Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Apr 13 2013

UK 434 MHz balloons over Central Europe

A Raspberry Pi computer board

A Raspberry Pi computer board

On Saturday, April 13 at 1000 UT, two balloons both carrying 434 MHz transmitters were launched from Cambridge, UK . One transmitting video images from a Rapsberry Pi computer board, the other carried a 144.800 MHz APRS beacon M0UPU-11 in addition to the 434 MHz beacon.

The first balloon PIE5 is flying a Raspberry Pi computer board which transmitted live Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) images back to the ground by a pair of transmitters to double the bandwidth. The data was RTTY 300 baud 8N2. The frequencies used were 434.070 and 434.074 MHz. The balloon call sign was $$PIE.

The second balloon AVA flew a 70cms tracker on 434.450 MHz 50 baud 7N2. Additionally once it entered air space where the airborne use of APRS is permitted a second APRS transmitter was enabled (the APRS frequency is 144.800 MHz) with the call sign M0UPU-11.

The balloons had been expected to head for Poland and on Saturday evening they were over Germany but by early Sunday morning PIE5 was over Switzerland and AVA was over Austria.

The 434 MHz downlinks  on the balloons are generated using Radiometrix NTX2 transmitter modules, the batteries were expected to last 24 hours.

A third balloon callsign XABEN transmitting on 434.350MHz, 470Hz shift, 7N1 was also launched. Tthis was configured to have a short lifetime, going straight-up until the balloon burst rather than floating at 30km across Europe.

Live video of the launch was streamed by the British Amateur TV Club (BATC) at http://www.batc.tv/

Tracks of both balloons are at http://www.spacenear.us/tracker

Direct link to M0UPU-11 APRS track
http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FM0UPU-11&timerange=86400&tail=86400

Images from the PIE5 Raspberry Pi balloon transmitted using SSDV can be seen at http://ssdv.habhub.org/

To get details of upcoming launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address: ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Twitter #ukhas https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ukhas

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

Digital Slow Scan Video http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

Apr 13 2013

ESTCube-1 Tether Satellite

Artists impression of ESTCube-1 in space - Image credit University of Tartu

Artists impression of ESTCube-1 in space – 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 2, 2013 on an ESA VEGA rocket.

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 revolutionalize 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.

Continue reading →

Apr 13 2013

ArduSat for UK Schools

ArduSatArrowhead Systems Ltd of Stoke-On-Trent has partnered with NanoSatisfi on the ArduSat project. They aim to give UK school children the chance to run experiments in space.

Arrowhead Systems have experimental time on Ardusat, with access to every sensor, from the Geiger counter to an open-source spectrometer (called Spectrino), strain gauges, magnetometers, vibration and shock sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers, cameras and more.

Further information at http://tiouk.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/tioukcom

Two ArduSats are planned to launch in 2013, it is understood both will be deployed from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

ArduSat’s are open-source arduino-based nanosatellites developed by NanoSatisfi. They will have an extensive sensor-suite onboard and will allow users to upload their own code and run their own experiments.

ArduSat will use a GomSpace NanoCom U482C which is a half-duplex UHF transceiver operating in the 435-438 MHz band. It implements Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Viterbi coding based on the CCSDS standards in order to improve reliability and throughput of the space link.

NanoSatisfi was founded by Austrian-born Peter Platzer a former high-energy physicist (CERN), former Hedge Fund Quantitative Trader, avid HP-41 hacker and Arduino enthusiast, along with Belgian aerospace engineer Jeroen Cappaert KK6BLQ intern at NASA Ames Research Center, Canadian aerospace engineer Joel Spark KK6ANB intern at EADS Astrium and Hungarian Reka Kovacs intern at NASA Ames Research Center working on alternative methods of public outreach for space science. The four founders met at the International Space University in Strasbourg and thought that they could do something to provide affordable, open-source space exploration for everyone.

Read more about ArduSat on Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575960623/ardusat-your-arduino-experiment-in-space

Nanosatisfi ArduSat http://www.nanosatisfi.com/

Video of ArduSat NASDAQ interview
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/06/24/video-of-ardusat-nasdaq-interview/

NASA Ames Research Center – Attracting the next generation
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/10/attracting-the-next-generation/

Apr 12 2013

Small satellites becoming big deal for CU-Boulder students

Image of a CubeSat in Space

Image of a CubeSat in Space

NASA recently selected CU-Boulder as one of 24 institutions or organizations to fly tiny satellites as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned for launch in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The selections are part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, an effort that began in 2010 and involves students at institutions like CU-Boulder developing and flying CubeSat satellites, which are about the size of a loaf of bread, have a volume of about a quart and generally weigh less than 3 pounds.

From 2010 to 2013 CU-Boulder was awarded five launch opportunities for CubeSats by NASA, the most of any university in the nation. Each launch is worth the equivalent of roughly $300,000, the going rate for commercial space payloads of that size and weight, said aerospace engineering Professor Scott Palo, whose team was selected by NASA in 2013 to design and build a flight-ready CubeSat satellite.

The CU CubeSat, known as the High Latitude Ionospheric Thermospheric Experiment, or HiLITE, is a collaboration between the aerospace department and two small Boulder-based companies, Blue Canyon Technologies and ASTRA, which are supported in part by the U.S. Air Force to help develop CubeSat hardware, said Palo

Read the full article at
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2013/04/11/small-satellites-becoming-big-deal-cu-boulder-students

Apr 12 2013

LituanicaSAT-1 with amateur radio FM transponder to deploy from ISS

LituanicaSAT-1

LituanicaSAT-1

Members of the Vilnius University Amateur Radio Club have been involved in the development of LituanicaSAT-1 which will be the first Lithuanian satellite. LituanicaSAT-1 is scheduled to be delivered to the  International Space Station (ISS) towards the end of 2013 and be deployed from the ISS by the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The satellite will use low cost open-source software and hardware for primary and secondary flight computers that will control the payload consisting of an onboard VGA camera, GPS receiver, UHF CW beacon 100mW, 9k6 AX25 FSK telemetry TX 2 watts and FM Mode V/U transponder 150mW Voice Repeater.

The IARU coordinated frequencies are:
• FM Transponder Uplink 145.950 MHz Downlink 435.180 MHz
• AX25 Uplink 145.850 MHz AX25 Downlink 437.550 MHz
• CW Beacon 437.275 MHz

A news article estimated the cost of the project at 1.3 million LTL ($493,134) which is believed to include a value of 0.9 million LTL for around 18,000 hours of work by volunteers. An initial 170,000 LTL ($64,486) in cash was raised to commence development of the project with a further 260,000 LTL ($98,626) needed to complete it.

News article in Lithuanian dated March 30, 2013
http://mokslas.delfi.lt/mokslas/lietuva-kosmine-valstybe-vers-ne-valstybes-milijonai-o-studentu-entuziazmas.d?id=61025639

Kosmonautai LituanicaSAT-1 website in Google English http://tinyurl.com/KosmonautaiLituanicaSAT-1

Wiki in Google English http://tinyurl.com/WikiLituanicaSAT-1

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/LituanicaSAT1

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lituanicasat1

Twitter Hash Tag #LituanicaSAT-1

Article – Nanosatellite Lituanica SAT-1 marks Lithuania’s first foray into space
http://www.15min.lt/en/article/culture-society/nanosatellite-lituanica-sat-1-marks-lithuania-s-first-foray-into-space-528-329403

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status Quest-1 page reports that these CubeSats will also be deployed from the ISS along with LithuanicaSAT-1 – Quest-1 1U CubeSat, ArduSat-2 2U CubeSat, GOMSPACE-1 2U CubeSat, SkyCube 1U CubeSat, TaiwanSat 2U CubeSat, GOMEX-2 2U CubeSat, Cosmogia and Twenty Six other 3U CubeSats.

Lithuanian Amateur Radio Society (LRMD) in Google English http://tinyurl.com/LithuaniaLRMD

Apr 11 2013

Merritt Island High School Students Build CubeSat

MIHS students working with one of the mentors on the Feasibility of their Idea

MIHS students working with one of the mentors on the Feasibility of their Idea

Florida Today reports that for three years Merritt Island High School students have been working on building a CubeSat.

Affectionately referred to as the “StangSat” — after Merritt Island High’s nickname, the Mustangs — a handful of Merritt Island High students and their NASA mentors are adding finishing touches to a prototype that will soon be tested on a Prospector 18 rocket.

MIHS StangSat“It means so much, it’s going to be so amazing,” said Briana Luthman, 17, looking forward to seeing the satellite she helped design and build launch in the Mojave Desert. “I can’t wait.”

The high school is partnering with students at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. The Cal-Poly CubeSat, dubbed CP9, is actually two cubes that contain accelerometers, plus a radio to transmit data back to Earth for the high school students to analyze. The Merritt Island High School cubesat, named StangSat, will stream data to the CP9 in real time during the launch using Wi-Fi.

“We’re going to be demonstrating that wireless transmissions inside the P-POD aren’t going to harm the launch,” said Adam Darley, a senior at Cal-Poly who is serving as the CP9 project manager. “If we can demonstrate that, then it will act as a platform to being able to stream information without a radio link.”

Watch the video and read the Florida Today story at
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130410/SPACE/304100015/Merritt-Island-students-work-NASA-mentors-build-tiny-satellite

MIHS CubeSat on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/MIHS-CubeSat/110920062311996