Category Archives: Amateur/Student Satellite

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Dec.17.2018

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** Satellite built by Champaign firm, UI students about to set sail | News-Gazette.com

The small “CubeSail” satellite, more than a decade in the making, is set to launch sometime after 10 p.m. from New Zealand, hitching a ride on the Electron rocket from the commercial space company Rocket Lab.

Designed and built by UI engineering students and CU Aerospace, a Champaign technology firm, CubeSail will demonstrate a new technique for steering a “solar sail,” a solar-powered satellite propulsion system.

** NASA Mission Supports Launch of CubeSats Built by Students | NASA

NASA has enabled the deployment of two small research satellites, or CubeSats, developed by a middle school and high school. These CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) as the 24th installment of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions. The ELaNa 24 mission embarked on the first Spaceflight Industries contracted small payload mission for NASA on a Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off Dec. 3 at 10:32 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Over the past three years, more than 200 students have been involved in the design, development and construction of these CubeSats that will be deployed.

**  Laser-pointing system could help tiny satellites transmit data to Earth | MIT News

The new laser-pointing platform for CubeSats, which is detailed in the journal Optical Engineering, enables CubeSats to downlink data using fewer onboard resources at significantly higher rates than is currently possible. Rather than send down only a few images each time a CubeSat passes over a ground station, the satellites should be able to downlink thousands of high-resolution images with each flyby.

“To obtain valuable insights from Earth observations, hyperspectral images, which take images at many wavelengths and create terabytes of data, and which are really hard for CubeSats to get down, can be used,” says Kerri Cahoy, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. “But with a high-rate lasercom system you’d be able to send these detailed images down quickly. And I think this capability will make the whole CubeSat approach, using a lot of satellites in orbit so you can get global and real-time coverage, more of a reality.”

** Cal Poly’s 10th CubeSat Mission to Blast Off From New Zealand on Dec. 12 – Cal Poly News – Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

“This was a big mission for us with a tight schedule,” said Grigory Heaton, a senior studying aerospace engineering and physics, who is the co-mission lead for the ISX mission for PolySat, the student-run research lab. “Most of the assembly occurred last winter. It’s awesome that we get to have this spacecraft launched while most of the students who worked on the assembly itself are still here at Cal Poly.”

ISX will be launched into an orbit with an altitude of about 500 kilometers — about 30 miles higher than the team’s last satellite, DAVE, or Damping and Vibrations Experiment, which launched in September from Vandenberg Air Force Base. ISX will be “in a fairly polar orbit, so the satellite will fly over almost all points on Earth at some point,” Heaton said.
….

“This is also our lab’s first time launching a satellite on a launch that is all CubeSats. Every other time we’ve launched, the satellite has been behind a much bigger satellite. So it’s pretty cool that our satellite actually gets to be inside the fairing as part of the main payload.”

PolySat is a multidisciplinary and independent lab made up of students from a variety of majors. ISX team members include students studying aerospace, computer, electrical, mechanical and software engineering as well as computer science and physics.

** Jordan’s First CubeSat, JY1Sat, is Designated as JO-97 – ARRL.org

JY1Sat, launched on December 3 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of the SpaceX SSO-A: SmallSat Express launch, has been designated as Jordan OSCAR 97 (JO-97). The 1U CubeSat is a project of the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch.

** USI Team Builds Satellite Heading to Space Station – Inside INdiana Business

A team of students from the University of Southern Indiana designed and built a satellite that launched last week on a SpaceX rocket heading for the International Space Station. The satellite will collect data for NASA research until the end of its life cycle in January 2020.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane says the students worked on the satellite as part of the multi-year, undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer, or UNITE, CubeSat project. USI student Ryan Loehrlein, who is also an intern at NSWC Crane, called working on the NASA-funded project a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-350 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin:

  • AO-85 Operation Guidelines
  • AMSAT Engineering Team Moves Forward
  • Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT.org
  • Support AMSAT Using Your IRA
  • Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
  • Fox-1E and Co-Passenger Amateur Radio Frequencies
  • ELaNa XIX Launch Delayed
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • AMSAT Award Announcements
  • Dragon/NanoRacks Delivers Cubesats to ISS
  • Apollo 8 50th Anniversary Special Event
  • Amateur Satellite News From South Africa
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Rockets

Videos: Rocket Lab launches Electron rocket with NASA sponsored CubeSats

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Rocket Lab today successfully launched an Electron rocket from the Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The vehicle reached low earth orbit and its kick stage later circularized its orbit and then deployed 13 small satellites sponsored by NASA, including several university built CubeSats:

Here is a view of the liftoff from a nearby observer:

A statement released by the company:

Rocket Lab successfully launches NASA CubeSats to orbit
on first ever Venture Class Launch Services mission
The mission follows just five weeks after the successful ‘It’s Business Time’ launch in November,
and marks Rocket Lab’s third orbital launch for 2018

ELaNa-19 mission launches on Rocketlab Electron. Photo credit: Trevor Mahlmann

Huntington Beach, California – December 16, 2018 – US small satellite launch company Rocket Lab has launched its third orbital mission of 2018, successfully deploying satellites to orbit for NASA. The mission, designated Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 , took place just over a month after Rocket Lab’s last successful orbital launch, ‘It’s Business Time.’ Rocket Lab has launched a total of 24 satellites to orbit in 2018.

On Sunday, December 16, 2018 UTC, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off at 06:33 UTC (19:33 NZDT) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula. After being launched to an elliptical orbit, Electron’s Curie engine-powered kick stage separated from the vehicle’s second stage before circularizing to a 500×500 km orbit at an 85 degree inclination. By 56 minutes into the mission, the 13 satellites on board were  individually deployed to their precise, designated orbits.

Until now, launch opportunities for small satellites have mostly been limited to rideshare-type arrangements, flying only when space is available on large launch vehicles. This mission, awarded under a Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) Agreement, marks the first time NASA CubeSats received a dedicated ride to orbit on a commercial launch vehicle. VCLS is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program headquartered at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck says the ELaNa-19 mission represents a forward-thinking approach from NASA to acquiring launch services and recognizes the increasingly significant role small satellites are playing in exploration, technology demonstration, research and education.

[ Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck says, ]

“The ELaNa-19 mission was a significant one for NASA, the Rocket Lab team and the small satellite industry overall. To launch two missions just five weeks apart, and in the first year of orbital flights, is unprecedented. It’s exactly what the small satellite industry desperately needs, and Rocket Lab is proud to be delivering it. Regular and reliable launch is now a reality for small satellites. The wait is over,” […] “We’re providing small satellite customers with more control than they’ve ever had, enabling them to launch on their own schedule, to precise orbits, as frequently as they need to.”

NASA ELaNa-19 Mission Manager Justin Treptow adds,

“The CubeSats of ELaNa-19 represent a large variety of scientific objectives and technology demonstrations. With this the first launch of a Venture Class Launch Service on the Rocket Lab Electron, NASA now has an option to match our small satellite missions with a dedicated small launch vehicle to place these satellites in an optimal orbit to achieve big results.”

The ELaNa-19 launch webcast can be viewed in full at http://youtu.be/F7Kr3664hJs and images from the mission are available in the media library at www.rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/link-to-rocket-lab-imagery-and-video

The next Rocket Lab Electron vehicle will be on the pad at Launch Complex 1 in January 2019. For real-time updates and mission announcements, follow Rocket Lab on Twitter @RocketLab.

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More about the launch and the satellites:

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Education

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Dec.11.2018

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** How Beanie Babies helped UNCW reach space – WRAL.com

On Tuesday, December 4, UNC Wilmington successfully launched their 3U CubeSat, about the size of a loaf of bread, Seahawk-1, along with 48 other CubeSats aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Seahawk-1 is now in a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit studying oceans via the HawkEye Ocean Color Imager. Study of ocean color assists the better understanding everything from plankton populations to the degradation of coral reefs to the effects of El Niño. The sun-synchronous orbit allows researchers to monitor day to day changes, imaging a swath of ocean  230 km wide down to a resolution of 120m wide.

“Landsat ocean color images traditionally cost about $1,000 each, and UNCW’s will be free to everybody.” said UNCW Center for Marine Science Professor John M. Morrison. “The data collected will improve our ability to monitor coastal environments where anthropogenic stresses like ‘red tides’ are often most acute

** Project DaVinci cube satellite to launch on Wednesday – The Coeur d’Alene Press

A team of North Idaho STEM Charter Academy students is about to land among the stars.

While the rest of the world is counting down to a new year, the Project DaVinci team is counting down to 8 p.m. Wednesday, when the cube satellite (CubeSat) the students have been working on for two years will launch into space on an electron rocket from a Rocket Lab ground station in New Zealand.

“It’s finally becoming reality,” project co-lead and ground communications lead Samantha Schroeder, a freshman, said during a team meeting at the school. “It’s very exciting.”

** USI student-built UNITE CubeSAT successfully launched, en route to International Space Station – University of Southern Indiana

After years of planning, construction and testing, the UNITE CubeSAT, a small research satellite designed and built entirely by USI undergraduate students under the direction of Dr. Glenn Kissel, associate professor of engineering, was launched into space on Wednesday, December 5 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station. When it is launched from the ISS in 2019, it will be the first deployed satellite created by an Indiana higher education institution.

** Jordan launches first cube satellite JY1 – SatellitePro ME

The satellite was designed and built by 18 engineering students, with support from five academics and consultants, in various engineering fields, from Jordanian universities.

The CPF [Crown Prince Foundation] said the Masar team will launch a mobile application that will enable users to track the Jordanian mini satellite and communicate with it.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-343 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Fox-1Cliff/AO-95 Commissioning Status
  • Fox-1Cliff Launched, Initial Telemetry Received
  • Fox-1Cliff Designated AMSAT-OSCAR 95 (AO-95)
  • ExseedSat Granted VO-96 OSCAR Number
  • JY1Sat Now Jordan-OSCAR 97 (JO-97)
  • Remind Me Again? What is Going On With Fox-1Cliff?
  • Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 12-6-2018
  • Changes to FUNcube Warehouses
  • RadFxSat-2 / Fox-1E Launch Date NET March 2019
  • Satellites Activation From The Queen Mary On December 15
  • Help Wanted: Radio Amateurs Requested to Monitor Cubesat Downlinks
  • KG5FYI and RN3DX Join KG5TMT and KF5ONO Aboard the ISS
  • AMSAT Web Adds Donation Portal
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Dec.5.2018

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** Weiss School students part of SpaceX project – wptv.com

As a Space X Falcon 9 rocket launched into orbit on Monday, the students at Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens cheered over a small piece of cargo that is theirs.

A group of middle schoolers has spent the last three years working on a small satellite known as a “cube sat” which is holding bacteria to be studied in space.

“We’ve been working on this for so long,” says 13-year-old Zoey Freedman.

** Crown Prince announces launch of first Jordanian mini satellite | Jordan Times

On this occasion, CPF’s CEO Tamam Mango was quoted in the statement as saying: “We proudly announce the launch of the first Jordanian mini satellite, designed and built by Jordanian engineers.”

She noted that the satellite was designed and built by 18 young engineering students, with support from five academics and consultants, in various engineering fields, from Jordanian universities. “Jordan has entered both the design sector and implementation of satellites, two elements in line with the Crown Prince Foundation’s mission, providing Jordanian youth with pivotal skills and tools to branch into various sectors, enhancing their capabilities, simultaneously enhancing Jordan’s position/status on various levels.”

** Asia-Pacific satellites on SpaceX’s SSO-A mission | SpaceTech Asia

Among the satellites launched were 13 satellites for Asia-Pacific (APAC) companies or those with a presence here – including the first private satellite ever launched by an Indian company. [Seven of the 13 satellites are from educational institutions.]

** AMSAT’s Fox-1Cliff Amateur Radio CubeSat Launched Successfully – ARRL

 A SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle carried Fox-1Cliff and several other satellites into space on December 3 at approximately 1334 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, following a 1-day launch delay. (See the launch on YouTube.) According to AMSAT, at approximately 0030 UTC on December 4, several stations in Brazil — including PS8MT, PT9BM, and PT2AP — reported hearing the voice beacon “Fox-1Cliff Safe Mode,” confirming that the satellite was alive.

“Just before 0040 UTC, AMSAT Fox-1 Team Member Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, was the first to submit and upload telemetry to the AMSAT servers,” AMSAT reported on its website. “Initial telemetry values show the satellite to be in good health. Thanks to the 29 stations that contributed telemetry during Fox-1Cliff’s initial orbits.”

** Micro satellite ExseedSAT1 to fly on SpaceX – The Hindu BusinessLine

This satellite is freely available for all radio amateurs across the world. It is an open radio transponder that works on ham radio frequencies. One has to pay just Rs 100 license from the WPC to communicate through this satellite.

The Indian government has waived the need for security clearances for amateur radio, enabling a lot of students to quickly apply and obtain radio amateur license, Farhan told BusinessLine.

ExseedSAT1 aims to provide a major boost to private radio operators after ISRO-manufactured micro-satellite, HAMSAT, ceased operations about four years ago. The amateur radio services provide vital communication links during natural disasters.

** Annabelle Grant named winner of Yukon College CubeSat idea contest | Yukon College

Out of 15 submitted ideas from 15 contest participants, Annabelle Grant has been named the winner of the Yukon CubeSat idea contest. 

Grant’s name was pulled from a hat last week. Her idea for the micro-satellite payload is to have it track solid waste in oceans through photographs from low earth orbit.

Other notable ideas submitted to the contest last month involve using data collected from space for education and outreach with the public, using the CubeSat to transmit Yukon stories through amateur radio frequencies, and capturing visual and magnetic studies of the aurora.

As the contest winner, Grant’s name will be featured on the 10cm x 10cm x 20cm satellite due to be launched into orbit in 2020.

See also the Canadian CubeSat Project – Canada.ca.

** USI blasts off into space – The Shield

“Once I heard the word, ‘space’ and ‘USI to be involved with it,’ I immediately asked him how I could jump in on the project,” Loehrlein said. “And he said if he got the grant I’d be asked to be on the team.”

Loehrlein, a senior engineering and finance major, said it felt amazing when the university received the grant.

“It was kind of a mind-blowing opportunity,” Loehrlein said. “I didn’t really expect a small university like USI to originally get a NASA grant for two hundred thousand dollars. So hearing we actually got it and that I could work on a satellite while at USI, it was, honestly, something I couldn’t even fathom at the time.”

* AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-336 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Fox-1Cliff Launch Targeted for December 2nd
  • AMSAT Web Adds Donation Portal
  • Amateur Radio Contest for Receiving PW-Sat2 Telemetry
  • Additional Amateur Radio Communication Cubesats Launch on SSO-A
  • AMSAT-DL Provides Update for Es’hail-2/P4A Geosynchronous Orbit
  • Nihon University NEXUS VU-mode Linear Transponder Launch Announcement
  • AMSAT Rover Award Updates
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for November 2018
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations Reported by KE4AL
  • ESA and RaspberryPi.org Collaborate on Astro Pi Mission Zero
  • MarCo Cubesats Relay NASA’s InSight Mars Lander Touchdown
  • Happy 20th Anniversary to the International Space Station
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

Other CubeSat and smallsat news & info:

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Nov.28.2018

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. about student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** CubeSat to Attempt Solar Sail in Orbit – ENGINEERING.com

Purdue University professor, David Spencer is leading an effort to send a CubeSat up for an attempted controlled solar sailing in Earth’s orbit. Solar sailing uses reflective sails to harness the momentum of sunlight for propulsion….

This project is sponsored by the citizen-funded Planetary Society, whose CEO is Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The CubeSat, LightSail 2, is one payload as part of the Air Force’s Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission that will launch on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in early 2019. Spencer’s research team will be tracking LightSail 2, receiving the signal from the spacecraft as well as commanding the spacecraft during operations, from the Space Flight Projects Lab at the Purdue Technology Center.https://engineering.purdue.edu/SFPL

** NNU students watch InSight landing, prepare for own satellite launch – KIVITV.com Boise, ID

“So the Marco is about double the size of RFTSat, but it’s really cool to see how NASA and JPL are also using cube sats and how NNU is using them too,” said Cox.

The Marcos being cube satellite’s used in conjunction with NASA’s InSight that landed on Mars Monday.

And engineering students at NNU are in the building stages of a satellite with similar features called RFTSat, which is also a version of a cube satellite.

** Towards drop your thesis 2018: 4.7 seconds of microgravity conditions to enable future CubeSat landings on asteroids – S. Cuartielles et al, Cranfield University

An increasing number of interplanetary missions are aiming at visiting asteroids and other small bodies, since these may provide clues to understand the formation and evolution of our Solar System. CubeSats allow a low-cost solution to land on these objects, as opposed to risking a much more expensive mothership. The weak gravitational field on these small bodies may also enable the possibility of simply dropping a CubeSat from afar (i.e. ballistic landing).

However, ballistic landing of an unpowered spacecraft may be feasible solely within certain asteroid locations, and only if sufficient energy can be dissipated at touchdown. If such conditions are not met, the spacecraft will rebound off the surface. It is likely that the necessary energy dissipation may already occur naturally due to energy loss expected through the deformation of the regolith during touchdown. Indeed, previous low-velocity impact experiments in microgravity seem to indicate that this is exactly the case. However, data from past asteroid touchdowns, Hayabusa and Philae, indicate the contrary.

This paper describes the development of an experiment which aims to bridge the aforementioned disagreement between mission data and microgravity experiment; to understand the behaviour of CubeSat landing on asteroids. …

** Cal Poly’s Latest CubeSat Reveals First High-Resolution Image of the Earth – Cal Poly News – Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

While Cal Poly’s ninth CubeSat tests a way to reduce vibrations aboard orbiting satellites, the softball-sized satellite also has been busy snapping photos of the Earth.

DAVE, or Damping and Vibrations Experiment, launched Sept. 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base with three other small satellites, or CubeSats, as secondary payload on NASA’s ICESat-2 (Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2) mission.

PolySat, the student-run research lab, released its first high-resolution image that was snapped just hours after the launch. The photo shows Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago located between Norway and the North Pole.

“This is one of our better pictures,” said Grigory Heaton, a senior studying aerospace engineering and physics. “Our satellite is not controlled. It’s just spinning, so we have to get lucky with the pictures. This one, we were right overhead and got almost the entire archipelago.”

The Norwegian archipelago Svalbard as imaged by Cal Poly CubeSat DAVE.

See also Cal Poly satellite captures photos of Earth | KSBY.com.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-329 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Fox-1Cliff Launch Scheduled for 28-Nov-2018 at 18:32 UTC
  • Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Elected AMSAT Vice-President of User Services
  • Fox-1Cliff Launch – Your Help is Needed!
  • ESA Announces “First Telemetry” Contest for ESEO
  • Happy 5th Birthday FUNcube-1
  • FCC Dismisses AMSAT’s 2004 Petition for Reconsideration
  • Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

Other CubeSat news & info:

MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption

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