Tag Archives: San Francisco

Jan 7 2013

More Optical Beacon Tests From FITSAT-1

(C) Tsuyoshi Watanabe Ebina City, Kanagawa Japan 1:24:23-1:24:25JST, 12 Dec 2012
Takahashi e160, Diameter short focus telescope 16cm (F=530mm, F3.3)
Nikon D800E, ISO12800, 2 seconds exposure

Further transmissions from the optical LED beacon on the amateur radio CubeSat FITSAT-1 are planned for January 10-15. Weather permitting the satellite beacon should be visible using binoculars.

2013, Flashing LED Schedule (times GMT):
10th Jan. 23:57:30 – 23:59:30  New Delhi India        (10Hz Green 2min)
11th Jan. 13:52:30 – 13:54:30  San Francisco USA  (10Hz Green 2min)
12th Jan. 22:00:30 – 22:02:30  Bangalore India        (10Hz Green 2min)
13th Jan. 14:41:30 – 14:43:30  Melbourne Australia (10Hz Red     2min)
14th Jan. 11:03:30 – 11:05:30  Oklahoma USA         (10Hz Green 2min)
15th Jan. 22:27:30 – 22:29:30  Wulumuqi China       (10Hz Green 2min)

The FITSAT-1 CubeSat was developed by students at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology (FIT) in Japan. As well as the optical LED experiment the satellite carries several amateur radio payloads: a CW beacon on 437.250 MHz, a telemetry beacon on 437.445 MHz and a high-speed data downlink on 5840.0 MHz.

Information on how to see the optical beacon signal can be found on the Visual SAT-Flare Tracker 3D site at
http://www.satflare.com/track.php?q=fitsat#MAP

FITSAT-1 website http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

FITSAT-1 Optical Beacon video
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2012/fitsat1_optical_beacon_video.htm

Further information and pictures of FITSAT-1 and the other CubeSats deployed from the ISS on October 4, 2012 is at http://www.uk.amsat.org/?page_id=10967

Jun 19 2012

SkyCube Proposes Tweets from Space

Tim DeBenedictis and Anna Vital with the SkyCube satellite

Tim DeBenedictis and Anna Vital with the SkyCube satellite

In this video Tim DeBenedictis founder of San Francisco based Southern Stars describes the SkyCube satellite project to Funders and Founders host Anna Vital, following Southern Stars’ second-place finish at the Life 3.0 forum in San Francisco on May 31, 2012.

SkyCube-SatelliteTim aims to open up space exploration to millions of people across the planet. He hopes to do for space exploration what Southern Stars have done for astronomy with the SkySafari App.

The 1U CubeSat carries a camera that will send pictures back to Earth to be made available to people around the world with the appropriate App.

SkyCube has an unusual feature, a deployable 3m (10ft) reflective balloon, which it is hoped will be visible from Earth. The balloon also serves as a de-orbiting mechanism.

A launch to the ISS for subsequent deployment is planned for November 2013.

Tim says a donation of $1 will sponsor 10 seconds of the mission and what you get for that 10 seconds is the ability to broadcast a message from space, “effectively tweet from space”.

Watch SkyCube Interview

Watch SkyCube at Funders and Founders

Southern Stars http://www.southernstars.com/

Funders and Founders http://meetup.fundersandfounders.com/

Jun 19 2012

SkyCube Proposes “Tweets from Space”

Tim DeBenedictis and Anna Vital with the SkyCube satellite

In this video Tim DeBenedictis founder of San Francisco based Southern Stars describes the SkyCube satellite project to Funders and Founders host Anna Vital, following Southern Stars’ second-place finish at the Life 3.0 forum in San Francisco on May 31, 2012.

Tim aims to open up space exploration to millions of people across the planet. He hopes to do for space exploration what Southern Stars have done for astronomy with the SkySafari App.

The 1U CubeSat carries a camera that will send pictures back to Earth to be made available to people around the world with the appropriate App.

SkyCube has an unusual feature, a deployable 3m (10ft) reflective balloon, which it is hoped will be visible from Earth. The balloon also serves as a de-orbiting mechanism.

A launch is planned on a SpaceX rocket in the 1st quarter of 2013.

Tim says a donation of $1 will sponsor 10 seconds of the mission and what you get for that 10 seconds is the ability to broadcast a message from space, “effectively tweet from space”.

Watch SkyCube Interview

Watch SkyCube at Funders and Founders

Southern Stars http://www.southernstars.com/

Funders and Founders http://meetup.fundersandfounders.com/