Tag Archives: CubeSat

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

Apr 17 2013

Antares CubeSat Launch Scrubbed

The planned launch of the Antares rocket carrying three CubeSats with amateur radio payloads has been postponed.

Space Flight Now report the countdown for the launch of the first Antares rocket was halted with 12 minutes on the clock after a second stage umbilical prematurely separated.

The test flight is to prove the booster’s reliability before future flights to service the International Space Station. A new launch date has yet to be announced.

Space Flight Now http://spaceflightnow.com/

Apr 16 2013

Radio Amateurs get $25,000 for CubeSat project from JPL

Sharlene Katz WB6FFE and James Flynn WB9AWX - Image credit CSUN

Sharlene Katz WB6FFE and James Flynn WB9AWX – Image credit CSUN

Radio hams Professor Sharlene Katz, WB6FFE and Professor James Flynn, WB9AWX have received $25,000 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a CubeSat project.

There is also an award of $30,000 for the project listed by The University Corporation.

The Daily Sundial newspaper carries a report on the California State University Northridge (CSUN) CubeSat project which says the 2U CubeSat aims to test alternative power techniques for satellites and spacecrafts and is estimated to cost between $60,000 and $80,000.

“And that’s all just parts. Our labor, of course, is for free,” joked Sharlene Katz [WB6FFE], Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Typically, it would cost another $45,000 just to launch the satellite. But thanks to their sponsorship from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, the satellite will be hitching a ride with a shuttle in a few years.

In order to communicate with the CubeSat, the team is also building an automated ground station on top of Jacaranda Hall. The system is going to be using old equipment from a previous experiment.

“There’s a lot of problems with the ground station right now, it’s old equipment,” said member Rufus Simon. “We’re fixing it! Step by step.”

The station will not only help the team track CSUN’s CubeSat, but other satellites as well. It will become part of the Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO), which is a community of universities across the world who track and communicate with satellites.

Phase two of the project is set to start during the fall semester of 2013, and the team is hoping to complete the satellite by December of 2014.

Read the full Daily Sundial story at
http://sundial.csun.edu/2013/04/students-and-faculty-work-to-launch-shoebox-sized-satellite/

CSUN New Sponsored Programs http://www.csun.edu/sponsoredprograms/status/newprojects.php

CSUN Research & Sponsored Projects http://www.csun.edu/grip/research/

Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO) http://www.esa.int/Education/Global_Educational_Network_for_Satellite_Operations

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