AMSAT General News

ÑuSat-1 to Carry AMSAT Argentina Linear Transponder – Launch Scheduled for May 30, 2016

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The Argentinian earth observation satellite ÑuSat-1 will carry a linear transponder built by AMSAT Argentina. The satellite is scheduled to launch on a CZ-4B rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China on May 30, 2016 into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.5 degrees and a Local Time of the Ascending Node (LTAN) of 10:30.

The AMSAT Argentina U/v inverting transponder, named LUSEX, wiil have an uplink of 435.935 MHz to 435.965 MHz and a downlink of 145.935 MHz to 145.965 MHz. Total power output is 250 mW. There will also be a CW beacon at 145.900 MHz with a power output of 70 mW.

For more information, see the AMSAT Argentina Facebook group.

UPDATE:  A website with preliminiary Keplerian elements and further information is now live at http://lusex.org.ar/

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The AMSAT Argentina LUSEX transponder board. (Photo courtesy AMSAT Argentina)

LUSEX on  ÑuSat-1 – Launch Scheduled May 30, 2016
Uplink LSB 435.965 MHz through 435.935 MHz
Downlink USB 145.935 MHz through 145.965 MHz
70 mW CW beacon 145.900 MHz

OUFTI-1 D-STAR Repeater Satellite Scheduled for Launch Today

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UPDATE: The preliminary keps listed below are incorrect. Use these for the three cubesats until new keps are released.

AAUSAT4
1 00003U 00001A 16116.99330001 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0018
2 00003 98.2172 124.4782 0152400 241.4610 358.4169 15.02516156 00011

From Stefan Dombrowski, ON6TI: 

OUFTI-1, the first D-STAR repeater in space, is currently on the launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch is scheduled for Monday, April 25th at 21:02:11 UTC.

On board this Fregat flight, VS14. are Sentinel-1B, Microscope, Norsat-1 as well as 3 cubesats participating at ESA’s “Fly Your Satellite” programme. Those 3 cubesats are:

AAUSAT-4 is an initiative of the University of Aalborg, Denmark and will have as primary payload an AIS receiver to allow tracking of ships. AAUSAT-4 will transmit on 437.425 MHz using CW and the CSP spacelink format. Further information is available on the homepage http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat4/

e-st@r-II is an initiative of the University of Turin, Italy and will transmit a CW beacon on 437.485 MHz. More information is available at http://www.cubesatteam-polito.com/operations/radio-amateurs/

Finally, OUFTI-1 is a cubesat designed at the University of Liège, Belgium. One of its payloads is a complete D-STAR repeater. The initial mode will be a CW beacon on 145.980 MHz. Technical details and the software to decode its telemetry can be found on http://events.ulg.ac.be/oufti-1/radioamateurs/
The CW beacon will transmit periodically for 2 minutes followed by 1 minute of silence.
The AX25 beacon will be turned on later, once the attitude of the satellite has stabilized.
Following timing is expected on Monday, April 25th:

Launch: 21:02:11 UTC (you can watch this live on http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/esalive)
Separation: 23:50:24 UTC
Activation: 00:20:24 UTC (Tuesday)

OUFTI-1 and e-st@r-II will start transmitting just in reach of Mexico. 1st pass over the US will be a few minutes later, covering around 00:32:00 UTC the whole US with a very high elevation. The next pass around 02:00:45 UTC will benefit the western half of the US.

The preliminary TLE’s for all 3 cubesats are

OUFTI-1
1 99999U 16116.99345058 .00011869 00000-0 69250-3 0 00006
2 99999 098.1425 127.7912 0173917 231.5709 358.3214 15.00025810000019

Reception reports are welcome on the IRC http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#cubesat

jacques_verly_on9cwd_and_amandine_denis_on4eya_with-oufti-1

AO-85 Commissioned, Handed Over To AMSAT-NA Operations

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AO-85 has been formally commissioned and turned over to AMSAT Operations, who are now responsible for the scheduling and modes.

The following guidelines are provided for users:

  1. Uplink power should be on the order of minimum 200 W EIRP for full quieting at lower antenna elevation angles. Your mileage may vary. With an Arrow, 5 W has been used successfully to make contacts.

  2. Polarity is important. The satellite antennas are linear. So, if you are using linearly polarized antennas, you will need to adjust throughout the pass. Full duplex operation facilitates these adjustments while transmitting and is highly recommended.

  3. The downlink is very strong and should be heard well with almost any antenna.

  4. Downlink audio is 5 kHz deviation, as expected. Many will perceive that the audio is “low.” This is an effect of the filtering below 300 Hz, which provides for the DUV telemetry, coupled with any noise on the uplink signal resulting from lack of full quieting or being off frequency. That makes for less fidelity than a typical receiver in terms of audio frequencies passed.

  5. Transmit (downlink) frequency varies with temperature.  Due to the wide range of temperatures we are seeing in the eclipse cycle, the transmitter can be anywhere from around 500 Hz low at 10°C to near 2 kHz low at 40°C.

  6. Receive frequency has been generally agreed to be about 435.170 MHz, although the AFC makes that hard to pin down and also helps with the uplinks that are off frequency.

Probably the most notable observations about AO-85 are an apparent lack of sensitivity and difficulty in turning on the repeater with the 67 Hz CTCSS when it is not yet activated, or holding it on by the presence of the CTCSS.  We have determined a probable cause for the sensitivity issue and while that can’t be fixed on AO-85 we are taking steps to prevent similar issues on the rest of the Fox-1 CubeSats.  The tone detection threshold along with the receive sensitivity issue makes it hard to bring up the repeater.  This is being addressed by adjusting the values for a valid tone detection in the other Fox-1 CubeSats now that we have on orbit information about temperatures and power budget.  Full details will be in the Nov/Dec AMSAT Journal.

It is important to remember that science is the reason behind the Fox-1 satellites. Not only does science help with the launch cost, it provides a great amount of educational value both from the science payload and in amateur radio itself. The data-under-voice (DUV) telemetry is an excellent way to provide the science without sacrificing the use of the satellite for communications, which would be the case if higher speed downlinks were needed. DUV provides constant science as long as the repeater is in use, which in turn provides more downlink data for the science – a mutually beneficial combination.

Fox-1A is AMSAT-NA’s first CubeSat. Many new techniques are incorporated and lessons will be learned, as with any new “product.”  The Fox-1 Project is a series of CubeSats. A total of five will be built and flown. Launches are scheduled for three more, and a new NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative proposal will be submitted for the fifth. We will incorporate changes from what we learn in each launch, to the extent possible, in subsequent Fox-1 CubeSats.

Of the four NASA sponsored CubeSats on the ELaNa XII launch October 8, we are sad to report that ARC1 was never heard from and BisonSat was lost after a few weeks of operation. AMSAT extends our deepest sympathy to the people who worked so hard on these projects. To our members, we want to say that the Fox Team is very proud and pleased that our first CubeSat is very successful and hopefully will be for some time.

UKube-1 CubeSat Completes Mission

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From AMSAT News Service:

UKube-1, the UK Space Agency’s first national spacecraft, has now completed
its nominal mission following over 14 months of operations. Discussion is
underway with AMSAT-UK about the possibility of taking over UKube-1 operations
to continue its educational and outreach activities.

Launched in July 2014, UKube-1 is a technology demonstration mission with a
broad set of objectives aimed at attracting and training future generations of
engineers, encouraging collaboration across sectors and institutions, fast
tracking space technology development and engaging with students.

As a 3 unit CubeSat (30x30x10cm), flying 4 main payloads, with all the key
subsystems of much larger satellites, UKube-1 remains one of the most advanced
CubeSats ever built. Despite some technical challenges in orbit, the mission
has achieved a range of milestones including:

• delivery into the correct planned orbit (around 650km, sun-synchronous)
• successful deployment of solar panels and antenna
• good battery health
• slow spin rate measured
• uplink and downlink capabilities checked, including Large Data Transfer,
downlink at 3 speeds, and redundant communications mode
• all core payloads commissioned and data collected for each
• on-board camera technology successfully tested
• data downlinked from multiple ground stations across the globe

UKube-1 has also helped maintain the UK’s leading position in the CubeSat
sector. Participation in the mission placed Clyde Space in an excellent
position to capitalize on the fast growing global nanosatellite market. The
company has experienced 100% year on year growth, both in turnover and
employees, as a direct result from involvement in UKube-1, and is firmly
established as a global leader.

Mark McCrum, Bright Ascension Ltd, said:
“UKube-1 provided us with an invaluable opportunity to gain flight heritage
for our software technology and to get deeply involved in the operation of a
complex CubeSat mission. It gave a huge boost to our credibility as a space
software provider and has been instrumental in winning further work.”

Craig Clark, CEO Clyde Space Ltd, said:
“UKube-1 represents a pivotal achievement in the development and growth of
Clyde Space. The project moved the company from being a spacecraft subsystems
supplier to providing full missions for our customers. To give some context to
the extent that Ukube-1 has had to our business, Clyde Space has more than
quadrupled in size in the last 3 years and there are currently over 60 CubeSats
planned through production here in Glasgow over the next 18 months. The return
on investment for Ukube-1 in terms of jobs and export sales for the UK has been
outstanding and is a great example of industry and the UK Space Agency working
together to put the UK at the forefront of global space technology.”

Professor Andrew Holland, Open University, added:
“Involvement in the UKube-1 mission, though our C3D instrument, has had a
positive effect on our research and technology program within the Space
Instrumentation Group at the Open University, as well as a positive effect on
our technology partners in the project; XCAM Ltd and e2v Ltd. The project has
helped the OU to build a new strand of instrument development within the group,
raised awareness of the CubeSat platform as a potential vehicle to accelerate
the development of scientific space instrumentation, and has provided early in-
orbit-demonstration of technologies. The mission introduced us to new academic
and industrial collaborators operating in the space sector and supported the
career development of the young engineers and scientists working on the
project.”

STFC’s RAL Space provided the Ground Station for the mission at Chilbolton
Observatory in Hampshire UK, and UKube-1 operations were commanded from there.

Mission Manager Dr Helen Walker said:
“It has been a very exciting time, made possible only with the great support
from all the teams involved.”

Although the Agency-supported mission phase has ended, discussion is underway
with AMSAT-UK about the possibility of taking over UKube-1 operations to
continue its educational and outreach activities until the satellite orbit
naturally degrades.

More information about UKube-1 can be found in the missions section of the UK
Space Agency website
https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/ukube-1

Source
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukube-1-completes-mission

UKube-1 carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards which provide an educational
beacon for use by schools and a linear transponder for amateur radio
communications.

UKube-1 nominal frequencies:
• 145.840 MHz Telemetry downlink
• 145.915 MHz FUNcube subsystem beacon
• 400 mW inverting SSB/CW linear transponder
– 435.080-435.060 MHz Uplink
– 145.930-145.950 MHz Downlink

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]