Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Jan 27 2023 11:11:30

CUBESAT WILL USE INFLATABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM

NEIL/ANCHOR: Innovative antenna technology is being featured as part of a 
CubeSat project under way in Arizona. Jack Parker, W8ISH, gives us those 
details.

JACK: Students at the University of Arizona have finished their work on a 
CubeSat project that will be launched into low Earth orbit later this year. 
One of the innovations the CubeSat will use is inflatable antenna technology 
developed by one of the school's astronomy professors.

By striving to stay in a sun synchronous orbit around Earth, the small 
satellite, known as CatSat, will remain in daylight through most of the 
length of its mission. Its inflatable antenna system was developed by 
professor Christopher Walker, who serves as the team's science principal 
investigator. The inflatable antenna will be used for high bandwidth 
transmission. According to the website of Freefall Aerospace, where Walker 
developed the antenna, the system makes use of an ultra-lightweight 
inflatable structure that provides a large aperture high-gain antenna that 
can be deployed in orbit.

The CatSat's mission will also include detection of HF signals from amateur 
radio operators around the world through its use of a WSPR antenna. Those 
transmissions will be downlinked to a receiver at the school's Biosphere 2 
facility on the Arizona campus. CatSat will also be collecting high-
resolution images of Earth and providing data on the ionosphere.

The project is part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative.

This is Jack Parker, W8ISH.

(ARIZONA PUBLIC MEDIA, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA)

**

SWISS STUDENTS' SATELLITE PREPARES FOR LAUNCH

NEIL/ANCHOR: An educational satellite built by Swiss students is being 
prepared for an important launch in February, as we learn from Jeremy Boot, 
G4NJH.

JEREMY: With the help of a ham radio antenna donated by the Vaudois Amateur 
Radio Club, HB9MM, high school students in Switzerland will be learning how 
to download telemetry data and photos from a satellite they have helped 
build in a laboratory at Orbital Solutions in Monaco.

The RoseyCubesat-1 is the first educational satellite of its kind to be 
created through the company's STEMSAT programme. Le Rosey is the name of the 
Swiss learning institute that the students attend. They will be able to send 
commands to the CubeSat to select telemetry and picture download or to 
switch it into its VU transponder mode so that amateurs around the world 
will be able to communicate over the small satellite. The downlink using 
BPSK and AX25 is on 436.825 MHz and when the transponder is enabled, its 
uplink will be on 145.850 MHz. The launch is expected to take place on the 
14th February at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

This is Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.

(ORBITAL SOLUTIONS MONACO, AMSAT, IARU)

**

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