UKube-1 Launch Cake

The UKube-1 satellite was successfully launched on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 1558 UT from Pad 31/6 at Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The 145.840 MHz beacon signal was received by the UKube team in Chilbolton at 19:16 UT.

It had been expected the first signal would be received over South Africa at about 18:52 UT but no signals were heard. The UKube team at Chilbolton and radio amateurs across the British Isles and Europe anxiously awaited the satellite coming within range, when it did a strong signal was heard from the satellite. The FUNcube-2 beacon on 145.915 MHz was also activated and received well.

Practical Wireless magazine VHF columnist Tim Kirby @G4VXE was one of the radio amateurs listening, he tweeted “Pleased to receive CW from UKube-1 on the first pass over the UK”.

Signals have also been received from DX-1 and the SSTL research satellite TechEdSat which were on the same launch as UKube-1.

UKube-1 carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards which provide an educational beacon for use by schools and a linear transponder for amateur radio communications. Presently, commissioning of the spacecraft is continuing, and there may be future occasions when the 145.915 MHz FUNcube  telemetry transmitter will be activated during this period. The transponder is not expected to be available until later in the mission.

UKube-1 in flight configuration in the cleanroom at Clyde Space Ltd – Credit Steve Greenland

The first submitters of UKube-1 telemetry data to the FUNcube Data Warehouse were:
– DK3WN
– OO1A
– F-60429
– G0PGL
– G4GUO
– PD3T
– M0LTC
The current UKube-1/FUNcube-2 Rankings can be seen at http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/ranking.html?satelliteId=1

The UKube team has asked that all stations continue to monitor the downlinks and where possible to forward their reports as follows:
– CW beacon on 145.840 MHz to operations@funcube.org.uk and steve.greenland@clyde-space.com
– FUNcube telemetry (when activated) on 145.915 MHz – your existing dashboard will not display properly (except for the Fitter Messages!) but it WILL be forwarding it to the Warehouse correctly and the data will be very useful for the team.

UKube-1 CubeSat at Clyde Space

Dashboard App – Telemetry Decoder http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/

Data Warehouse – Telemetry Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/

Nico Janssen PA0DLO has posted on the AMSAT Bulletin Board that Doppler measurements suggest that UKube-1 is either object 40074, 2014-037F, or object 40075, 2014-037G. The separation between these objects is now only 1 s, so no more than 7.5 km.

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ of new satellites launched in past 30 days http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

UKube-1 frequencies:
• 145.840 MHz Telemetry downlink
• 145.915 MHz FUNcube subsystem beacon
• 400 mW inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW
– 435.080-435.060 MHz Uplink
– 145.930-145.950 MHz Downlink
• 2401.0 MHz S Band Downlink
• 437.425-437.525 MHz UKSEDS myPocketQub Downlink

Watch UKube-1 CubeSat payload animation

Watch the launch vehicle integration of UKube-1 and the other satellites

Watch the Soyuz roll out

Watch the launch

There will be a presentation on the UKube-1 FUNcube-2 amateur radio payload at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium being held at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ on July 26-27, the event is open to all, further details at https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/

Peter Goodhall @2E0SQL made this recording of UKube-1 CW and Data
https://soundcloud.com/peter-goodhall/ukube-1-satellite-first-pass-over-the-uk

UK Space Agency announcement https://www.gov.uk/government/news/successful-launch-for-uk-space-agencys-first-cubesat-mission

UKube-1 (United Kingdom Universal Bus Experiment 1)
https://eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/u/ukube-1

UKube-1 Launch Information https://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/03/ukube-1-launch-information/

DX-1 Satellite https://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/04/dx-1-appeal-to-radio-hams-from-dauria-aerospace/