Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Jun 15 2012

ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update

The NanoSatisfi team is building an Arduino CubeSat ArduSat. On this satellite they plan to put up to 5 Arduino’s and plug in 50+ sensors into them as well as 2 optical and 1 IR camera.

Once the satellite is on orbit they aim to give access to the general public/citizen scientists to the payload (Arduinos, sensors and camera) to upload their own scientific experiments.

The team want to capture the attention of the DIY community, hackers and makers, amateur astronomers and in general those interested in space exploration and the next frontier.

Sensor wise they have so far magnetometers, O3 sensors, GPS , gyros, plasma sensors, photometer, thermometer, pressure sensor, space radiation (bitflip) sensor, Geiger counter and 2 optical and 1 IR camera etc. The idea is that people can rent scientific packages for a week, during the week they run their experiment the team will send data constantly back to them to analyze.

Imagine general public, including teachers having access to experiment platform in space for a couple of hundreds of dollar and they analyze data and engage students, friends etc., it could revolutionize the way people see space and perceive space exploration.

The team are also looking for feedback from people interested in the project and want to hear ideas on sensors and experiments!

Watch ArduSat Kickstarter Video

Watch Sensor prototype demo

Watch The DISCOVER Space Challenge & ArduSat: Invent an experiment and run it in space!

Watch SciStarter & Science Cheerleader Join ArduSat as Community Partner

NanoSatisfi was founded by Austrian-born Peter Platzer a former high-energy physicist (CERN), former Hedge Fund Quantitative Trader, avid HP-41 hacker and Arduino enthusiast, along with Belgian aerospace engineer Jeroen Cappaert intern at NASA Ames Research Center, Canadian aerospace engineer Joel Spark intern at EADS Astrium and Hungarian Reka Kovacs intern at NASA Ames Research Center working on alternative methods of public outreach for space science. The four founders met at the International Space University in Strasbourg and thought that they could do something to provide affordable, open-source space exploration for everyone.

Check out the ArduSat Kickstarter page here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575960623/ardusat-your-arduino-experiment-in-space

Jun 12 2012

SimpleSat Look Down satellite tracking software now available

SimpleSat Look Down is a free easy to use software app for satellite tracking.

Written by Tom Doyle W9KE it includes a satellite look down window that displays the view from the satellite looking down at the earth as it moves along.

It uses .NET 4 and runs on Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Tom has released this collection of videos that explain how SimpleSat Look Down works:

Watch SimpleSat Look Down – best viewed full screen HD

Watch SimpleSat Look Down – Setup  – Best Viewed Full Screen HD

Watch SimpleSat Look Down – General Operation – Best Viewed Full Screen HD

Watch SimpleSat Look Down – Rotor Setup – best viewed full screen in HD

You can download SimpleSat Look Down from
http://www.tomdoyle.org/SimpleSatLookDown/SimpleSatLookDown.html

Jun 12 2012

F-1 CubeSat is scheduled for launch in July, 2012

Latest update on F-1 CubeSat project:

At the moment, the flight safety review is coming to an end. The FSpace team together with their partner NanoRacks LLC has satisfied the technical requirements and standards set by the launch vehicle provider.

If everything goes according to plan, the F-1 CubeSat will be delivered to Japan by the end of June. Then along with four other CubeSats (RAIKO, WE-WISH, FITSAT-1 and TechEdSat) F-1 will be loaded onboard HTV-3 “Kounotori” transfer vehicle for integration with the JAXA HII-B launch vehicle.

F-1 plans to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 21 from Tanegashima, Japan, then in September the Japanese astronaut and radio amateur Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI should deploy it into space from the ISS using the Kibo robot arm.

It carries two Yaesu VX-3R transceivers using 145.980 and 437.485 MHz.

The FSpace team are offering the public a chance to send their name/callsign and a message into space onboard the F-1 CubeSat. You will also be presented with a certificate! See this link http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=31

JAXA http://iss.jaxa.jp/kibo/about/jssod/ Google English http://tinyurl.com/7x79o6p

FSpace http://fspace.edu.vn/

Vietnam Student CubeSat F-1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/5025

Video of HTV-3 “Kounotori” and CubeSat Deployer http://www.uk.amsat.org/8078

F-1 CubeSat Students

Jun 11 2012

Jay Leno – SAREX – Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment 1992

In 1992 Southern California Amateur Radio operators uplinked a video of  stand-up comedian Jay Leno, host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, to the Space Shuttle Columbia through Jim Steffen, KC6A’s station in Long Beach, California.

Watch Jay Leno – SAREX Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment 1992

Past SAREX Missions
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ARISS/ARRLWeb_%2520Past%2520SAREX%2520Missions.pdf

Jun 11 2012

Radio Amateur VK5ZAI on TV Show

Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI

Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI

This video shows Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI on the Channel 7 Today Tonight TV show talking about amateur radio and the ARISS schools program.

Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI's ARISS Satellite Ground Station in Kingston SE. South Australia

The show provides some great insights as to how Amateur Radio can provide support for NASA as well as raise public awareness through the ARISS schools program.

Tony VK5ZAI has provided many Telebridge links for the International Space Station (ISS) to schools around the world. An ISS Telebridge contact is where a dedicated ARISS amateur radio ground station, located somewhere in the world, establishes the radio link with the ISS. Voice communications between the students and the astronauts are then patched over regular telephone lines.

Watch ARISS Tony VK5ZAI on Today Tonight

ARISS co-ordinator VK5ZAI receives NASA award http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2008/vk5zai.htm

ARISS and Ham Radio Opportunities video http://www.uk.amsat.org/8099

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ARISS http://ariss.rac.ca/

Jun 10 2012

Auburn Students Successfully Command AubieSat-1

Reception of AubieSat-1 at K5QXJ

John Klingelhoeffer, WB4LNM, AubieSat-1 Technical Mentor at Auburn University Alabama reports that the satellite has been successfully commanded to change the transmission mode.

John says “A short message was received Saturday evening indicating that uplink commands sent to AubieSat-1 were properly received, decoded, and initiated additional telemetry downlink data.  AS-1 has been in orbit for about 9 months.  Stations are asked to continue to monitor the downlink and pass any received telemetry to the group here for dissemination.”

Watch Reception of AubieSat-1 at K5QXJ

AubieSat-1 was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California in October,  2011. The CubeSat is an undergraduate built satellite developed by Auburn University. Over the weekend of June 9-11 the AubieSat-1 controllers changed the transmission mode of the satellite to increase the quantity of telemetry. The increased telemetry rate will provide data to indicate how well solar cell protection is working. It should also provide additional onboard housekeeping information.

AubieSat-1 transmits with a power of about 800 milliwatts on a frequency of 437.475 MHz. The beacon signal, along with telemetry, is sent using A1A continuous wave Morse code at 20 words per minute.  Additional telemetry from the onboard science experiment will use CW transmissions up to 60 WPM.

Auburn University video about the AubieSat-1 project http://www.uk.amsat.org/2256

Auburn University AubieSat-1 http://space.auburn.edu/

Source ANS and AMSAT-BB