The AMSAT FUNcube team are delighted to be able to announce that the FUNcube-1 CubeSat has now completed all its final testing and been placed into its launch POD.
Pic by PA3WEG
This work was completed during a three day programme at the premises of ISIS BV in Delft in the Netherlands and was finished, on time, late Wednesday afternoon on September 4, 2013.
FUNcube-1 is actually the middle 1U CubeSat of three sharing a 3U ISIPOD. It is sharing the ISIPOD with ZACUBE-1 from South Africa and HiNCube from Norway.
ZACube-1, in addition to carrying VHF and UHF communications equipment also has a 20 metre beacon which will operate on 14.099 MHz This ISIPOD, with the spacecraft inside, will be transported to Russia, early next month, for launch and will eventually be attached directly to the launch vehicle.
FUNcube-1 carries a U/V linear transponder and the educational telemetry beacon using 1k2 BPSK for school outreach purposes.
AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to be able to announce that they have been advised that the launch date for FUNcube-1 is now expected to be late November 2013. This exact date is still subject to final approval by the authorities.
The FUNcube project started back in 2009 so it is a great relief that we now have a confirmed date for lift off.
FUNcube-1 will lift off from the Yasny launch base located in Orenburg Region, Russia on a DNEPR Launch Vehicle that will insert multiple satellites into orbit.
FUNcube-1 is a 1U CubeSat that will provide a signal directly from a satellite in space to the classroom, and can easily be received by schools and colleges. The target audience is students at both primary and secondary levels. The information will be displayed in an attractive format and provide stimulation and encouragement for students to become interested in all STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) subjects in an unique way. In addition the spacecraft is also carrying a transponder for radio amateurs to use for communication.
The spacecraft itself has now been completed and the last external panel was finally screwed and glued in place this afternoon at the facilities of ISIS BV in Delft. FUNcube-1 will be subjected to some final testing and battery charging on Tuesday when it will also be set into its pre-launch configuration. It will then be placed into its ISIPOD on Wednesday ready for transport to the launch site.
More information about how to receive the signals from FUNcube-1 will be made available over the forthcoming weeks at the www.funcube.org.uk website. A recent presentation about the FUNcube project can be viewed at http://www.batc.tv/vod/Funcube1.flv
Issued – Friday 30th August 2013
Hi Folks,
I’ve just uploaded a very brief description, plus a few pics, of the FUNcube model I’ve been working on over the last few weeks. You can see the article on the new page under Overview/Model
73s, Jim G3WGM
News Update 1st May 2012
As we now have a confirmed launch from Yasny later this year, we have had to carefully coordinate our planned operating frequencies in order to minimise the risk of interference between us and other payloads on the same launch.
We have therefore recently proposed a revised set of frequencies to the IARU Frequency Coordination Panel and they have today confirmed the following:
Inverting linear transponder:
Uplink 435.150 – 435.130 MHz
Downlink 145.950 – 145.970 MHz
Telemetry: 145.935 MHz BPSK
Please ignore any information that has been circulated previously!
For those following the progress of the ground station hardware, Howard Long, G6LVB, designer of the “FUNcube Dongle” has set up a dedicated web site at http://www.funcubedongle.com
Welcome to the FUNcube Web Site 