Tag Archives: CubeSat

Jun 8 2013

Video – Status Update on Ham Radio CubeSat Fox-1

AMSAT FOXAMSAT VP for Engineering Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, provided an up-to-the-minute review of AMSAT-NA’s next satellite, Fox-1, at the AMSAT Forum at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention.

The first of a number of satellites planned for Project Fox, Tony reviews the motivation for building a CubeSat, the components that comprise Fox-1, and the capabilities and experiments included. He describes the launch assigned by NASA for Fox-1 and gives a brief look at future Project Fox satellites.

The FM voice uplink of Fox-1 will be on 435.180 MHz and the downlink will be 145.980 MHz with an optional sub audible FSK digital carrier channel.  The FM transponder is activated by a PL tone (CTCSS) and once triggered, it will stay on and repeat everything for 2 minutes even if there is no PL tone. It also re-triggers the timer every time the PL is detected.

The satellite will carry a camera that can take a VGA (640×480) image of the Earth every minute, it will take 50 seconds to download each image.

Watch Fox-1 Status Update, by Tony AA2TX – 2013 Dayton Hamvention

Further information on Fox at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/2012_Symposium_Fox_Overview.pdf

IARU Coordinates Frequencies for Fox-1a Ham Radio CubeSat
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/06/04/iaru-fox-1a-cubesat-frequencies/

Jun 7 2013

5.8 GHz CubeSat Politech.1

Politech-1 CubeSatPolitech.1 is a 3U CubeSat that has been built by students at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.

It carries an Earth Observation payload with a Geodetic Camera to take pictures and a directive C-band communications antenna for downloading these images to the ground station. For those reasons, attitude and orbit control is very important in the mission when compared to other Cubesat missions.

Politech.1 will also carry Optical Fiber sensing for temperature monitoring and a NASA experiment called WINCS, to monitor the solar wind and its effect on the ionosphere.

The expected life of Politech.1 mission is two years, taking into account that most of the components are not specifically radiation-hardened.

Politech.1 carries two dipoles, one in UHF band for downlink and other in VHF band for uplink, the tube of the telescope for an EO camera accommodating the secondary mirror, and the dual C-band patch antenna for high data rate downlink.

The solar panels are kept in the primary structure; therefore, no further elements protrude the CubeSat standard envelope. The team are proposing to use an AX25 UHF 2-FSK 1k2 downlink @ 700mW and a 5.8GHz high speed 2-FSK downlink @ 115kb.

Planning to fly on a VEGA mission to a 400/500km polar orbit.

Politech.1 (in Spanish)
http://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/La-Universitat-Politecnica-de-Valencia-prepara-su-primer-satelite-Politech.1

IARU Amateur Radio Satellite Frequency Coodination Pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

Jun 4 2013

IARU Coordinates Frequencies for Fox-1A Ham Radio CubeSat

AMSAT FOXThe International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Frequency Coordination Panel has announced coordinated frequencies for the AMSAT-NA Fox-1a CubeSat.

A 1U CubeSat, Fox-1a will serve as a communications relay for radio amateurs worldwide via the onboard FM repeater system. It will also carry an experiment consisting of a 3-axis MEMs gyro developed by Penn State University. The communications and experiment missions will run concurrently.

The uplink will be on 435.180 MHz for FM voice and the downlink on 145.980 MHz with FM voice and an optional sub audible FSK digital carrier channel. Fox-1a will employ passive magnetic stabilization.

Fox-1a is planning to launch from Vandenburg in November 2014 on the NASA ELaNa XII mission with ARC1, BisonSat, Lightsail and R2S (NEO). The expected orbit is 470 x 780 km at 64 degrees inclination giving an orbit lifetime of about 11 years.

For more information see http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/2012_Symposium_Fox_Overview.pdf

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Status pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

May 30 2013

ANTELSAT a Ham Radio SSTV CubeSat from Uruguay

ANTELSAT CubeSat

ANTELSAT CubeSat

ANTELSAT is a 2U CubeSat class satellite with a 70 cm SSTV downlink and amateur radio AX.25 Digipeater that is planning a Yasny Dnepr launch in November, 2013. It has been developed by ANTEL (the national telecom service provider) and Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de la República (FING), the State Faculty of Engineering.

The purpose is to build and operate the first satellite ever launched into orbit by Uruguay. Its goal is to develop skills in radio and aerospace engineering, to promote enthusiasm in STEM education at all levels, and provide challenging activities for undergraduate students. The spacecraft is planned to transmit colour and infrared images of the surface of the earth, and to provide several services to radio amateurs (AX.25 digipeater, telemetry beacon, uplink signal report, SSTV downlink). The mission is purely experimental and a technology demonstrator of all the satellite subsystems, which have been custom designed locally.

Communications:
– VHF receiver on 2m amateur band, 1200bps AX25 protocol.
– Telecommand uplink.
– Store and forward (digipeater) service uplink.
– UHF transmitter on 70cm amateur band:
– CW beacon.
– Telemetry downlink at 1200 bps AX25 protocol.
– Backup downlink for image data via low resolution SSTV.
– Store and forward service downlink.
– S-band transmitter on 2.4 GHz:
– Downlink for payload image data.
– Telemetry backup link.
– 2 redundant transmitters.

Attitude control:
– Attitude determination via magnetometer and photodetectors.
– Active 3-axis control via magnetorquers.

Brochure: http://iie.fing.edu.uy/investigacion/grupos/lai/files/ANTELSAT_brochure_2012W01.pdf

It is reported that ANTEL contributed nearly $700,000 towards the project
http://tinyurl.com/ANTELSAT-2013

ANTELSAT in Google English http://tinyurl.com/ANTELSAT

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

May 30 2013

CubeSat Workshop Surrey Space Centre 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) CubeSat workshop. The aims are to demonstrate the 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 and 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

May 30 2013

Amateur Radio CubeBug-2 hopes for November 2013 Yasny Dnepr launch

CubeBug-1

CubeBug-1

CubeBug-2 is the second technology demonstration mission for a new 2U CubeSat platform design (mechanics, hardware and software) intended to be released as Open Source and Open Hardware for its use in Amateur projects, University projects and Research labs.

This project is sponsored by the Argentinian Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation. As payload on this second mission, some custom designed components will be tested: an antenna, solar panels, and an on-board computer, a camera, a GPS transceiver and a software defined radio based on COTS components.

CubeBug-2 is expected to be launched as part of a group of CubeSats in a DNEPR rocket launch planned for November 2013 from Yasny.

The satellite will be periodically transmitting AX.25 packets for the Amateur radio community to receive, and after the technology demonstration part of the mission is over, the satellite will enter a mode that will include a Digipeater, science data downloads from the payload (including images and recordings from the SDR, if possible).

Proposing to use 1k2/9k6 FSK/GMSK AX25 on UHF with an AstroDev L1 transceiver.

Its predecessor CubeBug-1 launched on a CZ-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Space Center on April 26, 2013 at 0413 UT.

CubeBug website http://1.cubebug.org/

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru