Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Jan.27.2019

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

** From Basement to Orbit – A New Class of Personal Satellites by Joe Latrell — Kickstarter – Crowdfunding the launch of a picosat PocketQube.

Development is nearly complete. The design for the PocketQube is finalized, and the hardware is now functional. There are still some integration processes and software work to do along with various testing requirements. We are also in the process of getting our licensing with the FCC, ITU, and other government agencies. We have spent nearly $50,000 getting to this point. To take it across the finish line, we need to raise $50,000 more. Our plan is to launch Discovery in 2019 into a 500 km (310 miles) Sun synchronous orbit. This location gives the Discovery optimal viewing of the Earth and makes it easier for us to retrieve data and upload new instructions. But in order to be ready to fly, we have to finish a lot of fine details between now and then.

More at Kickstarter campaign starts to finance launch of garage-built cubesat | Behind The Black.

** Winner Announced for the 2018 Altair Feko Student Competition – HPC Wire – Design of a CubeSat antenna by Didier Goulet-Tran, an under-graduate student from Polytechnique Montreal, Canada, wins student tech contest-

Goulet-Tran’s entry utilized Feko to design planar reflect array antenna, where the whole antenna system can be folded on one side of the satellite and saving space for CubeSat application. The challenge in the design of reflect array is to choose the shape of the printed surfaces to form a collimated beam over a reasonable bandwidth. The designed reflect array was fabricated and its performance validated using measurements in anechoic chamber achieving a bandwidth of 6.5%.

** JAXA launches its first startup-built satellite RAPIS-1 & 6 other satellites | SpaceTech Asia – Japanese launch included the following university smallsats:

  1. AOBE-VELOX-4, a 2U cubesat designed by Japan’s Kyutech and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to observe and image the Lunar Horizon Glow
  2. Hodoyoshi 2 or RISESat (Rapid International Scientific Experiment Satellite), a 50-kg satellite developed  by the University of Tokyo, and carrying 8 international scientific payloads
  3. OrigamiSat 1, a 3U Cubesat with a membrane deployment system, by Tokyo Institute of Technology (TITech), and
  4. NEXUS, a 1U cubesat for amateur radio, designed at Nihon University in collaboration with Japan AMSAT Association (JAMSAT).

** Sky is no limit for students at Space Kidz India – The Sunday Guardian Live – A recent launch of India’s PSLV included the secondary payload Kalamsat-V2, a student-built cubesat for technology demos.

HYDERABAD: When minutes after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s PSLV-C44 rocket soared into skies at 11.39 pm on Thursday, Chairman Dr K. Sivan congratulated one and all in his teams, but importantly the students from Chennai, who made Kalamsat V2, the world’s lightest satellite that went into space along with DRDO’s Microsat and their leader Dr Srimathy Kesan.

Dr Srimathy Kesan, who runs Space Kidz India (SKI) from T. Nagar in Chennai, was the center of applause from across the country for her school boys who built the tiny cube satellite weighing just 1.2 kg. She went ecstatic with her mobile continuously getting calls and messages since Friday morning and told this newspaper on phone from Chennai that: “My dream comes true and I am overwhelmed.”

See also India’s 1st Rocket Launch of 2019 Sends 2 Satellites Into Orbit – space.com.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-027 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • OrigamiSat-1 Requests Help for Testing 5.84 GHz Downlink
  • OrigamiSat-1 Reception Challenges
  • AO-85 Operations Re-Started – Telemetry Requested
  • ARISS TV Transmitter Back on Earth for Inspection, Possible Repair
  • ARISS Officers Elected
  • Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
  • Limited ISS SSTV Scheduled for January 30 – February 1
  • Registration Open for “VHF Super Conference”
  • AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • NASA Administrator Addresses Furloughed Employees
  • Australia’s First Commercial Launch Facility to be Built
  • India Will Fly 100 Student Satellites
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Pluto and beyond, Space Science

New Horizons: Sharpest image yet of Ultima Thule

The latest images of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule from New Horizons at JHU/APL:

New Horizons’ Newest and Best-Yet View of Ultima Thule

The wonders – and mysteries – of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 continue to multiply as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft beams home new images of its New Year’s Day 2019 flyby target.

Ultima Thule. Release Date: January 24, 2019. Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

This image, taken during the historic Jan. 1 flyby of what’s informally known as Ultima Thule, is the clearest view yet of this remarkable, ancient object in the far reaches of the solar system – and the first small “KBO” ever explored by a spacecraft.

Obtained with the wide-angle Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) component of New Horizons’ Ralph instrument, this image was taken when the KBO was 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers) from the spacecraft, at 05:26 UT (12:26 a.m. EST) on Jan. 1 – just seven minutes before closest approach. With an original resolution of 440 feet (135 meters) per pixel, the image was stored in the spacecraft’s data memory and transmitted to Earth on Jan. 18-19. Scientists then sharpened the image to enhance fine detail. (This process – known as deconvolution – also amplifies the graininess of the image when viewed at high contrast.)

The oblique lighting of this image reveals new topographic details along the day/night boundary, or terminator, near the top. These details include numerous small pits up to about 0.4 miles (0.7 kilometers) in diameter. The large circular feature, about 4 miles (7 kilometers) across, on the smaller of the two lobes, also appears to be a deep depression. Not clear is whether these pits are impact craters or features resulting from other processes, such as “collapse pits” or the ancient venting of volatile materials.

Both lobes also show many intriguing light and dark patterns of unknown origin, which may reveal clues about how this body was assembled during the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. One of the most striking of these is the bright “collar” separating the two lobes.

“This new image is starting to reveal differences in the geologic character of the two lobes of Ultima Thule, and is presenting us with new mysteries as well,” said Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Over the next month there will be better color and better resolution images that we hope will help unravel the many mysteries of Ultima Thule.”

New Horizons is approximately 4.13 billion miles (6.64 billion kilometers) from Earth, operating normally and speeding away from the Sun (and Ultima Thule) at more than 31,500 miles (50,700 kilometers) per hour. At that distance, a radio signal reaches Earth six hours and nine minutes after leaving the spacecraft.

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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto

Rockets

Space access: India’s PSLV launches, Scott Manley update, New Blue vids, & latest SpaceX activities

A selection of recent items related to space access:

** ISRO flew the latest version of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) launched on Thursday and put a military spysat (Microsat-R) and a student developed technology demo spacecraft (Kalamsat-V2) successfully into orbit:

https://youtu.be/0E4qKMrXzns

** Scott Manley gives a

round up of big space news stories, with Blue Origin flying its first commercial mission while Elon Musk Starship Hopper falls over in high winds. We also got the details on why building the Super Heavy Booster from stainless steel was ‘counter intuitive. Stratolaunch’s Roc looks like it’s becoming the modern equivalent of the Spruce Goose and Vector Space Systems gears up for a test launch.

** Blue Origin released these videos following this week’s successful New Shepard flight:

We have a lean and mighty team in mission control on launch day – about 30 people who operate New Shepard. Meet our teammate Laura who, like all of us at Blue, is focused on lowering the cost of access to space.

New Shepard’s reusability is lowering launch costs and creating routine access to space. Lowering the cost of microgravity research increases the opportunities for universities, government researchers and entrepreneurs to test payloads and technologies in space.

When we delivered New Shepard PM 4 to our West Texas launch site in December, it was the first time we had two rockets in the barn in Texas. We’re building our fleet of versatile reusable launch vehicles step-by-step as we move towards operations.

Blue Origin demonstrated the versatility of the New Shepard system by taking 8 NASA-sponsored research and technology payloads into space today. 

** SpaceX:

*** A pad test firing was carried out at Cape Kennedy on Jan.24th of the Falcon 9 that is to send the first Dragon-2 vehicle to dock with the ISS. The demo mission, which will have no astronauts on board, is currently expected to happen sometime in the second half of February.

The firing starts at around 3:22 into this video from Florida Today:

*** Elon Musk explains why the structure of the SuperHeavy/Starship reusable space transport system has been changed from carbon composite to stainless steel:

*** A drone view on Thursday of the Boca Chica Beach facility shows the collapsed nose-cone section of the StarHopper, which was blown over earlier this week (see Scott Manley’s report above), under the roof of the open shelter:

Find latest images and videos of the facility and StarHopper at:

*** Top of a propellant tank was added to the lower section:

*** Fairing catching practice continues in California:

** Tom Mueller, head of SpaceX propulsion since the founding of the company, reviews the history of the Merlin engine, which powers both stages of the Falcon 9 rocket. He was accepting an award from the National Space Society at the NSS’s annual ISDC meeting last May. (Mueller’s comments start at 5:25):

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Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Jan.24.2019

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** ISPCS 2018 – Panel on Commercial Space Law & Policy

  • Franceska Schroeder, Principal, Fish & Richardson
  • Audrey Powers, Deputy General Counsel, Blue Origin
  • Kelly Garehime, Associate General Counsel, United Launch Alliance
  • Caryn Schenewerk, Senior Counsel and Senior Director, Space Flight Policy, SpaceX

** ISPCS 2018 – 21st Century Space Regulations – Kelvin Coleman, Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Commercial Space Transportation, FAA, presented his keynote “Innovation and Accountability – Transforming Commercial Space Regulations for the 21st Century.”

** Episode T+108: Layoffs and Launch Sites – Main Engine Cut Off

** January 22, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** Panel Discussion: Space Industry Innovations and Business Directions

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Education, Space Arts, Space participation

Winners announced for Space Foundation’s Int. Student Art Contest

The winners of the Space Foundation‘s ninth international student space art contest, co-sponsored by Firefly Aerospace, have been selected. See the gallery of terrific winning entries here.

Winners of the Space Foundation’s
9th Annual International Student Art Contest Announced

  • 25 winners selected from 61 countries
  • 3,908 entries submitted
  • Space Achievement Award winner is Xinyi Christine from New Jersey
Xinyi Christine, Space Achievement Award 13 – 14 Years Old, USA

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jan 23, 2019) — The Space Foundation has announced the winners of its 9th Annual Space Foundation International Student Art Contest, co-sponsored by Firefly Aerospace. The 25 winners represent five U.S. states and 12 countries, with one entry chosen for the Space Achievement Award.

The Space Foundation invited public, private and homeschool children from around the world, ages 3-18, to submit original artwork depicting the theme, “Where Will Your Spaceship Take You?” The contest is free to enter every year, and the response for 2019 included more than 3,900 entries from 36 U.S. states and 61 countries, including Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, Kenya and Mongolia.

“Everything that has been constructed existed first in the imagination of its architect,” said Firefly CEO Dr. Tom Markusic. “We are inspired by the vision of these student space architects as they imagine ‘where their spaceships will take them.’”

Rui Xi, 1st Place 3 – 4 Years Old, Malaysia

The winning entries will be shown at the Space Foundation’s 35th Space Symposium, to be held April 8-11, 2019, at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA. After the Symposium, the winning art will be displayed at Space Foundation Headquarters and Discovery Center in Colorado Springs.

“I have greatly enjoyed personally viewing thousands of inspired contest entries over the years,” said Nancy Reed, Director – Marketing & Creative Services for the Space Foundation.  “I treasure gained insights from my involvement with the contest – that young artists’ creativity, desire to win and their view of space is universal throughout the world and transcends world politics and differing ideologies – a wonderful thing indeed!”

The winners will receive an astronaut autograph, certificate, ribbon and an art kit.

Adeena, 3rd Place 9 – 10 Years Old, Indonesia

In August 2019, the Space Foundation will make an announcement about the 2020 contest.

About the Contest

Students were invited to enter artwork in the following media formats: drawing, painting, mixed media and digital. The contest featured eight age categories, with first, second and third place honors for each of the age categories, plus one Space Foundation Achievement Award.

Jun Yao, 1st Place, 7 – 8 Years Old, China

The 2019 winners are listed by first name only in consideration of the children’s privacy.

3 – 4 Years      

  • 1st Place – Rui Xi, Malaysia
  • 2nd Place – Naajiha, Bangladesh
  • 3rd Place – Pulasi, Sri Lanka

5 – 6 Years      

  • 1st Place – Sansthita, India
  • 2nd Place – Hangyu, China
  • 3rd Place – Richard, United States

7 – 8 Years      

  • 1st Place – Jùn yáo, China
  • 2nd Place – Ruixi, China
  • 3rd Place – KeXin, China

9 – 10 Years    

  • 1st Place – Aaron, United States
  • 2nd Place – Xu Yuan, United States
  • 3rd Place – Adeena, Indonesia

11 – 12 Years  

  • 1st Place – Peter, United States
  • 2nd Place – Timur, Russia
  • 3rd Place – Maria, Ukraine

13 – 14 Years  

  • 1st Place – Crystal, United States
  • 2nd Place – Daria, Ukraine
  • 3rd Place – Jonathan, United States

15 – 16 Years  

  • 1st Place – Adrian, United States
  • 2nd Place – Natalie, United States
  • 3rd Place – Ziqing, China

17 – 18 Years  

  • 1st Place – Calum, United States
  • 2nd Place – Adriana, United States
  • 3rd Place –  Eva Sophie, Germany

Space Achievement Award   

Xinyi Christine, United States, Age 14

Where to See the Artwork
Winning artwork submitted for this year’s contest can be seen on the International Student Art Contest website gallery at http://art.spacefoundation.org/winners-gallery/2019, and all of the submitted artwork can be seen at http://art.spacefoundation.org.

About the Judges

Space Art Expertise

  • Richard Green, senior artist/designer with more than 20 years’ experience in creating and designing for the video game, aerospace and industrial design industries, Seattle, Washington.
  • Joe Vinton, digital artist, Renderosity Artist of the Year, Burton, Trent, United Kingdom.

Children’s Art Expertise

  • Hans Wolfe, middle and upper school visual arts, Visiting Artist Coordinator, Art Department Chair, The Colorado Springs School, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Commercial Art Expertise

  • Lourn Eidal, Assistant Art Director, Crystal Peak Design, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  • Susanne Arens, President, Crystal Peak Design and Art Director, photographer, fine artist, college instructor, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Studio Tour, Springs Recovery Connection board member, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly is developing a family of launch vehicles to provide industry-leading affordability, convenience and reliability for dedicated light to medium lift launches. Firefly’s Alpha and Beta vehicles utilize common technologies, manufacturing infrastructure and launch capabilities, providing LEO launch solutions for up to one and four metric tons of payload respectively. Alpha and Beta will provide the space industry with access to frequent launches at the lowest cost/kg, enabling ambitious commercial and exploration missions from LEO to the Moon. Headquartered in Cedar Park, Tex., Firefly has additional presence in Washington, D.C., Dnipro, Ukraine, and Tokyo, Japan. Firefly is financed by Noosphere Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif. Learn more by visiting fireflyspace.com.

About the Space Foundation
Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is a 501(c)(3) and the world’s premier organization to inspire, educate, connect, and advocate on behalf of the global space community. It is a nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs, and major industry events, including the annual Space Symposium. Space Foundation headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA, and has a public Discovery Center, including El Pomar Space Gallery, Northrop Grumman Science Center featuring Science On a Sphere® and the Lockheed Martin Space Education Center. The Space Foundation has a Washington, D.C., office and field representatives in Houston and the Florida Space Coast. It publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, and through its Space CertificationTM and Space Technology Hall of Fame® programs, recognizes space-based innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth. Visit both of our websites www.SpaceFoundation.org and DiscoverSpace.org – and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Everyone can participate in space