Tag Archives: CubeSat

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

Apr 10 2013

UK Students Fly CubeSat to 30km

WUSAT Team with CubeSat ready to launch - Image credit Warwick University

WUSAT Team with CubeSat ready to launch – Image credit Warwick University

On Saturday, April 6 students from the University of Warwick sent a CubeSat 30km into the stratosphere.

Starting from near Welshpool, the CubeSat travelled high into the stratosphere, to over 30km above the Earth’s surface, where the balloon popped and a parachute safely carried the CubeSat back to Earth. The prototype was successfully recovered from near Banbury following the 2 hour flight. The CubeSat carried three cameras and a radio communications link to transmit data and images. The tranceiver used was a XBee-PRO 868 (315mW) operating in the licence exempt 868 MHz band (the UK amateur radio licence prohibits aeronautical operation).

Picture taken by WUSAT - Image credit Warwick University

Picture taken by WUSAT – Image credit Warwick University

The Engineer reports:

The successful test launch – and recovery – is said to pave the way towards a longer-term plan to put a small satellite, built almost entirely by undergraduate students in the School of Engineering, into low-earth orbit at around 2,000 km.

The eight students have been working for the past year on the Warwick University Satellite (WUSAT) Project, which has been building a 10cm CubeSat capable of carrying equipment including cameras and sensors.

Read the article in The Engineer at
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/channels/skills-and-careers/news/balloon-launch-for-students-prototype-satellite/1016026.article

WUSAT Warwick University Satellite Project
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/cubesat

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/WUSAT_Team

WUSAT Winter 2013 Newsletter
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/meng/wusat/media/wusat_newsletter_2013_winter.pdf

The Engineer http://www.theengineer.co.uk/

Apr 10 2013

Attracting the next generation

PhoneSat Stand at 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire

PhoneSat Stand at 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire

In Aviation Week Michael Mecham reports the world’s university students come to work at Ames, which takes a leadership role in several areas for NASA, including smallsats, astrobiology and super computing.

“We have lots of internationals,” says NASA Ames Research Director Peter Wooden, referring to his young talent pool. “This is where opportunity comes for them. The ideas are what matters. It’s not your nationality.”

That opportunity arises because they stand such a good chance of getting their hands on a project like the PhoneSat-1/-2, a pair of cubesat-sized (10 cm square) nanosats due for launch Apr. 17 out of Wallops Island on an Antares, the new commercial launcher from Orbital Sciences.

The big deal about the PhoneSats is that they use the computing guts of smart phones bought at a big box store. They’re early tests of a low-risk, low-cost approach to satellite manufacturing that emphasizes the exploitation of off-the-shelf materials without a lot of fuss about whether they are “space proven.”

Worden says the aim is to arrive at the day when anyone with an idea can find a way onto a satellite by developing a “satellite app.”

Read the Aviation Week story by Michael Mecham at
http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385&plckPostId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post:c407e584-c706-4af2-8713-b67c947b1c74

Aviation Week http://www.aviationweek.com/

All three PhoneSats will be transmitting on 437.425 MHz. TLE’s and further information should be available at http://www.phonesat.org/

Apr 9 2013

Amateur Radio FUNcube Project – Your advice requested

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

As part of the FUNcube project we now need to urgently decide which is going to be the best type of antenna to propose for use at schools and colleges to receive the 145MHz downlink signals from both FUNcube-1 and FUNcube-2 on UKube after launch.

Both spacecraft will be transmitting approx 300mW of BPSK 1k2 telemetry with FEC – FC-1 will be using a dipole antenna and will have passive magnetic attitude control. FC-2 on UKube will use a single monopole antenna and the spacecraft is intended to have active attitude control. This is primarily to ensure that the deployed solar panels are illuminated and that the face with the S band patch is usually earth pointing.

We believe that the resultant signal should be easily usable using an omnidirectional antenna but the questions is which would be the best type to use. Obviously ease of construction, cost, robustness and safety in a school environment will also be important factors as well as  suitable “gain” and circularity from horizon to horizon. We envisage that some operations may be from fixed installations with the antennas mounted permanently but some will be temporary – perhaps hand held or bolted to a step ladder or similar.

We know there are many AMSAT members around the globe with great experience in this field and, we suspect, with some strongly held views. So please let us have some constructive input about which type is likely to be best for this purpose – your comments, ideas and lessons learnt will be very valuable for us.

Thanks in advance for your support

73 Graham G3VZV – for the FUNcube Project team
Email: g3vzv at amsat.org

Apr 7 2013

Ham Radio Satellite Launches in April

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoApril looks a busy month for the launch of satellites carrying amateur radio payloads.

April 17 – Antares-110 carrying PhoneSats v1a, v1b, v2a.
Dove-1 is also listed on this launch but it’s unclear if it’s using Amateur-Satellite Service frequencies.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/cargo/orbitalsciences-index.html
https://amsat-uk.org/?p=11544 (phonesat)

April 19 – Soyuz-2-1a carrying OSSI-1, BEESAT 2/3 and SOMP
Dove-2 is also listed on this launch but it’s unclear if it’s using Amateur-Satellite Service frequencies.
https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/ossi-1/
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/03/28/student-cubesats-beesat-2-and-beesat-3/
https://amsat-uk.org/?p=16017 (SOMP)

April 20 – Vega carrying ESTCube-1 [Update now May 2]
https://amsat-uk.org/?p=14774 (ESTCube-1)

April 26 – CZ-2D from the Jiuquan Space Center carrying the Mode J (145/435) linear transponder satellite TURKSAT-3USAT along with CubeBug-1 and NEE-01 Pegasus
https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/turksat-3usat/
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/03/22/cubebug-1/
https://amsat-uk.org/?p=14689 (NEE-01 has a downlink in the USA 902 MHz amateur band)

Note: planned launch dates can and do slip.