AMSAT is a name for amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) with headquarters at 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).
Rincon 1 was a CubeSat built by the Student Satellite Program of the University of Arizona. The primary payload was furnished by Rincon Research, hence the name. Rincon 1 was the product of the work of about 50 students, ranging from college freshmen to Ph.D. students, over the course of several years. It was launched, after being postponed several times, on board a Dnepr on July 26, 2006, but the rocket failed and the satellite was destroyed.
The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a directorate of the Space and Missile Systems Center of the United States Space Force. STP provides spaceflight via the International Space Station (ISS), piggybacks, secondary payloads and dedicated launch services.
AeroCube-3 is a single-unit CubeSat which was built and is being operated by The Aerospace Corporation, at El Segundo, California. It is the third AeroCube picosatellite, following on from AeroCube-1, which was lost in a launch failure in 2006, and AeroCube-2 which was successfully launched in 2007 but failed immediately after launch. Compared to its predecessors it contains several improvements in its infrastructure, including a redesigned power system, replacing the older system which was responsible for the loss of AeroCube-2. Its development was funded by the United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
HawkSat-1 was a single-unit CubeSat which was built and is being operated by the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences (HISS), Pocomoke City, Maryland. It is based on a Pumpkin Inc. CubeSat kit, and carries a technology demonstration payload, primarily as a proof of concept mission, testing command, data and power subsystems, as well as solar panels and communications.
SSETI Express was the first spacecraft to be designed and built by European students and was launched by the European Space Agency. SSETI Express is a small spacecraft, similar in size and shape to a washing machine. On board the student-built spacecraft were three CubeSat picosatellites, extremely small satellites weighing around one kg each. These were deployed one hour and forty minutes after launch. Twenty-one university groups, working from locations spread across Europe and with very different cultural backgrounds, worked together via the internet to jointly create the satellite. The expected lifetime of the mission was planned to be 2 months. SSETI Express encountered an unusually fast mission development: less than 18 months from kick-off in January 2004 to flight-readiness.
Technology Education Satellite (TechEdSat) is a successful nano-sat flight series conducted from the NASA Ames Research Center in collaboration with numerous universities. While one of the principal aims has been to introduce young professionals and university students to the practical realm of developing space flight hardware, considerable innovations have been introduced. In addition, this evolving flight platform has tested concepts for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) sample return, as well as planetary nano-sat class mission concepts.
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.
Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite II or STARS-II, was a nanosatellite built by Japan's Kagawa University to test an electrodynamic tether in low Earth orbit, a follow-on to the STARS mission.
ExoCube (CP-10) is a space weather satellite developed by the California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It is one of many miniaturized satellites that adhere to the CubeSat standard. ExoCube's primary mission is to measure the density of hydrogen, oxygen, helium, and nitrogen in the Earth's exosphere. It is characterizing [O], [H], [He], [N2], [O+], [H+], [He+], [NO+], as well as the total ion density above ground stations, incoherent scatter radar (ISR) stations, and periodically throughout the entire orbit. It was launched aboard a Delta II rocket with the NASA SMAP primary payload from Vandenberg AFB in California on January 31, 2015.
The Centre Spatial Universitaire (CSU) Montpellier-Nîmes is a division of the University of Montpellier. Its purpose is to educate students in space sciences through the design, production and testing of nanosatellites. The CSU was created to consolidate nanosatellite activities that were initiated in 2006 by the RADIAC team of the Institut d'Electronique et des Systèmes, a research institute also affiliated with the university.
ArgoMoon is a CubeSat that was launched into a heliocentric orbit on Artemis 1, the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, on 16 November 2022 at 06:47:44 UTC. The objective of the ArgoMoon spacecraft is to take detailed images of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage following Orion separation, an operation that will demonstrate the ability of a cubesat to conduct precise proximity maneuvers in deep space.
UBAKUSAT was a Turkish nanosatellite that was developed by Istanbul Technical University. It was launched into space on board a Falcon-9 rocket in April 2018 and was deployed into its orbit from the International Space Station in May 2018. It was built as a technology demonstration and earth observation satellite to provide voice communications for amateur radio stations around the world. It carried an experimental card, TAMSAT Simplesat, which allowed scientists to test its accuracy of measuring radiation from space. It was the fifth satellite to be built by students of Istanbul Technical University.
ParkinsonSAT, PSat or Naval Academy OSCAR 84 is a U.S. technology demonstration satellite and an amateur radio satellite for Packet Radio. It was built at the U.S. Naval Academy and was planned as a double satellite. The name ParkinsonSAT was chosen in honor of Bradford Parkinson, the father of the GPS system. After successful launch, the satellite was assigned the OSCAR number 84.
BRICSat-P or OSCAR 83 (NO-83) previously known as PSat-B, is a U.S. technology demonstration satellite and an amateur radio satellite for Packet Radio. BRICSat-P is a low cost 1.5U CubeSat built by the U.S. Naval Academy Satellite Lab in collaboration with George Washington University, that will demonstrate on-orbit operation of a Micro-Cathode Arc Thruster (µCAT) electric propulsion system and carries an amateur communication payload.
BRICSat-2, or USNAP1, was an experimental amateur radio satellite from the United States Naval Academy that was developed in collaboration with George Washington University. BRICSat-2 was the successor to BRICSat-P. AMSAT North America's OSCAR number administrator assigned number 103 to this satellite; in the amateur radio community it was therefore called Navy-OSCAR 103, short NO-103.
PSAT-2 is an experimental amateur radio satellite from the U.S. Naval Academy, which was developed in collaboration with the Technical University of Brno in Brno, Czech Republic. AMSAT North America's OSCAR number administrator assigned number 104 to this satellite; in the amateur radio community it is therefore also called Navy-OSCAR 104, short NO-104.
SpaceX CRS-27, also known as SpX-27, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 15 March 2023. The mission was contracted by NASA and was flown by SpaceX using Cargo Dragon C209. This was the seventh flight for SpaceX under NASA's CRS Phase 2.
The SSLV-D1 was the first mission of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). Due to a sensor fault during separation of second stage and subsequent initiation of Open Loop Guidance by onboard computer to salvage the mission, the upper stage did not fire for planned duration and payloads were ultimately injected into a decaying orbit not achieving the objectives of mission.
