Page 16 January February 2018 TCA

Fox-1D Now Integrated The completed and
and Ready to Fly tested flight model of
AMSAT’s Fox-1D satellite
On Monday, November 6, sits in AMSAT’s Fox Labs
in Texas along with a
soon after our AMSAT poster showing the
meetings in Reno, various participants in
AMSAT Vice‑President the project.
Engineering Jerry (Courtesy: AMSAT)
Buxton, N0JY, delivered Satellite Carrying
AMSAT’s Fox‑1D satellite Amateur Radio)
to Spaceflight, Inc. in numbers (AMSAT
Seattle, Washington Past‑President Bill
where it was inserted Tynan, W3XO)
into its Innovative awarded the satellite
Solutions in Space its official OSCAR
QuadPack for delivery to designation: “AMSAT
India. Fox‑1D is now OSCAR‑91” or just
slated to launch on the “AO‑91” for short.
next ISRO Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
flight, which is tentatively
scheduled to take place
A very early engineering prototype modal of by the end of December
AMSAT’s next satellite project (called GOLF) was 2017 or early in 2018.
on display at the 2017 AMSAT Annual Meeting
and Space Symposium held in late October in In addition to the Fox‑1
Reno, Nevada. (Courtesy: VA3KSF/KB1SF) U/V FM transponder,
AMSAT-NA’s New Satellite Project Fox‑1D carries several
university experiments,
As mentioned earlier, at the AMSAT‑NA including a MEMS gyro
Annual General Meeting in Reno from Pennsylvania State
incoming AMSAT‑NA President Joe Spier, University – Erie, a
K6WAO, announced the next phase of camera from Virginia
AMSAT’s CubeSat program called Tech University, and the
“GOLF”. GOLF – an acronym for “Greater University of Iowa’s
Orbit, Larger Footprint – will be a crucial HERCI (High Energy
next step towards fulfilling AMSAT’s Radiation CubeSat Instrument) radiation AMSAT’s venerable Fox-1B launch team eagerly
awaited the launch of Fox-1B. From left are
strategic goals involving high altitude, mapping experiment. Fox‑1D also carries Burns Fisher, W2BFJ, AMSAT’s VP of Engineering
wide access satellite missions. the AMSAT “L‑Band Downshifter” giving Jerry, Buxton, N0JY and Bill Reed, NX5R.
satellite operators the option of utilizing a (Courtesy: AMSAT)
As an initial step in the GOLF program, 1.2 GHz uplink for the FM transponder.
the AMSAT‑NA Board of Directors The RadFxSat Project is a partnership
approved the submission of a NASA RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launch with Vanderbilt University’s Institute for
CubeSat Launch Initiative proposal for the On November 18, 2017, RadFxSat Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE).
GOLF‑T satellite project. The GOLF‑T (AMSAT Fox‑1B) was successfully RadFXSat‑1 hosts four payloads for the
project will serve as a rapidly deployable launched and deployed in space on a study of radiation effects on commercial
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) test bed for the Delta II rocket (one of the last remaining off‑the‑shelf components. The satellite
technologies necessary for a successful Delta IIs) from Vandenberg Air Force features a Fox‑1 style FM U/V repeater
CubeSat mission to a wide variety of Base in California. with an uplink on 435.250 MHz (67.0 Hz
orbits, including LEO, Medium Earth Orbit CTCSS) and a downlink on 145.960 MHz.
(MEO), Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO), RadFxSat was one of four CubeSats that Satellite and experiment telemetry is
made up the NASA ELaNa (Educational
Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) or beyond. downlinked via the “DUV” subaudible
Launch of Nano‑Satellites) XIV mission.
AMSAT‑NA Vice‑President Engineering The CubeSats all rode as secondary telemetry stream and can be decoded
with AMSAT’s FoxTelem software.
Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said: “The GOLF‑T payloads aboard the launch of the
project ‘tees off’ (pun intended) the next National Oceanographic and Wrap Up
phase of our CubeSat program. GOLF‑T Atmospherics’ (NOAA) Joint Polar
will provide AMSAT with the hardware and Satellite System (JPSS‑1). As I said, it’s an exciting time for Amateur
knowledge for Attitude Determination and The new satellite’s strong beacon Radio satellite enthusiasts. Stay tuned to
Control (ADAC) capability as well as the transmitter was heard and AMSAT’s the AMSAT website (www.amsat.org) for
opportunity to develop a 3U (3 times the ground station experimenters were busily the very latest news on the status of
initial CubeSat volume) space frame with pouring over the first telemetry frames AO‑91 and all the rest of the Amateur
deployable solar panels. This emanating from the new bird and testing Radio Satellites: those already on orbit;
configuration can be used in both LEO or the satellite’s transponders and those that are ready to launch; and those
HEO missions… two of the major systems experiments. On November 23, as it was that are still on the “drawing boards” for
required for future GOLF and HEO successfully activated in space, AMSAT’s the future.
missions.” official of keeper of OSCAR (Orbital

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