Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Apr 22 2013

PhoneSat CubeSats with Ham Radio Payloads Launched

Antares Rocket Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Antares Rocket Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Three PhoneSat CubeSats with amateur radio payloads were launched on an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares(TM) rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in eastern Virginia on Sunday, April 21.

The three PhoneSats carry amateur radio payloads on 437.425 MHz, each transmits at intervals so all three are receivable during a pass. Roland Zurmely PY4ZBZ received them on the second orbit on April 21 at 22:52 UT, see http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/phs.htm and Mike Rupprecht DK3WN reported receiving all three on Monday April 22, see http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=32755

The callsign of all three satellites is KJ6KRW and they transmit using AFSK (1200 bps) modulation, AX.25 packet coding. The two PhoneSat 1.0 satellites, Graham and Bell, transmit with a periodicity of respectively 28 seconds and 30 seconds. The PhoneSat 2.0 beta satellite, Alexandre, transmits with a periodicity of 25 seconds.

Watch PhoneSat: Small Satellites Use Smart Phones For Brains

PhoneSat was chosen as one of the winners in the Aerospace category for the Popular Science magazine “Best of What’s New 2012″ awards. The PhoneSat is a technology demonstration mission consisting of three 1U CubeSats intended to prove that a smartphone can be used to perform many of the functions required of a spacecraft bus.

The satellite is built around the Nexus smartphone which will be running the Android operating system and will be enclosed in a standard 1U CubeSat structure. The main function of the phone is to act as the Onboard Computer, but the mission will also utilize the phone’s SD card for data storage, 5MP camera for Earth Observation, and 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis magnetometer for attitude determination.

One of the nanosatellites, powered by the HTC Nexus One smartphone, will send back pictures of Earth. The other two, running on the Samsung Nexus S, will have two-way S-band radio allowing them to be controlled from Earth.

The satellites have no solar cells and operate on battery only so will only have a lifetime of about a week,

An updated website with telemetry info is now available.
http://www.phonesat.org/packets.php

The Antares launch included the commercial DOVE-1 satellite, a technology development experiment that is believed to be using 2420 MHz.

PhoneSat http://www.phonesat.org/

Preliminary TLEs / ‘Keps’ are at http://phonesat.org/phonesat.txt
TLEs / ‘Keps’ for recent launches http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Check the AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) for the latest information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Thanks to AMSAT News Service (ANS), AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK and Samudra Haque N3RDX / S21X for the above information.

Apr 21 2013

CubeSats with Ham Radio Payloads Deployed

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 spacecraft BeeSat-2, BeeSat-3 and SOMP are in the three 1U Launchers in the front OSSI-1 is a 1U and alone in a 3U-Pod behind left DOVE-2 is a 3U Cubesat and fills the 3U-Pod behind right

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 spacecraft
BeeSat-2, BeeSat-3 and SOMP are in the three 1U Launchers in the front
OSSI-1 is a 1U and alone in a 3U-Pod behind left
DOVE-2 is a 3U Cubesat and fills the 3U-Pod behind right

The BeeSat-2, BeeSat-3 and SOMP CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were deployed from the Bion-M1 spacecraft on Sunday, April 21.

Signals from BeeSat-2 and SOMP have been received by Mike Rupprecht DK3WN, see

SOMP CW beacon active http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=32685

BeeSat-2 CW beacon active http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=32683

Satellite        Downlink                Mode
———-       —————          ——————
OSSI-1        145.980/437.525   CW and 1200bps FSK AX.25
SOMP         437.485               1200, 9600bps BPSK
BEESAT-2   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
BEESAT-3   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
Bion-M1      Biological research satellite
AIST           Russian student microsatellite that aims to measure the Earth’s geomagnetic field (435 MHz downlink, 145 MHz command uplink)
Dove-2        Commercial technology demonstration mission (450 MHz band downlink)

Further information at https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/17/soyuz-cubesat-launch/

Keps / TLE’s:

BEESAT-2
1 99999U BEESAT-2 13111.50000000 -.00000022  00000-0 -18943-5 0 00009
2 99999 065.0052 026.5594 0011818 218.6713 261.0081 14.97601851000171
BEESAT-3
1 99998U BEESAT-3 13111.50000000 -.00000022  00000-0 -18943-5 0 00009
2 99998 065.0052 026.5594 0011818 218.6713 261.0081 14.97601851000170
Apr 21 2013

‘Bring Your Own Board’ CubeSat Workshop July 19

Surrey Space Centre University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre
University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and AMSAT-UK invite anyone with CubeSat equipment to a ‘Bring Your Own Board’ (BYOB) workshop. The aims are to demonstrate your latest CubeSat developments, to foster new partnerships and links within the UK and EU community, and encouraging more interaction with AMSAT-UK and the Colloquium (more info at: https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/).

Poster Stands (if required)

Poster Stands (if required)

The workshop is free to attend or present. Opening times are 9 AM to 4 PM, after which there will be the AMSAT-UK Satellite Beginners Session. There will be ad-hoc tours to SSC’s new cleanroom, ground-station, and CubeSat experimentation facilities.

Information for Demonstrators:
• Must have working hardware for demonstrating to visitors, i.e. TRL 5-6 and above.
• Provide a 1 slide overview of their developments & how it can benefit new UK missions for public show.
• A 1.5 m table, power and 1 m poster area will be provided.

Sign up: If you are interested in attending or demonstrating, please contact Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC to guarantee you a table and to estimate numbers.
Email: c.p.bridges@surrey.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689137, Surrey Space Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, U.K. Website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc

Download poster here.

Key Dates for your diary:
UK Space Agency Conference: 16-17 July 2013
Bring Your Own Boards Workshop: 19 July 2013
AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2013: 20-21 July 2013

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom

Apr 21 2013

Video of FO-29 Amateur Radio Satellite demo at Wyong 2013

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

Murray Hely ZL3MH has uploaded a video by Bob Hudson VK2AOR showing a demonstration of a FO-29 contact made at Wyong 2013 in Australia.

The Wyong Field Day 2013 is the biggest Ham event in Australia and New Zealand. Mal Pizzey VK2MAL is on the Microphone and Murray Hely ZL3MH is on the other end at his home station in New Zealand.

On the down link Murray ZL3MH used a 20 element Yagi to a 70cm Cavity filter and a MRF901 pre-amp to an FT847. Uplink was a FT101ZD MK3 to a FTV250 Transverter and 11 element Yagi fully trackable.

Watch the Wyong 2013 video

FO-29 information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/fuji-oscar-29-jas-2/

Getting started on satellites https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/radcom-getting-started-on-satellites/

Apr 20 2013

ESTCube-1 – Estonia’s First CubeSat

ESTCube-1 - Image credit University of Tartu

ESTCube-1 – Image credit University of Tartu

Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S, is planning to launch from Kourou in the Caribbean on May 4 at 0206 UT on an ESA VEGA rocket. Watch the launch live.

Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.

The technology is based on the electrostatic interaction between the electric field generated by the satellite and the high-speed particles being ejected from the Sun.  A spacecraft utilizing this method would first deploy a set of electrically charged wires, which allow to generate an electric field over a large area. This area effectively forms a “sail” that can be pushed by the charged particles by being diverted by it and therefore transferring momentum to the craft.

The team also aim to capture images of Estonia for outreach purposes.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have published these frequencies for ESTCube-1
437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

Watch Estonian’s ESTCube-1

Electric solar wind sail http://www.electric-sailing.fi/

EstCube http://www.estcube.eu/en/home

Wiki EstCube-1 http://tinyurl.com/WikiESTCube-1

Apr 19 2013

OSSI-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat Launched

Hojun Song DS1SBO performing final assembly of OSSI-1 satellite on April 9, 2013

Hojun Song DS1SBO performing final assembly of OSSI-1 satellite on April 9, 2013

The OSSI-1, BEESAT-2, BEESAT-3 and SOMP amateur radio CubeSats lifted off on a Soyuz-2-1a with research satellites Bion-M1, AIST and Dove-2 from Launch Complex 31 at Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 19 at 1000 UT. The OSSI-1 CubeSat was deployed from its Pod on the top of Bion-M1 at 1615 UT.

Soyuz-2-1a Lift-off - Image credit SpaceShuttleAlmanac

Soyuz-2-1a Lift-off – Image credit SpaceShuttleAlmanac

The launch vehicle went into an initial elliptical orbit of 290 km by 575 km orbit at an inclination of 64.9°. A series of orbital maneuvers will be carried out to raise the orbit to 575 km circular before BEESAT-3, SOMP, then BEESAT-2 are deployed at around 1045 UT on Sunday, April 21.

The Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure said the satellites attached to the outer surface of the spacecraft “Bion-M” will be deployed in the period between the 4th and the 35th orbit. It is thought this may mean deployments will take place on the 4th and the 32-34th orbit but that there will be no deployments on the other obits.

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO has spent 7 years developing his Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite OSSI-1. He has designed and built it from scratch using readily available components rather than expensive space qualified hardware. The launch was the most expensive part of the project costing $100,000.

It has a 12 WPM CW Morse code beacon on 145.980 MHz, a data communications transceiver on 437.525 MHz using AX.25 packet radio and carries a 44 watt LED optical beacon to flash Morse code messages to observers on Earth.

When deployed the OSSI-1 145.980 MHz Morse Code beacon will send “OS0 DE OSSI1 ANYOUNG”.

Open Source Satellite Initiative blog http://opensat.cc/blog/launch/ossi-1-satellite-launch/

The OSSI telemetry data format spreadsheet can be seen at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjtQ6cJ4QOqJdGpHNnRtUWZJV0w4TTFKRU9WYTZqc3c#gid=5

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 satellite

CubeSat deployment pods on top of the Bion-M1 spacecraft

The development of the OSSI satellite has been documented on the Open Source Satellite Initiative Blog http://opensat.cc/blog/ and the Wiki http://opensat.cc/wiki/

Twitter https://twitter.com/OPENSAT

The Korean national amateur radio society KARL described the OSSI-1 CubeSat in their report to the International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 Triennial conference which was held in Viet Nam in 2012. Read the report at http://www.iaru-r3.org/15r3c/docs/019.doc

In this 20 minute video Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO and Donghee Park describe the Open Source Satellite Initiative amateur radio CubeSat OSSI-1.

Watch How OSSI-1 Satellite Works: General Overview

Additional OSSI-1 information at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/ossi-1/

Watch the BBC TV report: Korean artist has high hopes for his homemade satellite
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19007475

Hojun Song DS1SBO and the NovaNano FlyMate™ deployer

Hojun Song DS1SBO and the NovaNano FlyMate™ deployer

Satellite        Downlink                Mode
———-       —————          ——————

Russian Student Satellite AIST-2 on BION-M1 launch

Russian Student Satellite AIST-2 on BION-M1

OSSI-1        145.980/437.525   CW and 1200bps FSK AX.25
SOMP         437.485               1200, 9600bps BPSK
BEESAT-2   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
BEESAT-3   435.950               4800bps GMSK Mobitex
Bion-M1      Biological research satellite
AIST           Russian student microsatellite that aims to measure the Earth’s geomagnetic field
(435 MHz downlink, 145 MHz command uplink)
Dove-2        Commercial technology demonstration mission (450 MHz band downlink)

Predicted Keps / TLE’s:

OSSI-1
1 39130U 00000    13108.66833333  .05491454  00000-0  10000-3 0 00014
2 39130 064.8675 103.2000 0241259 064.9287 214.9800 15.56817350000015

BEESAT-2
1 99999U          13110.41666667 -.00000032  00000-0 -27259-5 0 00006
2 99999 064.9888 015.3126 0011850 230.4664 032.8952 14.97640844000015

Bion-M1 is carrying live mice, geckos and gerbils, see the BBC story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22218589

Space News Feed http://www.spacenewsfeed.co.uk/index.php/launches/14433-bion-m-1-aist-2-beesat-2-beesat-3-dove-2-ossi-1-somp

Soyuz-2-1a Bion-M1 Launch

Soyuz-2-1a Bion-M1 Launch – Image credit SpaceShuttleAlmanac