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www.southgatearc.org
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Page last updated on:
Sunday, November 21, 2010
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CubeSat launch includes Amateur Radio missionsA Minotaur-4 launch from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, managed by Alaska Aerospace Corp. on November 19 lifted seven satellites into a 400 mile high circular orbit. Four of the satellites will be of interested to amateur radio • FASTRAC (science and amateur radio mission) FASTRAC The FASTRAC mission consists of two satellites built by students at UT-Austin. This mission is divided into two basic phases, both phases relying heavily on the participation of the amateur radio community. The first phase is the science portion of the mission. During this phase the two satellites will be sharing GPS data as long as they are within range of each other. The GPS data will be processed on board each satellite and then stored in flash memory to calculate an on-orbit relative navigation solution. Also, the satellites will be performing attitude determination with
the GPS receiver. FASTRAC 1 will be firing the micro-discharge plasma
thruster whenever the thrust vector is within 15 degrees of the anti-velocity vector. The data will be relayed to the ground when the satellite is in communication with a ground station. A coordination plan The second phase of the mission begins by reconfiguring the satellites for use by the amateur radio community. The capabilities of these satellites are governed largely by the functionality of the Kantronics KPC9612-Plus TNC. The satellites will be reconfigured after the primary mission to serve on the APRS network. FASTRAC 1 "Sara Lily" FASTRAC 2 "Emma" RAX (Radio Aurora eXplorer) RAX is a space weather science spacecraft carrying a 9600 baud UHF transceiver that will transmit telemetry in the amateur satellite bands. This mission also consists of a primary scientific experiment with future reconfiguration for amateur radio experimentation. In the science phase the satellite will use a a radar receiver capable of 1 MHz I/Q sampling of select bandwidths between 400-500 MHz, including the amateur satellite bands. The primary objective of the mission is to use the onboard radar receiver in conjunction with a powerful radar station in Alaska to study the formation of a plasma anomaly known for causing the scintillation of radio signals in the UHF and higher bands. This scintillation effect is known to inhibit our space radar tracking capabilities and ground-space communications. The RAX team is looking for amateur ground stations to help acquire RAX's 437.505 MHz beacon during the next few weeks of early launch and continue to help collect telemetry throughout the mission. The amateur radio phase of the mission is still under development. The
RAX team will invite the AMSAT community to get involved with submitting proposals on how the radar receiver could be used for amateur radio NanoSail-D NanoSail-D is a test of solar sail mechanism technology. The solar
sail is designed to operate predominantly as a drag sail and will
cause it to de-orbit in less than 100 days as a test of small
satellite de-orbiting techniques. The amateur radio beacon will
transmit a one-half second data signal every 5 seconds on 437.270 MHz. O/OREOS O/OREOS is a biological test spacecraft developed by scientists and
engineers at NASA Ames Research Center. O/OREOS is a triple cube
spacecraft planned to perform two tests during its 1-year mission. AX.25 437.305 MHz O/OREOS Beacon decoding information: If you are able to capture the beacon telemetry, please take the time
to file a report at http://beacon.engr.scu.edu/Submission.aspx which An overview of the Kodiak launch can be found on-line at: Photos of the payloads during integration with the launcher can
be found on-line at: Source: Amsat, SpaceFlightNow.com
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