APRS satellite fleet expansion planned

Writing from the US Naval Academy Satellite Development Lab this week, Bob, WB4APR reported on new satellites with the same APRS packet relay as PCSAT and the ISS that are in the works.

Bob said their design will use the new Byonics all-on-a-board Packet TNC/Radio/Telemetry system. This makes it possible to build a packet satellite out of a single 3.4" square board and 5 NiCd batteries and that is all you need for a tiny APRS satellite.

Bob said, "We are ordering a bunch of them on the APRS Space Channel of 145.825 MHz and hope to encourage other schools and universities to consider including one of these packet transponders in their missions. If we can get up to a dozen of these in space, we will have almost global coverage 24 hours a day from anywhere on the planet!"

These systems are still under development. No launch dates have been announced at this time.

Bob, WB4APR