SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE FOR  SKA

The first scientific paper based on observations performed with South Africa's new KAT-7 radio telescope, has been accepted for publication by the prestigious journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomy Society. "This is a significant milestone for South Africa's SKA project, proving that our engineers are able to deliver a cutting-edge scientific instrument, and that our scientists are able to use it for frontier science," says Derek Hanekom, South Africa's Minister of Science and Technology. Full story plus video here

SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM
Space - a challenging  Amateur Radio frontier 

18 May 2013
The Innovation Hub

Pretoria
 

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SA AMSAT ACCELERATING THE KLETSkous CUBESAT PROJECT

SA AMSAT has decided to accelerate their CubeSat project, named KLETSkous and expect to have the first prototype version of the transponder and control system on the table for testing by end February."One of the reasons to speed up development is the quest to have the transponder included as an experimental payload on the ARMC project." Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP said. Jacques Roux, ZR1ADC   is working on the transponder while Brian McKenzie, ZS1BMN is responsible for the control systems.

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SA AMSAT is in need of funding and appeals to radio amateurs to make a financial contribution.

DYNACUBE TO EXPLORE THE SOUTH ATLANTIC ANOMALY

After launch DynaCube, a one-unit CubeSat being constructed by Interns at the Denel Dynamics Engineering Academy will be exploring the South Atlantic Anomaly during orbits over the area.

The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), off the coast of Brazil, is an area where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth's surface dipping down to an altitude of 200km This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites to higher than usual levels of radiation. The effect is caused by the non-concentricity of the Earth and its magnetic dipole. The South Atlantic Anomaly is of great significance to satellites and other spacecraft that orbit the Earth at several hundred kilometres altitude; these orbits take satellites through the anomaly periodically, exposing them to several minutes of strong radiation, caused by the trapped protons in the inner Van Allen belt.

The team, all engineers who graduated from various universities in South Africa, spent last year working on the project to gain practical experience before they are assigned to various departments in the company. The Interns were tasked with designing, manufacturing and commissioning a 1 U Cube Satellite and its associated ground support systems. Three teams were formed, with each team having specific objectives. Team Ground Zero was responsible for the Ground Control Station as well as communications equipment on-board the satellite. Team Virtuoso was responsible for the On-board Computer (OBC), the power system, the satellite structure and telemetry data. The main tasks of Team Frodo were to specify the satellite payload, the required sensors, the attitude control and the launch of the satellite.

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