China plans Amateur Radio Satellite launch

A report has been received via Michael Chen, BD5RV/4 that a new amateur radio satellite to be launched by China, CAS-1 has completed its IARU frequency coordination and the hardware has been finished.

The payload is planned to include a CW Telemetry Beacon, Linear Transponder, FM repeater and a Digital Store-forward Transponder. The operations will use 70cms downlinks and
2 meter uplinks at 500mW output power.

The satellite is expected to have a mass of 30kgs and be
launched from China into a sun syncronous orbit with a 670km apogee.

The CAS-1 team is waiting for another payload to be finished before launch which at this point is predicted to happen in early 2009.

Michael, BD5RV/4