A new version of the telemetry decoding application for MASAT-1 is
available at
http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver
UK Space Agency to send up first satellite
The UK Space Agency has announced plans to launch its first satellite – if it can find the right spaceship to catch a lift from.
The tiny UKube-1 will carry a variety of scientific experiments when it eventually gets off the ground later this year.
The project will see the agency take a leap into launching cubesats – a type of relatively cheap, mini-satellite for space research which has a volume of little more than one litre, a mass of around 1.3kg.
It also marks a significant departure for UKSA, formed less than a year ago from the British National Space Centre, which had focused on supplying European Space Agency with parts and expertise for a variety of missions.
Head of communications Matt Goodman said: ‘We’re still in discussions with potential launch providers for UKube-1, and are working hard to find a launch option for the satellite.
‘Since cubesats tend to “piggy-back” on larger payloads during a launch, finding an opportunity with the right orbital configuration is not straightforward.’
Despite its relatively small budget, UKSA hopes to become a much bigger player in the industry, launching several more satellites in the years to come.
Agency head David Williams said: ‘The idea of cubesat is that we see it as a series with a launch every year or maybe two years allowing the sort of people that wouldn’t normally get access to space to run experiments in it.
‘We’d like to see this being an ongoing programme because it gives university groups, and even school groups and amateur groups, the opportunity to test fly equipment. It also gives industry the opportunity to test fly and to develop ideas on bits and pieces of electronics.’
UKSA is also involved in another ambitious project named Skylon, which is an ‘unpiloted, reusable spaceplane intended to provide inexpensive and reliable access to space’, according to the British firm Reaction Engines, which is hoping to build the new craft.
The project got the green light from the European Space Agency in May last year. Although technologically possible, the project’s major stumbling block appears to be cost.
Mr Williams said: ‘We’re trying to work with [the team] to work out how they can raise the necessary finance and whether government should have any involvement in it in the future.
‘It’s going to be an expensive programme, several billion pounds over quite a long period, and the question is which industries wish to be involved, how UK should it be, how European should it be, should it be an international project?’ he added. ‘The idea of a true single-stage-to-orbit plane is very novel.’
Khartoum Amateur Radio Satellite Ground Station
University of Khartoum Satellite Ground Station
Students at the University of Khartoum are undertaking a CubeSat project KN-SAT1 and Nader, ST2NH. has made a video of their recently completed ground station.
KN-SAT1 is the first CubeSat to be built in Sudan. Its objectives are:
-
To give students at Sudanese Unversities a hands-on space project experience.
-
To document the process and skills and forward it to more students and post graduated engineers.
-
To promote space engineering and space science education at other Sudanese educational institutes.
-
Building, testing and launching the cube satellite.
-
Monitoring and tracking the cube satellite.
-
Telecommand the cube satellite.
-
Collecting the telemetry and the mission data for analysis and evaluation.
Watch UOK-Satellite Ground Station .wmv
KN-SAT1 http://cubesat.uofk.edu/
Sudanese Amateur Radio and SWL History http://www.st2nh.com/sudanamateurradioandswlhistory
ST2NH http://www.st2nh.com/
Qtmm soundcard modem for decoding AFSK1200
Qtmm is a simple AFSK1200 decoder that uses the computer’s sound card for input. It can be used to decode packet radio, APRS and telemetry from OSCAR and Cubesats.
Testing shows a good performance in monitoring the International space station APRS Beacon. More @ Qtmm soundcard modem for decoding AFSK1200
Telemetry reception from the AO-27 amateur radio satellite, which also uses AFSK.
Vega Satellite Launch Vehicle
The Vega (Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata) is a new-generation launch vehicle being developed jointly by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA) for Arianespace.
Vega is named after the second brightest star in the northern hemisphere.
The Vega is a small launcher which can place small to medium-sized satellites into the polar and low-earth orbits. The launch vehicle complements the heavy Ariane 5 and medium Soyuz rockets launched from French Guiana.
Vega development programme history
“The Vega is a small launcher which can place small to medium-sized satellites into the polar and low-earth orbits.”
The development of the Vega launcher commenced under the Vega programme in 1998. The programme is being funded by Italy (65%), France (12.43%), Spain (5%), Belgium (5.63%), the Netherlands (3.5%), Switzerland (1.34%) and Sweden (0.8%).
Vega’s main engine P80 rocket motor was successfully tested in December 2007. The test campaign of the Vega launch vehicle commenced in November 2010.
The test phase validated the operational readiness of the launch vehicle and ground station components. The assembly of the new Vega launcher was completed in February 2011.
The first launch is scheduled for February 2012 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. ESA plans to launch its IXV (intermediate eXperimental vehicle) aboard Vega in 2014.
The marketing activities will commence after the first launch. Arianespace plans to increase the launch frequency from two to four each year.
Contractors
ASI and Avio have established a new 30-70 partnership called Elv for the programme. ESA and Elv signed the Vega development contract in February 2003.
Elv, as the prime contractor, is responsible for the management of the Vega programme. The company also coordinates the activities of the subcontractors involved. Arianespace provides support services for the qualification and combined test campaign of the rocket.
In December 2011, ESA and the Arianespace signed a contract to study the launch of Vega under the Verta (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) programme. The programme will test and qualify new vital technologies for future re-entry vehicles.
Vega design
The Vega launch vehicle is designed to support various missions and payload configurations in order to meet different market requirements. It offers payload configurations from a single satellite to one primary satellite plus six micro-satellites.
“ASI and Avio have established a new 30-70 partnership called Elv for the programme. ESA and Elv signed the Vega development contract in February 2003.”
Vega can place multiple payloads into orbit which is uncommon with most small launchers. It can carry payloads of 300kg to 2,500kg based on the type and altitude of the orbit required by the customers.
The vehicle has a length of 29.9m, a diameter of 3.025m and a typical lift-off mass of 137t.
The in-orbit launch capacity of the vehicle is 1,500kg into the polar orbit at an altitude of 700km. The single body launcher is incorporated with three solid propulsion stages and an AVUM (attitude vernier upper module).
The solid propellant motors, supplied by Avio, are covered by composite casing. The motors feature carbon epoxy filament wound casing and nozzle.
The first stage is powered by the P80 solid rocket motor. The second and third stages are powered by Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9 motors respectively. The fourth stage AVUM consists of a UDMH / NTO bipropellant main engine with re-ignition capability and cold gas attitude control system.
Vega launch facilities
The Vega will be launched from ZLV launch complex at Kourou, French Guiana. Based on the ELA-1 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane No. 1) launch complex, the site was originally used for the Ariane 1 and Ariane 3 vehicles.
The existing facilities, such as the launch pad, mobile gantry and infrastructure, were upgraded for the launch of the Vega.
The original flame ducts of the launch pad were retained. They will transfer exhaust gases during ignition and lift-off of the Vega.
The power and environmental control connections to the launcher and its payloads are provided by a new fixed umbilical mast. Four tall towers erected around the launch table will provide protection against lightning strikes.
The renovated mobile gantry provides provides ideal working conditions to the personnel during the launch vehicle assembly and payload integration.
The operational control centre for the Vega will be within the Spaceport’s Control Centre no. 3 (CDL 3) facility, which is used for Ariane 5 missions. The centre incorporates independent operational control and monitoring systems. The Vega facility will share resources with the ongoing Ariane 5 mission as it is co-located in the CDL-3 building. Continue reading
Student High-Voltage Satellite Horyu-2
Horyu-2 Structural Thermal Model
The student built amateur radio microsatellite, Horyu-2, featuring a High Voltage (300v) Solar Array experiment and an onboard camera is planned to launch on an H-2A rocket in the Summer.
Built by students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) HORYU-2 is 350 * 310 * 315 mm and mass is 7.1 kg. It will be launched into a Sun-Synchronous 680 km orbit with an inclination of 98.2°. The TLE’s for tracking are available at http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/Documents/ground_station/TLE.txt
The satellite’s callsign is JG6YBW and radio amateurs are asked to listen for the 437.375 MHz (+/- 9 kHz Doppler shift) Morse Code or 1200 bps AX.25 GMSK telemetry downlink.
There will be a monthly competition for those who send data received from the telemetry to the KIT server, via the HORYU-2 telemetry analysis software.
The free HORYU-2 telemetry software and details of the competition can be downloaded from
http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/Documents/information_launch_english.html
Among the experiments to be carried out are:
300V power generation in LEO
In recent years, satellite size and power keep increasing. For large space platforms such as a space station, it is necessary to generate and transmit the power at a high voltage to minimize the Joule heating loss or the increase in the cable mass. It has been known that in LEO a solar array with a negative potential of 100 to 200V with respect to the plasma can suffer electrostatic discharge. Because of this, ISS power system was limited to 160V generation and 120V transmission. Generally speaking the transmission power is proportional to the square of the voltage. For a large space platform which requires 1MW-class power, such as a space hotel or a space factory, power generation at a voltage of 300 to 400V is required. The present HORYU-2 mission, 300V power generation in space without any discharge, is the first space environment test of the new technology that will be strongly demanded in near future. Also, as the satellite power employs higher voltage, there will be more demand for spacecraft charging mitigation
Demonstration of COTS surface potential meter in space (Trek)
This mission demonstrates a surface potential meter in space. The potential meter has been developed by TREK, Inc. aiming for terrestrial commercial application. It is a contact type potential meter with extremely large input impedance so that the contact does not affect the charging state of the specimen. KIT is currently working with TREK, Inc. to convert the potential meter for extreme environments such as space or plasma processing chamber. The in-orbit demonstration is a part of the joint research program. To put the COTS device on HORYU-2, the electronics board and the consumed power have been reduced significantly.
When HORYU-2 passes through the aurora zone, differential charging may develop between the insulator surface and the satellite chassis. The potential meter will measure the potential of the insulator that is the same material to be used for SCM. The two measurements are compared to validate against each other.
Debris observation with debris sensor
This mission aims at detecting the micro-debris impact on the surface of HORYU-2. Space debris has become a serious threat to satellites in orbit. Observation of micro debris less than 1mm has been very difficult. The debris sensor consists of many conductive thin wired laid down in parallel in the area of 8×8 cm. Upon impact, some of the lines are cut and the resistance becomes infinite.
Taking photographs of the Earth
This mission aims at taking the pictures of the Earth using a small CMOS camera. The camera called SCAMP (Surrey Camera Payload). It was developed by University of Surrey, a sister university of KIT. SCAMP takes a picture in a JPEG format of 640×480. From 700km altitude, one pixel corresponds to 1.6km.
Horyu website in Google English http://tinyurl.com/HoryuSatellite
Development of High Voltage Technology Demonstration Satellite, HORYU-2
http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/Documents/Nano-satellite-symposium-Final-paper_nishimura.pdf
You must be logged in to post a comment.