Amateur radio satellites were featured in several sessions of the 62nd International Astronautical Congress, held recently in Cape Town, South Africa. The AMSAT News Service highlighted two such sessions. One showed how data collected by South Africa's SumbandilaSat (SO-67) can be used to select future ground stations with minimum interference potential. The second was the introduction of Cape Peninsular University of Technology's planned cubesat, which will include a beacon on the 20-meter amateur band. Its primary purpose will be to optimize an HF radar system operated by South Africa's National Space Agency, but it is expected that it will also provide "interesting antenna characterization opportunities" to amateurs. (We're not exactly sure what that means, but it certainly sounds impressive! -- ed.)
