AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-055
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a
worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in
designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital
Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor(a)amsat.org
In this edition:
* STRaND-1 Launch Information
* AMSAT and Virginia Tech Sign Collaboration Agreement
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts
* AMSAT-DC Workshop on Portable Satellite Ground Stations
* US Airforce Upgrades SpaceTrack Website For Keplarian Orbital Data
* Mission to Mars Announcement Expected
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-055.01
ANS-055 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 055.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 24, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-055.01
STRaND-1 Launch Information
For those following the STRaND-1 launch on Twitter, the official launch hashtag
of STRaND-1 spacecraft is #S1Launch. Post lunch we #STRaND1 hashtag will be
used.
Launch time is 12:25 GMT 25th Feb 2013 and has been cleared by the Launch
Authorization Board (LAB) for PSLV - C20
Live video launch feeds for Monday's PSLV launch will be available at
http://www.webcast.gov.in/live/ and http://ibnlive.in.com/livetv/
----
STRaND-1 telemetry format http://www.amsat-uk.org/?page_id=12875
STRaND-1 information http://www.amsat-uk.org/?page_id=12196
[ANS thanks Trever, M5AKA, for the above information]
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AMSAT and Virginia Tech Sign Collaboration Agreement
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ("Virginia Tech") and Radio
Amateur Satellite Corp. ("AMSAT") signed a Collaboration Agreement on February
4, 2013 that establishes a relationship for future projects in the development
of space hardware, software, algorithms, documentation of same and an agreement
to protect each other by protecting ITAR-covered materials and identifying same
for the other. The agreement was signed by AMSAT President Barry
Baines, WD4ASW
and Virginia Tech Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs
Administration
John Rudd.
The Agreement establishes a relationship that will allow both organizations to
work together on future space mission opportunities as may arise. VT
established the Center for Space Science and Engineering ([email protected]) in 2007 and
with completion of the new Center for Space Science and Engineering Research
Facility in 2012, has facilities for development of space hardware and cubesat
development. Programmatic and technical coordination and direction will be
coordinated between Dr. Robert W. McGwier ,PhD of Virginia Tech and Anthony
Monteiro, AA2TX AMSAT's VP-Engineering.
"Establishment of a formal relationship between VT and AMSAT provides the
foundation for potential future satellite program opportunities for AMSAT as
well as enhances prospects for AMSAT support of STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) education outreach" notes AMSAT President Barry
Baines, WD4ASW. "[email protected] recognizes the success that AMSAT brings to building
successful spacecraft and with the development of Fox-1, to bring reliable
hardware in support of scientific payloads as well as enhance prospects for
student projects to successfully fly in space. AMSAT benefits from a partner
that will help provide justification for funding of spacecraft that supports
amateur radio in space," he added.
Virginia Tech Professor Bob McGwier, N4HY is looking forward to working with
AMSAT on future projects. Bob remarked, "Being able to combine the student
space science and engineering programs of Virginia Tech with AMSAT's long
history of innovative technical development in spacecraft is a win-win for both
parties. I look forward to working with AMSAT on projects that
mutually benefit
space science, student engineering programs, and the amateur radio
community."
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information]
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Upcoming ARISS Contacts
An International Space Station school contact has been planned with
participants
at Soleado Elementary School, Ranchos Palos Verdes, CA on 25 Feb. The event is
scheduled to begin at approximately 19:53 UTC. The duration of the contact is
approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct
between NA1SS
and KE6JPM. The contact should be audible over California and portions of the
western U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz
downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.
Soleado Elementary School's mission is to educate each and every one of its
students to their fullest potential while cultivating a lifelong love of
learning. Named for its beautiful location in the hills of Rancho
Palos Verdes,
our school is proud of its rich cultural background, academic achievement, and
involvement in extra-curricular activities. Our mascot, a rosy-cheeked sun, is
an exceptionally fitting characterization of our school, which wraps our
students in the arms of a caring and supportive community that nurtures
development of the whole child.
Founded in 1968, even Soleado's physical design embodies community and
cooperation, with each core educational building housing five classrooms with
one wall "open" to a shared "big room" in the center. The open classroom
environment facilitates daily teacher collaboration and student interaction
within and among grade levels, while "big rooms" allow for large group
activities and foster a positive feeling of family among our students
and staff.
In addition to our strong sense of community and our open classroom model,
another distinguishing characteristic of our school is its cultural and
linguistic diversity. With 420 "Soleado Suns" this year in grades DK
through 5,
our student body encompasses families who come directly from 30 different
countries speaking 21 languages.
Other upcoming contacts:
* 4th Dimotiko Scholeio Chaidariou, Chaidari (near Athens), Greece,
direct via J41ISS
Thu, 28Feb2013, 09:42 UTC
* Talcott Mountain Science Center & Academy, Avon, CT,
direct via W1TMS
Thu, 28Feb2013 15:53 UTC
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the
participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and
CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement
of Amateur
Radio by talking directly with crew members on-board the International Space
Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio
and crew members on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science,
technology,
and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the
website http://www.ariss.org/ (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of
Canada).
[ANS thanks David, AA4KN, for the above information]
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AMSAT-DC Workshop on Portable Satellite Ground Stations
REGISTER NOW for the AMSAT-DC Spring Workshop 2013. Those who wish to attend
the "Workshop on Portable Satellite Ground Stations" on Saturday,
March 23, must
call Martha in advance at AMSAT headquarters at 301-589-6062 to receive a
workshop registration number. Your unique registration number is
your ticket to
get in, starting NET 9:00 A.M. EST. There will be no registration at the door.
The suggested donation for advanced registration and admission for non-members
is $25. Registration for each AMSAT member who participates in the event and
registers in advance is free. "The $25 USD donations collected by Martha will
go directly to a worthy cause," says AMSAT Area Coordinator Pat
Kilroy, "namely,
to the AMSAT Fox Project."
In lieu of the $25 suggested donation by non-members, one may apply for AMSAT
membership with Martha at the standard rate and then receive a workshop
registration number for free.
The door to the Visitor Center auditorium at the NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (ZIP Code 20771) will open for station set ups no
earlier than 9:00 A.M. The program will officially begin at ten and run nearly
all day continuously, easily to 4:00 P.M. or beyond. Participants are welcome
to bring their own brown bag lunch. Drinks and condiments will be donated by
fellow AMSAT members.
The workshop program will be informal, with participants given the
floor to show
their wares and explain their operation. That is, one teaching one another the
best practices, tools and techniques of successful satellite contacts. "Our
program will be an experiment unto itself to gauge interest and to plan future
AMSAT workshops. Feedback is always welcome," says Pat.
All participants are encouraged to bring their wares to assemble, show
and explain.
To volunteer or ask questions contact Pat Kilroy, N8PK, at n8pk(a)amsat.org.
[ANS thanks Pat Kilroy, N8PK, for the above information]
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US Airforce Upgrades SpaceTrack Website For Keplarian Orbital Data
The following is the latest from Vandenburg:
**************************************
We are pleased to announce the upgrade of www.Space-Track.org to add the
look and functionality that matches what is now on
https://beta.space-track.org. The bulk file downloads from our current
Space-Track site will continue to be available to scripters for a limited
time after the upgrade using established URLs.
This upgrade will vastly improve how the Space-Track User community
interacts with orbital element sets, the satellite catalog and conjunction
data. With a robust Representational State Transfer (REST-ful)
Application Programming Interface (API), scripters will be able to get the
latest data available, customized for their purposes.
Here are just a few of the new features that will become part of the
upgraded www.Space-Track.org:
- A streamlined and intuitive user interface that is easier to navigate
and allows simple searches
- A robust help and documentation section - "Favorites" lists to identify
logical groupings of catalog objects that Users can monitor via the web
interface or with the site's API
If you have production scripts that currently use beta.space-track.org, we
recommend that you change your scripts to point at www.Space-Track.org on
or after 20 February 2013.
If you have scripts that screen-scrape or download text/zip files from the
current yellow-colored legacy www.Space-Track.org, they will continue to
perform correctly for a few months, but we recommend that you quickly
transition your scripts to take advantage of the new API. Documentation
is available under "Help" to assist you, as well as the API query builder
tool on the upgraded site.
We have also started sharing information about Space-Track's new features
on tumblr, facebook and twitter, so please engage us on your favorite
social media platform.
Our sites are http://space-track.tumblr.com,
http://www.facebook.com/SpaceTrack and http://www.twitter.com/SpaceTrackOrg
We understand that any significant upgrade has the potential to cause
frustration for our user community and we apologize if this creates any
adjustment problems for you. For help or clarification, please email us
at admin(a)space-track.org.
Thank you,
The www.Space-Track.org Team
[ANS thanks the Space-Track Team for the above information]
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Mission to Mars Announcement Expected
Inspiration Mars Foundation, led by the first private space traveler, Dennis
Tito, has announced they intend to make a major announcement next Wednesday,
February 27th concerning a 501 day mission to Mars.
The press release said the news conference next week would be "detailing its
plans to take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch an historic
journey to Mars and back in 501 days, starting in January 2018. This "Mission
for America" will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next
great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to
believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while
inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
education and motivation."
With the stated goal of "accelerating America's human exploration of space" one
can surmise that the mission is a human mission to Mars.
The other people who will take part in the news conference include:
- Taber MacCallum, chief executive officer and chief technology officer of
Paragon Space Development Corporation and crew member for two-year mission in
Biosphere 2
- Dr. Jonathan Clark, associate professor of Neurology and Space Medicine at
Baylor College of Medicine and space medicine advisor for the National Space
Biomedical Research Institute
- Jane Poynter, president and chairwoman of Paragon Space Development
Corporation and crew member for two-year mission in Biosphere 2
This kind of expertise in closed ecological life support systems lends credence
to a human mission to Mars.
[ANS thanks SpaceRef for the above information ]
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/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-041
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the
activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share
an active interest in designing, building, launching and
communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor(a)amsat.org
In this edition:
* Mid-West USA High Altitude Balloon Launch on February 16
* Amateur Radio Participates in ISS Plasma Thrust Shadow Experiment
* CubeSats Form Asteroid Mining Exploration Fleet
* PCSAT normal(?) operations resume
* AMSAT-UK to provide Amateur Radio payload for ESEO satellite
* OSCAR-11 ANNUAL REPORT 2012
* UKube-1 to launch in June 2013
* Five new CubeSats hope for 2013 launch
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts From All Around
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-041.01
ANS-041 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 041.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 10, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-041.01
Mid-West USA High Altitude Balloon Launch on February 16
The Iowa High Altitude Balloon team says their iHAB-9 balloon flight
is scheduled to launch February 16, 2013 at 16:00Z (9AM CDT). The
Mission Control web page will give you flight status, an APRS
tracking map, webcast, and live chat. Please go to:
http://www.ihabproject.com/iHAB-9/http://www.ihabproject.com/iHAB-9/MissionControl/
On February 16 the flight schedule is presently at:
Webcast: 14:ØØZ - 8AM CDT
Launch: 15:ØØZ - 9AM CDT
The payload includes:
+ APRS beacon - WØOTM-11 on 144.39Mhz running OpenTracker+
and Alinco DJ-C7 - VHF/UHF 3ØØ/5ØØmw
+ 2ØM QRP Beacon, 1.5 Watts on 14.057.85 +/- Mhz
+ 1.2Ghz live video downlink
The latest flight status and additional information can be accessed
on the iHAB web pages.
[ANS thanks the iHAB-9 Team for the above information]
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Amateur Radio Participates in ISS Plasma Thrust Shadow Experiment
On February 1, 2, 3, and on February 8, 9, 10 the Russian Central
Research Institute of Machine Building (TSNIIMASH) conducted a space
plasma experiment from the International Space Station to evaluate
the shape of a "radio dead zone" which is expected to occur with the
use of an on-board arcjet plasma source.
Future space exploration plans to use electric thrusters.
Integration of electric thrusters causes an electromagnetic
compatibility side-effect when highly ionized exhaust plumes of the
thrusters may scatter RF-signals producing large "dead" zone for
communications.
The SpEx Shadow experiment on the ISS activated an onboard arcjet
source to inject a plasma plume in space. The amateur radio packet
beacon operating on 145.825 MHz was activated to transmit a VHF
sounding signal with time ticks. Due to refraction/scattering of the
sounding signals in the exhaust plume, the shadow region would occur.
Participating amateur radio stations noted the time tick to register
loss of signal and re-acquisition of the 145.825 MHZ signal as the
footprint caused by the plasma jet passed their geographic location.
An example of the ISS SpEx Shadowing Beacon can be found on the
DK3WN SatBlog website at:
http://www.dk3wn.info:
RS0ISS]CQ,qAR,SR5GK-3:]ARISS - International Space Station
DK3WN]BEACON,RS0ISS*,qAR,SR5GK-3:SpEx SHADOW 20:30:57 *DL* 02-02-2013/
DK3WN]BEACON,RS0ISS*,qAR,SR5GK-3:SpEx SHADOW 20:30:39 *DL* 02-02-2013/
Additional details of the Shadowing Experiment are posted on the
TSNIIMASH web site at:
http://knts.tsniimash.ru/Shadow/en/Default.aspx
[ANS thanks TSNIIMASH and Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN for the above
information]
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CubeSats Form Asteroid Mining Exploration Fleet
In an article posted on the SpaceDaily.com website, "Commercial
Asteroid Hunters Announce Plans For New Robotic Exploration Fleet",
Deep Space Industries claims it will send a fleet of asteroid-
prospecting spacecraft out into the solar system to hunt for
resources to accelerate space development to benefit Earth.
These "FireFly" spacecraft utilize low-cost CubeSat components and
get discounted delivery to space by ride-sharing on the launch of
larger communications satellites.
FireFlies with a mass of about 55 lb will first be launched in 2015
on journeys of two to six months. Starting in 2016, Deep Space will
begin launching 70-lb DragonFlies for round-trip visits that bring
back samples. The DragonFly expeditions will take two to four years,
depending on the target, and will return 60 to 150 lb.
Read the full article posted at:
http://www.tinyurl.com/CubeSat-Explorer-Fleet (SpaceDaily.com)
[ANS thanks SpaceDaily.com for the above information]
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PCSAT normal(?) operations resume
PCSAT (NO44) is again returned to users (but not usable until a few
weeks when sun angles get better).
The variation of power available to PCSAT is inversely proportional
to the "sun-to-orbitplane-angle" (viewable in Instantrack with the
"E" and "D" keys. It is currently above 78 degrees. Once it went
above about 65 degrees was our last successful commanding.
Recovery did not work this period. But we learned enough to be more
successful in the Fall.
A "sun-to-orbitplane-angle" means PCsat's orbit is now over the
day/night terminator meaning it is in full sun (no eclipses) with
solar power coming in on the (weaker) side panels and little if any
on the +Z face(best panel). Attitude is maintained by alignment with
the Earth's magnetic field. It's the best time for a recovery (no
eclipses to cause a reset), but the worst time for commanding. It is
too weak to respond to the needed logon and 3 additional commands.
Though it will be strong again as the sun angle improves (lower).
Then it will have better sun on the +Z face for commanding, but then
it will be doing Eclipses. And even though we can then command it to
turn off unnecessary loads, it does not have enough time before the
next eclipse to charge up enough to survive the next eclipse.
What we did (re)learn is a condensed command method where we can put
all 3 PCSAT low-power commands in a single packet (using the TNC's ^V
pass character). That way, we only need a successful logon to
complete the Restoration. 1) The CONNECT ACK. 2) The password
challenge, 3) Then the command prompt. Then we can hit it with the
full low-power command set and disconnect all in one packet which
cancels the need for PCSAT to respond to each command separately.
On the FIRST day available in full sun(our best shot), I not only
got logged on, but completed all 3 requried functions. Then signals
sounded so good, I got greedy and put in the another three (which
also improves power budget, but not as much as the first three).
Yep, I gambled and lost. It died on the last one! The next day I got
all 3 in, and it died on the 3rdcommand due to a user packet I think.
Days since, I have been unable to logon. Hence, end of this attempt
period.
In most attempts in the past (after successful logon) we would send
one command at a time to give it a few seconds rest between each one.
But these 3 commands then required 3 ACKS and 3 RESPONSES in addition
to the 3 required to get logged. Those extra 6 packets kill it,
especially if there was a user packet in there. Next time all we
need are the 3 loggon responses.
Also, next time, we will give users advance warning to QRT all
transmissions when we are trying to command. Each one of their
packets robs us of power we need to complete the command. I failed
to warn everyone this time, and so we had some interference.
As sun angle improves, You may continue to experiment with PCSAT
during MIDDAY passes. That is when it is strongest (in the Northern
Hemisphere), but do limit yourself to only attended operations so
humans can actually contact humans, or if you are doing an unattended
test, keep your transmissions to once every 2 minutes. That should
let you get one good successful packet per pass. Which is the
mission of PCSAT.
See the downlink on http://pcsat.aprs.org
There you can see the telemetry packets (list at the bottom of page)
right now are rarely getting above 001 meaning typically a minute or
so of life before it gets overloaded and resets back to 000.
It is easy to visualize the relationship of the sun angle to the
orbit plane and to see how that affects power budget given that our
best panel (out of 5) is on the +Z face and that is magnetically
aligned to point towards magnetic South. There is NO panel on the -Z
which is why PCsat is rarely usable in the Southern Hemisphere (not
planned, but just a result of it crashing in every eclipse).
Just thought you would like to know what is going on with one of the
oldest student projects in space that is still "semi-operational" for
users.
[ANS thanks Bob, Wb4APR for the above information]
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AMSAT-UK to provide Amateur Radio payload for ESEO satellite
AMSAT-UK will be providing a 1260/145 MHz FM transponder and a 145
MHz BPSK telemetry beacon for the European Student Earth Orbiter
(ESEO). This is the third mission within the European Space Agency’s
Education Satellite Programme.
Nine European universities will be working with the prime contractor
ALMASpace, Italy, on the mission. Cranfield University in
Bedfordshire will be supplying a small sail that will be deployed to
demonstrate the de-orbiting of spacecraft at the end of the mission.
The primary purpose of the AMSAT-UK payload is to provide a downlink
telemetry that can be easily received by schools and colleges for
educational outreach purposes. The data will be displayed in an
attractive format and provide stimulation and encouragement for
students to become interested in all STEM subjects in a unique way.
The target audience is primarily students at both primary and
secondary levels and the project includes the development of a simple
and cheap “ground station” operating on VHF frequencies in the
Amateur Satellite Service. This station is an omni-directional
antenna feeding a FUNcube DonglePRO+ SDR receiver which will receive
the signals direct from the satellite and transfer the data to
specially developed graphical software running on any Windows laptop.
More information is available at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=12487
[ANS thanks Trevor Essex, M5AKA for the above information]
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OSCAR-11 ANNUAL REPORT 2012
This report covers the period from 01 January 2012 to 01 January
2013. During this time there have been no significant changes apart
from the gradual drift of the on-board clock. The satellite has been
transmitting on a regular cycle of 10.35 days on followed by 10.35
days off.
OSCAR-11 (AKA UoSAT-2 and UO-11) celebrated it's 28th birthday in
space on 01 March! It was designed, built and launched within a
period of six months, using commercially available 'off the shelf'
components (COTS). Once again, congratulations to Professor Sir
Martin Sweeting G3YJO, his team at the University of Surrey and the
groups of radio amateurs who also contributed to the project.
Good copy has been obtained obtained from decoded telemetry frames
and many reports have been posted on the DCARR general satellite
status website, The satellite continues to be subjected to eclipses
during each orbit, resulting in weaker signals at those times. During
the summer in the UK all passes were in sunlight, however the
eclipses gradually returned during the autumn and now all evening
passes are eclipsed and signals are significantly weaker than in the
morning passes.
The on-board clock gained 85 seconds during the year, which is
comparable with the 60 seconds gain per year when the satellite was
launched. There is however a large accumulated error of 308.54204
days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during
eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply.
The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to
seconds (0.86 seconds actually).
At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable
way, please DO NOT send reports or files by e-mail. However, could
all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general
satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use
facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur
satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected
times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially
for times 13:00 to 18:00 and 22:00 to 08:00 UTC, to when the
satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is
http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry.
The satellite is operating in the default mode, controlled by the
watchdog timer, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on
followed by 10.35 days off.
An extended version of this report is available on my website, and
new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information.
The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains links to
the report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and
a file of recent telemetry received. The website also contains an
archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time,
and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data
capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding
ASCII telemetry. The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is
operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website
http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php .
If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please
use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT158.CWV, to prevent duplication.
[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV for the above information]
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UKube-1 to launch in June 2013
The Herald newspaper reports that the CubeSat UKube-1 will be
launched in June, 2013.
The spacecraft is being built for the UK Space Agency (UKSA) by
Clyde Space and the launch will take place from Baikonur in
Kazakhstan on a Soyuz-2 along with TechDemoSat-1.
The newspaper reports that Clyde Space has announced plans for a
base in the United States.
UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards to provide an
amateur radio 435/145 MHz linear transponder and a 1200 bps BPSK
beacon for educational outreach
[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA for the above information]
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Five new CubeSats hope for 2013 launch
Five new CubeSats being developed in Taiwan, Vietnam and the United
States are hoping to fly during 2013.
PACE is the first nanosatellite developed the National Cheng Kung
University (NCKU) of Taiwan and has the objective to provide a
platform for attitude control experiments in space.
More Information is available at
http://satellite.ncku.edu.tw/pace/en/home.htm
TARO is a 2U CubeSat developed by the National Cheng Kung University
(NCKU) of Taiwan. TARO is the precursor of PACE satellite which was
also developed by NCKU and has an objective to verify the function of
sensors and actuators which have been used at PACE.
More Information is available at
http://satellite.ncku.edu.tw/pace/en/home.htm
PicoDragon is a 1U CubeSat project intended to take low resolution
earth images and to test on board systems. Planning to use two UHF
transmitters. One 100mW CW beacon on 437.250 MHz and a 1k2 AFSK 800mW
AX25 telemetry downlink. Commands will be uplinked on VHF.
More Information is available at
http://vnsc.org.vn/
United States, Alabama – ChargerSat-1. The primary mission is to
perform a technology demonstration of gravity gradient stabilization,
improved solar collection and improved horizon communications on a
pico-satellite. This is the team’s first CubeSat and is a technology
demonstration of their capabilities as students
More Information is available at
http://space.uah.edu/
United States, California – SNAPS. This spacecraft has dimensions of
25x113x113mm, has a mass of less than 0.5kg and is intended to image
other CubeSats autonomously using H264 compression. The team is
proposing a UHF downlink using 9k6 AFSK and will utilize Carpcomm
ground stations.
Planned for a SpaceX flight from Vandenberg AFB in April 2013
together with POPACS.
[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA for the above
information]
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ARISS News
ARISS Switches to Ericsson Radio After experiencing Problems with
tthe Kenwood D700
After experiencing issues with the Kenwood D700 on two consecutive
school contacts, ARISS will use the Ericsson Radio on the Columbus
module for ARISS contacts until problems with D700 are resolved.
According to Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT's Vice President for Human
Spaceflight Programs, "...for some reason, our signals from the
Service Module Kenwood D700 radio are much diminished. Our contact
with Israel last Sunday had low audio levels, with good signals only
near TCA. Our contact yesterday with the Hospital for Sick Children
was even worse. Only one student was able to talk to Chris Hadfield
before we lost the signal. The crew reports hearing the ground
station well. Both these contacts were with our telebridge stations,
some of the best out there. Also note that Chris Hadfield got on the
IP Phone, immediately after the Hospital radio contact and answered
all the student’s questions, using that communications medium. So,
while not optimal, we were able to make both these ARISS events
successful
After the Hospital contact, we had a full court press to revise
uplinks and procedures to use the Ericsson radio that was recently
installed in the Columbus Module instead of the D700. This was
worked well into the crew sleep period, with the procedures ready for
the crew at wakeup. While we had not fully checked out the radio, we
felt the benefits of using this system outweighed the risks of using
the D700, given its recent past performance. Our contact with the
Japan school, using the Columbus Module Ericsson radio was very
successful. We plan to use it on the contacts planned for next week."
+ Contacts scheduled for this coming week
ARISS is requesting listener reports for these contacts. Due to
issues with the Kenwood radio that are not fully understood at
present, the Ericsson radio is going to be used for these contacts.
ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance.
Breadalbane Academy, Aberfeldy, United Kingdom, telebridge via W6SRJ
Contact is a go for: Tue 2013-02-12 09:22:57 UTC 26 deg
Chief Peguis Jr. High, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, telebridge via VK5ZAI
Contact is a go for: Wed 2013-02-13 19:47:43 UTC 55 deg
+ At the following link you will find a listing of all scheduled
school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP
and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may
be streamed live.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf
+ QSL information may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.htmlhttp://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's
+ ISS callsigns: DPØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS
+ There have been rumors in the past indicating that the ISS was
having direct contacts on the 40 meter band. The HF antenna is
mounted, however, there is no HF radio equipment on board.
Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio.
[ANS thanks ARISS and AJ9N for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Around
+ The FITSAT-1 optical experiment is the topic of an article posted
at Space.com. See "Tiny Japanese Satellite Beams Morse Code Messages
from Space", by Leonard David at:
http://tinyurl.com/ag47bed [Space.com]
+ The AMSAT mail list archives remain accessible despite the temp-
orary outage of general content at www.amsat.org. Access the the
amsat-bb and sarex lists can be found at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/
Access to subscribe to AMSAT mail lists can be found at:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo
Access the AMSAT News Service Archives can be found at:
http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/ [Joanne Maenpaa]
+ Who is On Board the ISS
Exp. 33/34
Oleg Novitskiy
Kevin Ford KF5GPP
Evgeny Tarelkin
Exp. 34/35
Chris Hadfield KC5RNJ/VA3OOG
Roman Romanenko
Tom Marshburn KE5HOC
[ANS thanks Charlie AJ9N for the above information]
+ Near Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass inside the geostationary
satellite orbits February 15. This object will make an extremely
close approach to within 0.00023 AU of Earth at 19:25 UT (11:25 AM
PST) on February 15, 2013.
For more information visit
http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2012DA14/2012DA14_planning.html
[ANS thanks Tom Clark K3IO for the the above information]
+ Hello Kitty in Near Space
Near space weather balloon built by seventh grader Lauren Rojas and
launched with help from her father, Rod, Reaching an altitude of
over 90,000. The photography in this video is quite good,
especially when the balloon bursts.
YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5REsCTG4-Gg
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
EMike McCardel, KC8YLD
kc8yld at amsat dot org