A satellite labour of love

From Medway to the moon – that is the aim for the Medway Radio Society (MRS), based at the University of Greenwich’s Medway Campus.

A large rectangular horn left idle on the roof will soon be sending out radio waves, which the society – having been granted a club amateur licence - hopes will soon be receiving information from its own satellite.

MRS intends to encourage engineering students, as well as its members, to help design a satellite, which will be about the size of a brick and can be used to measure cosmic rays, take photographs or measure pollution, among other things.

The satellite will be one of up to 20 launched and placed in orbit by a rocket owned by Cubesat, a project which gives universities, schools and colleges access to space.

MRS has a collection of amateur radio equipment donated from the estate of an enthusiast who recently passed away, known in the fraternity as a “silent key”, whose call sign was M0CUJ.

John Jenkins,a technician in the university’s School of Engineering, says: “As well as the satellite project we’ll be looking to bounce a signal off the moon, perhaps as a joint project with another university.”

For more information please visit http://www.umsa.org.uk/clubs/medway_radio_society and http://www.cubesat.org

Story by Public Relations

Picture: The MRS receiver at the Medway Campus.