The launch into deep space of two Amateur Radio satellites, Shin’en 2 (Abyss 2) and ARTSAT2: DESPATCH, has been postponed again until December 3. The two spacecraft will hitch a ride with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa 2 asteroid mission, which had been scheduled to launch initially on November 29 and then on December 1. Shin’en 2 will identify as JG6YIG, while ARTSAT2:DESPATCH will use the call sign JQ1ZNN. The launch has been delayed twice due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Shin’en2 will carry a 0.1 W CW beacon on 437.505 MHz and telemetry on 437.385 MHz (0.8 W) using a mode similar to WSJT. It also will carry a F1D digital store-and-forward transponder with an uplink of 145.942 MHz with 435.270 MHz (0.4 W) downlink, but not the Amateur Radio Mode J linear transponder announced earlier. The data format is posted on the Kagoshima University website.

A linear transponder had been part of the initial design, but, according to Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU, Japanese regulations would not allow it and that it would have taken a long time to negotiate a variance with regulatory authorities. “So, they gave up the use of the transponder,” he said on the AMSAT-BB last month.

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH carries a 7 W CW transmitter on 437.325 MHz and will have onboard the first sculpture ever to be carried into deep space.

The two spacecraft will have an elliptical orbit around the Sun and travel to a deep space orbit between Venus and Mars. With an orbital inclination of nearly zero, the spacecraft should stay in Earth’s equatorial plane. The distance from the Sun will be between approximately 6.5 million and 12 million miles.

Meanwhile, the US Naval Research Laboratory SpinSat satellite was successfully deployed from the International Space Station on November 28 using the Cyclops deployment system. SpinSat was carried to the ISS on September 21 via the SpaceX Falcon 9 resupply vehicle.

The 125-pound SpinSat is a 22- inch diameter sphere carries a 2 W 9600 bps AX.25 packet radio store-and-forward system on 437.230 MHz. The satellite’s primary mission is to demonstrate a new micro-thruster technology, from which SpinSat derives its name; its 12 electronically controlled solid-propellant thrusters will be fired in pairs to spin the spacecraft.

While in space, SpinSat will be used in a test to calibrate the Space Surveillance Network. Lasers will be aimed at the spacecraft from Earth, and the reflected light measured to determine the where the satellite is passing overhead. SpinSat also will model the density of the atmosphere.

Equipped only with primary batteries and just 4.8 grams of fuel, the satellite’s working phase is expected to last up to 6 months. — Thanks to AMSAT, AMSAT-UK, Southgate Amateur Radio News