The first qualification Vega flight from the space center at Kourou in the Caribbean is scheduled to take place on February 13 and a video showing the payloads is now available.
Watch Arianespace
Frequencies and URLs for the student amateur radio satellites can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180
NASA is seeking proposals for flight demonstrations of small satellite technologies with the goal of increasing the technical capabilities and range of uses for this emerging category of spacecraft.
Small satellites typically weigh less than 400 pounds (180 kg) and are generally launched as secondary payloads on rockets carrying larger spacecraft. The small satellite category includes softball-sized “CubeSats,” which are standardized, small, cube-shaped spacecraft that can carry small payloads, and even smaller experimental spacecraft.
“NASA’s Edison SmallSat program helps to continue America’s leadership in space through the further development of this class of satellites — small, agile and relatively inexpensive spacecraft that could perform many tasks in space enabling new missions and providing unique educational opportunities,” said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “These spacecraft represent a new opportunity among the many ways that NASA can approach its diverse goals in science, exploration and education.”
NASA’s Edison Small Satellite Demonstration Program has released a broad agency announcement seeking low-cost, flight demonstration proposals for small satellite technology. The topic areas for this solicitation will be limited to demonstrations of communications systems for small satellites, proximity operations with small satellites and propulsion systems for Cubesat-scale satellites. Other technology and application demonstrations will be addressed in future solicitations.
“Encouraging the growth of small-spacecraft technology also benefits our economy,” said Andrew Petro, Edison program executive at NASA Headquarters. “Many of the technologies that enable small spacecraft come from the world of small business, where commercial practices provide innovative and cost-effective solutions. Those technologies will continue to advance as demand and competition drive companies to excel.”
The advancement of small spacecraft technologies offers the potential for small satellites to expand the types of science and exploration at NASA. These spacecraft can accomplish new types of missions never before possible, and they are expected to provide space access to more technologists and scientists. Their small size means that they are less expensive to build and launch, which allows NASA to engage the expanding small-space community, including small businesses and university researchers, in technology that helps enable larger goals.
Executive summaries of proposals must be submitted by March 4, 2012. NASA expects to invite full proposals this spring, with selections made this fall. A selected project must be completed within two to three years at a total cost of no more than $15 million. The number of awards will depend on the quality and cost of proposals and availability of funding.
The Edison Small Satellite Demonstration Program is managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., for the Space Technology Program, which works to provide the technologies and capabilities that will enable NASA’s future missions. To view the announcement and instructions for submissions, visit:
Masat-1 CubeSat
Andras Gschwindt HA5WH is requesting Radio Amateurs to send reports of telemetry data from the Hungarian student satellite Masat-1 due to be launched on February 13.
Andras HA5WH, head of the student group that made the first Hungarian CubeSat, Masat-1, says:
Masat-1 is a 1U cubesat and its basic mission is a technological experiment. You can find more on our web site: http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/
Masat-1 is onboard the Vega rocket which we hope will launch on February 13. My students at The Technical University of Budapest, are in need of telemetry data especially in the first one to two weeks after launch.
I would like to ask you to help us with the reception of our satellite by sending the received data back to us.
You can load the decoder software from our page but the most important would be the reception of the voltage and temperature from the CW data.
The call sign of Masat-1 is HA5MASAT and the telemetry transmission frequency is 437.345 MHz +/- 10 kHz Doppler shift. (the signal will start at 437.355 MHz and drift down to 437.335 MHz during a 10-15 minute orbital pass)
Watch the Masat-1 Eliptical Orbit video
The Masat-1 Ground Station Client Software was prepared to process the 437.345 MHz GFSK 625/1250 bps transmission received from the satellite Masat-1. The software provides the following functions:
– Audio demodulation
– Packet decoding
– Packet data visualization
– Frequency waterfall plot to aid radio tuning
Download the software and a test WAV file from http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/
Some of the Masat-1 Team
Further information on Masat-1 is at http://www.uk.amsat.org/4249
For frequencies and URL links of the eight student built amateur radio satellites on Vega see http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180
Artists impression of UKube-1 in orbit
Members of UKSEDS are developing an amateur radio satellite payload called myPocketQub442 (437.425-437.525 MHz) that will fly on the UKube-1 satellite towards the end of the year.
UKSEDS is a space enthusiast organisation for both school and university students. Anyone who is interested can become a member of UKSEDS, young or old, student or non-student. Its aims are:
– To promote the exploration of space, and the research and development of space-related technologies.
– To provide a forum through which students can become involved in the international space community.
– To motivate students to excel in space-related fields.
– To share in the advancing knowledge and growing benefits to be reaped from space.
– To improve space-related education through both academic work and hands-on projects.
UKSEDS holds an annual National Conference, which brings together students throughout the country to learn more about space and to meet professionals in the space business.
Their myPocketQub442 project has been selected to fly on the UK Space Agency’s first mission UKube-1. Read all about it at http://ukseds.org/projects/ukube/
Members of the group took part in a parabolic flight on which they tested the hinges that deploy the solar panels of UKube-1.
Watch Microgravity-on-Demand 1/20111120/P11/3D1L raw video
OpenSpace365 myPocketQub442 List of Missions http://openspace365.appspot.com/
If you are interested in setting up a UKSEDS branch at your school or university please see
http://ukseds.org/branches/
UKSEDS http://ukseds.org/
Artists impression of Vega launch
Vega is now scheduled to launch on Monday, February 13, at 1000 UT with eight student built amateur radio satellites. The launcher will first deploy the main payload, the LARES the Laser relativity Spacecraft and will then make an additional firing of the final AVUM stage before deploying the secondary CubeSat and Microsatellite payloads.
The planned timing for these deployments are as follows:
= T0+ 4245.30secs first PPOD, with (in order of ejection) XatCobeo, e-st@r, and Goliat
= T0+ 4255.30secs second PPOD, with (in order of ejection) Robusta, MaSat-1 and PW-Sat
= T0+ 4265.30secs third PPOD, with UniCubeSat only (These Cubesats will not deploy their antennas until >1800 seconds after they leave their PODS.)
= T0+ 4275.30secs AlmaSat-1 – it is not known how soon this spacecraft will start transmitting after deployment
Frequencies for the satellites on the Vega Launch are:
+ ALMASat-1 – University of Bologna, Italy 437.465 MHz 1200 bps FSK and 2407.850 MHz
+ Xatcobeo (a collaboration of the University of Vigo and INTA, Spain) to demonstrate software-defined radio and solar panel deployment. 437.365 MHz FFSK with AX.25 and 145.940 MHz SSR
+ Robusta (University of Montpellier 2, France) to test and evaluate radiation effects (low dose rate) on bipolar transistor electronic components. 437.325 MHz 1200 bps FM telemetry with one data burst of 20 seconds every 3 minutes.
+ e-st@r (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) to demonstration of an active 3-axis Attitude Determination and Control system including an inertial measurement unit. 437.445 MHz 1200 bps AFSK.
+ Goliat (University of Bucharest, Romania) to provide imaging of the Earth surface using a digital camera and in-situ measurement of radiation dose and micrometeoroid flux. 437.485 MHz 1200 bps AFSK.
+ PW-Sat (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland) to test a deployable atmospheric drag augmentation device for de-orbiting CubeSats. PW-Sat carries an FM to DSB amateur radio transponder with an FM input on 435.020 MHz and DSB output on 145.900 MHz. There are 5 modes of operation:
– Receive only – no downlink
– CW Beacon CW – On-Off Keying (OOK) CW 12 WPM 435.020 MHz
– BPSK Beacon – BPSK 1200 bps AX25 (1 frame on 20 sec) 435.020 MHz
– Control communication mode. Downlink BPSK 1200 bps AX25 435.020 MHz
– Voice Repeater mode (aka “AO-16 mode) – uplink 435.020 MHz FM and downlink 145.900 MHz DSB
+ MaSat-1 (Budapest University of Technology and Economics): to demonstrate various spacecraft avionics, including a power conditioning system, transceiver and on-board data handling. 437.345 MHz GFSK 625/1250 bps, CW. See the related article in these bulletins describing the downloadable GFSK demodulator software.
+ UniCubeSat GG – (University of Rome): The UNICubeSat mission goal is the in-situ measurement of atmospheric density. Downlink frequencies are 437.305 MHz or 437.345 MHz 9k6 FSK.
Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL provides complete coverage of the Vega launch on his ‘ESA CubeSats Update’ web pages. You’ll find an overview of each of the satellite missions, frequencies, modulation/protocols, and links to the developers home web pages posted at: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm
AMSAT-UK covers the Vega launch at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180
An ESA time-lapse showing the full assembly of the first Vega launcher at the launch pad at the ESA Spaceport in Kourou is posted at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaUMSLU0aig
The student teams have requested reception reports. All observers are being encouraged to join the CubeSat IRC chat channel to pass on their news and comments in realtime. You will need an IRC client such as ChatZilla or mIRC to join the cubesat chat. Use the irc.freenode.net server. Then join the #cubesat channel. Many users set their chat nickname to “name_callsign”.
AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/
|
AMSAT-UK 
You must be logged in to post a comment.