Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – July.9.2019

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

** Binar CubeSat built by Curtin University team of students and staff to be deployed from the ISS: Curtin to test ‘mini’ satellite in orbit with European Space Agency – Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia

Professor Bland, from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said a Curtin team of 12 staff and student engineers developed the miniaturised satellite.

“The Curtin team has managed to put all the systems required to operate the satellite, including the power, computer, steering and communications, on a single eight-layer printed circuit board, which at 10cm by 10cm by 2.5cm is about the size of a rather small sandwich,” Professor Bland said.

“Having everything on a single circuit board means there is more room for what the satellite is carrying, which in this case will be a camera that will capture beautiful images of Australia taken from orbit.”

*A diagram of the CubeSat in development in the Binar Cubesat Program at Curing University.*

** Three Virginia CubeSat Constellation CubeSats built by undergrads were deployed from the ISS on July 3rd:

Three Virginia university satellites were deployed into nearly simultaneous orbit from the International Space Station via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer at 10:50 a.m. EDT this morning. The Virginia CubeSat Constellation mission is a collaborative project of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and four of its member universities: Old Dominion University (ODU), Virginia Tech (VT), University of Virginia (UVA), and Hampton University (HU). The three nano-satellites, each about 4 inches cubed and weighing approximately 3 pounds, have been developed and instrumented (one each at ODU, VT and UVA) to obtain measurements of atmospheric properties and quantify atmospheric density with respect to orbital decay.

*Deployment of three Virginia CubeSat Constellation satellites from the ISS. Photo credits: Virginia Space Grant Consortium*

Data collected will ultimately contribute to the scientific knowledge base around orbital decay and will be widely shared. Ground stations at UVA, ODU and Virginia Tech will now begin making contact with their satellites. Data analysis will take place using an analytical tool being developed by students from Hampton University’s Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department.

“To know that all three satellites are now in orbit is extremely gratifying. Kudos to the students who have worked hard and gained immeasurable knowledge and experience from participating in this student-led mission and to the faculty who have advised them,” said Mary Sandy, Virginia Space Grant director and mission principal investigator. “Achieving Earth orbit is a huge mission milestone. These are the first student-developed satellites in orbit for all three of the universities.”
…
More than 150 undergraduate students across many disciplines at the participating universities have worked on the mission for the past three years under the guidance of faculty advisors

** KRAKsat Polish student CubeSat also deployed from ISS: ISS On-Orbit Status Report – July.3.2019

KRAKsat is a project focused on sending scientific satellite into space, made by students of University of Science and Technology and Jagiellonian University. Not only it is one of the first Cubesat type satellites in Poland but also the first satellite in the world which uses magnetic liquid, called ferrofluid, for orientation control.

A CubeSat from the Polish company SatRevolution was also deployed from the ISS along with KRAKsat. Find updates on the two projects at

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-188 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

2019 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Update
Candidates for the AMSAT Board of Directors Announced
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW Appointed as AMSAT VP for Development
First Ever Contact via Moon Orbiting Transponder on LO-94
First Call for Papers for the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Symposium
Take W3ZM on the Road!
ARISS-International Delegates Meet in Montreal
JAISAT-1 telemetry beacon downlink on 435.325 MHz FM 4k8 GMSK
Additional Amateur Radio Payloads to Launch with JAISAT-1
VUCC Awards-Endorsements for July
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

Projects:
- SULIS – SULIS: Solar cUbesats for Linked Imaging Spectropolarimetry
  - Details of UK-led solar science mission revealed at National Astronomy Meeting | The Royal Astronomical Society
  - SULIS mission looks to shed light on solar storms | The Engineer
- ExoplanetSat: detecting transiting exoplanets using a low-cost CubeSat platform – Semantic Scholar
- LightSail-2 updates:
  - Planetary Society (@exploreplanets) | Twitter
  - July 8:
    
    UPDATE: The #LightSail2 mission team has opted to spend another day testing the spacecraft’s attitude control system. Sail deployment now expected no earlier than Tuesday, 9 July. The spacecraft is healthy. https://t.co/PvaKKe0iIr
    
    — Planetary Society (@exploreplanets) July 8, 2019
  - Here are the First Pictures of Earth from LightSail 2 | The Planetary Society
  - LightSail 2 Healthy as Mission Team Continues Spacecraft Checkouts | The Planetary Society
  - First Contact! LightSail 2 Phones Home to Mission Control | The Planetary Society
General:
- Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites and IoT | Avnet Silica
- Amazon lays out constellation service goals, deployment and deorbit plans to FCC – SpaceNews.com
- Three rules for building a megaconstellation – SpaceNews.com
- Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage deliver 33 satellites to three different orbits – Spaceflight Now – Description of the 32 secondary smallsats from a host of organizations from around the world.
- #SpaceWatchGL Themes: ESPI Brief 25 – Will maturing cubesat propulsion call for more regulation? – SpaceWatch.Global

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Shoot for the Moon:
The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11

Activism, Space Policy

The Space Show this week – July.7.2019

July 7, 2019 TopSpacer

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, July 8, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): No show on Monday which is now reserved for special programming.

2. Tuesday, July 9, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Namrata Goswami to discuss the Indian space program, China space and Moon programs, national security space, our return to the Moon and much more. Please call and talk with Dr. Goswami.

3. Wednesday, Jul 10, 2019; Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, July 12 , 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am -1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome Dr. John Brandenburg, a theoretical plasma physicist, back to the show. Call in and talk with Dr. B. He wants to hear from you.

5. Sunday, July 14, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): Open Lines Discussions Calls preferred over emails. All calls and caller welcome but keep them space, science, and engineering related.

Some recent programs:

** Wed, 07/03/2019 – Hotel Mars with John Batchelor & Dr. David Livingston – Space historian Dr. Roger Launius talked about the Apollo era and his new book, Apollo’s Legacy: Perspectives on the Moon Landings.

** Tue, 07/02/2019 – Dr. John Jurist talked about “space policy, the Moon, rockets, Mars, the Gateway, NASA, budgets, China and much more”.

** Mon, 07/01/2019 – Aggie Kobrin and Rod Pyle summarize ISDC 2019 and discussed “ISDC 2020 plans, NSS, space policy, Ad Astra article submission, international student participation, exceptional keynote speakers, and more”.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston — *The Space Show – David Livingston*

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – July.6.2019

July 6, 2019 TopSpacer

The latest episode of NASA’s weekly Space to Ground report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** A high-res demo of water in microgravity: Moving Water in Space – 8K Ultra HD

Water in space behaves… differently. Surface tension and capillary flow can be harnessed to move fluids in more efficient ways. What looks like fun could actually help us improve systems for moving fluids in microgravity, in things like fuel tanks for space travel. Find out more about fluid physics in space in our researcher’s guide: https://go.nasa.gov/2KShhuT Learn more about the research being conducted on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

** Happy 4th of July from the Space Station Crew

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 60 Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA honored America’s 243rd birthday by wishing Americans at home and around the world a happy 4th of July.

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Outpost in Orbit:
A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station

Activism, Space Policy

Space policy roundup – July.3.2019

July 3, 2019 TopSpacer

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** Roundtable | NASA’s Project Artemis and their plans to settle the moon – TMRO.tv

This week we have special guest Manju Bangalore along with Cariann, Jared and Jade return for our first round table in a while to talk about NASA”s plan to colonize the moon. We dive specifically in to their Project Artemis.

** Space Debris, Mega Constellations and the Orbital Highway – Constellations, a New Space and Satellite Innovation Podcast: 53

When it comes to space debris, regulations may help with prevention but not the cure. Yet, how do you attempt to regulate something that nobody really owns? Listen to Chris Blackerby discuss how Astroscale has been leading the conversation in terms of policy, technology and who should pay for prevention. Chris talks about regulations that would give the ability to go up and de-orbit debris that has been rotating for years. He describes building capabilities into satellite design that would enable easy removal out of orbit. Although the probability is low, an exploration of how services throughout the world might be affected by a high impact collision is also discussed.

** The Space Show – Mon, 07/01/2019 – Aggie Kobrin and Rod Pyle summarize ISDC 2019 and discussed “ISDC 2020 plans, NSS, space policy, Ad Astra article submission, international student participation, exceptional keynote speakers, and more”.

** The Space Show – Tue, 07/02/2019 – Dr. John Jurist talked about “space policy, the Moon, rockets, Mars, the Gateway, NASA, budgets, China and much more”.