Delfi-C3 status update
1 May 2008
The team who built the Delfi-C3 Amateur Radio satellite have issued a further status update.
1. During the pass of 09:30 UTC over Europe, we have performed successful database dumps again, some of you may have heard these since the frames sound quite different compared to normal housekeeping / payload frames.
These frames are also captured by RASCAL, displayed in the terminal and uploaded to our server
2. During this same pass, we have successfully switched the spacecraft to its primary radio on 145.870MHz temporarily, after this switch, the satellite came back on on the 145.930MHz downlink. Telemetry indicated that the primary radio on 145.870MHz is healthy and working fine so that is good news.
Note that the satellite will normally transmit on 145.930MHz for the time being, unless we command her to go to 145.870MHz. This might occur more in the coming days when the s/c is in range of our groundstation, so listeners in Europe might want to check the 145.870MHz transmitter also when the 145.930MHz transmitter shuts down. We have noted that the 145.870MHz transmitter is a little (1kHz) low in frequency so actually on 145.869MHz.
3. Yesterday (April 30) we were able to successfully command on our backup command uplink so we have both command uplinks working nominally at this moment.
4. We are currently investigating the rotational behaviour of the satellite, your observations w.r.t. spin rate / signal strength are more than welcome, combined with telemetry we should be able to fully assess how the s/c is rotating. We suspect that this may actually give a clue to the TX dropouts experienced.
5. We have successfully gathered raw data from the wireless sun sensor payload
6. Note that we have locked the bootcounter value so it will always display 2273 from now on until we unlock it again
7. Although TLE's for object #32787 are listed on our webpage, we are not entirely sure that this is in fact Delfi-C3. We probably won't have confirmation until after a day or 3-4 when the satellites have separated a bit more. For now, object #32787 should be fine for tracking though, but your observations w.r.t. AOS / LOS times are welcome
8. Following the report from VE2DWE about the TX sounding distorted, we would like to ask everyone to record a wav if possible when this phenomenom is heard, you can send the wav files to missioncontrol@delfic3.nl . Our inbox has no problem with large file sizes.
73 on behalf of the Delfi-C3 team
Wouter Jan Ubbels PE4WJ
Delfi-C3 Mission Page http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content
&task=view&id=93&Itemid=122
GW1FKY flies in space http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2008/gw1fky.htm
Uploading Delfi-C3 Telemetry
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2008/
uploading_delfi_c3_telemetry.htm
Telemetry Decode software RASCAL can be downloaded at:
http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content
&task=view&id=94&Itemid=123
Satscape Satellite Tracker:
http://www.satscape.co.uk/
Join the AMSAT Bulletin Board AMSAT-BB at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/maillist.php
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