AESP-14 CubeSat

The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, have released a video showing the deployment of the Brazilian amateur radio satellite AESP-14 from the International Space Station (ISS).

The AESP-14 is a 1U CubeSat developed by undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the Technology Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) in Brazil. The satellite’s primary mission is to test the various subsystems in the space environment.

AESP-14 CubeSat released from ISS – Photo by Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF

The satellite was sent to the ISS as cargo on the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission CRS-5. Launch had been scheduled for December 16, 2014 but was postponed three times and it wasn’t until January 10, 2015 that the launch eventually took place. AESP-14 then awaited deployment from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) which is in the Japanese Experimental Module, Kibo.

The deployment took place around 1250 UT on Thursday, February 5. The AESP-14 telemetry beacon had a power output of 500 mW and used AX.25 with 9600 bps GMSK modulation (G3RUH standard) on 437.600 MHz. It should have started transmitting 30 minutes after deployment but as of March 30 nothing had been heard. It may be the battery did not survive several months without being recharged or the antenna may have failed to deploy.

Watch Deployment of AESP-14 Brazilian CubeSat

AESP-14 website http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14

Telemetry information sheet http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14/AESP-14Telemetry.pdf

AESP-14 CubeSat released from International Space Station http://www.spaceflight101.com/iss-expedition-42-updates-february-2015.html