Tag Archives: CubeSat

Feb 16 2012

FUNcube group exceeds 3000 members

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Rev4 20100609

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

In just 16 months the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Yahoo Group has exceeded a membership of 3000.

The group was created by Rob Styles M0TFO at the end of October 2010 to provide support for the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite and the FUNcube Dongle VHF/UHF Software Defined Radio.

The FUNcube satellite project is an educational CubeSat project with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It will support the educational Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) initiatives and provide an additional resource for the RSGB GB4FUN Radio Communications Demonstration Module. The target audience is school pupils in the 8-18 age range.

As well as providing a strong 145 MHz telemetry beacon for the pupils to receive FUNcube will also have a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for Amateur Radio SSB/CW use.

The FUNcube Dongle VHF/UHF SDR was originally developed for educational outreach as part of the ground segment for the FUNcube satellite. However, it was realised it can be used for many other applications as well, so AMSAT-UK developed a Pro version which has a frequency range of 64-1700 MHz.

Similar to a USB TV Dongle, the FCD simply fits into a computer USB port and can be used with freely available Software Defined Radio software. The FCD is all-mode which this means that as well as data, it will also receive many other signals including AM, FM, SSB and CW. It can even receive weather satellite pictures.

You can join the FUNcube Yahoo Group at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/

More information on the FUNcube satellite project is at http://FUNcube.org.uk/overview/

For information on the FUNcube Dongle SDR see http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/

FUNcube information for schools Teach Space with a real satellite

Feb 16 2012

The QB50 project

The QB50 project, funded by the European Commission, deals with the design and the launch of a network of 50 miniaturized satellites to study the lower layers of the thermosphere / ionosphere. This project receives as from 15th of January 2012 financial support from the FP 7 EC program and is run by an international consortium under the leadership of the von Karman Institute near Brussels.

These satellites called “CubeSats”, completely functional, are built by universities for an educational purpose. All 50 CubeSats will be launched out of Murmansk, situated in the Northern Russia, into a circular orbit at 320 km altitude, inclination 79° around the Earth. Due to atmospheric drag, the orbits will decay and progressively lower layers of the thermosphere / ionosphere will be then explored. A network of standard satellites for in-situ measurements can only be realized by using very low-cost satellites, and CubeSats are the only realistic option.

This project includes universities in 30 European countries and universities in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Peru, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam. For many of these countries, CubeSats will be their first satellite in orbit and a matter of national prestige.

The von Karman institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) is the lead institute of this consortium and manages this international project which involves over 500 researchers from 50 countries. Jean Muylaert, Director of the Institute and responsible for the project, stresses that it will be the first time that a dedicated CubeSat space mission will be performed for unique atmospheric science and also to demonstrate new in-orbit qualification methods.

Useful websites:

http://www.QB50.eu for the Qb50 project

http://www.cubesatsymposium.eu for the 4th European CubeSat Symposium

Feb 16 2012

Solving the TLE lottery

TLEsWhen amateur radio satellites are initially deployed Two Line Elements (TLE) Keplerian orbital data sets for tracking the satellites are released by NORAD. Unfortunately they are only given object identifiers of A, B, C, D etc not satellite names. Some of the debris from the launch and deployment may also be given alphabetic identifiers. The problem is working out which of the 10 or more objects is the satellite you want to listen to.

Mike DK3WN has developed a simple solution to this perennial problem by using an SDR-IQ receiver and a bit of software.

In the case of Masat-1 he chose a high elevation pass (89 deg) where the doppler shift should be significant and recorded the complete pass with his SDR-IQ without doppler correction. With some software he simulated the entire pass with different TLE’s.

He then chose the TLE that best matched the doppler shift of the audio signal.

Read Mike’s full article with pictures on his website at http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=26038

Feb 15 2012

NASA Announces Third Round Of CubeSat Space Mission Candidates

Roland Coelho WH7BE Research Associate at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with a CubeSat - Image Credit NASA

Roland Coelho WH7BE Research Associate at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with a CubeSat - Image Credit NASA

NASA has selected 33 small satellites to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned to launch in 2013 and 2014. The proposed CubeSats come from universities across the country, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, NASA field centers and Department of Defense organizations.

CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The cube-shaped satellites are approximately 10 cm long, have a volume of about one litre and weigh less than 1.3 kg.

The selections are from the third round of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. After launch, the satellites will conduct technology demonstrations, educational research or science missions. The selected spacecraft are eligible for flight after final negotiations and an opportunity for flight becomes available. The satellites come from the following organizations:

— Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
— Air Force Research Lab, Wright-Patterson AFB
— California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
— Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
— Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
— Montana State University, Bozeman
— Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. (2 CubeSats)
— NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
— NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
— NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (2 CubeSats)
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.
— The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, Silver Spring, Md.
— Saint Louis University, St. Louis
— Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Mont.
— Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, Ala. (2 CubeSats)
— Taylor University, Upland, Ind.
— University of Alabama, Huntsville
— University of California, Berkeley
— University of Colorado, Boulder (2 CubeSats)
— University of Hawaii, Manoa (3 CubeSats)
— University of Illinois, Urbana (2 CubeSats)
— University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
— University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.
— University of Texas, Austin
— US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.
— Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg

Thirty-two CubeSat missions have been selected for launch in the previous two rounds of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Eight CubeSat missions have been launched (including five selected via the CubeSat Launch Initiative) to date via the agency’s Launch Services Program Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, program.

For additional information on NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.usa.gov/Qbf

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/

Source NASA

AMSAT Fox-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat selected for NASA ELaNa launch collaboration http://www.uk.amsat.org/4558

Feb 14 2012

Poland… CubeSat's Journey Starts.

Poland… CubeSat’s Journey Starts.

PW-Sat

PW-Sat

PW-Sat was successfully deployed on orbit. This first Polish satellite, built by students, was successfully launched by the new European rocket Vega. This marks the end of the preparation stage for the PW-Sat project and the beginning of a new era for the Polish space sector. The PW-Sat project was initiated in 2004 at theWarsaw University of Science and Technology (Politechnika Warszawska, PW) with the support from the Polish Space Research Center (Centrum Badań Kosmicznych, CBK). The main aim of this project is to educate engineering students through participation in a real space project.

The satellite is a CubeSat 1 unit (10x10x11, 3 cm, 1004 grams of mass) which hosts a deployable tail structure of 100 cm in length. Once on orbit, tested and verified, this tail will be deployed in order to speed-up the rate of PW-Sat’s orbital decay. The deployment of the tail should result in a faster deorbitation of PW-Sat in approximately one year, as opposed to four years without the tail. If the tail works as designed, then PW-Sat might be the baseline for more advanced studies on a low-cost and effective deorbitation system for small satellites.

PW-Sat was deployed from the P-POD mechanism approximately 70 minutes after launch. One hour later, the first signal from PW-Sat was picked by the ground station in Warsaw, Poland. PW-Sat is an example of a modern approach to provide hands-on experience to engineering students. After graduation, most of the students working in the PW-Sat project will probably join the emerging Polish aerospace sector. Some of them already started to work in various space projects, including the BRITE-PL scientific satellites. (Source:kosmonauta.net)

Satellites placed in space by Vega have been noticed by American network to track objects in orbit (SSN network allows monitoring of active satellites and space junk, more about that here: www.astronautilus.pl ). The objects have been given the customary designation from the 2012-04A 2012-04J. At that hides the PW-Sat not yet known.However, all the satellites move in a very similar trajectory. What can be said about it? PW-Sat is on an elliptical orbit with perigee of about 310 km and apogee 1441 km. The Earth needs a full lap hours and 42 minutes (102.47 min), so during the day revolves around the Blue Planet fourteen times. (google Translated)

 

 

 

Feb 14 2012

Poland… CubeSat’s Journey Starts.

Poland… CubeSat’s Journey Starts.

PW-Sat

PW-Sat

PW-Sat was successfully deployed on orbit. This first Polish satellite, built by students, was successfully launched by the new European rocket Vega. This marks the end of the preparation stage for the PW-Sat project and the beginning of a new era for the Polish space sector. The PW-Sat project was initiated in 2004 at theWarsaw University of Science and Technology (Politechnika Warszawska, PW) with the support from the Polish Space Research Center (Centrum Badań Kosmicznych, CBK). The main aim of this project is to educate engineering students through participation in a real space project.

The satellite is a CubeSat 1 unit (10x10x11, 3 cm, 1004 grams of mass) which hosts a deployable tail structure of 100 cm in length. Once on orbit, tested and verified, this tail will be deployed in order to speed-up the rate of PW-Sat’s orbital decay. The deployment of the tail should result in a faster deorbitation of PW-Sat in approximately one year, as opposed to four years without the tail. If the tail works as designed, then PW-Sat might be the baseline for more advanced studies on a low-cost and effective deorbitation system for small satellites.

PW-Sat was deployed from the P-POD mechanism approximately 70 minutes after launch. One hour later, the first signal from PW-Sat was picked by the ground station in Warsaw, Poland. PW-Sat is an example of a modern approach to provide hands-on experience to engineering students. After graduation, most of the students working in the PW-Sat project will probably join the emerging Polish aerospace sector. Some of them already started to work in various space projects, including the BRITE-PL scientific satellites. (Source:kosmonauta.net)

Satellites placed in space by Vega have been noticed by American network to track objects in orbit (SSN network allows monitoring of active satellites and space junk, more about that here: www.astronautilus.pl ). The objects have been given the customary designation from the 2012-04A 2012-04J. At that hides the PW-Sat not yet known.However, all the satellites move in a very similar trajectory. What can be said about it? PW-Sat is on an elliptical orbit with perigee of about 310 km and apogee 1441 km. The Earth needs a full lap hours and 42 minutes (102.47 min), so during the day revolves around the Blue Planet fourteen times. (google Translated)