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| Two of the three Russian cubesats launched in August (AMSAT-UK Photo) |
Three Russian cubesats were deployed from the
International Space Station (ISS) during a spacewalk on August 17. According
the AMSAT News Service, one of the three satellites has casings made with
3D-printed materials and will test the effects of low-Earth-orbit on their
composition and durability. A second satellite transmits recorded greetings in
11 different languages, and the third marks the 60th anniversary of the launch
of Sputnik 1 as well as the 160th birthday of noted Russian scientist Konstantin
Tsiolkovskly.
The crossband repeater on the ISS was being used to relay signals
from two of these cubesats, as controllers feared they were spinning more than
expected and hoped that the receiver on the ISS repeater could pick up and
relay telemetry that wasn't making it back to Earth. As of late August, hams
were being asked not to try to use the ISS repeater to avoid interference with
this relay.
In late June, six tiny "Sprite" satellites were
launched from India.
The ARRL Letter, referencing an article
in Scientific American, said each
Sprite consisted of a 4-gram circuit board packed with different experiments
and are carried as secondary payloads by larger satellies. Signals from at
least one of them (all three are on the same frequency) have been received back
on Earth.
AMSAT's RadFxSat/Fox-1B satellite has been integrated
into a deployment container called a P-POD and is now ready for launch. The
AMSAT News Service says the launch is currently scheduled for November 10. Such
dates, of course, are always subject to change.
