AMSAT

Last updated

Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
AbbreviationAMSAT
Formation1969
Type Nonprofit organization
PurposeDesigning, building, and operating experimental satellites; promoting space education
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Location
Region served
North America
President
Robert Bankston KE4AL
Main organ
Board of Directors
Website http://www.amsat.org/

AMSAT is a name for various amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide. In particular, it often refers to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then operate (command) satellites carrying amateur radio payloads, including the OSCAR series of satellites. Other informally affiliated national organizations exist, such as AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL) and AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT).

Contents

History

AMSAT was founded in 1969 in Washington, D.C. to continue the efforts begun by Project OSCAR. Its first project was to coordinate the launch of OSCAR 5, constructed by students at the University of Melbourne. [1] Some design modifications were needed and were made by AMSAT members, and the satellite was successfully launched on 30 January 1970, on a NASA Thor Delta launch vehicle. [2]

AMSAT's next launch was AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (AO-6) on 15 October 1972. AO-6 was AMSAT's first long-life satellite, and was built with participants from Australia and West Germany. Command stations in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Hungary, Morocco, New Zealand, the United States and West Germany controlled the satellite, contributing greatly to its 4.5 years of service. [3] Further launches continued to emphasize international cooperation, with AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (AO-7) launching with a new transponder developed and built by Karl Meinzer and AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL). AMSAT Japan (JAMSAT) contributed a transponder to AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (AO-8). [4]

In order to launch its satellites, AMSAT has worked with space agencies and commercial launch contractors to develop new ways to take advantage of unused areas of launch vehicles. In return, AMSAT sometimes can negotiate a reduction or waiver of launch costs. One of the most significant is the Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads (ASAP), developed and manufactured in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1990 for use on its Ariane 4 launch vehicle. AMSAT was again able to take advantage of unused space with the launch of AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (AO-40), occupying unused space on an Ariane 5. [1]

IPS

The IPS (Interpreter for Process Structures) programming language was specifically written for the RCA 1802 AMSAT Phase III satellite. [5] [6]

The IPS threaded code language, developed for AMSAT Phase III, is the first known use of a high-level language on board a spacecraft. [7]

Another 16-bit IPS implementation was specifically developed to run on the ARM CPU in the IHU-2 on the AMSAT P3D. [8]

A 32-bit IPS implementation has been developed for the AMSAT P3E satellite and the AMSAT P5A mission to Mars, which also have ARM CPUs. Emulators for both the classic 16-bit and the 32-bit IPS language and development environment are available for many other systems. [9] [10] [11] [12]

AMSAT organizations worldwide

KiwiSAT amateur radio satellite, developed by AMSAT-NZ, in its "clean cabinet" being demonstrated at the 2013 Auckland Technology Convention KiwiSAT.jpg
KiwiSAT amateur radio satellite, developed by AMSAT-NZ, in its "clean cabinet" being demonstrated at the 2013 Auckland Technology Convention

From its first launch, AMSAT projects have had international scope. By 2006, 21 countries had launched an amateur satellite. Many of these countries have their own AMSAT affiliate, some of which are noted below:

Phase system

The AMSAT Phase system describes an amateur satellite based upon its capabilities or mode of operation and roughly parallel the development of amateur satellites.

Satellite names

Most amateur satellites do not receive their sequential OSCAR designation until after they are successfully in orbit, and then only at the request of the launching organization. [1] Regardless, amateur satellites will have been named by the organization that constructed it, and that name is frequently prepended to its OSCAR designation, resulting a name such as CubeSat-OSCAR 57. In conversation, names are usually abbreviated as CO-57 or similar.

A unique amateur satellite was SuitSat, an obsolete Russian space suit with a transmitter in it, which was launched in 2006 from the International Space Station. In a twist of fate, "Oscar" was the name given to an obsolete space suit by its young owner in the 1958 novel Have Space Suit, Will Travel , by Robert A Heinlein. This book was originally published a year after the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1.

Satellites previously launched by AMSAT

The names of the satellites below are sorted in chronological order by launch date, ascending. The status column denotes the current operational status of the satellite. Green signifies that the satellite is currently operational, orange indicates that the satellite is partially operational or failing. Red indicates that the satellite is non operational and black indicates that the satellite has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. The country listing denotes the country that constructed the satellite and not the launching country.

Name (a.k.a.)StatusLaunchedCountry
AMSAT-OSCAR 6 (OSCAR 6, AO-6, AO-C, P2A)Non-Operational15 October 1972United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (OSCAR 7, AO-7, AO-B, P2B)Semi-Operational15 November 1974United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 8 (OSCAR 8, AO-8, AO-D, P2D)Non-Operational5 March 1978United States / Canada / Germany / Japan
AMSAT-OSCAR 10 (Phase 3B, AO-10, P3B)Non-Operational16 June 1983United States / Germany
AMSAT-OSCAR 13 (Phase 3C, AO-13, P3C)Decayed15 June 1988Germany
AMSAT-OSCAR 16 (Pacsat, AO-16, Microsat-1)Semi-Operational22 January 1990United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (AO-40, Phase 3D, P3D)Non-Operational16 November 2000United States / Germany
AMSAT-OSCAR 51 (Echo, AO-51)Non-Operational28 June 2004United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 85 (Fox-1A, AO-85)Non-Operational8 October 2015United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 91 (Fox-1B, RadFxSat, AO-91)Semi-Operational18 November 2017United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 92 (Fox-1D, AO-92)Semi-Operational12 January 2018United States
AMSAT-OSCAR 95 (Fox-1Cliff, AO-95)Beacon Only4 December 2018United States
RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E)Semi-Operational17 January 2021United States

Current projects

AMSAT built a series of five 1U CubeSats to carry university experiments, including a camera, and mode U/V FM repeaters. The first two of these satellites, Fox-1A, and Fox-1B, were launched on 8 October 2015 and 18 November 2017 respectively and are currently operational and available for use. [20] Fox-1D (AO-92) was launched on 12 January 2018 on the PSLV-C40 mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Fox-1Cliff was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard the SpaceX Falcon-9 SSO-A rocket on 3 December 2018. These four Fox satellites contain FM transponders with uplink on the 70 cm band and downlink on the 2 metre band. [21]

RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E, a variation of the Fox-1 series, carrying a mode V/U linear transponder has been accepted for a launch by the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. [22] Fox-1E was launched into orbit aboard a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne vehicle on 17 January 2021. Although the beacon has not been heard, the linear transponder is at least partially functioning with a low level downlink signal. [23]

AMSAT is currently developing the GOLF series of CubeSats with the first satellite in the series, GOLF-TEE, expected to launch in 2022. The GOLF series is designed to test technologies for future high Earth orbit (HEO) missions. [24]

AMSAT also offers a communications platform for university CubeSats. The AMSAT Linear Transponder Module (LTM) includes a VHF/UHF telemetry beacon, command receiver, and linear transponder. The first LTM flew on HuskySat-OSCAR 107 in 2020. [25] In July 2020, AMSAT and the University of Maine announced that an LTM would be provided for the University of Maine's MESAT1 CubeSat, Maine's first small satellite. [26]

Additionally, AMSAT supports amateur radio on human spaceflight missions as a supporting partner of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). This partnership includes support for future missions on the Lunar Gateway.

AMSAT also supports STEM education and has developed a CubeSat Simulator as part of these efforts. [27]

Currently operating missions

AMSAT operates the AO-7, AO-91, and AO-92 satellites, which are open for general amateur use. The U.S. Air Force FalconSAT-3 was turned over to AMSAT for amateur radio use in late September 2017. AO-95 was launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon-9 SSO-A mission on 4 December 2018 and was later determined to have poor to no RF reception capability, thus preventing commissioning and putting its FM transponder mission into indefinite suspension. [28]

Related Research Articles

AMSAT-OSCAR-40, also known as AO-40 or simply OSCAR 40, was the on-orbit designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series. Prior to launch, the spacecraft was known as Phase 3D or "P3D". AO-40 was built by AMSAT.

HAMSAT also known as HAMSAT INDIA, VU2SAT and VO-52 is a microsatellite weighing 42.5 kilograms (93.7 lb), providing amateur radio satellite communications services for Indian and international amateur radio operators. This satellite carries the in-orbit designation of VO-52, and is an OSCAR series satellite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMSAT-OSCAR 7</span> 1974 amateur radio satellite

AMSAT-OSCAR 7, or AO-7, is the second Phase 2 amateur radio satellite constructed by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). It was launched into Low Earth Orbit on November 15, 1974 and remained operational until a battery failure in 1981. After 21 years of apparent silence, the satellite was heard again on June 21, 2002 – 27 years after launch. At that time the public learned that the satellite had remained intermittently functional and was used surreptitiously for communication by the anticommunist opposition Fighting Solidarity during martial law in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delfi-C3</span> Dutch mini-satellite

Delfi-C3 is a CubeSat satellite constructed by students at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. It is a 3-unit CubeSat, and was launched at 03:53:42 on 28 April 2008, as part of the NLS-4 mission, aboard a PSLV rocket, from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. The launch was contracted by ISRO, through Antrix Corporation and UTIAS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compass-1</span>

Compass-1 is a German amateur CubeSat picosatellite, built and operated in the late 2000s by Aachen University of Applied Science. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation, aboard a PSLV rocket as a secondary payload to the CartoSat-2A primary spacecraft on 28 April 2008. It was launched into a Geocentric orbit with an altitude of 597 km. Its primary mission is remote sensing; however, it also contains some technology demonstration experiments regarding the use of small satellites and GPS tracking.

AMSAT-OSCAR 16, also known as AO-16 and PACSAT, is the in-orbit name designation of an amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series. It was built by AMSAT and was launched on 22 January 1990 from Kourou, French Guiana on an Ariane 4 launch vehicle. It is in Sun synchronous low Earth orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SwissCube-1</span> Swiss satellite launched in 2009

SwissCube-1 is a Swiss satellite operated by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The spacecraft is a single unit CubeSat, which was designed to conduct research into nightglow within the Earth's atmosphere, and to develop technology for future spacecraft. It has also been used for amateur radio. It was the first Swiss satellite to be launched.

An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations.

PW-Sat is a series of Polish CubeSats designed and built by students at the Warsaw University of Technology in conjunction with the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering of Warsaw University of Technology, the Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences, and the European Space Agency. As of January 1, 2024, there have been 2 PW-Sats with a third in development. The first PW-Sat was the first Polish artificial satellite which was launched 13 February 2012 from ELA-1 at Guiana Space Centre aboard Italian-built Vega launch vehicle during its maiden voyage. After their graduation, the team that developed the original PW-Sat have also worked to develop the subsequent missions, establishing a private company named PW-Sat to design and manufacturer the PW-Sats, all of which test novel deorbiting methods, with the overall goal of the program to develop solutions to space debris.

TurkSat-3USat is a Turkish communications nanosatellite developed by the Space Systems Design and Test Laboratory and Radio Frequency Electronics Laboratory of Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in collaboration with the Türksat company along with Turkish Amateur Satellite Technology Organization (TAMSAT). It was launched on 26 April 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LituanicaSAT-1</span>

LituanicaSAT-1 was one of the first two Lithuanian satellites. It was launched along with the second Cygnus spacecraft and 28 Flock-1 CubeSats aboard an Antares 120 carrier rocket flying from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island to the International Space Station. The launch was scheduled to occur in December 2013, but later was rescheduled to 9 January 2014 and occurred then. The satellite was broadcasting greetings of Lithuanian president, Mrs. Dalia Grybauskaitė. The satellite was deployed from the International Space Station via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on 28 February 2014. All LituanicaSAT-1 subsystems have been turned on, tested and proved to be working properly. The mission is considered a complete success by its team of engineers. The mission ended upon the reentry and disintegration of the satellite on 28 July 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FUNcube-1</span>

FUNcube-1 is a complete educational single unit CubeSat satellite with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It is part of a program which aims to launch more of these educational CubeSats. It is the first satellite with outreach as its primary mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Es'hail 2</span>

Es'hail 2 is a Qatari satellite, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 15, 2018. Es'hail 2 was built by Japan's Mitsubishi Electric company, and operates at 26° East longitude along a geostationary orbit to provide direct-to-home television services in the Middle East and North Africa region. The satellite features 24 Ku-band and 11 Ka-band transponders to provide direct broadcasting services for television, government and commercial content distribution. In addition to commercial services, the payload of Es'hail 2 includes a linear transponder with a bandwidth of 500 kHz and 8 MHz for the amateur radio satellite service, with uplink on 2.4 GHz and downlink on 10.45 GHz.

EcAMSat, or E. coli AntiMicrobial Satellite, was NASA's first 6U CubeSat, developed to investigate the effects of microgravity on the antibiotic resistance of E. coli. The spacecraft was launched aboard an Orbital ATK Antares rocket from Wallops Flight Facility on 12 November 2017, and was deployed from the International Space Station on 20 November 2017.

Fox-1D, AO-92 or AMSAT OSCAR 92 is an American amateur radio satellite. Fox-1D is a 1U CubeSat developed and built by AMSAT-NA. Fox-1D carries a single-channel transponder for mode U/V in FM. Fox-1D has an L-band converter, which allows the FM transponder to be switched on an uplink in the 23 centimetres (9.1 in) band.

Fox-1B, AO-91 or AMSAT OSCAR 91 is a United States amateur radio satellite. It is a 1U Cubesat, was built by the AMSAT-NA and carries a single-channel transponder for FM radio. The satellite has a whip antenna for the 70 cm and 23 cm bands (uplink), and a second antenna for the 2 m band (downlink). Fox-1B is the second amateur radio satellite of the Fox series of AMSAT North America.

Fox-1A, AO-85 or AMSAT OSCAR 85 is an American amateur radio satellite. It is a 1U Cubesat, was built by the AMSAT-NA and carries a single-channel transponder for FM radio. The satellite has one rod antenna each for the 70 centimetres (28 in) and 2 metres bands. To enable a satellite launch under NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program, the satellite continues to carry a Penn State University student experiment.

Fox-1Cliff, AO-95 or AMSAT OSCAR 95 is an American amateur radio satellite. Fox-1Cliff is a 1U CubeSat built by AMSAT-NA that carries a single-channel transponder for mode U/V in FM.

OSCAR 8 is an American amateur radio satellite. It was developed and built by radio amateurs of the AMSAT and launched on March 5, 1978 as a secondary payload together with the Earth observation satellite Landsat 3 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States.

Fox-1E, AO-109 or AMSAT OSCAR 109 is an American amateur radio satellite. It is a 1U Cubesat, was built by the AMSAT-NA and carries a 30KHz linear transponder radio. Fox-1E is the fifth amateur radio satellite of the Fox series of AMSAT North America.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Space Satellites from the World's Garage – The Story of AMSAT". AMSAT. Archived from the original on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  2. ↑ Martin Davidoff, K2UBC (2000). The Radio Amateur's Satellite Handbook. The Amateur Radio Relay League. pp. 1–13. ISBN   0-87259-658-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Martin Davidoff, K2UBC (2000). The Radio Amateur's Satellite Handbook. The Amateur Radio Relay League. pp. 1–15–1–16. ISBN   0-87259-658-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Martin Davidoff, K2UBC (2000). The Radio Amateur's Satellite Handbook. The Amateur Radio Relay League. pp. 1–16–1–18. ISBN   0-87259-658-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Karl Meinzer (January 1979). "IPS, An Unorthodox High Level Language". Byte .
  6. ↑ James Miller, G3RUH; Paul Willmott, VP9MU; Stacey Mills, W4SM (2002). "IPS Programming". AMSAT. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Jan King "The Third Generation" "Orbit" September 1980 p. 15
  8. ↑ Chuck Green; Peter Gülzow; Lyle Johnson; Karl Meinzer; James Miller "The Experimental IHU-2 Aboard P3D" 1999
  9. ↑ "IPS Project Home Page"
  10. ↑ "COSMAC 1802 on AMSATs running IPS"
  11. ↑ "IPS - High Level Programming of Small Systems"
  12. ↑ "IPS - High Level Programming of Small Systems for the AMSAT space projects"
  13. ↑ "About HAMsat". AMSAT-IN. Archived from the original on 8 December 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  14. ↑ Phillip Keane "The Philippines' Satellite Ham Radio Service Is Now Live"
  15. ↑ Stoetzer, Paul (11 April 2019). "Diwata-2 Designated Philippines-OSCAR 101 (PO-101)" . Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  16. ↑ "AMSAT-PH showcases Satellite Equipment"
  17. ↑ Collins, Simon (17 January 2003), "KiwiSat joins space race", NZ Herald, retrieved 4 February 2024
  18. ↑ "A New Zealand Satellite - KiwiSAT", www.kiwisat.org.nz, archived from the original on 21 December 2023, retrieved 4 February 2024
  19. ↑ "Es'hail-2/P4A Designated Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100) – AMSAT".
  20. ↑ "AO-85 (Fox-1A) | AMSAT". amsat.org. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "AMSAT Fox Operating Guide" (PDF). AMSAT. 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Selected for Participation in NASA's CSLI". AMSAT. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "RadFxSat-2 Identified, Testing Continues – AMSAT" . Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  24. ↑ "Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint: An Introduction to the AMSAT GOLF Program – AMSAT" . Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  25. ↑ "AMSAT – The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation" . Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  26. ↑ "AMSAT Partners with UMaine's WiSe-Net Lab to Develop Maine's First Small Satellite – AMSAT" . Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  27. ↑ "The CubeSat Simulator Project Page". cubesatsim.org. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  28. ↑ Stoetzer, Paul (9 December 2018). "Fox-1Cliff/AO-95 Commissioning Status". AMSAT. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
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