Yearly Archives: 2013

Jun 18 2013

ICSEDS 2012/13 video showcases Rocket and Balloon Achievements

UKSEDS & ICSEDS Project Officer, TeeJay Taiwo, prepares his rockets for his license assesment. Photo credit: Kishan, ICSEDS

UKSEDS & ICSEDS Project Officer, TeeJay Taiwo, prepares his rockets for his license assesment. Photo credit: Kishan, ICSEDS

This video is the Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (ICSEDS) entry to the RBS ESSA bronze awards. It showcases their projects and events throughout the 2012/13 year.

In the video are interviews with Engine Design Group member Madeleine Alexander, High Powered Rocketry Member Zoe Edwards, High Altitude Ballooning member Oscar Woolnough and ISEDS Vice Chair Joseph Dudley.

ICSEDS thank Imperial College London Chemical Engineering Department for their support in our High Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project (434 MHz). Also thanks to Alex Cherney at http://www.terrastro.com and David Peterson for giving permission to use the two spectacular clips in the introduction, of the video.

More information on ICSEDS can be found at: http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/guilds/icseds
Follow ICSEDS on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ICSEDS
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ICSEDS

Watch ICSEDS 2012/13 – Imperial College Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

Jun 17 2013

Google Project Loon using 2400 and 5800 MHz

Google Project Loon Antenna

Google Project Loon Antenna

Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas using High-Altitude Balloons (HAB) placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.

The solar powered balloons are expected to stay aloft for over 100 days at a time and support not only air-to-ground Internet communications but also balloon-to-balloon communications enabling the signal to be relayed, if required, by several balloons to a ground-based station connected to an ISP, then onto the global Internet.

Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.

The first 30 balloons are being launched from New Zealand see http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10890750

Among those involved in the project is Erin King AK4JG, a student at MIT. She was winner of the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award. See a video of her earlier balloon project while still at high school and a video of her presentation ‘Launching Radios and Other Cool Stuff into the Stratosphere’ at https://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/03/arnewsline-ham-of-the-year-erin-king-ak4jg/

Google Project Loon http://www.google.com/loon/

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon

Google Project Loon Balloon

Google Project Loon Balloon

Jun 16 2013

Fox-2 MPPT Team Selected In TI Design Contest

AMSAT FOXAMSAT sponsored a senior design project at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) this academic year.

The students included senior EE majors:
Bryce Salmi KB1LQC
Brent Salmi KB1LQD
Ian MacKenzie KB3OCF
Dan Corriero

The project was to develop a Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) circuit which is used to maximize the power obtained from a solar panel by forcing the cells to operate at their most efficient voltage regardless of the voltage required by the payload. One can also think of this as an impedance match. This optimum voltage changes slightly with variations in solar irradiance but changes greatly due to variations in solar panel temperature.

The MPPT utilizes a Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller to communicate telemetry data with the Fox satellite Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU) designed by AMSAT for transmission to Earth via ham radio. The senior design group consisting of Brenton Salmi (KB1LQD), Bryce Salmi (KB1LQC), Ian MacKenzie (KB3OCF), and Daniel Corriero successfully implemented an analog MPPT designed for use in orbit over the five year mission intended for Fox-2 providing the amateur radio community with a 3U CubeSat carrying amateur radio communications equipment.

The students completed a working prototype which was on display in the AMSAT engineering booth at Dayton in May.

The project was entered into Texas Instruments’ 2013 Analog Design Contest for university students.
See: http://tinyurl.com/mf6nzhr

The AMSAT MPPT project was selected as one of the top 10 semi-finalists and the students were invited on an all-expenses paid trip to TI’s contest summit to be held July 21-23 in Dallas where the final winners will be announced.

Congratulations to the Fox-2 RIT MPPT team!

Main Documentation:
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13271/public/Home

Technical Document (8 pages of technical information HIGHLY recommended reading):
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13271/public/FinalDocuments/Build_Test_Document/P13271_AMSAT_MPPT_Technical_Report.pdf

Theory of Operations (In-depth technical documentation):
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13271/public/FinalDocuments/Detailed_Design/Theory_Operations

PCB Picture:
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13271/public/Photo%20Gallery/MPPT_SN2_Final/MPPT_SN2_PCB.png

MPPT Testing Operational Walk-through:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN7gRVWHZM4

Schematics:
http://edge.rit.edu/edge/P13271/public/FinalDocuments/Detailed_Design/AMSAT_7W_MPPT_Schematic.pdf

Thanks to Bryce Salmi KB1LQC, ANS and Tony AA2TX for the above information.

Jun 14 2013

AMSAT ARISS Program Status

International Space Station ISS with shuttle Endeavour 2011-05-23Frank Bauer, KA3HDO and AMSAT VP for Human Spaceflight Programs presents an update on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program.

The presentation was given at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. Frank takes a quick look at 30 years of amateur radio on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, some changes at NASA that are affecting ARISS, and finishes with how you can become involved.

Watch AMSAT ARISS Program Status, by Frank KA3HDO – 2013 Dayton Hamvention

ARISS http://www.ariss.org/

Jun 14 2013

AMSAT Education and You

Dr Mark Hammond N8MH

Dr Mark Hammond N8MH

During the AMSAT Forum at the Dayton 2013 Hamvention, Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT VP for Education Relations gave a quick overview of AMSAT’s recent educational activities, AMSAT’s partnership with the ARRL Education & Technology Program, and how you can become involved.

Watch AMSAT Education and You, by Mark N8MH – 2013 Dayton Hamvention

Jun 14 2013

Articles needed for OSCAR News magazine

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoThe editors of OSCAR News always welcome contributions – these can be full articles or simply news, views or gossip!

Please send them to g3wgm [at] amsat.org and/or g3vzv [at] amsat.org

As you will be aware we are presently producing four issues each year so please get in touch with us if you have any concerns about deadlines.

Please submit your articles in any of the following formats:– Text: txt, rtf, rtfd, doc, docx, odt,
Spreadsheets: Excel or OpenOffice,
Images: tiff, png, jpg
Schematics: pdf

(Ideally please send graphics/pics separately, ie not embedded in doc files, etc)
The editors are here to help you so please shout if you have any concerns.

Many thanks in advance for your contributions!
Jim & Graham