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).
UoSAT-2, which is also known as UO-11 and OSCAR-11, is a British satellite orbiting in Low Earth Orbit. The satellite functions as an amateur radio transmitter and was built at the University of Surrey. It launched into orbit in March 1984 and remains orbital and active, though unstable with irregular periods of transmission. All of the Analog telemetry channels have failed, making telemetry from OSCAR 11 useless. The satellite was still heard transmitting telemetry in 2015, thirty years after launch.
Valeri Ivanovich Tokarev is a Russian Air Force colonel and test cosmonaut at the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Tokarev traveled to space twice, and has performed two career spacewalks, before retiring in June 2008.
AMSAT-OSCAR 51 or AO-51 is the in-orbit name designation of a now defunct LEO amateur radio satellite of the OSCAR series; formerly known as ECHO, built by AMSAT. It was launched on June 29, 2004 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on a Dnepr launch vehicle. It is in sun synchronous low Earth orbit.
The Orlan space suit is a series of semi-rigid one-piece space suit models designed and built by NPP Zvezda. They have been used for spacewalks (EVAs) in the Russian space program, the successor to the Soviet space program, and by space programs of other countries, including NASA.
UoSAT-1, also known as UoSAT-OSCAR 9 (UO-9), was a British amateur radio satellite which orbited Earth. It was built at the University of Surrey and launched into low Earth orbit on 6 October 1981. It exceeded its anticipated two-year orbital lifespan by six years, having received signals on 13 October 1989, before re-entering the atmosphere.
Progress M-02M, identified by NASA as Progress 33P, was a Progress spacecraft which was used to resupply the International Space Station during 2009. It was the second Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft, and had the serial number 402.
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.
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.
Progress M-09M, identified by NASA as Progress 41P, is a Progress spacecraft which was launched in 2011 to resupply the International Space Station. It was the ninth Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft to be launched, and has the serial number 409. The spacecraft was manufactured by RKK Energia, and is operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency. It arrived at the space station during Expedition 26, and undocked during Expedition 27.
Kedr, also known as ARISSat 1 and RadioSkaf-2, was an amateur radio minisatellite operated by RKK Energia as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station and RadioSkaf programmes. A follow-up to the SuitSat spacecraft, Kedr was launched to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Vostok 1 mission.
KickSat was a satellite dispenser for small-satellite (femtosatellite) project inaugurated in early October 2011, to launch many very small satellites from a 3U CubeSat. The satellites have been characterized as being the size of a large postage stamp. and also as "cracker size". The mission launch was originally scheduled for late 2013 and was launched April 18, 2014.
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.
ESTCube-1 is the first Estonian satellite and first satellite in the world to attempt to use an electric solar wind sail (E-sail). It was launched on 7 May 2013 aboard Vega VV02 carrier rocket and successfully deployed into orbit. The CubeSat standard for nanosatellites was followed during the engineering of ESTCube-1, resulting in a 10×10×11.35 cm cube, with a volume of 1 liter and a mass of 1.048 kg.
OSCAR 3 is the third amateur radio satellite launched by Project OSCAR into Low Earth Orbit. OSCAR 3 was launched March 9, 1965 by a Thor-DM21 Agena D launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California. The satellite, massing 15 kg (33 lb), was launched piggyback with seven United States Air Force satellites. Though the satellite's active life was limited to sixteen days due to battery failure, OSCAR 3 relayed 176 messages from 98 stations in North America and Europe during its 274 orbit life-time -- the first amateur satellite to relay signals from Earth. As of 2023, it is still in orbit.
AESP-14 is a Brazilian 1U Cubesat developed by multiple Brazilian institutions. It was launched on 10 January 2015 aboard the SpaceX CRS-5 mission on a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket. It was the first Brazilian Cubesat ever launched into space.
Progress MS-05, identified by NASA as Progress 66P, was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
HuskySat-1 is an artificial satellite designed at the University of Washington. It was launched by Cygnus NG-12 from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0 on Wallops Island, Virginia to low earth orbit on November 2, 2019. It is a CubeSat, and will demonstrate onboard plasma propulsion and high gain telemetry for low Earth orbit that would be a precursor for an attempt at a larger CubeSat designed for orbital insertion at the Moon.
Fox-1E, AO-109, Evolution or AMSAT OSCAR 109 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. Fox-1E is the fifth amateur radio satellite of the Fox series of AMSAT North America.
