Subject: JordanΓÇÖs First CubeSat Set for Early 2018 Launch
@VIA: WLARB
@MSGID: <592D7FD2.2951.dove-ham@wd1cks.org>
05/30/2017

Jordan's first CubeSat - JY1SAT - will be launched next February. The spacecraft's name recalls the Amateur Radio call sign of Jordan's late King Hussein. JY1SAT will carry a FUNcube 435/145 MHz SSB/CW Amateur Radio inverting transponder and a Slow-Scan Digital Video (SSDV) system to transmit stored images.

According to The Jordan Times, a team of 16 university students has been constructing the 1U CubeSat, supervised by a group of experts and academics through weekly meetings at the Royal Jordanian Radio Amateurs Society (RJRAS). RJRAS members Nart Tahamouqa, JY5IB, and Rafiq Farmawi, JY4CI, serve as advisers to the project.

The JY1SAT team includes 24-year-old Zeid Kawar, whose 2-month internship at NASA's Ames Research Center inspired his interest in developing his country's first nanosatellite.

The student team will develop and operate a special ground station (JY6JY). JY1SAT will transmit stored images reflecting Jordan's historical and cultural heritage, which will be selected in advance of the launch through a national competition.

JY1SAT applied to the IARU on May 15 to coordinate a telemetry downlink on 145.840 MHz and transponder downlink passband of 145.855-145.875 MHz with an inverting uplink on 435.100-435.120 MHz. A SpaceX flight will carry JY1SAT into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. - Thanks to AMSAT-UK, The Jordan Times, AMSAT News Service

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