• Unicorn-2A PocketQube to Launch Later this Year from Alaska

    From ARRL de WD1CKS@VERT/WLARB to QST on Mon Jun 4 20:40:17 2018
    06/04/2018

    According to a BBC News report[1], a new UK-built PocketQube satellite, Unicorn-2A, developed by radio amateurs at Glasgow's Alba Orbital, will launch later this year from Alaska.

    Three radio amateurs at Alba Orbital worked on Unicorn-2A, which will have downlinks in the 437 MHz and 2400 MHz bands. One of the transmission modes will be LoRa, a patented wireless communication technology. A 3rd quarter 2018 launch is planned on a Vector Launch Inc. rocket from Kodiak, Alaska, into a 350 x 350 kilometer 98° orbit. The mission will last about 45 days.

    A Dutch PocketQube, Delfi-PQ, downlink 436.650 MHz, is expected to be a fellow passenger on the launch. Alba Orbital is collaborating with the University of Aachen in Germany and its Amateur Radio group DL0FHA to trial Unicorn-2A operations and act as a backup, to help students to learn about communication with a real mission. - Thanks to AMSAT-UK


    [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44194126

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