Tag Archives: SSC

Jul 23 2013

UK STRaND-1 Amateur Radio Smartphone CubeSat is Back !

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1 - Image credit Surrey Space Centre

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1 – Image credit Surrey Space Centre

On July 23, 2013 at 1634 UT Mike Rupprecht DK3WN received signals from the UK STRaND-1 satellite after a near four month absence.

Built by volunteers from the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and SSTL in Guildford STRaND-1 was launched on February 25, 2013 and was the World’s first Smartphone CubeSat to be put into orbit.

Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC and STRaND-1

Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC and STRaND-1

STRaND-1 unexpectedly stopped transmitting on March 30, 2013 and radio amateurs around the world have been listening for it ever since on a frequency of 437.568 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler).

Radio amateurs are requested to email reports of reception of telemetry data from STRaND-1 to: strand.messages<at>gmail.com

See the report from Mike Rupprecht DK3WN at http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=35582

STRaND-1 information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/

How to decode the telemetry https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/strand-1-telemetry/

Online real-time tracking of STRaND-1 http://www.n2yo.com/?s=39090&df=1

Watch the presentation on STRaND-1 given by Chris Bridges M6OBC to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on July 21, 2013 at http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1315. Download the video by right-clicking on http://www.batc.tv/vod/strand.flv

AMSAT-UK publishes a quarterly colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, that is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample issue of OSCAR News can be downloaded here.
Join AMSAT-UK online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/

Jun 19 2013

Open access to latest research output from Surrey Space Centre

Surrey Space Centre University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre
University of Surrey, Guildford

The Surrey Space Centre (SSC) Research blog is dedicated to improving access to the cutting edge research output of the Surrey Space Centre. The standard process for disseminating research output through conference and journal publication is a lengthy and cumbersome process.

The blog aims to provide open access to SSC research output by sharing pre-print copies of  publications. Each article is presented in its own, individual post, and SSC encourage visitors to comment and provide feedback on their work. This two-way process of sharing will provide their research staff with robust feedback on the work, complimenting reviewer feedback. In return, visitors are able to access our latest research accomplishments,  many months before becoming accessible through journals or conference proceedings.

Situated in Guildford, UK, the Surrey Space Centre is a forms part of the Department of Electronics Engineering at the University of Surrey. Research is focused on many areas of space technology, including antenna and RF systems, astrodynamics, autonomy and AI, control systems, on-board data handling, environments and instrumentation, propulsion and robotics. Their website can be found here for further details.

Surrey Space Centre Research blog http://surreyspacecentre.wordpress.com/

Apr 21 2013

‘Bring Your Own Board’ CubeSat Workshop July 19

Surrey Space Centre University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre
University of Surrey, Guildford

Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and AMSAT-UK invite anyone with CubeSat equipment to a ‘Bring Your Own Board’ (BYOB) workshop. The aims are to demonstrate your latest CubeSat developments, to foster new partnerships and links within the UK and EU community, and encouraging more interaction with AMSAT-UK and the Colloquium (more info at: https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/).

Poster Stands (if required)

Poster Stands (if required)

The workshop is free to attend or present. Opening times are 9 AM to 4 PM, after which there will be the AMSAT-UK Satellite Beginners Session. There will be ad-hoc tours to SSC’s new cleanroom, ground-station, and CubeSat experimentation facilities.

Information for Demonstrators:
• Must have working hardware for demonstrating to visitors, i.e. TRL 5-6 and above.
• Provide a 1 slide overview of their developments & how it can benefit new UK missions for public show.
• A 1.5 m table, power and 1 m poster area will be provided.

Sign up: If you are interested in attending or demonstrating, please contact Dr Chris Bridges M6OBC to guarantee you a table and to estimate numbers.
Email: c.p.bridges@surrey.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689137, Surrey Space Centre, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, U.K. Website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc

Download poster here.

Key Dates for your diary:
UK Space Agency Conference: 16-17 July 2013
Bring Your Own Boards Workshop: 19 July 2013
AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2013: 20-21 July 2013

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom

STRaND-1 Engineering Model and Cleanroom

Mar 27 2013

New STRaND-1 telemetry spreadsheet and DK3WN magnetic field vector analysis

STRaND-1_20130326_magThe STRaND-1 team have released a new version of the Excel Spreadsheet for the STRaND-1 Telemetry which is now updated with switch details.

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1

Dr Susan Jason working on STRaND-1

Download the new spreadsheet from https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/strand-1-telemetry/

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN has been working on new software which compares the magnetometer values sent by STRaND-1 in comparison to the NOAA World Magnetic Mode (WMM2010). Further information at http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=31826

Surrey Space Centre report that the STRAND-1 satellite is healthy and in the coming weeks they hope to be able to switch-on the Google Nexus One smartphone carried by the CubeSat.

STRaND-1 page https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/

Mar 22 2013

STRaND-1 Update – Ground Station Improvements Underway

STRaND-1 Ground Station Antennas

STRaND-1 Ground Station Antennas

Surrey Space Centre report that the STRAND-1 satellite is healthy but they have had new ground station teething problems. That has diverted effort and delayed the eagerly awaited switch-on of the Google Nexus One smartphone carried by the CubeSat.

The team are currently scouting University of Surrey rooftops for a better antenna position for STRaND-1.

The STRaND-1 downlink frequency is 437.568 MHz using 9k6 bps AX.25 packet radio. Details of the telemetry format are at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/strand-1-telemetry/

Surrey Space Centre https://www.facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Space-Centre/147861435274871

Follow Surrey Space Centre https://twitter.com/SpaceAtSurrey

Feb 1 2013

UK STRaND-1 CubeSat Video

Dr Chris Bridges and STRaND

Dr Chris Bridges and STRaND hardware

In this video Surrey Space Centre’s Dr. Peter Shaw talks us through the anatomy of the highly advanced UK CubeSat STRaND-1.

The innovative amateur radio STRaND-1 CubeSat aims to carry a NEXUS Android Smartphone into space to demonstrate the feasibility of using cheap Smartphone electronics to control a spacecraft.

A software-based speech synthesiser will be included to pay homage to the UOSAT family of satellites (OSCAR-9 and OSCAR-11) that were launched in the 1980′s.

STRaND-1 will carry an amateur radio payload with an AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437 MHz using data rates of 9k6 or 19k2 bps.

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