Tag Archives: VEGA

Jan 28 2012

Masat-1 Elliptical Orbit Video

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

Vega is planned to launch on February 9 from the ESA launch site at Kourou in the Caribbean. It will carry seven amateur radio CubeSats and an amateur radio Microsatellite called ALMASat.

This HD clip shows how one of those CubeSats, Masat-1 (437.345 MHz), is going to orbit around Earth. You can see the satellite establishing contact with the primary ground station at BME, joined by the radio amateurs in Europe and all over the World. The radio contact is possible only if the satellite is above the Horizon at the given location. This is symbolized with thin green lines between the satellite and the ground stations, represented by coloured dots on the Globe.

Everybody is welcome to join in recieving the satellite using the ground station software freely downloadable from the Masat-1 website!

Watch Masat-1 Elliptical Orbit and Pass over European Ground Stations

The Masat-1 Ground Station Client Software was prepared to process the 437.345 MHz GFSK 625/1250 bps transmission received from the satellite Masat-1. The software provides the following functions:

– Audio demodulation
– Packet decoding
– Packet data visualization
– Frequency waterfall plot to aid radio tuning

Download the software and a test WAV file from http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/

Frequencies and links for the amateur radio satellites on Vega are at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

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

Jan 14 2012

Student Software Defined Radio CubeSat

Students at the University of Vigo have built Xatcobeo a CubeSat that carries a Software Defined Radio (SDR) and a solar panel deployment mechanism.  A launch on an ESA Vega rocket in February is planned.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Coordination Panel pages report that it carries three payloads:

SRAD: a Software Defined Radio. The aim is to test under space conditions a reconfigurable radio. Different modulation schemes will be selected depending on the link conditions.

RDS: an ionizing radiation dosimeter. This dosimeter will take measures of ionizing radiation in a typical LEO orbit for amateur satellites, thus increasing our knwoledge about radiation conditions in this environment.

PDM: a solar panel deployment mechanism to be tested in-flight.

It is planning to use FFSK with AX.25 on UHF. These frequencies have been coordinated – Simplex 437.365MHz and SSR downlink on 145.940MHz.

Further info available at http://www.xatcobeo.com/

 

Dec 23 2011

Seven Student CubeSats Ready For Flight

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

The first student built amateur radio CubeSats to be sponsored by ESA’s Education Office have passed their Final Acceptance Review and have been declared ready for launch on board the maiden flight of Vega, the new ESA launcher.

The launch window for this historic lift-off opens on 26 January and ends in the first week of February 2012.

The seven university-built picosatellites, each weighing only 1 kilogram, were integrated with the devices that will carry them during launch – the P-PODs, or Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployers – between late October and mid November. Before they could be cleared for launch, they had to pass a detailed technical examination known as the Final Acceptance Review.

The single-unit CubeSats, whose development represented a highly valuable, if not unique hands-on learning experience for the university students that were involved – were developed by teams from 6 different European countries:

  • Xatcobeo (a collaboration of the University of Vigo and INTA, Spain)
  • Robusta (University of Montpellier 2, France)
  • E-St@r (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
  • Goliat (University of Bucharest, Romania)
  • PW-Sat (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland)
  • MaSat-1 (Budapest University of Technology & Economics, Hungary)
  • UniCubeSat GG (Universitá di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy)

As well as the CubeSats Vega will also carry the Amateur Radio microsatellite ALMASat-1.

Frequencies and links for the satellites can be found at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

Read the full ESA story at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMG1C8XZVG_0.html

2007 – AO-51 to switch to V/S 38k4 to support ALMASat ground station testing
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2007/ao51_switch.htm

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 20 2011

PW-SAT on BRITE TV

PW-Sat with antennas deployed

PW-Sat with antennas deployed

The Polish amateur radio satellite PW-SAT built by students at the Warsaw University of Technology was featured on BRITE TV.

The Internet TV channel BRITE TV, covers the construction of the first Polish scientific satellites BRITE-PL 1 – Lem and BRITE-PL 2 – Hevelius which will be part of the BRITE constellation. Sometimes the TV channel covers other topics related to space technology.

Episode 14 talks about the CubeSat PW-SAT, built by students of Warsaw University of Technology working with the Space Research Centre PAS, due to be launched on Vega at the end of January.

PW-SAT carries a single channel transponder that will operate in a similar way to the amateur satellite AO-16. The uplink on 435.020 MHz will be FM and the downlink on 145.900 MHz will use the BPSK telemetry beacon transmitter to produce Double Sideband (DSB) that can be received on an SSB radio.

Watch BRITE-TV – Episode 14 – PW-SAT (in Polish)

PW-SAT Blog http://ska.meil.pw.edu.pl/pwsat_blog_pl/?lang=en

PW-Sat to launch in January http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/15/pw-sat-to-launch-in-january/

For more information on PW-Sat in Google English see http://tinyurl.com/CubeSatPW-Sat

BRITE Constellation http://www.univie.ac.at/brite-constellation/

BRITE-PL in Google English http://tinyurl.com/BRITE-PL

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information.
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Dec 16 2011

Amateur Radio Satellites Approach Launch

Amateur radio CubeSats and ALMASat-1 being prepared for launch

The integration of Vega’s first, second and third stages is now complete at ESA’s Spaceport at Kourou in the Caribbean. ESA say the new rocket is moving full speed ahead towards its maiden flight at the end of January.

Vega will carry seven amateur radio satellites, ALMASat-1 and six Cubesats. The primary payload is LARES (Laser Relativity Satellite), a passive satellite with laser mirrors for the study of the Earth gravitational field and general relativity measurements (Lense-Thirring effect).

By the end of December, the six CubeSats, ALMASat-1 and LARES will be ready and enclosed in the fairing, well in time for the launch.

PW-Sat to launch in January

Vega to Launch Amateur Radio Satellites

Vega moves closer to its first liftoff 

OSCAR News is published quarterly by AMSAT-UK. Download a free sample issue here join here

Dec 15 2011

PW-Sat to launch in January

PW-Sat, a 1U CubeSat to be launched on the first VEGA flight in January, will carry a 435 to 145 MHz Amateur Radio transponder.

The single channel transponder will operate in a similar way to the amateur satellite AO-16. The uplink on 435.020 MHz will be FM and the downlink on 145.900 MHz will use the BPSK telemetry beacon transmitter to produce Double Sideband (DSB) that can be received on an SSB radio.

PW-Sat should be launched into a 1450 by 300 km 71 degree orbit and may be expected to have a lifetime of about 4 years before re-entry. It was built by students of Warsaw University of Technology in cooperation with the Space Research Centre and will be Poland’s first satellite.

PW-Sat has five modes of operation:
1. Receive only mode – no downlink
2. Beacon CW mode – Downlink On-Off Keying (OOK) CW (1kHz) 12 WPM on 145.900 MHz
3. Beacon BPSK mode – Downlink BPSK (3 kHz) 1200 bps AX25 (1 frame on 20 sec) on 145.900 MHz
4. Control communication mode. Downlink BPSK (3 kHz) 1200 bps AX25 on 145.900 MHz
5. Voice Repeater mode (aka “AO-16” mode) – Uplink 435.020 MHz FM (15 kHz) Downlink 145.900 DSB (3 kHz)

For more information on PW-Sat in Google English see  http://tinyurl.com/CubeSatPW-Sat 

Vega to Launch Amateur Radio Satellites

IARU Amateur satellite frequency co-ordination panel pages hosted by AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

AO-16 FM-DSB transponder http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2008/ao16_reconfigured.htm

OSCAR News is published quarterly by AMSAT-UK and posted to members.
To get your copy join AMSAT-UK online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/
Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf