unknown (see Weekly Satellite Report - SO-42)

SaudiSat-1B can operate as 9600 baud digital store-and-forward systems as well analog FM repeater mode capability. One of two new ham satellites from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia built by the Space Research Institute at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Saudi-OSCAR 42
• SaudiSat Homepage

Malaysian-OSCAR-46 (TiungSAT-1)

[Editors note: MO-46 was launched prior to SO-43, NO-44, and NO-45 but received its OSCAR designation after them.]

Launched September 26, 2000 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. TiungSAT-1 was one of three Amateur Radio satellites on the same launch.

Status: Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - MO-46)

MO-46 is Malaysia's first micro-satellite and in addition to commercial land and weather imaging payloads will offer FM and FSK amateur radio communication.

TiungSat-1, named after the mynah bird of Malaysia, was developed as a collaborative effort between the Malaysian government and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

For more information on TiungSat-1, see

• Amateur Satellite Summary - TiungSat-1
• Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd. (ATSB)
• University of Surrey TiungSat Home Page
• Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd. TiungSat Missions Page

2001

Starshine-OSCAR-43 (Starshine-3)

Launched September 30, 2001 from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska aboard Athena I. Orbit: 500 km, 67 degree circular.

Status: Non-Operational

Starshine 3 is nearly a meter in diameter (37 inches), weighs 91 kilograms (200 pounds) and carries 1,500 aluminum mirrors polished by an estimated 40,000 student volunteers in the United States and 25 other countries.

Project Starshine is currently seeking volunteer amateur radio operators and students worldwide to monitor and report telemetry from the Starshine 3 satellite. Science data supporting an experimental solar cell experiment mounted on the surface of the satellite is being downlinked in a manner that allows students and radio amateurs to participate in collecting the data. Starshine 3 transmits 9600 bps AX.25 packet telemetry at 145.825 MHz every 2 minutes. An attractive QSL card is available to all those reporting telemetry to Project Starshine.

Starshine 3's primary mission is to involve and educate school children from around the world in space and radio sciences. In addition to helping build Starshine 3, students will also visually track the satellite during morning and evening passes by recording its telltale mirror flashes and reporting their observations to Project Starshine. Almost every child on earth is within visual and radio range of Starshine 3 thanks to the high inclination orbit provided by the Kodiak launch. Visual Data gathered by Project Starshine will be used to determine the effects of the atmospheric drag on the spacecraft.

To report Starshine 3 telemetry to Project Starshine, and to learn more about Starshine 3 telemetry, please visit http://epulation.com/starshine/starshine3/. To learn more about Project Starshine or any of the Starshine satellites, please visit http://www.azinet.com/starshine/

Nav-OSCAR 44 (Prototype Communications Satellite - PCSat)

Launched September 30, 2001 from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska aboard Athena I.

Status: Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - NO-44)

Kodiak Star was the first planned orbital launch from the new Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska was a NASA collaborative mission with the Department of Defense (DoD). The payload consisted of four small satellites, Starshine 3, PICOsat, PCSat, and SAPPHIRE, were launched aboard a Lockheed Martin Athena I launch vehicle. (NASA News)

PCSat is a 1200-baud APRS digipeater designed for use by stations using hand-held or mobile transceivers. Downlinks feed a central web site http://pcsat.aprs.org. The APRS-equipped PCSat was built by midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy. 

The second DoD spacecraft is a Prototype Communications Satellite (PCSat), operating in the amateur radio band, designed and manufactured by Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy. It will become part of the amateur radio community's Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) in low earth orbit receiving digitized identity and position data from amateur radio operators and transmitting it to one or more ground stations.

For more information see:

• PCSat

References:

• Kodiak Star: First orbital launch from new site in Alaska, SPACEFLIGHT, from the British Interplanetary Society,  January 2002, p. 18.

Nav-OSCAR 45 (Sapphire)

Launched September 30, 2001 from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska aboard Athena I.

Status: Non-operational

SAPPHIRE is a micro-satellite designed and built by students at Stanford University and Washington University-St. Louis. The primary mission of Sapphire is to space-qualify two sets of "Tunneling Horizon Detector" infrared sensors designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Stanford University. Secondary experiments include a digital camera and voice synthesizer.

For more information see:

• Sapphire - SQUIRT 1 Web Pages

References:

• Kodiak Star: First orbital launch from new site in Alaska, SPACEFLIGHT, from the British Interplanetary Society,  January 2002, p. 18.

2002

Radio Sputnik 21 (Kolibri-2000 - The International School Space Program)

Launched March 20, 2002 from Russian Progress M-1-7 launcher after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS).

The formal name is Russian-Australian Scientific and Educational Microsatellite KOLIBRI-2000 (RS-21). Main design was done by Special Workshop of Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Tarusa, Kaluga region. Radio Complex of RS-21 was created by the team of previous RS satellites leaded by Alexander Papkov, UA3XBU.

The following message from Alex Papkov at Kaluga Ground Control is confirmation that RS-21 has re-entered:

"Trajectory calculation of lowering of the microsatellite on the last navigation datas gives its atmospheric entry of the Earth on orbit 711, approximately at 2300(UT) above Pacific Ocean near to shores of the American continent. The microsatellite "Kolibri-2000" with call sign RS-21 successfully has completed the operation and has stopped physical existence." We consider all aspects of this mission to have been a success. Collaboration between Australian high school students, Russian Space scientists and Russian high school students has been a highlight for me. It has been a great adventure.

For more information see:

• Kolibri-2000
• Original School Research Microsatellite: Design and Implementation
• ARRL Web:Space&Beyond: Kolibri-2000
• http://tarusa.ru/kolibri2000 (Russian)

BreizhSAT-OSCAR 47 and 48 (IDEFIX CU1 and CU2)

Launched May 3, 2002 from Kourou, French Guiana on an Ariane 4 flight V151 carrying SPOT 5 as the primary payload. 

Two picosats, designed and built by AMSAT-France, were battery powered and estimated to operate approximately 40 days. They remained fastened to the Ariane 4 third stage with an orbit of 800 km. Both picosats transmitted NBFM voice recorded messages and digital telemetry data. BO-47 on 145.840 MHz and BO-48 on 435.270 MHz. Telemetry data was transmitted in 400 bps BPSK, similar to AO-40's telemetry beacon.

BO-47 (CU1) stopped transmitting after 32 days of operation.  Final reports came from Japan.

BO-48 (CU2) stopped transmitting after 14 days of operation. Final reports came from Japan indicating that the battery voltage had dropped to 7V and the RF output dropped to -6dB of its normal level.

Both satellites were equipped with 600 Watt-hour batteries.  BO-48, transmitting on 435 MHz, had an output power 10 times higher that BO-47.

The IDEFIX B0-47/48 team would like to thank everyone who spent time listening to the picosats and submitted telemetry data. The whole set of collected telemetry data is available upon request for educational purposes.  Contact Jean-Louis F6AGR, President AMSAT-F.

For more information see:

• IDEFIX Web Page
• AMSAT-France Web Page

AO-49 AATiS OSCAR-49 (SAFIR-M)

AO-49 was launched December 20, 2002 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Status: Non-Operational

AO-49 (SAFIR-M) is a German amateur radio payload onboard the small German scientific satellite "RUBIN-2".

AO-49 was built by the German amateur radio association "AATiS e.V." (German acronym for "Arbeitskreis Amateurfunk und Telekommunikation in der Schule", which means: 'working group for amateur radio and telecommunications in schools'). AO-49 is designed as a "store and broadcast" system for APRS based messages, dedicated for the use of schools in combination with the existing WX-Net and planned buoy experiments in Germany.

For more information see:

• Details on AO-49 (SAFIR-M) can be found at http://amend.gmxhome.de.
• Information about AATiS e.V. is available at http://www.aatis.de

SO-50 SAUDISAT-1C

SO-50 was launched December 20, 2002 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Status: Operational (see Weekly Satellite Report - SO-50)

SO-50 carries several experiments, including a mode J FM amateur repeater experiment operating on 145.850 MHz uplink and 436.800 MHz downlink. The repeater is available to amateurs worldwide as power permits, using a 67.0 Hertz PL tone on the uplink, for on-demand activation.

For more information see:

• Amateur Satellite Summary - Saudi-OSCAR 50
• SaudiSat Homepage

2003

CubeSAT Project

On June 30, 2003, six CubeSat satellites were launched by a ROCKOT launch vehicle by EUROCKOT Launch Services GmbH from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. The CubeSats were launched into a sun-synchronous orbit of 820 km. Also on this launch was the Czech Republic's MIMOSA and the Canadian Space Agency's MOST spacecrafts.

The table below summaries each of the CubeSats. Each of the CubeSats contain transponders with frequencies allocated to the Amateur Satellite Service by the International Telecommunication Union - ITU.

For more information see:

• CubeSat - Official Web Site
• EUROCKOT Launch Services GmbH

2004

SAREX

When a Space Shuttle mission is equipped with amateur radio it is called SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment). Information about SAREX is available at http://sarex.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Amateur Radio onboard the International Space Station (ARISS)

For more information see:

• http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov