Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Mar.17.2019

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** SpudNik-1 student CubeSat project at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a satellite built by UPEI engineering students – The Cadre/UPEI

CubeSat is a three-year project in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency in which multiple student teams work together to design, build and launch a miniature satellite. UPEI was one of 15 schools chosen for the project and started building the satellite in September.

The project at UPEI is a little different than others. The satellite is being worked on primarily by undergraduate students, said dean of engineering, Nicholas Krouglicof.

“We are doing it primarily with the undergraduate students through our design clinic program.”

The satellite being built by UPEI engineering students called SpudNik-1 will be used for precision agriculture on the Island. It will be able to detect a small area to distribute pesticides, instead of just spraying a large area. It will be able to determine if crops need more water and detect changes in overall landscape.

** Designing smallSats for animal tracking in NASA sponsored contest – Problem Solvers Win NASA Tournament Lab Challenge | NASA

Implemented by HeroX, the challenge sought ideas and concepts that incorporate small satellite technology along with other space, stratosphere, land and water surface systems to improve upon the current system of data reception for tracking animal position and path movement. A panel made up of NASA, BOEM and external experts evaluated submissions and recommended two winners. HeroX awarded each winning team $15,000.

  • Gaia: The Future of Satellite Animal Tracking, London
    Gaia proposed a constellation of 42 CubeSats orbiting 400 miles above Earth, each with a unique deployable antenna to enable reliable communication with 401 MHz animal tags. The design could enhance bandwidth, coverage and geolocation accuracy.
  • NEMO: The Near Earth Marine Observer, Stanford University in California
    This team of five graduate students proposed a constellation of 10 polar orbiting CubeSats and implements an open tag tracking standard via Doppler-shift location mapping. Using low-cost commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and open-source software protocols, the solution could provide fast, low-cost and easy access to tag data.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-076 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention — Call for volunteers
  • Out of This World Auction Sponsored by ARISS
  • 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award
  • Lilacsat-1 LO-90 Re-entry Commemorative Competition
  • ARRL TI-2 Teachers Institute Includes Amateur Satellite Telemetry
  • ARRL Supports No Change to Table of Allocations for 45.5 – 47 and 47 – 47.2 GHz Bands
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • AMSAT-DL QO-100 Up- and Downconverter Kit Modifications Announcement
  • Changes to the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution This Week
  • Satellite/AMSAT Presentation at Phoenix AZ – March 21, 2019
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for February 2019
  • GPS Network May Experience Errors in “Week Number” Rollover
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info: