Tag Archives: CubeSat

May 23 2013

BBC: Ecuador Pegasus CubeSat fears over space debris crash

CubeSat NEE-01 Pegasus

CubeSat NEE-01 Pegasus

BBC News is reporting that at 0538 UT on Thursday, May 23 Ecuador’s new NEE-01 Pegasus 910 MHz CubeSat collided with debris from a S14 Soviet rocket launched in 1985.

The satellite was some 1,500 km east of Madagascar at the time. Pegasus, launched less than a month ago, is the first 1U CubeSat to carry a HD TV transmitter and deployable solar panels. The basic satellite is just 10 by 10 by 10 cm but, when deployed, the solar panels have a span of 70 cm.

Ronnie Nader with Elisse Nader and CubeSat

Ronnie Nader with Elisse Nader and CubeSat

Ecuador’s first Astronaut Ronnie Nader is quoted as saying “Pegasus could be damaged or spinning out of control, but because it’s still in orbit, we have hope“.

He had said earlier that it could take up to 48 hours to ascertain possible damage using radar.

Read the BBC News story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22635671

May 23, 0700 UT: Ronnie Nader posted “Survived the event, but we are almost sure of side impact with particles, tomorrow [May 23 ECT?] we will see the state of Pegasus, but we are still in the sky, still have Pegasus”.

May 23, 1600 UT: Ronnie Nader tweeted “Now we are sure that there [was] particle impact“.

Educational outreach is an important part of the project. The Ecuadorian Space Agency EXA is partnering with schools in Ecuador as part of the ASTERIA Program, in which students will use the satellite in their curricular and extra curricular activities.

The BBC report that the Ecuadorian Government contributed $700,000 towards the launch costs of the 1U CubeSat. It was launched on April 26, 2013 into a 660 km orbit on a CZ-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Space Center along with CubeBug-1 and TURKSAT-3USAT. It is reported by EXA that the Argentine CubeBug-1 had a particle impact, however, Colin Hurst VK5HI has tweeted @AMSAT_UK @CubeBug1 CubeBug-1 still beaconing at 1257utc 24th May 2013 @VK5HI

902 – 928 MHz is an amateur radio allocation in some countries.

EXA report on the incident in Spanish http://www.exa.ec/bp52/
Google English version of the report http://tinyurl.com/q8wdql2

NEE-01 Pegasus 910 MHz TV Camera in Action
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/20/nee-01-pegasus-910-mhz-tv-camera-in-action/

NEE-01 Pegaus HD TV CubeSat
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/25/nee-01-pegasus-hd-tv-cubesat/

May 21 2013

First picture taken by ESTCube-1 CubeSat amateur radio callsign ES5E

ESTCube-1_first_picture_from_space

The first picture taken by the amateur radio CubeSat ESTCube-1 in space has been released. ESTCube-1 was launched from Kourou in the Caribbean on May 7 at 0206 UT on an ESA Vega rocket into a 704 km orbit.

ESTCube-1 camera on left of board

ESTCube-1 camera on left of board

The hard work of the first two weeks has paid off and the CAM team, leaded by the University of Tartu Computer Technology graduate student Henri Kuuste has this to say: The camera works perfectly and so do all the other subsystems, needed for taking the photo. The first image was captured on May 15 over the Mediterranean Sea, showing the sea, Sahara desert, and Tunisia.

On Monday, May 13 the whole ESTCube-1 team was invited to the reception of the rector of University of Tartu to celebrate the success of the satellite. Watch the video (in English) at http://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=17163

ESTCube-1 at press conference in Tallinn before shipping January 21, 2013 - Image credit University of Tartu

ESTCube-1 at press conference in Tallinn before shipping January 21, 2013 – Image credit University of Tartu

ESTCube-1 was built by students at the University of Tartu. The main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.

The technology is based on the electrostatic interaction between the electric field generated by the satellite and the high-speed particles being ejected from the Sun. A spacecraft utilizing this method would first deploy a set of electrically charged wires, which allow to generate an electric field over a large area. This area effectively forms a “sail” that can be pushed by the charged particles being diverted by it and therefore transferring momentum to the craft.

ESTCube-1 uses these frequencies:
437.252 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

Watch ESTCube-1 mission

Electric solar wind sail http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

EstCube on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/estcube/

EstCube website http://www.estcube.eu/en/home

Wiki EstCube-1 http://tinyurl.com/WikiESTCube-1

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ for CubeSats are at
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/cubesat.txt

Free satellite tracking software:
• SimpleSat Look Down http://www.tomdoyle.org/SimpleSatLookDown/
• Gpredict http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/
• Orbitron http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=9051

May 20 2013

NEE-01 Pegasus 910 MHz TV Camera in Action

NEE-01 Pegasus (Pegaso) the first of two HD TV CubeSats built in Ecuador launched on a CZ-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Space Center on Friday, April 26 at 0413 UT.

The 1U CubeSat (10x10x10 cm) was built in Ecuador and carries a 0.9 watt output 720p HD TV transmitter on 910 MHz (an amateur radio band in some countries).

Watch NEE-01 Pegaso recording May 16, 2013

EarthCam has teamed up with the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency to deliver what EarthCam describe as an amazing viewing experience from an orbiting satellite. You can view the NEE-01 Pegasus SpaceCam online at http://www.earthcam.com/world/ecuador/ecsa/

NEE-01 Pegasus (Pegaso) http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/25/nee-01-pegasus-hd-tv-cubesat/

May 19 2013

AMSAT Fox-1 Ham Radio CubeSat Announcement

Fox-1 CubeSat at the Dayton Hamvention - Image Credit ARRL

AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention – Image Credit ARRL

NASA announced on May 13, 2013 that AMSAT’s Fox-1 amateur radio spacecraft has been assigned for launch in November 2014 on the ELaNa XII mission. The expected orbit is 470 x 780 km at 64 degrees inclination. This orbit has a lifetime of about 11 years.

AMSAT Vice President Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, reported that the software development team successfully brought up the Fox-1 system software on the Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU). The IHU is the brains of the Fox-1 satellite and it has a 32-bit, STM32L microprocessor. The operating IHU card was shown in the AMSAT Engineering booth at the Dayton Hamvention.

AMSAT FOXThe Fox-1 Engineering Team will deliver the satellite for integration with the launch vehicle during May, 2014 with the launch scheduled for November, 2014. Tony commented, “While this is later than we had hoped, it is well within the normal variance of ELaNa launch dates and the extra time will be most welcome for additional satellite testing. This is very exciting news and really puts the focus on finishing the satellite and ground station software development.”

President Barry Baines says, “AMSAT’s focus on STEM education and development of a CubeSat platform capable of flying a science mission with a reliable communications link resulted in the selection of Fox-1 in the third round and RadFxSat (Fox-1B) in the fourth round of NASA’s Cubesat Launch Initiative.”

All Fox CubeSats are designed to host advanced science payloads to support future science missions that help us to continue qualify for NASA ELaNa (free) launches. The Phase 1 Fox satellites are 1-Unit CubeSats. They each include an analog FM repeater that will allow simple ground stations using an HT and an “arrow” type antenna to make contacts using the satellite. This was the mode made so popular by AO-51. The Phase 1 CubeSats also have the capability of operating in a high-speed digital mode for data communications. Phase 2 Fox satellites will include software-defined-transponders (SDX) like the one tested on ARISSat-1. These will be able to operate in a wide variety of analog and digital communications modes including linear transponders. Since this requires more power for reliable operation, these will probably all be 3-Unit CubeSats.

Source: AMSAT News Service (ANS) http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=443

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

May 14 2013

Fox-1 has a Launch Date!

AMSAT FOX

AMSAT FOX

NASA announced Monday that AMSAT’s Fox-1 FM transponder spacecraft has been assigned a launch in 2014. For details on the launch vehicle, targeted launch date, orbit specifics, and more, please attend the AMSAT Forum and visit the AMSAT booth at the Dayton Hamvention this weekend.  Watch http://www.amsat.org/ and the AMSAT News Service for more details to follow as they become available.

AMSAT’s Fox-1 CubeSat aims to provide these features:

• Fox-1 is designed to operate in sunlight without batteries once the battery system fails. This applies lessons learned from AO-51 and ARISSat-1 operations.

• In case of IHU failure Fox-1 aims to continue to operate its FM repeater in a basic, ‘zombie sat’ mode, so that the repeater remains on-the-air.

• Fox-1 is designed as the immediate replacement for AO-51. Its U/V (Mode B) FM transponder will make it even easier to work with modest equipment.

• From the ground user’s perspective, the same FM amateur radio equipment used for AO-51 may be used for Fox-1.

May 12 2013

British Interplanetary Society President to speak at AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

The 2013 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will start late afternoon on Friday, July 19 and will run through until the afternoon on Sunday, July 21 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK.

It will be preceded by an exciting “Hands-on” CubeSat Workshop which will take place at the nearby University of Surrey on the Friday and this will be followed, at the hotel, by the usual Colloquium “Beginners Session” in the late afternoon.

A number of keynote presentations have already been arranged for the Colloquium. These include Alistair Scott, the President of the British Interplanetary Society. The BIS has, over many decades, developed ideas and concepts about the future of space travel and both Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke were members. Alistair has had many years experience working in the space industry and will be reviewing the future possibilities for ventures into space both small and large. The BIS is presently developing one of the Sprites for the Kicksat mission and Andrew Vaudin will be presenting a paper about this and also providing a demonstration.

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom SSC

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom SSC

It is anticipated that both the FUNcube-1 and FUNcube-2 missions will be launched later this year and the FUNcube team will be on hand to talk about the missions and the planned educational outreach. A full demonstration of the Engineering Model, which has been performing flawlessly for almost a year, will also be provided.

On the Sunday, the General Manager of the RSGB, Graham Coomber, G0NBI will be talking about the Society’s vision of the future of amateur radio and how amateur satellites can play a major part in helping to secure that future.

We will also have updates on a number of the other current amateur satellite projects including HAMtv from the ISS, spectrum matters, operating methods, new products etc. Additionally there will be a satellite demonstration station operating over the weekend and visits to the new technical facilities at the University are planned.

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

There are still a few slots available for additional speakers, so if you would like to make a presentation, please contact Dave Johnson G4DPZ e-mail: dave at g4dpz dot me dot uk as soon as possible.

The AMSAT-UK organising committee looks forward to welcoming both regular attendees and newcomers – you can be assured of a warm welcome and an exciting weekend.

The event is open to all, full details of the accommodation, travel and booking arrangements are at
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/

Details of the free “Hands On” CubeSat Workshop are at
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/cubesat-workshop-2013/

May 6 2013

ESTCube-1 – Estonia’s First CubeSat

Vega VV02 lift-off from Kourou on May 7, 2013 at 02:06 UT

Vega VV02 lift-off from Kourou on May 7, 2013 at 02:06 UT

Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E, was launched from Kourou in the Caribbean on May 7 at 0206 UT on an ESA Vega rocket into a 704 km orbit. Also on the same launch were Vietnam’s VNREDSat-1A and ESA’s Proba‑V satellites.

ESTCube-1 - Image credit University of Tartu

ESTCube-1 – Image credit University of Tartu

This Vega mission required five upper-stage boosts and lasted about twice as long as its first launch, in February 2012.

The three solid-propellant stages performed flawlessly and, after two burns of the liquid-propellant upper stage, Proba‑V was released into a circular orbit at an altitude of 820 km, over the western coast of Australia, some 55 minutes into flight.

After releasing Proba-V, the upper stage performed a third burn and the top half of the egg-shaped Vega Secondary Payload Adapter was ejected. After a fourth burn to circularize the orbit at an altitude of 704 km, VNREDSat-1A was released 1 hour 57 minutes into flight. ESTCube‑1 was ejected from its dispenser three minutes later.

ESTCube-1 was built by students at the University of Tartu. The main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.

ESTCube-1 at press conference in Tallinn before shipping January 21, 2013 - Image credit University of Tartu

ESTCube-1 at press conference in Tallinn before shipping January 21, 2013 – Image credit University of Tartu

The technology is based on the electrostatic interaction between the electric field generated by the satellite and the high-speed particles being ejected from the Sun. A spacecraft utilizing this method would first deploy a set of electrically charged wires, which allow to generate an electric field over a large area. This area effectively forms a “sail” that can be pushed by the charged particles by being diverted by it and therefore transferring momentum to the craft.

The team also aim to capture images of Estonia for outreach purposes.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have published these frequencies for ESTCube-1
437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

The CW beacon has been received slightly high of the published frequency on 437.2515 MHz (+/- Doppler shift). Among those reporting the signal have been Nader Omer ST2NH in Sudan, Mike Rupprecht DK3WN in Germany, and Hector Martinez CO6CBF in Cuba who was using an AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle SDR.

Watch Estonian’s ESTCube-1

Watch Exploded view of ESTCube-1

Electric solar wind sail http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

EstCube on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/estcube/

EstCube website http://www.estcube.eu/en/home

Wiki EstCube-1 http://tinyurl.com/WikiESTCube-1

ESA report on launch and deployment
http://www.esa.int/For_Media/Press_Releases/ESA_s_Vega_launcher_scores_new_success_with_Proba-V

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

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ for CubeSats are at
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/cubesat.txt

Free satellite tracking software:
• SimpleSat Look Down http://www.tomdoyle.org/SimpleSatLookDown/
• Gpredict http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/
• Orbitron http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=9051

ESTCube Ground Station Antennas

ESTCube Ground Station Antennas

Apr 30 2013

OPUSAT CubeSat

OPUSATOPUSAT is a 1U CubeSat designed and created by an OPU student team consisting of about 20 undergraduates and graduates at the Small Spacecraft Systems Research Center (SSSRC).

It is planning to use a 2 metre downlink for CW Beacon, 1k2 AFSK and 9k6 GMSK telemetry.

Mission Plans include
a. To operate technique of getting high power with Lithium-Ion Capacitor, control to the sun, and Maximum Power Point Tracking.
b. To open data of experiments on orbit and analytical software to the public.
c. To hold “competition of expecting object”.
d. To hold “competition of expecting the date of atmospheric entry

Planning for a 400 km circular 65 deg orbit with a launch by JAXA together with STARS-ⅡKagawa University,TeikyoSat-Teikyo University, ShindaiSat Shinshu University, INVADER Tama Art University and ITF-1 University of Tsukuba.

It is understood the primary payload is the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) due to launch in JFY 2013.

OPSAT in Google English http://tinyurl.com/OPUSAT

Apr 30 2013

TURKSAT-3USAT Announcement

TURKSAT-3USAT and Deployment Pod

TURKSAT-3USAT and Deployment Pod

Dear Radio Amateurs,

To save energy in the batteries of TURKSAT-3USAT satellite, unless announced otherwise, we kindly request you to;

1. When following the satellite, especially during daylight passings, concentrate on listening to the beacon signal at 437.225 MHz (with an open squelch, using preamp) only and send the info you have recorded to turksat3usat@tamsat.org.tr , together with time and location information.

2. Do not use the calling frequencies of the transponders (Uplink 145.940 – 145.990 MHz) and do not make any calls (TX) at these frequencies during this time.

3. Continue using existing TLE (Kepler) data in tracking the satellite, unless announced otherwise.

4. We thank all radio amateurs for their kind interest and help in this.

TURKSAT-3USAT information http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/turksat-3usat/

Apr 26 2013

PhoneSat Pictures Released

Graham PhoneSat Picture 2013-04-25

Graham PhoneSat Picture 2013-04-25

Pictures taken by the Graham and Bell PhoneSat satellites, deployed April 21, have been released.

Graham and Bell have been transmitting picture packets. Radio amateurs around the world have been receiving the individual packets and passing them to the PhoneSat team who have stitched them together to restore the complete Earth picture.

See the pictures at http://www.phonesat.org/pictures.php

PhoneSat team thank Radio Amateurs
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/23/phonesat-team-thank-radio-amateurs/