Jul 10 2011

ARISSat-1/KEDR deployment timeline driven by ISS schedules

ARISSat-1/KEDR deployment timeline driven by ISS schedules

ARISSat-1

ARISSat-1

ARISSat-1/KEDR Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM provided the latest deployment information to the AMSAT News Service.

Gould said he and ARISS Hardware Engineer Lou McFadin, W5DID participated in a teleconference call this week with NASA to review the Roscosmos EVA procedures for the release of ARISSat-1/KEDR during Russian EVA 29.

Gould says the preparation procedures include the battery being charged and assembled into the satellite.
Also discussed were the procedures to remove the protective quilts from the solar cells and turning on the safety switches prior to deployment.

As to the date of deployment, Gould summarized, “The deployment date for ARISSat is still soft, a major factor is the shuttle launch. As of July 6 the EVA date is in early August, but the shuttle launch and docking are driving the timeline.

“During our discussion it was noted that the ARISSat/KEDR deployment is the first task of the EVA, so it will occur fairly soon after the EVA begins. Since we have no firm date or time for the EVA we cannot predict where the satellite will be heard first. We will let everyone know more as we know more.”

 

Amsat News, Gould Smith, WA4SXM

 

Jul 5 2011

ARISSat-1 delayed until August?

ARISSat-1 delayed until August?

 

ARISSat-1

ARISSat-1

From the press office of Roscosmos:

Alexander Samokutiaev, flight engineer of the International Space Station’s expedition 28, informed about the planning for the upcoming Russian EVA in his blog in Roscosmos web.

According to Russian cosmonaut, the EVA is slated for August, pending the launch of the shuttle scheduled for July 8.

Alexander will work outside the ISS with his colleague Sergey Volkov. The cosmonauts are to perform several ISS RS refurbishing tasks, as well as to launch small satellite Kedr.

Russian cosmonauts onboard the International Space Station switched on small spacecraft Kedr on April 12, in order to commemorate the jubilee of Yury Gagarin’s mission.

Small spacecraft Kedr developed under the RadioSkaf experiment bears the name adopted by Yu.A. Gagarin call sign in his historical flight, namely Kedr. The satellite’s signal will be transmitted at radio amateur frequency of 145.95 MHz. Kedr has radio amateur call sign RS1S.

RadioSkaf is implemented in the framework of UNESCO’s student space education program.

Kedr will transmit different signals, images, including the talks of famous Russian scientist Kostantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket Chief Designer Sergey Korolev conversation with the first cosmonaut during his 108-min historical mission, and famous Gagarin’s “Go!” (Poekhali!), of course.

 

Jul 1 2011

Satellite Az/El tracker video

Stefan HB9ZEM has released a video showing his prototype Amateur Radio satellite Azimuth/Elevation tracker.

The YouTube description reads:

In order to learn more about ham radio satellites, TCP/IP networking, stepper motor control, open-source Linux, and socket programming, I decided to build a simple prototype of a satellite Az/El tracker.

Watch Simple Az/El Ham Radio Satellite Tracker

PDF of RadCom article Getting Started on Amateur Radio Satellites
http://www.uk.amsat.org/archives/getting-started-on-amateur-radio-satellites

Online Satellite Pass Predictions
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/

The AMSAT-UK International Colloquium takes place July 30-31. The event is open to all and further information can be found at http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011/

Jun 25 2011

Upcoming CubeSat launch opportunities

The past year has seen a shortage of launches for Amateur Radio CubeSats. 
Abe Bonnema from ISIS provides details of upcoming launch opportunities.

Cubesat

Cubesat

Many of you are looking for launch opportunities for your CubeSats (or nanosats), but launches for CubeSats have been quite scarce over the past year, unfortunately. As many of you know, we – ISIS / ISILaunch Services – have been working towards creating more regular, affordable access to space for CubeSats and nanosats for a few years already.

Recently, we have teamed with Spaceflight Services from the United States to create a global launch services offering, combining US and non-US opportunities and customers, and we have a cooperation with CalPoly on a particular launch opportunity for several CubeSats. These efforts are now starting to bear fruit; with the very recent and upcoming signing of a number of agreements (more details soon), a significant number of launch opportunities is now available.

Since these opportunities can contain a limited number of CubeSats, a timely, proper coordination of allocation, interfaces, frequencies and other aspects is required. We would therefore like to call for your interest for the following launch opportunities;

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Jun 22 2011

AMSAT Colloquium

AMSAT Colloquium 2011

AMSAT Colloquium

AMSAT Colloquium

AMSAT Colloquium, Holiday Inn 29-30 July. We understand that the hotel is getting booked up already for the Sat night. To avoid disappointment, we strongly urge you to book your place asap. Speak to Rachael Cross on +44 (0) 1483 784418. More deails, incl prices, at http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011“

Jun 19 2011

It’s time to get ready for ARISSat-1

It’s time to get ready for ARISSat-1

A few weeks remain before the planned July deployment of ARISSat-1 from the ISS.

ARISSat-1

ARISSat-1

Here are some reminders to help you get your station ready for ARISSat-1 operation.

145.950 MHz FM Downlink:
FM transmissions will cycle between a voice ID as RS01S, select telemetry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages and SSTV images. One of the messages will be a conversation between Yuri Gagarin and ground control. See the next news item for pointers to get your station ready to receive the SSTV images.

435 MHz – 145 MHz Linear Transponder:
The linear transponder will operate in Mode U/V (70 cm Up, 2m Down).
It is an 16 KHz wide inverting passband and the convention will be to TX LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and RX USB on the 145 MHz downlink. This mode is designed to work with low power transmitters and omni antenna.

145.919 MHz/145.939 MHz CW Beacon:
The CW transmissions will be callsign ID RS01S, select telemetry, and callsigns of people actively involved with the ARISS program.

Continue reading →