Hi all,
AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL working with ISIS BV are delighted to announce that the FUNcube U/V transponder, on the 2U CubeSat QB50p1, has now been activated with a regular schedule.
Due to power budget constraints the transponder cannot be operational 24/7 and an orbit specific schedule has been developed. The transponder will commence operation 27 minutes after the spacecraft enters sunlight and will stay on for a period of 25 minutes. This schedule may be modified over the forthcoming weeks as a result of experience.
The transponder frequencies are:
Uplink: 435.047-435.077 MHz LSB Downlink: 145.935-145.965 MHz USB
And the output power is approximately 400mW.
Qb50p1 was launched in June 2014, as a collaborative effort led by the von Karman Institute and ISIS-BV, into a sun synchronous 620×600 km polar orbit as a precursor spacecraft for the QB50 mission. The primary function of the satellite was to test a number of the systems and science payloads. This phase has now been completed and we are grateful to VKI and ISIS BV for carrying this transponder into space and, again, to ISIS, for developing and uploading the new, required, flight code.
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We would like to receive pass reports on the -bb so that we can gauge how the satellite is used and if it is performing well.
Please post a quick reply stating: - pass time and date - if you could use the transponder - if it was busy - any other remarks you would like to make
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We hope you have lots of fun using EO-79!
The AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL FUNcube Team