Tag Archives: CubeSat

Feb 20 2014

Results of first Delfi-n3Xt transponder test

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi Nanosatellite Program Manager, Jasper Bouwmeester PC4JB, has announced results of the first test of the Delfi-n3Xt CubeSat 435/145 MHz linear transponder that were carried out on February 20.

Dear all,

Today we did a first transponder test. We could hear the beacon, but unfortunately did not hear anything back from our calls. Also we were missing the noise floor of the transponder band. Our hypothesis is that our adjustable LO (Si570) which is mixed with the IF band could not be programmed correctly and hence the pass-band goes outside our filtered band (which is a good thing, because we do not want to transmit on illegal frequencies). This LO is adjustable by I2C communication and should be programmed each time at power up (so each time the transponder mode is activated. We will do two attempts more on Friday, February 20 at the morning ground passes and even if that doesn’t help we will keep on trying with different settings. If the situation changes I will update you again.

Best regards,

Jasper, PC4JB

IARU coordinated Delfi-n3Xt frequencies
• 145.870 MHz Telemetry
• 145.930 MHz Telemetry
• 2405.00 MHz High speed data
• Inverting SSB/CW transponder
– 435.530-435.570 MHz uplink LSB
– 145.880-145.920 MHz downlink USB

Telemetry reception http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/delfi-n3xt-telemetry-reception

Delfi-n3Xt http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/radio-amateurs

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Feb 20 2014

ISS CubeSat deployments to resume February 25

The first of the Planet Lab Dove CubeSats were deployed from the ISS on February 11, 2014 about 0831 UT

The first of the Planet Lab Dove CubeSats were deployed from the ISS on February 11, 2014 about 0831 UT

According to NanoRacks the deployment of the second batch of CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS) will commence at 1700 UT on Tuesday, February 25, 2014. The CubeSats deployments were streamed live at http://m.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream

ISS Kibo Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)

ISS Kibo Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)

Earlier this month astronaut Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA successfully deployed the first part of the Flock-1 constellation comprising 16 Dove 3U CubeSats developed by Planet Labs. The remaining 12 Dove CubeSats along with the amateur radio CubeSats LituanicaSat-1, LitSat-1, ArduSat-2, UAPSat-1 and the 915 MHz SkyCube should be deployed in the second batch.

The amateur radio CubeSats may be deployed on Friday, February 28 at 0730 UT. Another amateur radio CubeSat the Peruvian Chasqui 1 was sent to the ISS on February 5, 2014. It is not yet clear if this will also be deployed on Feb. 28.

Eight NanoRacks deployers are installed on the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP). Each deployer has a capacity of 6U and so can hold up to six 1U CubeSats or two 3U CubeSats. They are carried by Japanese Experiment Module-Remote Manipulator System (JEM-RMS).

Two 3U CubeSats (6U total) can be deployed every one to two orbits to prevent collisions. For the first batch of Flock-1 CubeSats about two deployments took place each day.

Planet Labs CubeSat Constellation

Planet Labs CubeSat Constellation

LituanicaSat-1 carries a 145/435 MHz FM transponder while LitSat-1 has a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW communications.

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

The IARU coordinated frequencies are listed as:

LituanicaSAT-1
• 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
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lituanicasat1

LitSat-1
• SSB Transponder Uplink 435.180 MHz Downlink 145.950 MHz
• AX25 Uplink 437.550 MHz Downlink 145.850 MHz
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/palydovas

ArduSat-2
• 9k6 MSK CCSDS data format downlink 437.? MHz
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575960623/ardusat-your-arduino-experiment-in-space

UAPSAT
• AX.25 Packet Radio uplink 145.980 MHz downlink 437.385 MHz
http://www.uapsat.info/ Twitter https://twitter.com/uapsat Facebook https://www.facebook.com/uapsat

Chasqui-1 (Peru) was launched to the space station on February 5, 2014. It is understood that it is scheduled to be hand-deployed during a future Russian Extravehicular Activity (EVA).
• AX.25 Packet Radio downlink on 437.250 MHz http://www.chasqui.uni.edu.pe/eng.html

Two Planet Labs Dove CubeSats deployed from the ISS February 11, 2014

Two Planet Labs Dove CubeSats deployed from the ISS February 11, 2014

Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA https://twitter.com/Astro_Wakata

NanoRacks https://twitter.com/nanoracks/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nanoracks

Close-up of Planet Labs Dove CubeSats leaving NanoRacks deployer February 11, 2014

Close-up of Planet Labs Dove CubeSats leaving NanoRacks deployer February 11, 2014

Planet Labs https://twitter.com/planetlabs

A Dove in Space https://twitter.com/adoveinspace

Southern Stars https://twitter.com/south_stars

Video of NanoRacks interview: Deploying CubeSats from the Space Station
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/31/video-deploying-cubesats-from-the-space-station/

February 11, 2014 ISS CubeSats deployed
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/11/cubesats-deployed-from-international-space-station/

Jonathan’s Space Report (JSR) has been covering robotic and human spaceflight activity for 25 years
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/09/a-quarter-century-of-jonathans-space-report/
Twitter http://twitter.com/planet4589

Astronaut Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA prepares NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers

Astronaut Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA prepares NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers

Feb 20 2014

Distributed Ground Station Network For CubeSat Communications

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Software Defined Radio

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Software Defined Radio

Zachary J. Leffke KJ4QLP has written a Masters Thesis which explores the concept of deploying a network of distributed ground station receiver nodes for the purposes of increasing access time to the spacecraft, and thereby increasing the potential amount of data that can be transferred from orbit to the ground. The current trends in CubeSat communications are analyzed and an argument made in favor of transitioning to more modern digital communications approaches for on orbit missions. Finally, a candidate ground station receiver node design is presented a possible design that could be used to deploy such a network.

The paper’s acknowledgements read:

I would like to thank Dr. Robert W. McGwier [N4HY] for his steady guidance in this work. His depth of experience in Amateur Radio satellite communications and Software Defi ned Radio has been an invaluable resource.

I would also like to thank the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, commonly known as AMSAT. This collection of eclectic geniuses, that build and launch satellites as part of a hobby, have been a steady source of encouragement and technical savvy and are an excellent group of role models that I am proud to be associated with.

Speci cally, I would like to thank Douglas Quagliana [KA2UPW] and Joe Fitzgerald [KM1P] from AMSAT for their speci c words of encouragement and genuine enthusiasm for this project. I hope the work presented here can help further the mission of AMSAT.

I would also like to thank Howard Long [G6LVB], the inventor of the FUNcube Dongle Pro Plus. Without this economic and brilliantly designed device, the creation of the prototype presented in this work would not have been possible.

Read the paper at http://t.co/yQx2O0PPUF

Feb 20 2014

Fox-1 CubeSat Publicity Handout

AMSAT is Amateur Radio in SpaceAMSAT-NA have released a single page Fox-1 CubeSat publicity handout for club meetings or hamfests.

Fox-1 carries an FM transponder with a 435.180 MHz uplink and 145.980 MHz downlink that you should be able to work using your FM dual-band HT.

It is planned to launch into a 470 by 780 km orbit with a 64° inclination on the Atlas-V ELaNa XII NROL-55 mission from the Vandenberg Air Force Base slated for December 6, 2014. Note all launch dates can slip, for the latest launch schedule see http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

Download the Fox-1 Publicity Handout

Feb 18 2014

Brown University CubeSat on TV

WPRI 12 video Manufacturing Leader Hannah Varner working on the CubeSat structure

WPRI 12 video Manufacturing Leader Hannah Varner working on the CubeSat structure

Students at Brown University, Rhode Island have been getting plenty of media coverage for their LED CubeSat appearing in the TV news broadcasts of ABC 6 and WPRI 12.

They were interviewed by Samantha Lavien for the ABC 6 TV news story which was broadcast on Monday, February 18. You can watch it on the web at
http://www.abc6.com/story/24745098/nasa-to-launch-brown-univ-students-nanosatellite

Watch the WPRI 12 TV news report Brown project set to go into space at
http://wpri.com/2014/02/18/providence-brown-university-nanosatellite-being-built-for-space/

Brown University Cubesat project https://mygroups.brown.edu/organization/CubeSat

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/BrownCubeSat

Brown University LED CubeSat https://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/12/brown-university-led-cubesat/

Feb 18 2014

Overcrowding of the two metre satellite band

Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV

Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV

At the 2013 AMSAT-NA Symposium Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV gave a presentation on the challenges presented by overcrowding of the two meter (145 MHz) satellite band.

A PDF of his slides can be downloaded from
http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~bklofas/Presentations/AMSAT-NA_Symposium2013/Groenendaal_Overcrowding_Two_Metre_Band.pdf

Bryan Klofas KF6ZEO gave a presentation Upcoming CubeSat Launches: The Flood Has Arrived, his slides can be seen at http://www.klofas.com/papers/klofas_upcoming_cubesat_launches.pdf

The slides for other presentations given at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 AMSAT-NA symposiums can be downloaded from http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~bklofas/Presentations/