AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-350

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America,
The
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a
worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest
in
designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and
digital
Amateur Radio satellites.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:




In this edition:
* 2008 Straight Key Night on OSCAR in Memory of ex-JA1ANG
* KySat CubeSat Status Update
* UK Schools - Space experiment contest launched
* ARISS Status - 10 December 2007


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-350.01
2008 Straight Key Night on OSCAR in Memory of ex-JA1ANG

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 350.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 16, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-350.01

You are cordially invited to take part in Straight Key Night on OSCAR
2008,
sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. This
year's
event will be held in memory of Haruo (Harry) Yoneda, ex-JA1ANG, a past
AMSAT
Director and co-founder of JAMSAT. Harry was also
a keen CW operator and a past
member of the First Class CW Operators Club (FOC).

Participating in OSCAR SKN is fun and simple. No scoring and no need to
send
in a log. Just operate CW through any OSCAR, using a straight hand key,
at
any
time between 0000 and 2400 UTC on January 1, 2008.

In keeping with the friendly nature of this event, all participants are
encouraged to nominate someone they worked for
Best Fist. Your nominee need not
have the best fist you heard, just the best of those you worked. Please
send
your nomination to W2RS at . Those
nominated will be recognized in
an AMSAT News Service bulletin, and in The AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-350.02
KySat CubeSat Status Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 350.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 16, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-350.02

This week the KySat Space Express achieved a successful liftoff from
White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. While all of the Kentucky
Space Express systems operated successfully, shortly after launch the
vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure and the KySat payload was not
able to reach the target altitude in space.

KySat thanks the Space Express student team and mission advisors for
their incredibly hard work and the performance of their systems and
payload. The design and successful integration of the Space Express
payload was, despite the failure to reach the targeted altitude of
127km, an essential step in the continued development of the initiative
including first orbital mission, projected to launch in mid to late
2008.

Additional information is available on-line at: http://www.kysat.com

The KySat Space Express student team and mission advisors are extremely
pleased with the performance of the student designed systems and
payloads.

The KySat CubeSat mission includes these objectives:

+ S-band radio for communications with KY Dish
+ UHF/VHF radio for worldwide student and amateur communications
+ Onboard camera
+ Temp, Current, Voltage, Science sensors
+ Passive magnetic attitude control
+ Mission data storage on industrial MMC card
+ Analog Mode: Transmit analog audio radio signal (Voice from Space app)
+ Digital Mode: Transmit sequential UHF 64 byte AX.25 packets (built in
TNC)
+ Minimum 1 or 2 second time delay between packets
+ Receive VHF Digital Pings (call sign, location, text message)

[ANS thanks the KySat Team for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-350.03
UK Schools - Space experiment contest launched

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 350.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 16, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-350.03

UK schoolchildren are being offered the chance to design an experiment
for a
small satellite in an effort to boost interest in space science.

The contest, organised by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and
Surrey
Satellite Technology (SSTL), is open to students between the ages of 14
and
18.

The winning experimental package should be about the size of a lunch
box,
weighing no more than 1kg but it will be given a developmental budget of
up
to
£100,000.

The deadline for receiving initial proposals is 28 February 2008.

In March, entries will be whittled down to a shortlist of six finalists
who
will then be invited to submit more detailed proposals.

The winning proposal will be announced at the congress of the
International
Astronautical Federation (IAF) in Glasgow in October 2008.

Full BBC Story at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7139356.stm

Howard Long G6LVB - Build Your Own Satellite
http://www.g6lvb.com/Articles/Build%...0Satellite.doc or
http://www.g6lvb.com/Articles/Build%...0Satellite.htm or
http://www.g6lvb.com/Articles/Build%...0Satellite.mht

AMSAT-UK is the Amateur Radio Satellite organisation for the United
Kingdom
and
they publish a quarterly newsletter full of Amateur Satellite
information.
Join now online at https://secure.amsat.org.uk/subscription/

For further details contact the secretary Jim Heck G3WGM
Tel: +44 (0)1258 453959
Email:
Website: http://www.uk.amsat.org/

[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-350.04
ARISS Status - 10 December 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 350.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 16, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-350.04

1. Status of ARISS School Contacts

Due to the very demanding schedules of the ISS
onboard crew, no Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts
have been planned at this time.
The ARISS team expects contacts to resume once STS-122 launches in
early
January 2008.


2. Crew Debrief Scheduled

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) crew debrief
has
been scheduled with Clay Anderson, KD5PLA. The debrief session is
planned
for
Tuesday, December 11. Anderson’s participation in
21 contacts helped ARISS reach
a record number of 39 school contacts during Expedition 15.


3. ARISS International Teleconference

The next Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
International
Team teleconference has been scheduled for
Tuesday, December 18. The agenda will
include the next face to face meeting and SuitSat-2 status.

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]

/EX


In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's
Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT
Project
Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application
forms
are
available from the AMSAT Office.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS