Tag Archives: satellite

Jun 5 2013

Kickstarter project aims to put a TARDIS into Low-Earth-Orbit

Kickstarter Dr Who TardisNovember 23, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and a Kickstarter project aims to celebrate the event by putting a 30 cm (12 inch) tall model of the TARDIS into Low-Earth-Orbit on an Interorbital Systems Neptune rocket. The aim is to raise the $33,000 needed for the flight by June 29.

A number of satellite projects have already raised funds through Kickstarter but none has been quite like this. The orbiting TARDIS plans to have solar cells to power the flashing light, a camera and transmitter. A magnetic, passive attitude control system will keep the TARDIS’s camera pointing toward the Earth.

Further information is available on Kickstarter at
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/573935592/were-putting-a-tardis-into-orbit-really

These satellite projects have already raised money on Kickstarter:

Radio ham Zac Manchester KD2BHC used Kickstarter to raise $74,586 in donations to fund the development and deployment of 200 amateur radio KickSat sprite satellites.

The amateur radio satellite project ArduSat managed to raise donations of $106,330 in just 30 days.

SkyCube which will transmit on 915 MHz in the 902-928 MHz amateur radio band raised $116,890.

Kickstarter is not just about raising large sums of money, for example Sandy Antunes used Kickstarter to raise $2,780 to buy a ham radio transceiver and antennas to create an amateur radio satellite ground station Calliope

Wiki – Doctor Who https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who

Jun 3 2013

AMSAT Field Day 2013

Saudisat SO-50

Saudisat SO-50

The AMSAT-NA site reports on satellite activity for this years ARRL Field Day which takes place June 22-23.

Every year AMSAT promotes a satellite version of Field Day during the ARRL annual operating event which is held on the 4th weekend in June. This year Field Day will take place from 1800 UTC on Saturday June 22, 2013 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 23, 2013.

SaudiSat-Oscar-50 will be the only operational FM transponder satellite this year. If you are considering only FM voice operating for your AMSAT Field Day focus the single uplink/downlink channel will be extremely challenging. As in prior years, this intense congestion on FM LEO satellites drives the limitation in the rules allowing their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational).

If you have worked the satellites on Field Day in recent years, you may have noticed a lot of good contacts can be made on the linear transponder satellites including VO-52, FO-29, and AO-7. During Field Day the transponders come alive like 20 meters on a weekend. The transponders on these satellites will support multiple simultaneous SSB or CW contacts.

The AMSAT Field Day 2013 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators. Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur satellites, both analog and digital.

For the complete listing of the AMSAT Field Day Rules please refer to the documents posted on-line at:

http://www.amsatnet.com/2013fd.docx
http://www.amsatnet.com/2013fd.pdf

[We thank AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information]

Source: AMSAT-NA K9JKM

May 29 2013

CUSAT Pulse Plasma Thruster Satellites

CUSat - Image credit Cornell University

CUSat – Image credit Cornell University

CUSAT is planning a SpaceX launch along with Cassiope and Dande, from Vandenberg into a 1500 by 325 km 80 degree inclination orbit. The satellite has a 2 watt packet radio transmitter and carries Pulse Plasma Thrusters (PPT) which can raise or lower the orbit.

Built by students at Cornell University CUSat-1/2 is a 45 kg space vehicle consisting of two functionally identical satellites that will launch together and separate in orbit. Image and positioning data will be downlinked using AX25 packet radio on 437 MHz. Cross linking between the two parts will also take place on 437 MHz.

Using centimeter accuracy carrier-phase differential GPS, the two satellites will perform autonomous relative navigation. One satellite will capture imagery of the other satellite and send these images to a ground station on Earth for the reconstruction of a 3-D model of the partner satellite.

Watch CUSat Spacecraft Mission

After launch and Launch Vehicle separation, the satellite will enter its initialization state. During initialize, the satellite will begin a self-check process to detect any malfunctioning systems. The satellite will then use Carrier-phase Differential GPS data to converge on an attitude estimate. CDGPS is a new technique for performing centimeter-level accurate position determination.

Once the attitude estimate for the satellite is determined, the satellite will use its on-board cameras to take images of the Earth, Moon, bright stars, and the ISON comet (C/2012 S1) which will be reaching perihelion in November 2013. If the team are able to take pictures bright stars, then they should be able to determine the attitude of the satellite to help verify the CDGPS estimate of the attitude. The satellite will then telemeter down mission data to the Ground Segment. This data consists of images, GPS data, Telemetry, and Command and Data Handling logs. The satellite maneuvers so that the antenna is always pointed towards the Ground Segment during data transfer.

After all the necessary pictures are taken, the CUSat team will perform test maneuvers using the pulse plasma thrusters. First, they will tilt the spin angular momentum. They do not want to change the magnitude, only the direction of this vector. Secondly, they will raise and lower our orbit of the satellite. In order to raise or lower the orbit, CUSat needs to fire its PPT thrusters in the direction, or against the direction of its velocity, respectively.

The frequencies are:
• CUSat-1   437.405 MHz
• CUSat-2   437.485 MHz
• Cross link 437.305 MHz

For more details see http://cusat.cornell.edu/docs/IARU/

CUSat http://cusat.cornell.edu/

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

May 24 2013

Small Satellite Workshop features Ham Radio

India Chennai - Small Satellite WorkshopA Small Satellite Developer Workshop featuring Amateur Radio is taking place July 8-13 in Chennai, India.

The amateur radio segment is being conducted by the National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR).

Other topics include
• Software Designed Receiver
• Basics of Spacecraft Technology
• Team Design Project

Further details at http://www.spaceschool.co.in/

Dhruva Space on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DhruvaSpace

May 23 2013

Harwell – Apps-in-Space Hackathon

Apps-in-Space-Hackathon-June-8-9The Satellite Applications Catapult is hosting a Satellite Applications Hackathon event on the weekend of June 8-9, 2013. It will take place at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.

The two-day ‘technology development’ event is part of a series of activities to help generate innovative ideas and solutions in response to several challenges set by the Catapult or its associated partners. Hackathons offer an innovation platform to enable people to work together to solve challenges using space technologies, and exploit the benefits for both space and other markets sectors, eg. transport, healthcare, natural resources, etc.

The Hackathon is open to anyone who would like to participate – software developers, engineers, technologists, scientists, designers, artists, educators, students and entrepreneurs – anyone who has a passion to help change the world.

• Free registration
• Free shuttle-bus service between venue and Didcot Parkway train station
• Free food, snacks and drinks throughout
• Sleep over at the high-tech, world-leading facility!… So bring a sleeping bag, pillow and anything else to make yourself comfortable
• Prizes include potential funding and mentoring to help take your idea to market

To register for the Hackathon, please go to catapulthackathon.eventbrite.co.uk or email hackathons@sa.catapult.org.uk

Satellite Applications Catapult Hackathon http://sa.catapult.org.uk/event/catapult-hackathon/

May 22 2013

Amateur Radio Satellites for Emergency Communications

Raydel Espinet CM2ESP - 640

Raydel Espinet CM2ESP

Grupo de Radioaficionados para Operaciones Satelitales (GROS) Coordinator Raydel Espinet CM2ESP comments on the use of amateur radio satellites for emergency communications and describes how an amateur satellite was used in a Civil Defense exercise on May 18-19, 2013.

About the topic of satellites and emergencies I think satellites are an option very important to consider when there is no more available. In case of HF propagation blackouts or poor conditions and when local VHF and UHF repeaters fails, satellites can bring help, specially from light weight battery run portable stations.

FRC_CubaHere in Cuba we do every year an emergency rehearsal exercise named “Meteoro” which is organized by Cuba’s Civil Defense to simulate catastrophes and other actions relevant to the upcoming hurricane season.

This weekend (May 18th and 19th) was held the 2013 Exercise, like always Cuban Ham Radio Operators are invited to participate as an important asset during emergencies. But by first time ever on the Civil Defense National Headquarters were is installed amateur station CO9DCN we do a short and simple satellite demonstration to the Civil Defense authorities.

The short demo was just a simple “hello” exchanged between CO6CBF (Hector) in Cienfuegos Province and CM2ESP/Portable (Raydel) in the Headquarter’s backyard. Hector had done previous years demos for his province’s civil defense authorities, but this was the first time a demo was done at the National Civil Defense Headquarters. As HF propagation was terribly bad that day due to the recent solar flares the Civil Defense Authorities were very pleased with our short demo proving that satellites can be an alternative when ground and ionospheric propagation are disrupted.

The Press publish a short report about the amateur radio importance on emergencies and there is also a short mention in paragraph three of the very first satellite contact.

The news report can be found here
http://www.ain.cu/2013/mayo/19ya-meteoro_reduccion_desastres.htm

It is in Spanish only, but Google translator works fine http://translate.google.com.cu/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&u=www.ain.cu%2F2013%2Fmayo%2F19ya-meteoro_reduccion_desastres.htm

On the picture featured on the news report from the Cuban News Agency you can see CO9DCN Club Station (Defensa Civil Nacional – National Civil Defense) being operated by CO2OT in digital modes and CO2JC in voice communications. The satellite demo was done portable on the backyard on Sunday at 14:10 UTC during a SO-50 pass, the press arrived one hour after the satellite pass so unfortunately there is no photo available.

73,

Raydel, CM2ESP
GROS Coordinator

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/