Tag Archives: satellite

Apr 27 2012

'Kinect' STRaND-2 at UK Space Agency Conference

Tim Peake at UKSA Conference 20120426

Prospective UK Astronaut Tim Peake addressed the conference via Skype

On the anniversary of the launch of Ariel-1, April 26, the UK Space Agency and the Science Museum co-hosted a two-day conference celebrating 50 years of the UK in space. It brought together those who started the UK on the road to being a world-renowned centre for space technology and research with the scientists and engineers of the next fifty years.

Vince Cable at UKSA Conference 20120426

Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite. The United Kingdom stepped up to an offer from NASA to launch scientific satellites at an international meeting on space research in 1959. From this point, the UK took the lead in satellite technology as well as beginning the UK’s long history of international collaboration.

As part of the programme on the 26th, there were personal insights from scientists and engineers involved in the original design and build of the Ariel series of satellites, as well as those teams developing the flagship programmes of today and tomorrow. The Science Museum will be highlighting historic milestones in the UK space sector over the course of the week.

Shaun Kenyon at UKSA Conference 20120426

Shaun Kenyon of the STRaND project

The future is set to be as innovative and inspirational as the last 50 years. There is a vast potential for space technology. From the growing need for Earth observation satellites to monitor urgent social and environmental issues; to the emerging reality of space tourism; to our ever-improving capability to see deep into the Universe, the UK space sector is at the forefront of facing up to these challenges.

During the conference prospective UK astronaut Tim Peake, currently in the USA, addressed the conference via a Skype video link.

Shaun Kenyon, who has worked on the innovative STRaND-1 SmartPhone satellite project, gave a well received presentation about the future opportunities for the UK Space Industry. He also described another UK first – STRaND-2 – twin 3U CubeSats with docking capabilities using a gridded Lidar system based on that used in the Kinect games controller.

Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/
STRaND on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nanosats

Apr 27 2012

‘Kinect’ STRaND-2 at UK Space Agency Conference

Tim Peake at UKSA Conference 20120426

Prospective UK Astronaut Tim Peake addressed the conference via Skype

On the anniversary of the launch of Ariel-1, April 26, the UK Space Agency and the Science Museum co-hosted a two-day conference celebrating 50 years of the UK in space. It brought together those who started the UK on the road to being a world-renowned centre for space technology and research with the scientists and engineers of the next fifty years.

Vince Cable at UKSA Conference 20120426

Vince Cable Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite. The United Kingdom stepped up to an offer from NASA to launch scientific satellites at an international meeting on space research in 1959. From this point, the UK took the lead in satellite technology as well as beginning the UK’s long history of international collaboration.

As part of the programme on the 26th, there were personal insights from scientists and engineers involved in the original design and build of the Ariel series of satellites, as well as those teams developing the flagship programmes of today and tomorrow. The Science Museum will be highlighting historic milestones in the UK space sector over the course of the week.

Shaun Kenyon at UKSA Conference 20120426

Shaun Kenyon of the STRaND project

The future is set to be as innovative and inspirational as the last 50 years. There is a vast potential for space technology. From the growing need for Earth observation satellites to monitor urgent social and environmental issues; to the emerging reality of space tourism; to our ever-improving capability to see deep into the Universe, the UK space sector is at the forefront of facing up to these challenges.

During the conference prospective UK astronaut Tim Peake, currently in the USA, addressed the conference via a Skype video link.

Shaun Kenyon, who has worked on the innovative STRaND-1 SmartPhone satellite project, gave a well received presentation about the future opportunities for the UK Space Industry. He also described another UK first – STRaND-2 – twin 3U CubeSats with docking capabilities using a gridded Lidar system based on that used in the Kinect games controller.

Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/
STRaND on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nanosats

Apr 26 2012

50th Anniversary of the UK in Space

The United Kingdom sent up its first satellite 50 years ago when Ariel 1 launched on April 26, 1962. To celebrate the occassion BBC News interviewed radio amateur Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO.

The launch of the joint UK/US satellite Ariel-1, also known as UK-1, made the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite, after the Soviet Union and the USA.

Deployed into a 1,202 by 397 km orbit Ariel-1 carried six experiments, five of these examined the relationship between two types of solar radiation and changes in the Earth’s ionosphere.

Ariel-1 marked the first time the UK sent something into orbit, and gave a lift-off for a part of the British economy that gets little attention but makes a lot of money.

In this BBC News report Adam Fleming speaks to Doug Millard at the Science Museum, Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO from Surrey Satellite Technology and Space Minister David Willetts on the UK’s role in space today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17854280

Watch the UK Space Agency video – 50 Years of the UK in Space

UK Space Agency – Celebrating 50 Years of the UK in Space http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/50-years-in-space

Wiki – Ariel-1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_1

UK industry to build Solar Orbiter satellite http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17743190

Apr 23 2012

Missions of KSAT2

 

1. Study on Forcast of Localied Downpour and TornadoIn-orbit experiments of an original observation method of atmospheric water vapor.
2. Take Earth Live Images from Space
Ku-band high-speed data transmission, one shot / a few seconds.
3. Basic Experiments for LEO Positioning Satellites
Frequency and phase synchronization between a ground-base system and a satellite.
4. Orbit Determination Experiments with Radio Interferometer
Essential item for nano-satellite orbiting at very low earth orbit.
5. Satellite Tracking Experiment at Very Low Earth Orbi Evaluation of Earth’s atmosphere to the satellite.
6. Verification of Pantograph-type Extending Boom in Space
The boom was originally designed and is fit for compact satellites.
7. Messages of Encouragement from Space to Japan. Hand-lettered messages and heart warming pictures, especially from children responsible for the future.

Communication

Dual uplink, Dual downlink and a beacon signal.

– Frequency and Transmissio Rate –
Frequency Band Moduration Method Transmission Rate Purpose
Uplink UHF Band F2D 1 kbps  Commands
S Band G2D 1 kbps  Command (Backup)
Downlink S Band G1D 200 ksps  HK Data
Ku Band G1D 1 Mbps or Carrier  Image and Beacon

  # Coding by viterbi algorithm is applied to S-band downlink data. 

Main body of the satellite has a shape of 10 cm Cube, and its mass will be 1.5 kg. An expanding boom for attitude control and two solar paddles are attached to the main body.

Apr 22 2012

16 Japanese Educational Satellites to be Launched

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

Sixteen educational satellites are under construction in Japan. The first should be launched in May 2012 followed by the others over the next two years.

Horyu-2 Structural Thermal Model

HORYU-2 Structural Thermal Model

The first to launch is the amateur radio satellite HORYU-2 built by students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT). The launch is on a Japanese H-IIA rocket planned for May 17 at 1639-1642 UT.

The mission aims to take pictures of the Earth using a small CMOS camera SCAMP (Surrey Camera Payload) developed by the University of Surrey, a sister university of KIT. SCAMP takes a 640×480 pixel picture in a JPEG format. From 700 km altitude, one pixel corresponds to 1.6 km.

HORYU-2 will be followed in July by the launch of the HTV3 to the International Space Station (ISS). This will deliver the JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) along with the Japanese CubeSats WE-WISH, FITSAT-1 and RAIKO. These CubeSats should be deployed from the ISS in September using the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) robot arm.

Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG and FITSAT

Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG and FITSAT

FITSAT-1, also known as NIWAKA, will use a neodymium magnet for attitude control. It has multiple downlinks, CW on 437.250 MHz, AX.25 on 437.445 MHz and a 4 watt high speed data transmitter on 5840 MHz capable of sending a 640 by 480 VGA JPEG image in 6 seconds.

In addition it carries high power LEDs that will be driven with 100W pulses to produce extremely bright flashes. These, it is hoped, will be observable by the unaided eye or with small binoculars. Both the 5840 MHz and optical downlinks have a high power consumption so it may be that they are only activated over Japan.

In December TSUBAME is planned to be launched on a H-IIA. It aims to have a CW beacon on 437.250 MHz and AX.25 1200/9600bps telemetry on 437.505 MHz.

The satellite blog run by Mineo Wakita JE9PEL is a good source of information on Japanese satellites, see http://tinyurl.com/JE9PEL-Satellite-Blog

The satellite blog of Nader Omer ST2NH contains a summary of Mineo’s information which is reproduced here:

Horyu-2
http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/what_horyu2_2.html
437.375MHz 1200bps FSK CW
——————————————————————————-

RAIKO
http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/RAIKO/
2U (10 cm by 10 cm by 20 cm)
——————————————————————————-

FITSAT-1
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
437.250MHz CW, 437.445MHz FM, 5840.00MHz High speed data
——————————————————————————

WE WISH
http://www.meisei.co.jp/news/2011/0617_622.html
IR pictures of the earth surface with 320×256 pixels
that will be downlinked in approx 110 secs using SSTV.
437.505MHz SSTV, Telemetry, CW

http://www.meisei.co.jp/english/news/2011/0617_636.html (English Version)

—————————————————————————–

STARS-II
http://stars1.eng.kagawa-u.ac.jp/
437.245MHz CW (mother), 437.255MHz CW (daughter)
437.405MHz FM (mother), 437.425MHz FM (daughter)
—————————————————————————-

TeikyoSat
http://sites.google.com/site/spacesystemteikyo/Home/teikyo-sat
—————————————————————————-

Komolebi
http://www.nano-sat.org/shinshu/files/2010shinshu/09_okamoto.pdf
—————————————————————————-

KSAT2
http://leo.sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/~n-lab/KSAT-HP/Ksat2.html
—————————————————————————-

INVADER
http://artsat.jp/
—————————————————————————-

OPUSAT
http://www.sssrc.aero.osakafu-u.ac.jp/OPUSAT_home.html
—————————————————————————-

ITF-1
http://yui.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Mission 1 Establish human network by amateur satellite
Mission 2 Prove the ability of the micro engineered 1/20 wavelength small antenna
Mission 3 Prove the stable operation of FRAM based microcontroller and
other microcontroller in space environment
437.425 MHz
—————————————————————————-

RISING-2
http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/RISING-2/
—————————————————————————-

SPROUT
http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/sprout/
—————————————————————————-

UNIFORM-1
http://www.wakayama-u.ac.jp/ifes/news/20120328.html
—————————————————————————-
SOCRATES
http://www.aes.co.jp/company/
—————————————————————————-

TSUBAME
http://lss.mes.titech.ac.jp/ssp/tsubame/
437.505MHz AX.25/SRLL, 9600bps GMSK, 1200bps AFSK
437.250MHz CW
—————————————————————————-

Apr 22 2012

ITAR – Section 1248 Report Released

ITARThe International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) inexplicably applies to amateur radio satellites. It threatens US hams with jail terms or six figure fines if they cooperate with amateurs outside the USA on satellite projects. Cooperation includes talking about or publishing on the web certain information regarding amateur radio satellite systems.

US Department of Defense (DoD) has recommended some US-built satellites and components should be transferred from the US Munitions List (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL), allowing greater export flexibility.

Known as the Section 1248 report after the section of the 2010 DoD authorisation bill that commissioned it, the report recommends that authority to classify communications satellites and certain remote sensing satellites, as well as many satellite components, be returned to the president.

The report says:

The review determined that the following items do not contain technologies unique to military applications or critical for maintaining a military edge:

– Communications satellites (COMSATs) that do not contain classified components;
– Remote sensing satellites with performance parameters below (worse than) thresholds identified in Appendix 1 paragraphs (a)(7)(i) – (iv); and
– Systems, subsystems, parts and components associated with these satellites and with performance – parameters below thresholds specified for items remaining on the USML.

The above items no longer meet the definition of a defense article. However, they can provide important military functionality. Although the United States and other space-faring nations have technologies and satellites far more capable than the items identified above, those dual-use technologies can be used by countries with less experience and expertise in space to generate basic, initial military communications, remote sensing assets, and satellite jamming capabilities.

The controls typically applied to dual-use items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) are sufficient to safeguard and monitor the export of the identified items.

Read the Section 1248 Space Export Control Report
http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2011/0111_nsss/docs/1248_Report_Space_Export_Control.pdf

A 2009 IARU Region 3 report highlights that ITAR requirements made AMSAT-NA direct its members to cease cooperation with AMSAT-ZL in the development of KiwiSAT http://www.iaru-r3.org/14r3c/docs/046.doc

ITAR impact on the Eagle project – try archive.org with  http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/eagle/

The 2005 amateur radio P3E IHU project killed by ITAR http://www.amsat-dl.org/p3e/bericht-ihu3-0205-e.pdf

ITAR impact on satellite launches http://www.spacequest.com/Articles/SSC03-II-1%20SpaceQuest.pdf

2011 ITAR submission by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/images/fck_images/AMSAT%20ITAR%20Comments%20Final.pdf

2009 AMSAT files CJ requests with US State Department
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2009/amsat_files_cj_requests.htm

ITAR in ARRL Executive Committee Minutes http://www.uk.amsat.org/6542

Bloomberg: Satellite Export Controls Should Be Eased, U.S Says
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-18/satellite-export-controls-should-be-eased-u-dot-s-says