May 4 2013

How to pack a big solar sail in a tiny cubesat

Nicolas Lee A still photo from an experiment video shows a tiny cubesat satellite prototype after deploying a folded sail in weightlessness aboard NASA's "vomit comet" research plane.

Nicolas Lee
A still photo from an experiment video shows a tiny cubesat satellite prototype after deploying a folded sail in weightlessness aboard NASA’s “vomit comet” research plane.

By Tia Ghose
Space.com

A simple paper-folding technique could help tiny satellites unfurl big sails in space to detect micrometeoroid impacts, scientists say.

The folding strategy, described Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical and Physical Sciences, could be used to pack relatively large sails into miniature satellites known as cubesats. When the sails pop out, they could provide a bigger area to catch meteoroid impacts.

“It’s like putting a bigger windshield on your car to catch more bugs,” said study co-author Nicolas Lee, an aerospace engineer at the California Institute of Technology.

 

May 1 2013

Find out about the BIS KickSat Sprite satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) invites those wishing to find out more about their KickSat Sprite to attend an end-to-end test day on Saturday, May 4.

The BIS invites people to participate in project KickSat, or simply come along to find out more.

Aims for the day
• End-to-end test – KickSat Sprite transmission to reception and decoded signal
• Connecting an antenna to the souvenir Sprite and getting the radio working
• Programming Sprites, including obtaining readings from the temperature sensor

Discussions on the day are likely to include:
• Programming options; less/more, safe/ambitious, pro’s/cons of each, etc.
• Ground stations; receiving, decoding, aggregating
• Virtualizing Sprites or creating mock-ups for testing

The following equipment will be available on the day:
• KickSat Sprite developer kit
• Souvenir sprite, antenna, solar cells, soldering equipment and a launchpad
• FUNcube dongles (at least one Pro and at least one Pro+)
• Laptop, projector and Wi-Fi

Bringing a laptop will be helpful for anyone wanting to participate. Also, bringing equipment to receive the test signals on a computer will be greatly appreciated.

The event takes place on Saturday, May 4, 2013 from 11:00 am to 5 pm at 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ

Information about KickSat can be found at:
http://www.bis-space.com/category/bis-projects
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

Further information and attendance registration at
http://www.bis-space.com/2013/04/14/9755/kicksat-end-to-end-testing

16 year-old UK student to work on KickSat Sprite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/23/uk-student-to-work-on-kicksat/

The KickSat Sprites from both the BIS and London Hackspace are planned to launch, with 198 others, on the SpaceX Falcon 9 ELaNa 5 / CRS 3 mission on December 9, 2013.

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

Flying Laptop – 130 kg Satellite

Flying Laptop FLP satellite

Flying Laptop (FLP) satellite

The Flying Laptop (FLP) is a 130 kg spacecraft of 600 by 702 by 866 mm. It is the first satellite of the Small Satellites Program in Stuttgart. This mission aims to establish the foundation for the required infrastructure as well as the expertise for the Small Satellites Program of the Institute of Space Systems (IRS), University of Stuttgart. The satellite is developed and build at the IRS and will be operated with the institutes’ own ground station. The design, development, construction and future operation are primarily done by Ph.D. students and undergraduate students.

The satellite plans to demonstrate a number of innovative technologies including infra-red high speed optical links. Also three cameras with 25 metre resolution and an S Band downlink for near real time observations. Proposing 10 Mbit/s QPSK LHCP transmissions using CCSDS like protocol.

No launch yet confirmed but planning a sun synchronous LEO in late 2014. They have applied to the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) for coordinated Amateur Satellite Service frequencies.

More information from

https://oc.irs.uni-stuttgart.de/public.php?service=files&t=e12e0e7f821a3163d949a580672a3def

using the password hamradio13

Flying Laptop http://www.kleinsatelliten.de/index.php/en/flying-laptop.html

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 https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/turksat-3usat/

Apr 30 2013

IARU Region 1 Agrees Addition 2m Satellite Allocation

IARU_Region_1_logoThe minutes from the IARU Region 1 Interim meeting held in Vienna, April 20-21, have been released.

A number of papers related to Amateur-Satellite Service allocations were discussed:
• VIE13_C5_03 Increased Amateur‐Satellite Service 144MHz Usage
• VIE13_C5_05 Recommendations for DATV Transmission
• VIE13_C5_24 Region 1 Satellite Coordinator Report
• VIE13_C5_27 New Narrow‐Band working frequencies in the 2300–2450 MHz band
• VIE13_C5_32 2400MHz Amateur Satellites

The Vienna C5 meeting minutes are available here.

The original papers for the meeting are available here.

Probably the most important paper from an Amateur Satellite Service perspective was VIE13_C5_03 which proposed the use of 144.000-144.035 MHz for satellite SSB/CW downlinks.

The minutes record that Graham Shirville G3VZV presented the paper on the increasing use of 2m by satellites and the desire to use the under-utilized bottom of the 2m band 144.000-144.035, which had originally been harmonized for EME activity. EME has subsequently moved to frequencies further up the band.

In order to accommodate some CW contests, the proposal was reduced from 35 to 25kHz (i.e. 144.000-144.025 MHz).

If the other IARU Region 2 and Region 3 are also willing to go for 144.000 and 144.025, then IARU Region 1 will support this proposal.

Note: IARU Region 2 Conference is in Cancun, Mexico in September 2013.

Read VIE13_C5_03_Increased_Amateur_Satellite_Service_144MHz_Usage