Dec 30 2011

OSCAR-11 Report December 2011

Oscar 11 being built

Oscar 11

Clive Wallis G3CWV provides an update on the UK Amateur Radio satellite Oscar 11 which has completed nearly 28 years in orbit.

This report covers the period from September  1 to December 28 2011.

The satellite has continued to operate in a very predictable way since the last report, and no changes have been observed. During this time the satellite has been heard reliably during its ten-day transmission periods. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames.

The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . You can also calculate the operating schedule from the last switch-off time, which was December 28, 2011 at 15:00 UTC (approx), using 10.35 days off followed by 10.35 days on.

Reception reports have been received from Gustavo LW2DTZ, Bob KI0G, Rolf HB9TSO and Francesco IT9JRU.  Many thanks to all and those who posted to the status website.

The satellite is currently in eclipse during all evening passes over the UK, resulting in lower signal strengths at these times.  Owing to the gradual precession of the orbit, the season for eclipses of the evening passes is longer this year compared with the winter last year.

The on-board clock continues to gain, 28 seconds during the current reporting period, and 112 seconds since regular transmissions were resumed at the end of August 2010. There is however a large accumulated error of 308.54303 days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86 seconds actually).

The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz.  AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off.

At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the
current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 – 18:00 and 22:00 – 07:00 UTC, when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php

A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is http://www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm
This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry.

If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT157.CWV, to prevent duplication.

73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx@amsat.org (please replace the x’s by g3cwv)

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 30 2011

Hackers Plan Space Satellites

A CubeSat in Space

A CubeSat in Space

The BBC report that Hackers plan to put their own communication satellites into orbit. The scheme was outlined at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin.

The project’s organisers said the Hackerspace Global Grid will also involve developing a grid of ground stations to track and communicate with the satellites.

Used together in a global network, these stations would be able to pinpoint satellites at any given time, while also making it easier and more reliable for fast-moving satellites to send data back to earth. “It’s kind of a reverse GPS,” Armin Bauer, said.

“GPS uses satellites to calculate where we are, and this tells us where the satellites are. We would use GPS co-ordinates but also improve on them by using fixed sites in precisely-known locations.”

Armin Bauer, said the team would have three prototype ground stations in place in the first half of 2012, and hoped to give away some working models at the next Chaos Communication Congress in a year’s time.

Read the full BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042

Building a Distrubuted Satellite Ground Station Network – A Call To Arms
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4699.en.html

Hackerspace Global Grid http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg

London Hackspace work on HackSat1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2482

AMSAT-DL presentation to the Chaos Communication Camp in August
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/17/from-oscar-1-to-mars-and-beyond/

Hackers and Makers in AMSAT-UK are building the amateur radio satellite FUNcube.
AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 27 2011

BBC Interview with Professor Colin Pillinger

Professor Pillinger at AMSAT-UK Colloquium - Credit GM8ARV

Professor Colin Pillinger at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium. Picture credit: David Taylor GM8ARV

On Dec. 27, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an interview with Professor Colin Pillinger about the UK Mars exploration mission Beagle 2 which landed on the Red Planet on Christmas Day 2003. An MP3 of the interview is now available.

Eight years ago, planetary scientist Colin Pillinger was still hopeful that the Beagle 2 Lander that he had spent years designing, building and publicising (with the help of Blur and Damien Hirst) might yet be found somewhere on the surface of Mars. But, as more time passed, it became clear that The Beagle 2 Lander would be forever lost in space. Jim al -Khalili talks to Colin Pillinger about studying moon rock and meteorites from Mars whilst running a successful dairy farm; broken space dreams and why, even if a space project fails, useful scientific lessons can still be learned.

During the interview Colin Pillinger says that the biggest lesson learnt was not having had a radio beacon active during the decent phase and therefore not knowing what finally happened.

The interview was first broadacst on BBC Radio 4, at 9:00AM Tuesday, Dec 27, 2011 and a podcast of the show ‘The Life Scientific’ can now be heard at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/tls/tls_20111227-0930a.mp3

Beagle 2 : The UK led exploration of Mars http://www.beagle2.com/

The 2012 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will be held September 14-16
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 25 2011

ARISSat-1 . . A Fun HAM Satellite!

 

ARISSat-1 . . A Fun HAM Satellite!

David Pruett KF7ETX has released this video of the amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1. There are only a few days left to hear it before it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

The YouTube description reads:

Tune your radios / scanners to 145.950 and listen into the signal from ARISSat-1. ARISSat-1/KEDR Deployed on August 3, 2011 from the International Space Station (ISS). The mission of ARISSat-1/KEDR was specifically designed as an education-based satellite built by amateur radio operators to specifically interest students in scientific and technological careers.

Watch ARISSat-1 . . . A Fun HAM Satellite!

 

ISS & ARISSat-1 Predictions:
http://www.n2yo.com/

ARISSat Website
http://www.arissat1.org/v3/

You can find the details of the ARISSat-1/KEDR radio frequencies, links to telemetry decoding software and mission details on-line at:
+ http://www.amsat.org
+ http://arissat1.org

ARISSat-1/KEDR can be accessed on these frequencies:
+ 145.950 MHz FM Downlink
+ 435 MHz – 145 MHz Linear Transponder
+ 145.919 MHz CW Beacon
+ 145.920 MHz SSB BPSK-1000 Telemetry

The latest telemetry can be seen LIVE on your computer or cell phone
at: http://www.arissattlm.org/mobile

David Carr, KD5QGR has added ARISSat-1/KEDR to the list of satellites at the popular “Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page” at:
http://oscar.dcarr.org/ You are invited to submit your reports on this page.

Last chance to hear ARISSat-1
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/23/last-chance-to-hear-arissat-1/

Dec 24 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from AMSAT-UK

AMSAT-UK would like to wish all it’s members and followers a very Merry Christmas,and a prosperous new year. Good Luck in 2012.

Dec 23 2011

Seasons Greetings from ARISS Europe

A seasonal message from ARISS Europe Chairman Gaston Bertels ON4WF.

The year is coming to its end. The arrow of time points to the next cycle, which promises to be as exciting and successful for ARISS as 2011.

In the last twelve months, our organization set up 112 radio contacts with the international space station, offering 120 schools in several continents the privilege of a space talk. The educational benefits of these conversations between students and astronauts cannot be over-emphasized. Teachers take advantage of such events and develop science oriented projects. Schoolchildren and students participate to a once in a lifetime experience and ­ reportedly ­ this often impacts on their studies and career.

2011 was also the ARISSat-1 / Kedr year. A great achievement, a spendid success, even if not all functions could be fully deployed. The AMSAT team which developed and built this innovative satellite deserves full appreciation and praize. Now we have to think about ways to improve the use of this type of satellite, also for educational purposes.

In 2012, ARISS partners will continue their volunteering work and help schools on the way to successful space conversations.  In the same time, a team is working on adding video to sound for ARISS school contacts. ESA intends to install a DATV transmitter in Columbus. The project, called HamTV, is progressing and deployment of the system is foreseen in 2013. New challenges are facing us. No doubt, we will be up to this fascinating task.

Dear colleagues, to you and to your families, my best wishes of health and happiness.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF – ARISS Chairman

ARISS Europe http://www.ariss-eu.org/