Aussie HamSat launch 2006?

It has been two years in the construction and testing phase, and launch of the University of New South Wales' BLUEsat could be a reality this year, although no firm date has been announced.

The research focussed low earth orbiting micro satellite is being built entirely by students and will operate in the common Mode-J configuration of 2m and 70cm down.

The BLUEsat ground-station VK2UNS is fully equipped with a Yaesu FT847 satellite transceiver, plus two Terminal Node Controllers for digital transmission.

Sources:
Amateur Radio Victoria,
Wireless Institute of Australia