The two ANDE satellites (Castor and Pollux) will be deployed from the Space Shuttle now that it has separated from the ISS. Both satellites will be transmitting on 145.825 MHz. Castor will transmit telemetry every 30 seconds. Pollux every 33 seconds. Both are transmitting 1200 baud AX.25 packet Telemetry.
Most of the info is on the website: https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE.
Other than that, I don't have much detail information since this was built by a different team than our original ANDE project. The amateur payloads were developed by the Amateur Radio Club at the Naval Research Labs and got a ride on the ANDE spheres like we did a few years ago.
Bob, WB4APR
Hi Bob,
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
And I'm assuming this will be a similar project? measure atmospheric drag?
Too bad they either wouldn't allow it, or for whatever reason the two birds didn't have a ground user capability.
This would be a perfect test for something off the shelf so to speak, no rad hardened stuff. just off the shelf couple hundred bucks of something, wouldn't that have been interesting.?
Joe WB9SBD
Robert Bruninga wrote:
The two ANDE satellites (Castor and Pollux) will be deployed from the Space Shuttle now that it has separated from the ISS. Both satellites will be transmitting on 145.825 MHz. Castor will transmit telemetry every 30 seconds. Pollux every 33 seconds. Both are transmitting 1200 baud AX.25 packet Telemetry.
Most of the info is on the website: https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE.
Other than that, I don't have much detail information since this was built by a different team than our original ANDE project. The amateur payloads were developed by the Amateur Radio Club at the Naval Research Labs and got a ride on the ANDE spheres like we did a few years ago.
Bob, WB4APR
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The satellite is made mostly of parts from Digikey. The following processors are flying:
Pollux: 1 - Atmega168, 3 - Atmega168 Castor: 1 - LPC2106, 2 - Atmega168, IGLOO FPGA AGL125, Atmega128 Printed circuit boards from www.pcbexpress.com
When I get a chance, I'll see how much info I can release about the design and components. They are all commercial parts. Sensors are gyroscopes from Melexis and Analog Devices. Magnetometer is the PNI Micro mag 3-axis unit.
I'm preparing for PDR in a few weeks on another satellite program. Once I get past it, I'll put out more info on the sensors and telemetry.
I also want to write an article on the electronics.
Oh, and the radio transmitter in the satellites are based on this module. http://www.pratthobbies.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CANSAT-TX
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Hi Bob,
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
And I'm assuming this will be a similar project? measure atmospheric drag?
Too bad they either wouldn't allow it, or for whatever reason the two birds didn't have a ground user capability.
This would be a perfect test for something off the shelf so to speak, no rad hardened stuff. just off the shelf couple hundred bucks of something, wouldn't that have been interesting.?
Joe WB9SBD
Robert Bruninga wrote:
The two ANDE satellites (Castor and Pollux) will be deployed
from the Space Shuttle now that it has separated from the ISS.
Both satellites will be transmitting on 145.825 MHz. Castor will transmit telemetry every 30 seconds. Pollux every 33 seconds. Both are transmitting 1200 baud AX.25 packet Telemetry.
Most of the info is on the website: https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE.
Other than that, I don't have much detail information since this was built by a different team than our original ANDE project. The amateur payloads were developed by the Amateur Radio Club at the Naval Research Labs and got a ride on the ANDE spheres like we did a few years ago.
Bob, WB4APR
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Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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The hemispheres are about 1/2 inch thick solid aluminum. It's built to be heavy.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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Hi,
I'll dig out my ANDE-1 / PCSAT-2 telemetry decoding web site code and put up a site on one of my servers.
73
Dave G4DPZ
van Galysh wrote:
The hemispheres are about 1/2 inch thick solid aluminum. It's built to be heavy.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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/Trivia time!/
In Greek and Roman mythology Pollux was immortal whilst his brother, Castor was not (due to having different fathers you see; bit of an early social comment there!)
Presumably the builders of these cubesats by making them so heavy are trying to emulate the immortality of at least one of the brothers!
/Trivia time #2/
In the 1997 film "Face Off", the baddies played by Nicolas Cage and Alessandro Nivola ("who he?") are brothers named Castor and Pollux Troy (Damn good film too by Nic Cage standards!)
/Trivia time #3/
There is a US company called Castor and Pollux that makes pet foods etc.- (not sure what the connection is here; maybe if your dog eats their products he will live to a ripe old age!)
73
Ok,
The next question is then,, WHY? when all we ever hear all the time is Bitch ,, Bitch,, BITCH,,, about the high cost per pound to get something into orbit?
Here again, instead of thick shell, why not pack in some useful electronics?
DUH?
Joe WB9SBD
Ivan Galysh wrote:
The hemispheres are about 1/2 inch thick solid aluminum. It's built to be heavy.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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It has about a million killowatt hours of expendable batteries to keep it going for a year or more. The sphere is solid metal because the entire satellite is built inside the antenna.
Joe wrote:
Ok,
The next question is then,, WHY? when all we ever hear all the time is Bitch ,, Bitch,, BITCH,,, about the high cost per pound to get something into orbit?
Here again, instead of thick shell, why not pack in some useful electronics?
DUH?
The reason for the heavy mass is to support the atmospheric drag study. The satellites are near perfect spheres, I think 32 micron roughness. Castor is stuffed pretty tight with electronics, and instruments and still was not enough. There are 112 D cell Lithium batteries stuffed in there.
Pollux is lighter and actually had to have the shells thinned a bit to meet the lower mass requirement and has only 28 D cells. The cells are 19 AH lithium primary cells.
Since power is very limited, stuffing it with electronics was not an option. Castor needs to run on batteries for a year while Pollux 6 months. Pollux is expected to reenter in a little less than 6 months. Castor will come back in a year.
Ivan
On Jul 29, 2009, at 5:33 PM, Joe wrote:
Ok,
The next question is then,, WHY? when all we ever hear all the time is Bitch ,, Bitch,, BITCH,,, about the high cost per pound to get something into orbit?
Here again, instead of thick shell, why not pack in some useful electronics?
DUH?
Joe WB9SBD
Ivan Galysh wrote:
The hemispheres are about 1/2 inch thick solid aluminum. It's built to be heavy.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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During the 1948Z pass today I made an effort to determine Castor's (KD4HBO-1) frequency - it appears to be near 145.828 MHz before Doppler correction is applied. Using that frequency, with Object G's keps, the discriminator stayed centered during the entire pass, and received 3 good packets. (Pollux seems to be at 145.826 MHz here.)
73, Ken, W7KKE CN75xa
Word is the satellites will delpoy between 1:15pm and 1:25pm eastern time.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
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Where can you get those FX-25 TNC?
Robin ON8RTH
2009/7/29 Ivan Galysh [email protected]
Word is the satellites will delpoy between 1:15pm and 1:25pm eastern time.
Ivan
Joe wrote:
Pretty cool,
But Ok I see what is all in this thing, but holy cow,,, what is in it that makes it weigh 140 POUNDS!!! a 19" sphere, wow!
Joe WB9SBD
[email protected] wrote:
Hi Joe,
You Wrote:
have any idea as to what the telemetry may consist of?
Telemetry is documented on the website Bob referenced, on each Satellite's own page, see:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier
*mutter*.
73s
Iain _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the
author.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
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07/29/09 06:12:00
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program!
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You mean AX25 TNC? Your local amateur radio dealer should have them or you can implement it is software. Free programmes are available.
Robin Theunis wrote:
Where can you get those FX-25 TNC?
Robin ON8RTH
No he means FX.25:
From the Milcom/BTown blogs:
"The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver. The transmitter operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal. Power level is adjustable. The transmitter can operate at 1200 baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK. The transmitter uses the AX.25 protocol. An experimental FX.25 protocol will be tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX.25 protocol and still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets.
John
-------------------------------------------------- From: "Nigel G8IFF/W8IFF" [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:06 PM To: "Robin Theunis" [email protected] Cc: "Ivan Galysh" [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ANDE-2 Deployment
You mean AX25 TNC? Your local amateur radio dealer should have them or you can implement it is software. Free programmes are available.
Robin Theunis wrote:
Where can you get those FX-25 TNC?
Robin ON8RTH
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OK, so presumably a standard AX25 TNC in kiss or RAW data mode and FX25 error correcting software to post process the data?
Looks as though the deployment from the shuttle didn't go ahead. They've been doing engine burns during the past minutes.
jmfranke wrote:
No he means FX.25:
From the Milcom/BTown blogs:
"The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver. The transmitter operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal. Power level is adjustable. The transmitter can operate at 1200 baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK. The transmitter uses the AX.25 protocol. An experimental FX.25 protocol will be tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX.25 protocol and still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets.
John
What callsigns should we expect from the two ANDE-2 satellites?
Tnx, Ken, W7KKE
Ken Swaggart wrote:
What callsigns should we expect from the two ANDE-2 satellites?
According to the telemetry examples:
KD4HBO-1 for castor, and POLLUX-1 for pollux
No idea if the KD4 call was just used for testing, or if it's going to be used in flight. Guess we'll have to wait for AOS to be sure.
73s
Iain
Sorry, deployment is Thursday. A standard AX.25 TNC will work. FX.25 wraps error correction data around the packet. I'll get info on the FX25 decoder up real soon.
Ivan
Nigel G8IFF/W8IFF wrote:
OK, so presumably a standard AX25 TNC in kiss or RAW data mode and FX25 error correcting software to post process the data?
Looks as though the deployment from the shuttle didn't go ahead. They've been doing engine burns during the past minutes.
jmfranke wrote:
No he means FX.25:
From the Milcom/BTown blogs:
"The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver. The transmitter operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal. Power level is adjustable. The transmitter can operate at 1200 baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK. The transmitter uses the AX.25 protocol. An experimental FX.25 protocol will be tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX.25 protocol and still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets.
John
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Looks as though the deployment from the shuttle didn't go ahead. They've been doing engine burns during the past minutes.
Looks like the deployment happens tomorrow about 17:22 UTC(Specifically flight day 14 19:19:00 mission elapsed Time.) to allow for good radar observations.
From today's "Execute Package"
" ANDE‐2 Deploy was moved so that the deploy may be observed by Millstone Hill, near MIT in Boston."
I'll be at Fenway Park in Boston at that time, so I guess I will have to point my binoculars away from the baseball field and into the sky for a minute!
see http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/373942main_fd14_exec_pkg.pdf
-Joe KM1P
[email protected] wrote:
TX is on 145.825, so any Satgate should pick them up and transfer the data to APRS-IS.
I suppose I should go update my APRS/PCSAT/PCSAT2/ANDE telemetry decoder now. Wish I'd realised these were going to be this "open" earlier *mutter*.
And Hmm. With a closer look I just realised that the telemetry is pure AX.25 rather than APRS. Having said that TELEM appears to be a legitimate APRS destination address.
However, that would make the first S of SYS the "APRS Data Type Identifier", which strictly speaking is listed as "Do not use"
Any IGATE authors on here know if their IGATE code is that strict ? or if it's likely to pass these packets anyhow ? I wonder if the packet payload length (~142 characters) would prevent the IGATE s/w passing the packets onto APRS-IS ?
73s
Iain
participants (14)
-
David - KG4ZLB -
David Johnson -
g7iii＠g7iii.net -
Iain Young, G7III
-
Ivan Galysh -
Ivan Galysh -
jmfranke -
Joe -
Joe Fitzgerald -
Ken Swaggart -
Nigel G8IFF/W8IFF -
Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF
-
Robert Bruninga -
Robin Theunis