21st of November marked the 2nd anniversary of FUNcube-1 in orbit!
The team celebrated in various ways, and we also had a conference call with the majority of the team involved, recalling some particular events in the development, launch and operations so far.

All telemetry sensors continue to provide valid data, and we only had three unexpected “events” since launch. Two of these we believe to have been caused by noise of the command receiver being incorrectly interpreted as a command and only one appears to have been caused by a RAM error. The battery is really healthy and the solar panels continue to provide ample power.

I have done a minor update to the model file, it now has a cover sheet that reflects that FUNcube is in orbit.
Thanks to the people pointing out that it still had pre-launch text.

Cardboard Model download

Post for this video

The coming week, the Nayif-1 satellite team will be visiting the Netherlands to finish thermal and ADCS testing on the satellite. These test will be part of the last testing campaign before vibration testing and sealing up the spacecraft, prepared for launch.

AMSAT-NL and AMSAT-UK have built an adapted version of the FUNcube payload specifically for this mission.

During one of the earlier testing weekends, I took this image of the set-up

It is one week ago that the Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) was held world wide. During this event, scout troops all over the world make contact using amateur radio. I have been present at Scouting Dirk Duyvel in Alkmaar for the past 20 years or so, and this year was no exception.

What was exceptional is that we were the organisers of the regional JOTAcross game with 16 groups participating.

The shack was built inside an old english double decker bus, and the theme for the JOTAcross was “back to the future”. We had also made sure a DeLorean was present, complete with burning skidmarks.

JOTAcross page (in Dutch)

Today, FOX-1A was launched. This AMSAT satellite contains several experiments and measures 10x10x10 cm. It is a one unit CubeSat similar to FUNcube-1

I have tried an early pass, but so far no data received on the omni

Second attempt: heard! but not decoded

official website of the ballonvossenjacht

The Nayif-1 satellite, build by the American University of Sharjah (AUS) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), is ready for shipment to the Netherlands. It will undergo environmental testing here and will be prepared for flight.

I have spent last week in Dubai to assist during integration and testing of this satellite at the space centre
The satellite carries the FUNcube transponder package that contains my radio design.

It has been designed and constructed in a collaboration between MBRSC, AUS, AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-NL and Innovative Solutions In Space.

Photos here

At 2h 11m 16s a family arrives back from a long trip at sea and is greeted by relatives and friends.
Three people canoe towards the sailing ship and greet the family.