Tag Archives: CubeSat

Feb 12 2012

Open Mission Control Software for Satellite & Balloon Projects

Open Mission Control

Open Mission Control

Open Mission Control is open source, open access software for monitoring and controlling small spacecraft or balloon projects.

The software is designed to provide an application and framework that can be adapted quickly and easily to support a variety of spacecraft including CubeSats, myPocketQubs and NanoLab experiments, and sounding rocket and high altitude balloon experiments.

The team include students, space professionals, educators and enthusiasts from around the world, all working together to build a great mission control application for small spacecraft projects.

The Open Mission Control framework consists of the application and graphical user interface which contain the basic structure of the program, and the Open Mission Control toolbox, which provides a number of ready to use functions typically required for mission control applications.

The Open Mission Control application and graphical user interface can be adapted to a project quickly and easily, by populating them with elements from the Open Mission Control toolbox and other standard library elements. This approach allows also users with limited programming experience to create sophisticated mission control software by building on a solid basic implementation.

Designed to work with any spacecraft project, the first flight mission that is expected to use Open Mission Control is myPocketQub442. Developed by UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) myPocketQub442 was selected to fly as a pocket spacecraft attached to UKube-1, the first United Kingdom Space Agency CubeSat. It is expected to be the first mission controlled by Open Mission Control and to demonstrate and verify various use cases:

+ The first use case is for professional monitoring, command and control of a real spacecraft.

+ The second use case involves schools and universities using Open Mission Control to upload their virtual payloads for their OpenSpace365 projects, monitor their experiments as they run and download the data for analysis.

+ The third use case involves the use of Open Mission Control as monitoring software for the various scientific and engineering sub-payloads that will fly on myPocketQub442. The students conducting these experiments will use Open Mission Control to access and store the data from these payload experiments for analysis and research.

+ The fourth use case is communication with engineering models of the real spacecraft which will be made available on the Internet. These engineering models are duplicates of the flight hardware and allow Open Mission Control to command and monitor them and their sub-payloads in real time and to simulate different critical mission phases under real conditions.

Additional information and links are available on the Open Mission Control webpage at: http://openmissioncontrol.wordpress.com/

Feb 11 2012

Student Satellite Launch To Be Broadcast Live

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

The launch of eight student amateur radio satellites from the space center at Kourou in the Caribbean will be broadcast live on the Internet.

The launch should take place between 1000-1300 UT on Monday, February 13 and you’ll be able to watch it at http://www.videocorner.tv/

The student teams have requested reception reports. During the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) Monday, listeners are encouraged to gather at the IRC “cubesat” channel to exchange all the latest available information. Simply point your browser to http://webchat.freenode.net/ and join the #cubesat channel. In the Nickname: field enter “name_callsign” and in the Channels: field enter #cubesat

Preliminary Vega TLE’s for launch at 1000, 1100 or 1200 UT here

Assuming a 1000 UT launch the satellites should deploy their antennas and start transmitting at about 1140 UT. It looks like the first to get reception will be Central America followed quickly by a pass up the East coast of North America. The first pass for the United Kingdom should be a horizon skimmer across the NW at around 1207 UT.

Student amateur radio satellite downlink frequencies:
+ AlmaSat-1   437.465 MHz 1200 bps FSK, 2407.850 MHz
+ E-St@r        437.445 MHz 1200 bps AFSK
+ Goliat          437.485 MHz 1200 bpx AFSK
+ Masat-1      437.345 MHz 625/1250 bps GFSK, CW
+ PW-Sat       145.900 MHz 1200 bps BPSK AX25, CW
+ Robusta      437.325 MHz 1200 bps FM telemetry – one data burst of 20 secs every 1 min
+ UniCubeSat 437.305 MHz 9600 bps FSK
+ XaTcobeo     437.365 MHz FFSK with AX.25

Masat-1 telemetry decode software http://www.uk.amsat.org/4385

URLs for the student satellite websites are at http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180

Vega Elliptical Orbit Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/4119

Satscape Free Satellite Tracking Software http://www.satscape.info/home/?q=node/2 

N2YO Real Time Satellite Tracking http://www.n2yo.com/

Feb 11 2012

AMSAT Fox-1 CubeSat selected for NASA ELaNa launch collaboration

AMSAT FOX

AMSAT FOX

Project ELaNa, NASA’s ‘Educational Launch of NanoSat’ managed by the  Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center, announced on February 10 that the AMSAT Fox-1 CubeSat has been selected to join the program.

NASA will work with AMSAT in a collaborative agreement where NASA  will cover the integration and launch costs of satellites deemed to have merit in support of their strategic and educational goals.

Watch for full details to be published in the AMSAT Journal.

AMSAT teamed with the ARRL to write and deliver the 159 page educational proposal to NASA. Letters documenting the importance of AMSAT’s satellites in the education programs at the ARRL and also at the Clay Center for Science and Technology at the Dexter and Southfield schools in Brookline, MA, were important parts of our proposal.

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW said,
“The ELaNA Launch opportunity marks AMSAT’s return to space after the conclusion of the successful ARISSat-1/KEDR flight. We need to get the flight Fox-1, along with an operational flight backup satellite, built, integrated, tested, and delivered. Our ability to provide a spacecraft and get it launched is dependent upon the active support of our donors who wish to see Fox-1 fly.”

AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX noted this will provide a launch opportunity for AMSAT’s next generation of FM repeater satellites with features and operation beyond the experience of AO-51. AMSAT’s Fox-1 Engineering Team is making progress developing the advanced satellite that will provide these features:

• Fox-1 is designed to operate in sunlight without batteries once the battery system fails. This applies lessons learned from AO-51 and ARISSat-1 operations.

• In case of IHU failure Fox-1 will continue to operate its FM repeater in a basic, ‘zombie sat’ mode, so that the repeater remains on-the-air.

• Fox-1 is designed as the immediate replacement for AO-51. Its U/V (Mode B) transponder will make it even easier to work with modest equipment.

• From the ground user’s perspective, the same FM amateur radio equipment used for AO-51 may be used for Fox-1.

• Extending the design, Fox-2 will benefit from the development work of Fox-1 by adding more sophisticated power management and Software Defined Transponder (SDX) communications systems.

The Fox-1 Project presents an opportunity to literally put your callsign on the Fox hardware. AMSAT is looking for major donations to help underwrite the cost of solar cells/panels, one of the more significant expenses of the project.

These solar cells are needed for the flight unit as well as for the a flight spare. As Fox-1 will have solar cells on all six sides of the spacecraft and given the relatively small surface area available on each side (at most 4″ by 4″ per side), AMSAT needs to invest in high efficiency solar cells to gain as much power as possible to operate the spacecraft.

Several opportunities to make your donation to keep amateur radio in space include:
• Call Martha at the AMSAT Office +1-888-FB AMSAT (1-888-322-6728)
• Paypal donation widget on the main page at: http://www.amsat.org
• Paypal donation widget for Project Fox at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fox/
• You can also go to the Paypal site and send your donation to martha@amsat.org
• The AMSAT Store: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/categories.php

Project Fox web site provide a good overview of the technical progress of the new satellite: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fox/

Thanks to AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX and AMSAT’s Project Fox Engineering team for the above information.

Feb 10 2012

CubeSats on the Vega qualification flight

In this video Roger Walker, Head of education projects unit, ESA, talks about the CubeSats that will be on the first launch of the Vega rocket, planned to take place between 10:00 and 12:00 UT on Monday, February 13.

The video shows the integration of the CubeSats in the P-POD deployment system and includes some interviews with ESA’s experts and European students involved in the programme. Over 250 students were involved in the development of the seven amateur radio CubeSats.

Watch CubeSats on the Vega qualification flight

Frequencies and URLs for the student amateur radio satellites on Vega can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180

Feb 8 2012

1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop

The 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop takes palce in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29-30, 2012.

iCubeSat, the Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop, will address the technical challenges, opportunities, and practicalities of space exploration with CubeSats. The workshop will provide a unique environment for open practical collaboration between academic researchers, industry professionals, policy makers, and students developing this new and rapidly growing field.

Talks and round tables will focus on three themes: technology, science, and open collaboration.

Keynote speakers

Technology: Mason Peck, NASA, Chief Technologist
Science: Sara Seager, MIT, Professor of Physics and Planetary Science

The program will also include unconference sessions to provide additional opportunities to engage with the interplanetary CubeSat community and potential collaborators. Talks and supporting material will be streamed and posted on the conference website. A lively social program in and around summertime Boston will be arranged for participants and their guests.

Further information on the event website http://icubesat.wordpress.com/

Feb 8 2012

CubeSats – Acceptance, Integration and Test (AIT)

This video is of a presentation given by Jim White WD0E at COSMIAC on Acceptance, Integration and Test (AIT) including Early Operations (for nanosatellites and cubesats) with lessons learned from AIT.