Page 32 - EngineerIT January 2022
P. 32
AMATEUR RADIO AND SPACE
Hannes Coetzee ZS6BZP Andrew Roos
one of their transponders and build a
suitable amateur radio interface. Two
radio amateurs, Hannes Coetzee ZS6BZP
and Andrew Roos, designed and built
the interface which was delivered on
time and successfully integrated by
Sunspace’s engineers in the second
transponder, which was dedicated to
amateur radio operation.
Launch problems
SumbandilaSat was planned for launch
from a Russian submarine but due to
technical and political difficulties, the
plan was scrapped. SumbandilaSat was
put into storage at SunSpace. Batteries
were periodically charged and the
payload tested.
After more political interventions,
a launch was finally secured and the
satellite was launched on 17 September Hendrik Burger at the Baikonur Cosmodrome
2009 on a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. are extremely pleased with our baby in space! Our first pass was at a very low elevation
On 17 September 2009 at 20:48, eastern pass with some mountains obscuring our “view” as well, but the satellite
SumbandilaSat responded to the first responded beautifully almost immediately after sending a command. We received real
command from the Stellenbosch ground time telemetry which suggested that the satellite was already executing an autonomous
station. SunSpace engineers posted: “We attitude stabilisation manoeuvre. This was confirmed on the second pass.”
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