AMSAT-UK has announced that an Amateur Radio transponder will be part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative (SSETI) “Express” satellite.
Onboard will be a 2.4 GHz transmitter and a 437 MHz receiver. The pair will be turned into an amateur FM voice transponder after the transmitter serves initial telemetry duty. “These frequencies will enable the many amateurs who already have AMSAT OSCAR 40 equipment to use it in an exciting new way,” AMSAT-UK Chairman Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, said. He told participants at the 2004 AMSAT-UK Colloquium July 30-August 1 that AMSAT-UK has arranged with the ESA to provide–at very short notice–an S band transmitter for the SSETI Express.
The 2.4 GHZ transmitter will become the downlink of the single-channel FM U/S transponder. Holger Eckart, DF2FQ, will provide the UHF receiver. An AMSAT-UK team is developing the 2.4 GHz downlink exciter, switching-mode power supply and control interfaces. A 3 W 2.4 GHz power amplifier–identical to the one flying in the recently launched AO-51 “Echo” satellite–already has been completed.
The S band antennas consist of three flat-plate patches. The SSETI Express is believed to be the first-ever Pan-European student satellite, with more than 100 students and their teachers at several European universities taking part.
Spacecraft integration is due to start this month, and plans call for launching the satellite into a 680 km sun-synchronous orbit next April from Russia.
http://www.uk.amsat.org/