After building a satellite tracking antenna and receiving pictures from American weather satellites, the students asked, 'done that - what's next ?' The next logical step was to build a satellite. The group asked a California based amateur radio group, Project OSCAR, which had built 4 satellites, whether, if the students built an amateur radio satellite, could they get it launched? OSCAR said, 'we will try.'
That was enough for the students. Ignoring 'experts' who said it couldn't be done, they built Australis in less than a year. Because of delays in America, Australis was not launched until January 1970. I t worked as planned, transmitting signals to thousands of amateur radio operators around the world. Who were these students and their helpers? They were Richard, Steve, Peter, Paul, Owen, Les, Willson and many others. Click on their names to read their contribution. |