Tag Archives: We-Wish

Mar 9 2013

Amateur Radio CubeSat burns-up in atmosphere

Altitude of the five CubeSats - Image credit Masahiro Arai JN1GKZ

Altitude of the five CubeSats compared with ARISSat-1/Kedr – Image credit Masahiro Arai JN1GKZ

WE-WISH, one five CubeSats deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on October 4, 2012. burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere on Monday, March 11. On the AMSAT Bulletin Board Nico Janssen PA0DLO suggested it burnt up at 02:59 UT near 48 degrees North, 119 degrees East. He says TechEdSat is likely to be the next of the five to re-enter sometime in April.

Deployment of CubeSats WE-WISH and RAIKO from the ISS

Deployment of CubeSats WE-WISH and RAIKO from the ISS – Image NASA

Built by members of the Meisei Amateur Radio Club WE-WISH carried an infrared camera for environmental studies. The 320 by 256 pixels images  of the Earth’s surface were transmitted in approx 110 secs using SSTV. The callsign was JQ1ZIJ and the 100mW downlink on 437.515 MHz operated on CW (A1A), AX.25 1200 bps packet radio (F2D) or SSTV (F3F).

Masahiro Arai JN1GKZ has produced a chart that shows the declining altitude of the five CubeSats since their deployment. RAIKO was the largest of the CubeSats at about 2 kg and 10 × 10 × 20 cm and the others being about 1 kg and 10 × 10 × 10 cm. The chart compares their orbital decay with that of ARISSat-1/Kedr (30 kg, 55 × 55 × 40 cm) which was deployed on August 3, 2011 and and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on January 4, 2012, having spent 154 days in orbit.

Further information and some spectacular pictures of the CubeSats taken just after deployment can be seen at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/techedsat-f-1-fitsat-1-we-wish/

Oct 5 2012

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSats Deployed

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment – Image Credit JAXA

On October 4, 2012 five CubeSats were successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS). The first pod containing RAIKO and WE-WISH was deployed at 1437 UT while the second pod containing FITSAT-1, F-1 and TechEdSat deployed at 1544 UT. Pictures can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10804

October 4 was also the 55th anniversary of the launch of the first satellite Sputnik 1. Videos of Sputnik are here.

Four of the CubeSats carry Amateur Radio payloads, they are TechEdSat, F-1, FITSAT-1, and WE-WISH. As of Oct 5, 1015 UT signals had been reported from WE-WISH and FITSAT-1 as well as weak signal reports for TechEdSat.

ISS CubeSat Frequency Chart – Image Credit Mike Rupprecht DK3WN

Continue reading →

Jul 21 2012

CubeSat Launch Success

The HTV-3 cargo vessel carrying five CubeSats blasted off on an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center on Saturday, July 21 at 02:06 UT on its way to the International Space Station (ISS).

On July 27 it is scheduled to arrive at the ISS  where it will be grappled by the Expedition 32 crew using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm and attached to the forward end of the Harmony module to begin a stay of just under a month.

Onboard are four amateur radio CubeSats, F-1, We-Wish, FitSat-1 and TechEdSat along with a scientific CubeSat Raiko.

The CubeSats will remain on the ISS until the first week in September when they will be deployed by Japanese astronaut and radio amateur Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI using the ISS Kibo robot arm.

The F-1 CubeSat carries a pair of Yaesu VX-3R handheld transceivers to provide communications on 145.980 MHz and 437.485 MHz FM using AX.25 packet radio data.

FITSAT-1 will carry an Optical Communications experiment that aims to write Morse Code across the night sky, although only when in range of Japan. It will also transmit CW on 437.250 MHz, FM AX.25 data on 437.445 MHz and high speed data on 5840.00 MHz.

We-Wish will transmit  on 437.505 MHz FM AX.25 data.
TechEdSat will transmit on 437.465 MHz and will also communicate via the Iridium and Orbcomm satellite phone networks, a first for a CubeSat.

Watch the launch of the HTV-3

Video of planned deployment of F-1 CubeSat XV1VN from the ISS http://www.uk.amsat.org/8446

F-1 CubeSat on TV http://www.uk.amsat.org/8861

Jun 8 2012

Video of HTV-3 Spacecraft and CubeSat Deployer

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

The Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI” (HTV) is an unmanned transfer vehicle which can carry amateur radio CubeSats along with food, clothes and equipment needed for experiments in the International Space Station (ISS).

“KOUNOTORI 3” (HTV-3) is planned to launch on July 21, 2012 from Tanegashima Space Center and will be carrying four amateur radio CubeSats WE-WISH, FITSAT-1, F-1, and TechEdSat along with the CubeSat Raiko which carries a beacon in KU-Band.

This video, produced by the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, gives an overview of the HTV-3 and its payloads. At  3:56 into the video there is a segment on the JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer  (J-SSOD) that Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI will use to deploy the CubeSats from the ISS. The Software Defined Radio gets a mention at 7:34.

Watch KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3) – Third Expedition to Space at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uxRbANmxik

Feb 24 2012

TechEdSat to use 'SatPhone'

TechEdSat

TechEdSat

TechEdSat will be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS). It is a 1U CubeSat that will demonstrate Plug and Play power architecture and two way communication via the satellite phone/data networks Iridium and Orbcomm.

UPDATE: The plan to transmit from space using frequencies allocated to Iridium and Orbcomm SatPhone ground stations has been canceled. A statement from the team says: “We were forced to disable the Iridium modem as our FCC license did not come in time. As usual, building the satellite is the easy part.”

There will be a 437.465 MHz beacon transmitting 1 watt to 1/4 wave monopole. Commanding is via the commercial networks and there is a 2 week watchdog timer to stop the beacon in the event of no commands being received.

TechEdSat will be launched along with Raiko, FITSat-1, We-Wish and F-1 to the ISS aboard HTV-3, currently planned to launch July 18, 2012. From there, it will be deployed into Low Earth Orbit  using the JAXA J-SSOD deployer, from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM also known as Kibo).

Wiki – TechEdSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TechEdSat

Kibo Robot Arm http://kibo.jaxa.jp/en/about/kibo/rms/

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSat Deployment October 4 http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10119

Watch the deployment live at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination pages hosted by AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

Feb 24 2012

TechEdSat to use ‘SatPhone’

TechEdSat

TechEdSat

TechEdSat will be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS). It is a 1U CubeSat that will demonstrate Plug and Play power architecture and two way communication via the satellite phone/data networks Iridium and Orbcomm.

UPDATE: The plan to transmit from space using frequencies allocated to Iridium and Orbcomm SatPhone ground stations has been canceled. A statement from the team says: “We were forced to disable the Iridium modem as our FCC license did not come in time. As usual, building the satellite is the easy part.”

There will be a 437.465 MHz beacon transmitting 1 watt to 1/4 wave monopole. Commanding is via the commercial networks and there is a 2 week watchdog timer to stop the beacon in the event of no commands being received.

TechEdSat will be launched along with Raiko, FITSat-1, We-Wish and F-1 to the ISS aboard HTV-3, currently planned to launch July 18, 2012. From there, it will be deployed into Low Earth Orbit  using the JAXA J-SSOD deployer, from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM also known as Kibo).

Wiki – TechEdSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TechEdSat

Kibo Robot Arm http://kibo.jaxa.jp/en/about/kibo/rms/

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSat Deployment October 4 http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10119

Watch the deployment live at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination pages hosted by AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru