April 19 BAIKONUR Soyuz-2-1b
A Soyuz-2-1b from the Baikonur launch facility, in Kazakhstan on April 19, 2013 will include three cubesat missions:
- OSSI-1 145.980/437.525 CW/1200bps
- SOMP 437.485 1200, 9600bps BPSK
- BEESAT-2/3 435.950 4800bps GMSK
- Bion-M1 Biological research satellites
- AIST Measurement of the Earth’s geomagnetic field
- Dove-2 Commercial technology demonstration mission
OSSI-1
145.980 MHz CW, 437.525 MHz 1k2
OSSI-1, the Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite is a cubesat developed by Hojun Song, DS1SBO. In addition to the radio beacons OSSI-1 also carries a 44 watt LED optical beacon to flash Morse Code messages to observers on Earth.
The development of the satellite has been documented on the Open Source Satellite Initiative Blog and on the Open Source Satellite Initiative Wiki. A YouTube video has also been posted.
SOMP
Downlink on 437.485 MHz including CW, 1k2 and 9k6 BPSK, AX25 FSK, and AO40 standard 400bit/s BPSK
The Student Oxygen Measurement Project (SOMP) is a cubesat developed by students of the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, organized in the Students’ Research Group for Spacecraft Engineering in Dresden (STARD). SOMP will be a standard sized single CubeSat
with one payload side and five sides with two solar cells each. AMSAT-UK posted additional information.
BEESAT-2/3 (Berlin Experimental and Educational Satellite)
435.950 MHz, 4k8 GMSK (both satellites)
BEESAT-2 is a cubesat-sized vehicle carries a technology experiment using gyros and sensors for precise orientation.
BEESat-3 is another cubesat-sized vehicle that will test high-speed data links (up to 1MB/s).
The above cubesat missions and the scientific/commercial missions are also documented on Mineo Wakita’s (JE9PEL) web page.
April 20 KOUROU Vega Launch
Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S, is planning to launch from Kourou, French Guiana at 02:06:31 UT, April 20, 2013 on an ESA VEGA rocket.
Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail technology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolutionalize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting with the tether will be measured.
The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have published these frequencies for ESTCube-1:
- 437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
- 437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11
More information and a video has been posted by AMSAT-UK.
April 25 on CZ-2D from China’s Jiuquan Space Center
TAMSAT reports the TURKSAT-3USAT, the first communication nanosatellite mission of ITU, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey is expected to launch in the May 2013 timeframe aboard China’s Chang Zheng-2D rocket. Also aboard this launch will be Ecuador’s NEE 01 Pegaso 1U cubesat.
TURKSAT-3USAT is a three unit CubeSat developed to provide SSB/CW communications in a 680 km Low Earth Orbit. It will fly a V/U linear transponder developed by TAMSAT, the Turkish Amateur Satellite Technologies Organisation.
- Uplink center frequency 145.965 MHz
- (145.940-145.990 MHz bandwidth)
- Receive sensitivity -120 dBm
- Downlink center frequency 435.225 MHz
- (435.200-435.250 MHz bandwidth)
- Output power 30 dBm (1W)
- CW beacon on 437.225 MHz
Additional information posted by TAMSAT and by AMSAT-UK.
The AMSAT News Service thanks AMSAT-UK and Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for this information.