KickSat

An unexpected reset of the master clock on KickSat may mean that the deployment of the 104 Sprite satellites will not take place before the KickSat CubeSat burns up in the atmosphere.

Radio amateur Zac Manchester KD2BHC has posted this update:

First off, I’d like to sincerely thank all of you for your support over the past two years. KickSat has been a success up to this point because of you.

As those who’ve been keeping up with the telemetry data coming in from KickSat on our mailing list may have noticed, the packets we’ve been receiving have changed in the last couple of days. This was due to a hard reset of the “watchdog” microcontroller on KickSat – the sort of “reptile brain” of the satellite that manages turning on and off the rest of the subsystems and keeps the master clock. It appears the reset happened some time in the morning of Wednesday, April 30th. The reset doesn’t seem to be the result of power issues (the watchdog should run until the batteries reach 5.5 volts, and they’ve been holding steady around 6.5 volts). Instead, it seems the likely culprit was radiation.

KickSat Sprite satellites deployed – Image by Ben Bishop VK2FBRB

One consequence of the watchdog reset on KickSat is that the spacecraft’s master clock was reset, thus also setting the deployment countdown for KickSat back to 16 days. That would put the deployment some time in the morning of May 16th. Unfortunately, it looks like KickSat will most likely reenter and burn up before the 16th. We’ve spent the last couple of days here at Cornell trying to think of every possible contingency, but it seems there aren’t very many options right now. KickSat’s uplink radio, which we could use to command the deployment, can’t turn on unless the batteries reach 8 volts, and it doesn’t look like they’ll reach that level in time.

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

While the situation looks a little bleak, there is still some hope that the batteries may recharge sufficiently to command the satellite. There is also a small chance that KickSat could remain in orbit until the 16th, at which point the timer would set off the deployment as originally planned. We’ll continue tracking KickSat over the next few days with the help of the ham community, so that we can keep track of its battery voltage and the Sprite deployment status. I’ll post updates here, as usual, but you can also see the latest data as it comes in on our mailing list.

Thank you again for your support. I promise that this won’t be the end of the KickSat project.

– Zac

Kicksat Wiki https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki

KickSat mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kicksat-gs

Kicksat Updates
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts

KickSat Sprite satellites deployed – Image by Ben Bishop VK2FBRB

The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) are holding a meeting to prepare for reception of their fleet of Sprite satellites which will be deployed by the KickSat CubeSat on May 4 at 2000 UT.

437 MHz Sprite

Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting which takes place from 10 am to 4:30 pm on Saturday, May 3 at 27/29 South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 1SZ.

The BIS events page says:

Dragon X has successfully deployed the KickSat CubeSat carrying 104 Sprites, a fleet of which were funded by the BIS and BIS members!

KickSat deploying Sprite satellites – Image by Ben Bishop VK2FBRB

In preparation for the timed deployment of the Sprites from the CubeSat, the BIS KickSat team will meet at the BIS HQ with two goals:
• Ensure everyone with a ground station has a working installation of GNURadio
• Have some practice tracking other satellites

Present on the day will be radio experts, software experts, and a range of software defined radios and antenna.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring a laptop if you want help installing GNURadio.

Source http://www.bis-space.com/2014/04/20/12638/kicksat-final-preparation

Andrew Vaudin of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) gave a presentation on the BIS Kicksat Sprite satellite to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Sunday, July 21, 2013. You can watch the video of his presentation at http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1310
or download it direct to your PC at http://www.batc.tv/vod/kicksat.flv

In this video Ben Bishop VK2FBRB shows what the deployment may look like

British Interplanetary Society: Sprite Technical Summary
http://www.bis-space.com/2013/03/09/9301/kicksat-technical-summary

KickSat Sprite Ground Station by Andy Thomas G0SFJ
http://kicksat.wordpress.com/support/kicksat-ground-station/

Kicksat Wiki https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki

KickSat mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kicksat-gs

Kicksat Updates
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts

KickSat Sprites – Radio Competition https://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/10/kicksat-sprites-radio-competition/

Lift-off of SpaceX CRS-3 with five CubeSats and 104 Sprite satellites

Five CubeSats including KicksSat which carries 104 Sprite satellites on 437 MHz were successfully launched by the SpaceX CRS-3 mission on Friday, April 18 at 19:25:22 UT.

Zac Manchester KD2BHC and the SpaceX Falcon-9 CRS-3

Zac Manchester KD2BHC says:

After a beautiful launch KickSat was deployed in low Earth orbit. We at Cornell and several amateur radio operators around the world have made contact with the spacecraft and it is alive and well. I can’t thank all of you enough for your tremendous support over the past two years. Thank you for believing in KickSat!

This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and is a huge milestone, but we’re not done yet. In 16 days the Sprites will deploy from KickSat. We need as many people as possible listening in, so if you’re interested, please check out the wiki and our mailing list for more information. As always, don’t hesitate to contact me with questions.

The CubeSats KickSat, SporeSat, TSAT, PhoneSat-v2.5 and ALL-STAR/THEIA were deployed into a 325×315 km 51.5 degree inclination orbit.

KickSat Sprite satellites deployed – Image by Ben Bishop VK2FBRB

On the KickSat updates page Zac Manchester KD2BHC has announced a competition to receive the first amateur radio signals from the KickSat CubeSat and the tiny Sprites satellites.

Zac writes: I’d like to announce a little contest…

I’ll be offering prizes to the first several people who receive telemetry packets from KickSat as well as the first few who receive signals from the Sprites. The prizes will include souvenir Sprites and CRS-3 and ELaNa-V mission patches.

437 MHz Sprite

Now for the rules:
• In the case of KickSat telemetry, you have to send me the raw hex or ASCII packet data and I have to be able to successfully decode it.
• In the case of the Sprite signals, you have to send me a raw baseband recording and I have to be able to decode at least one Sprite signal from it.
• I’ll continue offering prizes until I run out of cool swag.
• I have the ultimate say on whether or not you win.

To get in on the fun, check out our wiki and join the KickSat mailing list. Let the games begin!

CRS-3 CubeSat frequency chart by Mike Rupprecht DK3WN

All the Sprites operate on a single frequency of 437.240 MHz and use Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The transmitter runs 10 mW output of Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) modulated binary data with each data bit modulated as a 511 bit Pseudo-Random Number (PRN) sequence. The ITU emission designator is 50K0G1D.

The KickSat CubeSat has downlinks on 437.505 MHz and 2401-2436.2 MHz.

In this video Ben Bishop VK2FBRB gives an alternative view of the deployment

Wiki https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki

KickSat mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kicksat-gs

Kicksat Updates https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts

PRN codes for KickSat Sprites released https://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/23/prn-codes-for-kicksat-sprites-released/

Preliminary TLE’s are at http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~ops/crs3_tle/

Frequencies of the other CubeSats can be found at
http://www.cubesat.org/index.php/missions/upcoming-launches/139-crs3-launch-alert

CRS-3 Payloads http://www.spaceflight101.com/dragon-spx-3-cargo-overview.html

Zarya http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Launches/Launches.php?year=2014#022

Equipment for receiving the Sprite 437 MHz signals

On the KickSat updates page Zac Manchester KD2BHC has announced a competition to receive the first amateur radio signals from the KickSat CubeSat and the tiny Sprites satellites.

KickSat Sprite satellites deployed – Image by Ben Bishop VK2FBRB

The KickSat CubeSat will carry 104 tiny Sprite satellites into a 325×315 km 51.5 degree inclination orbit. The launch carrying four other CubeSats, SporeSat, TSAT, PhoneSat-v2.5 and ALL-STAR/THEIA is planned for Friday, April 18, 2014 at 1925 UT and should be broadcast live on NASA TV and also streamed on Ustream.

Zac writes:

Our launch coming up in less than a week and, to keep things fun, I’d like to announce a little contest…

I’ll be offering prizes to the first several people who receive telemetry packets from KickSat as well as the first few who receive signals from the Sprites. The prizes will include souvenir Sprites and CRS-3 and ELaNa-V mission patches.

437 MHz Sprite

Now for the rules:
• In the case of KickSat telemetry, you have to send me the raw hex or ASCII packet data and I have to be able to successfully decode it.
• In the case of the Sprite signals, you have to send me a raw baseband recording and I have to be able to decode at least one Sprite signal from it.
• I’ll continue offering prizes until I run out of cool swag.
• I have the ultimate say on whether or not you win.

To get in on the fun, check out our wiki and join the KickSat mailing list. Let the games begin!

All the Sprites operate on a single frequency of 437.240 MHz and use Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The transmitter runs 10 mW output of Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) modulated binary data with each data bit modulated as a 511 bit Pseudo-Random Number (PRN) sequence. The ITU emission designator is 50K0G1D.

The KickSat CubeSat has downlinks on 437.505 MHz and 2401-2436.2 MHz.

In this video Ben Bishop VK2FBRB gives an alternative view of the deployment

Wiki https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki

KickSat mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kicksat-gs

Kicksat Updates https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts

PRN codes for KickSat Sprites released https://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/23/prn-codes-for-kicksat-sprites-released/

CRS-3 Payloads http://www.spaceflight101.com/dragon-spx-3-cargo-overview.html

Equipment for receiving the Sprite 437 MHz signals