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UoSAT-1 prior to launch
(AMSAT-UK photo)
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The APRS2Voice feature on NO-104 is not the first
use of digital voice transmitted by an amateur satellite. In fact a
"digitalker" was one of the features of the University of Surrey's first
small satellite, UoSAT-1 (OSCAR-9), which was launched just over 40 years ago, on
October 6, 1981. It was the first microsatellite with computers that could be
reprogrammed from the ground while in orbit.
UoSAT-OSCAR-9 operated for eight years before
re-entering Earth's atmosphere in 1989 and burning up over the Indian Ocean. Guided
by a then-young Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, UoSAT-1 was built from
off-the-shelf parts and launched the small-satellite industry, as well as
Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd., which is now a part of Airbus.
