FUNcube-1 Dashboard User Interface App Now Available

FUNcube-1 last test dashboard frame

FUNcube-1 last test dashboard frame

In advance of the FUNcube-1 launch next week on November 21 at 07:10:11 UT, this first release of the FUNcube Dashboard User Interface software is now available for download here: http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard

This software, when used with a FUNcube Dongle or other SSB capable VHF receiver, will decode and display all the 58 telemetry channels, all the on-board status flags and also the Fitter messages from the spacecraft.

The FUNcube Dashboard will also enable users to upload the telemetry they are receiving to a central Data Warehouse so that others around the world can see what is happening on board.

A fully illustrated set of installation and operating guidance notes can also be downloaded from that page.

Additionally we also have some IQ and audio files available here that can be used for testing. http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/telemetry-examples/

Full details of the telemetry format, which has considerable heritage from AO-40, can be found here. http://funcubetest2.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/fun_downlink_data_draft_13.doc

We are very grateful to our software development team for their efforts in developing the Dashboard and we look forward to your feedback. Please let us have questions and experiences at the FUNcube forum at http://forum.funcube.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=3

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

Three Amateur Radio Satellite Deployments in November

A Dnepr launch

A Dnepr launch

In his blog Nader Omer ST2NH notes the large number of  satellites carrying amateur radio payloads that are expected to be launched in the next two weeks.

There will be an estimated 34 new satellite downlinks to be received with two of the satellites also providing 435/145 MHz linear transponders for SSB/CW communications. It will present a considerable challenge to correctly identify all satellites and match them to the NORAD Two-Line Element data in the days after deployment.

In a single week in November we should see:
November 19-20 ISS CubeSat deployment
November 20 Minotaur-1 launch
November 21 Yasny Dnepr launch

Mineo Wakita JE9PEL has produced a list of frequencies of the satellites carrying amateur radio payloads that are planned to be launched in November.

Mineo Wakita JE9PEL Satellite Frequency List

Satellite         Uplink          Downlink         Beacon       Mode
- 
ISS deployment:
PicoDragon           .            437.365          437.250      1200bps AFSK,CW
ArduSat-1            .            437.000             .         9600bps MSK
ArduSat-X            .            437.000             .         9600bps MSK
TechEdSat-3          .            437.465          437.465      1200bps AFSK,CW
-
Minotaur-1 launcher:
Black Knight-1       .            437.345             .
CAPE-2               .            145.825/437.325     .
COPPER               .            437.290             .         9600bps
DragonSat-1          .            145.870             .
Ho'oponopono-2       .            427.220             .         9600bps FSK/GMSK
KYSat-2              .            437.405             .
NPS-SCAT             .            437.525/2401.200-2447.600
PhoneSat-v2          .            437.425/2401.200-2431.200
SwampSat             .            437.385             .
TetherSat            .            437.100/305         .         9600bps GFSK
TJ3Sat               .            437.320             .
Trailblazer-1        .            437.425             .
-
Dnepr launcher:
BRITE-PL1            .            2234.4
CubeBug-2            .            437.445             .         1k2 AFSK 9k6 FSK,GMSK
Delfi-n3Xt        435.530-570     145.880-920         .         Transponder(U/V)
Delfi-n3Xt           .            145.870/930         .         1200bps AFSK
Eagle-1              .            437.465             .         9600bps GFSK
Eagle-2              .            437.505             .         9600bps GFSK
E-Star-2             .            437.485             .         1200bps AFSK
First-MOVE        435.520         145.970             .         1200bps BPSK
FUNcube-1         435.150-130     145.950-970         .         Inverting(U/V)
FUNcube-1            .            145.935             .         1200bps BPSK
GOMX-1               .            437.250             .         1k2/2k4/4k8/9k6 GMSK
HiNCube              .            437.305             .
Humsat-D             .            437.325/437.525     .
ICUBE-1           435.060         145.947             .         1200bps BPSK
NEE-02 Krysaor       .            980.000?            .
PUCP-SAT-1        145.840         145.840/437.200     .         1200bps AFSK
Pocket-PUCP          .            437.200          437.200      1200bps AFSK,CW
Qubescout-S1         .            437.525             .         9600bps GMSK
Triton-1          435.xxx         145.815/860     2408.000      9600bps RC-BPSK
UniSat-5             .            437.175/425         .         9600bps GMSK
UWE-3                .            437.385          437.385      1200bps FSK,CW
VELOX-P2          437.305         145.980             .         1200bps BPSK
Wren                 .            437.405          437.405      1200bps FSK,CW
ZACube-1          145.860         437.345           14.099

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Free software for satellite tracking https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

Thanks to Nader Omer ST2NH whose satellite blog can be seen at http://st2nh-blogger.blogspot.co.uk/

KySat-2 and other CubeSats launch November

Archive picture of KYSat-1 - credit Kentucky University

Archive picture of KySat-1 – credit University of Kentucky

KySat-2 (K2) is a 1U CubeSat to fulfill the education and public outreach mission of the original KySat-1 CubeSat that was lost during a launch vehicle failure of ELaNa I and accompanying NASA GLORY mission. It has the call sign KK4AJJ and plans to launch along with over a dozen other CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads on a Minotaur-1 from Wallops Island no earlier than November 20, 2013.

With the same motivation as KySat-1 K2 will include upgraded components and best practices that have been developed within the institutions in charge of designing, building, and operating the spacecraft in orbit. These institutions are:
• Kentucky Space LLC: Mission Management
• Morehead State University (MSU): Communications, power systems
• University of Kentucky (UK): On board computer, imaging payload

Once in orbit the spacecraft will transmit in the amateur UHF band and beacon using the AX.25 protocol to portable ground stations already developed by MSU for outreach in K-12 grades. Those using the mobile ground stations will only be able to listen for beacons if fully licensed. It has a 1 watt downlink on 437.405 MHz (AstroDev Lithium Li-1) that will transmit 9600 bps FSK AX.25 with a beacon period of 15-45 seconds. The call sign used will be KK4AJJ.

The expected telemetry on the beacon expects to include basic spacecraft health (batt voltages, solar cell temperatures) which will be tied in with lesson plans being developed jointly by Kentucky Space. Larger data sets will be transmitted on the UHF band including measurements of attitude control with the included 3 axis accelerometers and gyroscopes that are included on the spacecraft.

The main payload of the spacecraft will be what is being called by the development team as a “stellar gyro”. This imaging system will serve two purposes:
1. The imager will take successive images when looking at star field to run algorithms to determine the spacecrafts relative attitude, role rate, and perhaps other measurements that can be back out from the relative movement of stars taken by the spacecraft.
2. Capable of taking images of the earth to sublimit the education and public outreach part of the mission. These images will be downloaded at MSU & UK ground stations and posted on the mission website for users and educations.

All student operators and engineering team members are required to obtain an individual amateur radio operators license.

KySat-1 http://ssl.engineering.uky.edu/missions/orbital/kysat-2/about-kysat-2/

Kentucky Space http://kentuckyspace.com/

Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) http://ssl.engineering.uky.edu/

Free software for satellite tracking https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

These satellites are on the launch, frequencies for those using IARU Frequency Cooordination are here.
ORS 3
STPSat 3
ORSES
ORS Tech 1
ORS Tech 2
Prometheus 1
Prometheus 2
Prometheus 3
Prometheus 4
SENSE 1
SENSE 2
Firefly
Ho‘oponopono 2
STARE B (Horus)
TetherSat 1
TetherSat 2
Black Knight 1
CAPE 2
ChargerSat 1
COPPER (SLU 01)
DragonSat 1
KySat 2
NPS-SCAT
PhoneSat v2.4
TJ3Sat
Trailblazer 1 (SPA-1 Trailblazer)
SwampSat
Vermont Lunar Cubesat

FUNcube-1 Handbook now in Italian and French

FUNcube-1 Handbook Front PageThanks to Pierluigi Poggi IW4BLG the FUNcube-1 handbook is now available in Italian, and thanks to Christophe Mercier of AMSAT-Francophone it is also available in French.

The handbook provides an initial introduction to the project overall and the FUNcube-1 spacecraft in particular.

The primary mission of the FUNcube-1 CubeSat is to provide a telemetry beacon that can be easily received by schools and colleges for educational outreach purposes. When not in educational mode the spacecraft switches on a communications transponder for use by radio amateurs.

The launch is planned for November 21, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT on a Dnepr rocket from Dombarovsky near Yasny in the Russian Federation.

The English, Italian and French versions of the handbook can be downloaded from http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/

Direct links:
English
Italian
French

It is presently being translated into Dutch and AMSAT-UK would be delighted to receive offers of translation into other languages. Contact AMSAT-UK here.

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

FUNcube-1 Project Update November 11

FUNcube-1 last test dashboard frame

FUNcube-1 last test dashboard frame

The FUNcube-1 software team is working feverishly to complete the FUNcube Dashboard software that will be used to decode and display the telemetry that will be transmitted from the spacecraft on 145.935 MHz after the launch planned for November 21 at 07:10:11 UT.

A Dnepr launch

A Dnepr launch

Whilst they finish their work here are some provisional pre-launch Keplerian Elements (Keps). We may well receive an updated set nearer to the day of launch but we expect that these should be good enough for the first few hours/days after launch.

Satellite: FUNCUBE-1
Catalog number: 99991
Epoch time:      13325.309563080
Element set:    1
Inclination:      97.7956 deg
RA of node:      38.2570 deg
Eccentricity:    0.0059925
Arg of perigee:  198.5190 deg
Mean anomaly:    336.5388 deg
Mean motion:  14.77841394 rev/day
Decay rate:      0.00000106
Epoch rev:          1

Two-Line Elements (TLE’s):
FUNcube
1 999991 00  0  0 13325.30956308  .00000106  00000-0  00000-0 0  0010
2 99999 097.7956 038.2570 0059900 198.5190 336.5388 14.77841394000000

The particular method of deployment used by this Dnepr launch vehicle means that the dispersion of all the objects may be somewhat more rapid than we are commonly used to, so this may help the experts determine which object is which.

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Rev4 20100609

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

FUNcube-1 will initially be transmitting only about 30 mW of output power, this is its “Safe Mode”, so a steerable Yagi will greatly help reception.

When the spacecraft is eventually transmitting data in its normal “Educational Mode” the signal is expected to be about 10 dB louder.

To stay up-to-date with what has happening with the FUNcube project and, in particular, with the FUNcube-1 spacecraft please visit http://www.funcube.org.uk/

You can register for automatic email notifications of all the updates by clicking on the “follow this blog” tab towards the bottom right hand corner of the front page.

best 73

Graham G3VZV

Satellite Tracking https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

FUNcube-1 on BBC Radio

Graham Shirville G3VZV withdevelopment version of FUNcube spacecraft

Graham Shirville G3VZV with the Engineering Model of the FUNcube spacecraft in 2012

Graham Shirville G3VZV was interviewed about the FUNcube-1 CubeSat in the Roberto Perrone show on BBC Three Counties Radio. The interview, broadcast on Monday, November 11 is now available on the web.

FUNcube is an educational spacecraft 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 Math (STEM) initiatives.

The target audience consists of primary and secondary school pupils and FUNcube will feature a 145 MHz telemetry beacon that will provide a strong signal for the pupils to receive. It will also carry a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for amateur radio SSB/CW communications.

The launch is planned for November 21, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT on a Dnepr rocket from Dombarovsky near Yasny in the Russian Federation.

You can listen to the BBC radio interview by dragging the slider to 02:19:29 in the “Listen Now” recording of the 3 hour show which is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01kkvzh

FUNcube-1 spacecraft in the clean room with Graham Shirville G3VZV

FUNcube-1 spacecraft in the clean room with Graham Shirville G3VZV