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Since the early years of spaceflight, amateur radio and space enthusiasts have successfully built and launched a large number of spacecraft. As the primary driver was to develop spacecraft on very low budgets, cost reducing techniques becoming fashionable in the mid 1980's and through the 1990's were pioneered on these spacecraft. These include

Piggyback launching
Application of non-space qualified components and techniques

All spacecraft in this series have been small satellites weighing less than 500kg so far.

Relevant Links

US, AMSAT-NA, Amateur satellite organisation
UK, AMSAT-UK
Australia, AMSAT-Australia
BELGIUM, AMSAT-ON
France, AMSAT-F
Germany, AMSAT-DE
Hearsat, Radio observation of satellite transmissions
Seasat, Visual observation of satellites

Spacecraft table

The table below lists the spacecraft given OSCAR designations by AMSAT, for Orbiting Station Carrying Amateur Radio equipment. Some of these spacecraft were attached payloads and are not listed here.

The links in this table return to the main SSHP relevant spacecraft data, where additional information and external links with resources can be found.

Russian Amateur spacecraft are given the separate designator of RS, for Radio Sputnik.

Glossary

 

AFSK

Audio Frequency Shift Keying. Tones are employed to frequency modulate the downlink frequency. Typically 1200bps data rates employ 1200Hz and 2400Hz tones to fit within a 25kHz channel (inclusive of Doppler shift).

CPFSK

Continuous Phase, Frequency Shift Keying. Similar to FSK, but frequency transitions are smooth, in continuous phase fashion. 9600bps is a popular rate used

Digitalker

Digitised voice transmission, often employed to transmit announcements, or telemetry in a form that requires only simple radio equipment for reception.

FSK

Frequency Shift Keying. The frequency of the downlink is varied depending on data bit content.

Mode

Definition of uplink, downlink, modulation and protocol for employing the on-board communications transponder.

Store & Forward (S&F)

A method of communicating outside the immediate ground coverage circle of the satellite. The satellite acts as a bulletin board mail box. messages (typically digital) are transmitted and stored on the satellite, and can be retrieved elsewhere. With the satellite in a suitable orbit, global or regional coverage can be achieved with a single satellite, albeit typically with delivery times of up to 24 hours.