STS-127 to deploy dual Picosats on July 30

The University of Texas at Austin announced this week they will deploy a satellite in space on July 30, 2009 at 7:27 am CDT via the STS-127 Space Shuttle Picosatellite Launcher (SSPL).

BEVO1 is a 12.5 cm cube and 3 kg in mass. The purpose of the mission is to collect data from NASA's DRAGON GPS receiver.

BEVO1 has two modes, data and beacon. The data mode is on over most parts of the United States, and the rest of the time the satellite is in beacon mode.
Also, anyone tracking BEVO1 can record what they hear at http://paradigm.ae.utexas.edu/ops.

The University of Texas also has additional information at:
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/06/09/picosatellite/

BEVO1 Downlink Information:

Beacon Mode
Downlink Freq: 437.325 MHz
Modulation: FM, 200mW, Morse Code, ~20 WPM

Data Mode
Downlink Freq: 437.325 MHz
Modulation:
GMSK, 1W, 9600 baud, AX.25 (default)
FM, 1W, Bell 202, AX.25

NASA describes DRAGONSat as an anticipated eight-year program with a launch of the satellites approximately every two years. The first three missions will test individual components and subsystems while the final mission will culminate with the successful docking of two satellites. Refer to http://tinyurl.com/m2blyc for additional mission
information.

The University of Texas at Austin has developed BEVO1 and Texas A&M University has developed AggieSat-2 for this mission. Both satellites will perform the initial data acquition testing of the DRAGONSat program.

Source: Amsat, Jahshan Bhatti at the University of Texas at Austin and Andy, W5ACM