Tag Archives: PocketQube

Aug 24 2022

AMSAT-EA satellites to launch

GENESIS-J and GENESIS-G satellites

GENESIS-J and GENESIS-G satellites

Felix EA4GQS reports Spain’s latest amateur radio satellites to launch will be GENESIS-G and GENESIS-J on September 11

The AMSAT Bulletin Board post says:

This is to confirm that the launch of our new GENESIS-G and GENESIS-J satellites with Firefly will take place, if all goes well, on September 11, with the launch window starting at 3 PM Pacific Time (22h GMT), from Vanderberg. The expected orbit altitude is 300 km with an inclination of 137 degrees.

As many of you know, this will be the second attempt of Firefly to reach orbit after the first attempt made in September 2021 and which had to be aborted after two minutes of flight, causing our previous GENESIS-N and GENESIS-L to be lost, among others.

These new GENESIS have a more powerful on-board computer than their predecessors and updated software that allows FM voice repeater functionality, AFSK/FSK non-regenerative repeater up to 2400 bps, FSK regenerative repeater up to 50 bps, CW, digitized voice pre-recorded FM and FSK telemetry at 50 bps. The correct retransmission of AX25 / APRS frames over FM up to 2400 bps has been verified in the laboratory.

A small drawback we still have is the antenna deployment mechanism, that is the first version that was made and requires a plenty charged battery. The satellites have been stored for several months, so it is a weak point. Hopefully it will work.

These satellites also have the names of ASTROLAND-1 and ASTROLAND-2 to say thanks to the sponsorship of the project by the Astroland Planetary Agency. We also thank the private companies and Universities that helped in the project.

As on the previous occasion, two experimental propellants are flown, although this time they are from the Madrid company IENAI Space and, unlike the previous GENESIS mission, they use a liquid ionic fuel. Only the one from GENESIS-J is functional. The one from GENESIS-G carries the electronics but without the fuel.

The frequencies coordinated with IARU are the following:

GENESIS-G/ASTROLAND-1
145.875 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (no subtone) and FSK 50 bps, AFSK, AX.25, APRS 1200 / 2400 bps
436.888 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW, FSK 50 bps, FM voice beacon with AM2SAT callsign

GENESIS-J/ASTROLAND-2
145.925 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (no subtone) and FSK 50 bps, AFSK, AX.25, APRS 1200 / 2400 bps
436.666 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW FSK 50 bps, SSTV Robot 36, FM voice beacon with AM3SAT callsign

We encourage all of you to try to receive their first transmissions once the first keplerians are available.

This flight will be streamed by Everyday Astronaut: https://everydayastronaut.com/

More information on the Firefly website: https://firefly.com/alpha-flight-2-to-the-black/

73, Felix EA4GQS – AMSAT EA team

AMSAT Bulletin Board http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Jan 18 2022

EASAT-2 and HADES Update

EASAT-2 and HADESAMSAT-EA Mission Manager Felix EA4GQS provides an update on the status of the EASAT-2 and HADES satellites launched on January 13.

On the AMSAT Bulletin Board he writes:

We confirm the reception of both EASAT-2 and HADES, as well as the decoding of telemetry and the FM recorded voice beacon with the callsign AM5SAT of the first one. EASAT-2 appears to be working well except for the deployment of the antennas, something that apparently has not yet occurred and causes weak signals. However, the AMSAT-EA team confirms that, based on the reception of FSK, CW, the FM voice beacon and the telemetry data that has been decoded, it can be said that the satellite is working perfectly. In the event of low battery or system malfunction, the on-board computer would not transmit CW messages or the voice beacon-callsign, as it would be in a ‘safe’ state with only fast and slow telemetry transmissions.

These signals that have been able to confirm the operation of both satellites were received by Dr. Daniel Estévez EA4GPZ at 18:07 UTC on Saturday, January 15, using two antennas from the Allen Telescope Array. The TLEs used were obtained from the radio amateur community, with Doppler observations from the Delfi-PQ satellite, deployed together with EASAT-2 and Hades.

TLEs used were these ones:
https://github.com/AMSAT-EA/easat2-tle-lottery/blob/main/satnogs-2022-01-16-DELFI-PQ.tle

Daniel EA4GPZ performed a preliminary analysis using just one polarization of one of the satellite dishes. EASAT-2 has been detected with a relatively strong signal, close to the Delfi-PQ signal, obtaining said recorded voice FM beacon transmissions and FSK, FSK-CW at 50 baud.

The CW beacon clearly shows the message: VVV AM5SAT SOL Y PLAYA, which is one of several that both satellites emit, although the callsign AM5SAT confirms that it is EASAT-2.

In the recording made by Daniel EA4GPZ there is also a faint trace confirmed to be from Hades and stronger packets probably from the IRIS-A satellite.

HADES, like EASAT-2, is transmitting weak signals, weaker than the ones of EASAT-2, most likely because the on-board computer has not yet managed to deploy the antennas either, although it will continue trying regularly. The reason the signals are suspected to be weaker at Hades is that the antennas are more tightly folded than those of EASAT-2. In any case, this is great news, since the transmission pattern confirms the proper functioning of the satellite. In the observations you can see the FSK tones with a deviation of about 5 kHz interspersed with the FM carrier corresponding to the voice beacon of the satellite, which has callsign AM6SAT. The AMSAT-EA team is working to try to decode the telemetry signals and obtain more detailed information on the state of the satellite.

We kindly ask you, if you have very high gain antennas, to try to receive them, specially Hades. If we could decode telemetry it would be very helpful for us.

Until antennas are deployed it will be very difficult to use their repeaters or to receive any SSTV camera images from Hades, but we hope that this will happen sooner or later, at least because even if the computer doesn’t succeed applying heat to the resistor where the thread is attached, with time, the thread should break due to the space environment conditions.

Details of the decoded telemetry and voice, as well as more details in:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/ (Texts are in Spanish)

And in the following Twitter threads:

EASAT-2 transmissions:
https://twitter.com/ea4gpz/status/1482457631566487553

EASAT-2 decodings by Gabriel Otero:
https://twitter.com/gaoterop/status/1482758196037050382

HADES transmissions:
https://twitter.com/ea4gpz/status/1482696274797338625

Thanks a lot and 73,

Felix EA4GQS – AMSAT EA Mission manager

Aug 21 2021

AMSAT-EA GENESIS satellites may launch September

AMSAT-EA GENESIS Satellites

AMSAT-EA GENESIS Satellites

Spain’s national amateur radio society, the URE, report two AMSAT-EA GENESIS satellites are expected to be launched on September 2, 2021.

A translation of the URE post reads:

The GENESIS-L and GENESIS-N satellites, designed and built by AMSAT-EA in collaboration with students from the European University and ICAI, will be launched, in a first attempt, on September 2, once the American company Firefly has carried out the static test of the Alpha launcher, this being the last step before its launch. The vehicle is ready for takeoff on its platform from Vanderberg Air Force Base in California and carries, for this inaugural flight, many other satellites from various organizations and universities.

The GENESIS are digital repeating satellites of ASK and CW and also carry Applied Ion Systems’ AIS-gPPT3-1C experimental ion thrusters.

The working frequencies of the satellites are as follows:

GENESIS-L
145.875 MHz uplink, Modes: CW, ASK 50 bps
436.875 MHz downlink CW, ASK 50 bps, am2sat callsign

GENESIS-N
145.888 MHz uplink, Modes: CW and ASK 50 bps
436.888 MHz downlink CW ASK 50 bps, am3sat callsign
The description of the telemetry and the mode of operation of its repeaters can be found in the following links:

Link to telemetry transmissions description (in English)
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/12293076/AMSAT+EA+-+GENESIS+transmissions+description.pdf

Source URE https://www.ure.es/satelites-genesis-de-amsat-ea-2/

May 30 2021

EASAT-2 and Hades launch delayed again

AMSAT-EA Hades PocketQube

AMSAT-EA Hades PocketQube

Spain’s URE reports the launch of EASAT-2 and Hades satellites have suffered another delay.

A translation of the URE post reads:

EASAT-2 and Hades, the communications satellites for radio amateurs built by AMSAT-EA, will not be able to be launched in June with SpaceX as planned, as the FAA (the American Aviation Administration) has rejected the license to the integrator Momentus Space, On whose orbital transfer vehicle Vigoride was to be mounted the AlbaPOD ejector from Alba Orbital, within which are the satellites of AMSAT EA, as well as other organizations and universities.

The reasons for the FAA’s rejection stem from the company’s capital structure, which, according to the American agency, could endanger the national security of the United States. The next launch opportunity could come in December.

EASAT-2 and Hades were to have been launched in January this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, but the Momentus license was also rejected by the FAA at the time.

Both satellites are FM and FSK voice repeaters, also having digitized voice recordings. Hades also incorporates an SSTV camera developed by the University of Brno in the Czech Republic and EASAT-2 incorporates as an experimental load a basaltic material from Lanzarote, similar to lunar basalts, provided by the research group on meteorites and planetary geosciences of the CSIC in the Institute of Geosciences, IGEO (CSIC-UCM) and that it could be used as a construction material on the Moon. This project was promoted and has the collaboration of the ETSICCP (UPM).

The frequencies coordinated with the IARU for both satellites are the following:

EASAT-2
• 145.875 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (without sub-tone) and FSK 50 bps
• 436.666 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW, FSK 50 bps, FM voice beacon with AM5SAT callsign

HADES
• 145.925 MHz uplink, Modes: FM voice (without sub-tone) and FSK 50 bps
• 436.888 MHz downlink, Modes: FM voice, CW FSK 50 bps, SSTV Robot 36, FM voice beacon with callsign AM6SAT

Source URE https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Spain

Read the May 2021 AMSAT-EA newsletter in English at

Click to access AMSAT-EA-Boletin_05-2021.pdf

Jul 16 2020

SpaceX to launch AMSAT-EA EASAT-2 and Hades satellites

AMSAT-EA Hades PocketQube

AMSAT-EA Hades PocketQube

Spain’s national amateur radio society URE says SpaceX expect to launch the EASAT-2 and Hades satellites in December 2020.

AMSAT-EA, the URE satellite group, is building the satellites together with the European University of Madrid. The launch has been managed through the space broker Alba Orbital based in Glasgow.

EASAT-2 and Hades will be launched into a sun-synchronous orbit between 500 km and 600 km and their main function is to act as analog and digital repeaters for radio amateurs. There is also a camera for SSTV transmissions provided by the Czech Republic that has already flown on the United States Marine Academy PSAT-2 satellite, and has now been adapted to fit into the PocketQube satellites.

Both satellites are based on the PocketQube 1.5P (7.5 x 5 x 5 cm) architecture and represent an evolution of the previous GENESIS platform, whose GENESIS-L and GENESIS-N satellites are expected to fly before the end of the year with Firefly, in a joint collaboration with Fossa Systems and LibreSpace, which also launch their own satellites, all of them within the Picobus dispenser, developed by the latter.

IARU has coordinated these frequencies:
• Hades – uplink 145.925 MHz, downlink 436.888 MHz 
• EASAT-2 – uplink 145.875 MHz, downlink 436.666 MHz

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

Source URE https://tinyurl.com/SpainURE

May 1 2020

Online Space Workshop May 2-3

Online Space Workshop 2020

Online Space Workshop 2020 #OSW2020

The Online Space Workshop #OSW2020 takes place this weekend May 2-3.

You can watch live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4SHJxCLutZRWK9uQXFVXxQ

The full schedule of presentations is on the AMSAT Nepal site. Note the times are given in Nepali Time which is 5:45 hours ahead of GMT and 4:45 ahead of BST, see
http://amsat-np.org/osw2020/

Among the speakers are:

• Tom Walkinshaw, founder and CEO of UK-based Alba Orbital, on Getting PocketQubes on Orbit, cheaply, regularly and reliably

• Félix Páez EA4GQS, President of AMSAT Spain (AMSAT EA), on AMSAT EA PocketQube Missions and Designs

• Julián Fernández EA4HCD, Co-Founder and CEO of Fossa Systems, on FOSSASAT-1, Data from the first IOT Picosatellites in Space

Follow AMSAT Nepal on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmsatNepal