Please help us Track the FASTRAC satellites once they are launched Nov. 19th!!
Dear members of the University Nanosat, Cubesat, and Amateur Radio communities,
As many of you may know, the FASTRAC satellites built by students at UT-Austin will be launched as part of the STP-S26 mission this upcoming Friday Nov 19th (around 4:30 pm AST) from Kodiak, Alaska on board a Minotaur IV rocket. The satellites will be placed into a 650 km altitude, 72 degree inclination circular orbit. For those that don't know, the FASTRAC satellites are the winners of the University Nanosat-3 Competiton and their primary mission is to demonstrate enabling technologies for small satellites.
The satellites have been designed the satellites so that amateur radio operators can track them all over the world and to do so the team has built a section on our website ( http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/overview.php) that allows any amateur radio operator to upload data they receive from the satellites. This serves two purposes which are that the website will parse and graphically interpret the data received and also allows the team to collect data from all over the world.
With this in mind we would like to invite you to track our satellites and register on our website. All of the information to track the satellites is available on the above website where we will be posting the most up to date TLEs as they become available as well as any other pertinent information. Also, we will be posting updates as the launch approaches on our website, our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/fastracsats) and our Twitter page ( www.twitter.com/fastracsats) so make sure to chek them out.
Thank you for your help. 73,
Glenn Lightsey (KE5DDG) and Sebastián Muñoz (KE5FKV) FASTRAC Principal Investigator and FASTRAC Student Program Manager
Congratulations on making it to this point. The next week I'm sure will be full of anticipation waiting for that rocket to lift off!
One of the things I think is so great about your project, from what I have read and been told, is that you've incorporated a secondary amateur two-way digipeater capability into your satellites. As I understand it, you plan to operate this after your primary mission is completed? It might be a great motivation to the AMSAT folks on amsat-bb to hear some details of this planned operation, as I'm sure others like myself are particularly interested in helping out student satellites that give back to the community. With so many new student satellites, it's rare to see one that may eventually be open for everyone to use, and that is to be commended and rewarded with support. So, if you don't mind, let the folks at amsat-bb@amsat.org know what your plans are in this regard.
On a separate note, I've started and entry on the AMSAT-NA satellite status pages for FASTRAC-1 and -2 (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php), and hope to fill in the details over the next few days. Please, once your satellites reach orbit and operate, apply for an OSCAR number from AMSAT-NA and join the fleet of amateur radio satellites (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php). I'll also ask that your Keplerian elements get included in the AMSAT distribution list. Please let me know if there is anything else the amateur community can do to help.
73, and good luck, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations
Hi Drew,
Thanks so much for your help and encouragement. I am the FASTRAC faculty adviser, but it really is a student built and operated satellite. Many of the students who have worked on FASTRAC have amateur radio licenses, and it was our hope to engage the global amateur radio community in our project from the beginning. After launch on Nov. 19, the best way anyone can assist us is by tracking our signal, and uploading any data you collect to our web site: (http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/frontpage.php).
Once you are registered on our web site, we will track how much data is collected by individuals and you can view health and status information about each of our satellites (FASTRAC-1 and -2, also known as Sara Lily and Emma).
After the main experiment is done, amateur radio operators can use the satellites as two-way digipeaters for as long as they remain operational.
I want to point out on your AMSAT web page that I believe you have the total mass listed twice for both FASTRAC-1 and 2 (57 kg). The satellites start out together as a single unit (57 kg) but will separate after a few weeks of operation on-orbit, so the masses of the individual satellites are roughly half the total mass (28.5 kg each).
We really appreciate all the advice and help that we have received from the amateur radio community over the years. Now, with a little bit of good luck, it will soon be time to enjoy the result!
73,
Glenn KE5DDG.
-----Original Message----- From: Andrew Glasbrenner [mailto:glasbrenner@mindspring.com] Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 8:25 PM To: Sebastian Muñoz; Lightsey, Glenn; Amsat-BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Please help us Track the FASTRAC satellites once they are launched Nov. 19th!!
Congratulations on making it to this point. The next week I'm sure will be full of anticipation waiting for that rocket to lift off!
One of the things I think is so great about your project, from what I have read and been told, is that you've incorporated a secondary amateur two-way digipeater capability into your satellites. As I understand it, you plan to operate this after your primary mission is completed? It might be a great motivation to the AMSAT folks on amsat-bb to hear some details of this planned operation, as I'm sure others like myself are particularly interested in helping out student satellites that give back to the community. With so many new student satellites, it's rare to see one that may eventually be open for everyone to use, and that is to be commended and rewarded with support. So, if you don't mind, let the folks at amsat-bb@amsat.org know what your plans are in this regard.
On a separate note, I've started and entry on the AMSAT-NA satellite status pages for FASTRAC-1 and -2 (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php), and hope to fill in the details over the next few days. Please, once your satellites reach orbit and operate, apply for an OSCAR number from AMSAT-NA and join the fleet of amateur radio satellites (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php). I'll also ask that your Keplerian elements get included in the AMSAT distribution list. Please let me know if there is anything else the amateur community can do to help.
73, and good luck, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations
Guys:
I apologize if I'm replying incorrectly to the board - I have only read up until now. I will gladly respond to suggestions.
I attempted to take the sep vector posted on the web (http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/predictedorbit...) and turn it into a text file for use in HRD Sat Tracker, but had no immediate joy.
Before I fool around for a couple hours trying to get something to work, has anyone else plugged the TLEs into HRD Sat Tracker, or is there an online resource? I see Bruninga's reference to SATPC, but I do not have that installed on this PC.
I look forward to at least finding a dang beacon - decoding AFSK will be a challenge as I do not routinely attempt such things. I'll take an ELK log periodic and aim it when I get tracking sw working. I'll be listening with a Yaesu FT897.
Thanks for the help, and congrats to all on a great launch. I guess it's Minotaur/Kodiak 1, and NRO/NASA/KSC 0 as far as recent launch attempts.
Tom KJ4EAW
----- Original Message ---- From: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbrenner@mindspring.com To: Sebastian Muñoz smunoztoro@gmail.com; lightsey@mail.utexas.edu; Amsat-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 9:24:52 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Please help us Track the FASTRAC satellites once they are launched Nov. 19th!!
Congratulations on making it to this point. The next week I'm sure will be full of anticipation waiting for that rocket to lift off!
One of the things I think is so great about your project, from what I have read and been told, is that you've incorporated a secondary amateur two-way digipeater capability into your satellites. As I understand it, you plan to operate this after your primary mission is completed? It might be a great motivation to the AMSAT folks on amsat-bb to hear some details of this planned operation, as I'm sure others like myself are particularly interested in helping out student satellites that give back to the community. With so many new student satellites, it's rare to see one that may eventually be open for everyone to use, and that is to be commended and rewarded with support. So, if you don't mind, let the folks at amsat-bb@amsat.org know what your plans are in this regard.
On a separate note, I've started and entry on the AMSAT-NA satellite status pages for FASTRAC-1 and -2 (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php), and hope to fill in the details over the next few days. Please, once your satellites reach orbit and operate, apply for an OSCAR number from AMSAT-NA and join the fleet of amateur radio satellites (http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/futures.php). I'll also ask that your Keplerian elements get included in the AMSAT distribution list. Please let me know if there is anything else the amateur community can do to help.
73, and good luck, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (4)
-
Andrew Glasbrenner -
Lightsey, Glenn -
Sebastian Muñoz -
Tee Dubb