Category Archives: Launch

New launches

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Thursday, February 27th, 2014 18:37 UTC

H2A rocket launch from Tanegashima Space Center with onboard the following satellites that will be operating in the Amateur radio frequency spectrum.

Jaxa H2A Launch

ShindaiSat active
STARS-II active
TeikyoSat-3 active
ITF-1 unknown
OPUSAT active
ARTSAT INVADER active

jaxa_launch_2014-freq

TLE

STARS-2
1 39573U 14009B   14060.87082916  .00126303  00000-0  14839-2 0   132
2 39573 065.0119 052.6783 0006119 332.8179 027.2647 15.60801074   327
TEIKYOSAT
1 39574U 14009C   14060.23330645  .00057725  00000-0  78972-3 0   105
2 39574 065.0209 054.8974 0013534 253.3290 106.6370 15.56980553   223
SHINDAISAT
1 39572U 14009A   14060.87351051  .00064061  00000-0  82319-3 0   120
2 39572 065.0127 052.6969 0012238 283.9608 076.0167 15.58639605   328
INVADER
1 39577U 14009F   14060.87113583  .00097025  00000-0  11575-2 0   144
2 39577 065.0140 052.6864 0006920 322.7443 037.3185 15.60509466   326
OPUSAT
1 39578U 14009G   14060.35832562  .00160311  00000-0  18885-2 0   109
2 39578 065.0126 054.4408 0005228 319.3305 040.7452 15.60613112   244
ITF-1
1 39579U 14009H   14060.23128098  .00085996  00000-0  10782-2 0    78
2 39579 065.0098 054.8826 0009000 291.4950 068.5241 15.59229553   221

Friday, February 28th, 2014 07:30 UTC

5 cubsats launched from the International Space Stations.

ISS-28022014-0730

ISS-28022014-0730-01

Feb 28, 2014 Cubesats deployment. Top to bottom: LituanicaSAT, LitSat, SkyCube, ArduSat-2, UAPSat

LituanicaSat-1 active
LitSat-1 active
UAPSat active

TLE

LITSAT
1 39568U 98067EM  14067.03574193  .00155139  00000-0  23417-2 0   243
2 39568 051.6475 240.8905 0005418 265.5665 191.9527 15.53686020  1182
LITUANICA
1 39569U 98067EN  14067.03763082  .00099761  00000-0  15624-2 0   295
2 39569 051.6475 240.9078 0005246 258.8855 198.5010 15.52907745  1189
UAPSAT
1 39571U 98067EQ  14066.92075337  .00066934  00000-0  10800-2 0   268
2 39571 051.6489 241.5135 0005261 235.8767 277.4092 15.52259356  1143

[PE0SAT Thanks DK3WN and Satellite Ground Stations for the above information]

NanoRacks first cubesats are deployed

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The first of the Planet Lab Dove CubeSats were deployed from the ISS on February 11, 2014 about 0831 UTC, astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA successfully deployed the first of the 33 CubeSats that were launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, VA to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Cygnus freighter on January 9.

nanoracks-iss-deployment

The first two of the Flock-1 constellation of 28 Dove CubeSats made by Planet Labs were deployed at about 0831 UT, it is thought there were another two Dove CubeSats deployed at 1241 UTC.

planet_labs_cubesats_dove_nest

In addition to the 28 Planet Labs CubeSats there are four amateur radio CubeSats – LituanicaSat-1, LitSat-1, ArduSat-2 and UAPSat-1 as well as a 915 MHz CubeSat SkyCube.

LituanicaSAT-1 (Facebook)

  • FM Transponder Uplink 145.950 MHz Downlink 435.180 MHz
  • AX25 Uplink 145.850 MHz AX25 Downlink 437.550 MHz
  • CW Beacon 437.275 MHz

LitSat-1 (Facebook)

  • SSB Transponder Uplink 435.180 MHz Downlink 145.950 MHz
  • AX25 Uplink 437.550 MHz Downlink 145.850 MHz

ArduSat (Kickstarter Website)

  • 9k6 MSK CCSDS data format downlink 437.(000)? MHz

UAPSAT

  • AX.25 Packet Radio uplink 145.980 MHz downlink 437.385 MHz

[PE0SAT Thanks Amsat-UK for the above information source:amsat.uk]

NROL39 Atlas V launch

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NROL39 Atlas V GEMSat Launch December 5, 2013

NROL39 BatchTwelve CubeSats are set to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket with the NROL-39 primary payload from Vandenberg AFB in California on December 5, 2013. The CubeSat payloads have been provided through NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program and the NRO’s Mission Integration Directorate (MID). The launch window will be announced as it gets closer to launch day. Below is information about each CubeSat including tracking information where available and links to developers’ websites.

P-POD Satellite Name Organization Size Beacon Details More Info
1 FIREBIRD Montana State University, University of New Hampshire, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Aerospace Corp. 1.5U (x2) Flight Unit 1: 437.405 MHz Flight Unit 2: 437.230 MHz GMSK AX.25 9600bps, 1W, 60 sec period More Info
2 AeroCube5 Aerospace Corp. 1.5U (x2)
3 ALICE Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) 3U 460 MHz, GFSK, 12.5% duty cycle (5 seconds of 3 bursts per second then 40 seconds of RX)Beacon is based on when ALICE is 2 minutes away from AOS contact with our ground station. This information is uploaded from ephemeris data from our ground station. Will beacon until comms are established. More Info
4 SNaP U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 3U
5 MCubed-2 Michigan eXploration Laboratory 1U 437.485 MHz, 9600 baud, 10 sec period More Info
5 CUNYSAT-1 Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York 1U 437.505 MHz, 9600 bps GMSK, CW More Info
5 IPEX Cal Poly, PolySat 1U 437.270MHz: Morse Code of “IPEX” every 45s at 15wpm, 9600 baud AX.25 GMSK Beacon every 127s and 20s. More Info
6 SMDC-ONE (David) U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 3U More Info
7 TacSat-6 U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 3U
8 SMDC-ONE (Charlie) U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command 3U More Info

The CubeSats are integrated into 8 P-POD deployers which are contained in the NPSCuL built by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The NPSCuL together with the 8 P-PODs and 12 CubeSats is referred to as the Government Experimental Multi-Satellite (GEMSat), and is attached to the Centaur upper stage’s Aft Bulkhead Carrier (ABC). The assembled GEMSat is shown in the photo below ready for mate to the launch vehicle along with members of the GEMSat team consisting of NPS, Office of Space Launch (OSL), United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Cal Poly, SLO.

Launch details: link

Upcoming Cubesats Launch from ISS

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Update: The launch date has changed. Now the satellites will be launch at the 19th and 20th of November 2013.

ISS-36 HTV-4 BerthingWith al the attention going towards the Dnepr launch on November 21 we would almost forget that there are a couple of Cubesats onboard the ISS that will be launched also. The launch is planned for November 25. The following satellites will be deployed.

  • Pico Dragon, developed by the Việtnam National Satellite Center (VNSC), University of Tokyo and IHI aerospace. A CW beacon at 437.250 MHz and 1200 bps AFSK AX.25 telemetry on 437.365 MHz.
  • ArduSat-1 developed by NanoSatisfi. 437.325 MHz 9k6 MSK CCSDS downlink.
  • ArduSat-X developed by NanoSatisfi. 437.345 MHz 9k6 MSK CCSDS downlink.
  • TechEdSat-3 developed by interns at the NASA Ames Research Center. 437.465 MHz 1200 bps packet radio beacon transmitting 1 watt to 1/4 wave monopole. It plans to test an Iridium Satphone modem and has a deployment mechanism to de-orbit in 10 days.

These satellites arrived Aug 9, 2013 at the International Space Station’s and the Canadarm2 grapples the unpiloted Japanese “Kounotori” H2 Transfer Vehicle-4 (HTV-4) as it approaches the station, carrying ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X among 3.6 tons of science experiments.

November 19, 2013 ISS Launch
 
Satellite Uplink Downlink Beacon Mode
 
ArduSat-1 437.325 9k6 MSK
ArduSat-X 437.345 9k6 MSK
PicoDragon 437.365 437.250 1k2 AFSK, AX.25, CW
 
November 20, 2013 ISS Launch
 
Satellite Uplink Downlink Beacon Mode
 
TechEdSat-3 437.465 437.465 1k2 AFSK, AX.25

Launch Minotaur 1 ORS-3

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Launch information regarding the Minotaur 1 ORS-3 on November 19th, 2013 (EST).
(The launch window UTC begins on 00:30 – November 20th, 2013)

Minotaur-1The rocket will launch the Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space Office’s ORS-3 mission, which features the deployment of 29 satellites in space. The launch window is 00:30 to 02:30 UTC The backup launch days run through November 26.

The Minotaur’s primary payload is the Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3), an Air Force technology-demonstration mission. Thirteen small cubesats aboard are being provided through NASA’s Cubesat Launch Initiative. Among the cubesats is NASA’s Small Satellite Program PhoneSat 2 second generation smartphone mission. Also included is the first cubesat built by high school students.

Live coverage of the launch is available via UStream beginning at 23:30 UTC

It would be great if we have some preliminary TLE data available so we can try and receive the satellites that are part of the NASA Cubesat Launch Initiative.

Thanks to the work of Satou Tetsurou – JA0CAW, we have the following table with known frequencies. If there are errors in it, please let me know via the contact form.

Update: November 17th, 2013 With the help of DK3WN and other helpful radio amateurs the list is updated with new information.

Minotaur-1 Elana4 launch 00:30 UTC November 20th, 2013
Satellite Downlink Mode
CAPE-2 145.825 1k2 AFSK, AX.25 xx sec interval / CW
DragonSat-1 145.870 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 30 sec interval
TetherSat 437.100 9k6 FSK, AX.25, xx sec interval
Hooponopono-2 437.220 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 15 sec interval
COPPER 437.290 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 10 sec interval
Vermont Lunar 437.305 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 60 sec interval
TetherSat-2 437.305 9k6 FSK, AX.25, xx sec interval
TJ3Sat 437.320 CW beep every 13.5 sec, CW ident every 10 minutes
CAPE-2 437.325 1k2 AFSK, AX.25 xx sec interval / CW
Black Knight-1 437.345 No beacon, only active on GS request
SwampSat 437.385 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 60 sec interval
KYSat-2 437.405 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 15 sec interval in sunlight
ChargerSat-1 437.405 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 10 sec interval
Trailblazer-1 437.425 9k6 FSK, AX.25, 50 sec interval
PhoneSat-v24 437.425 1k2 AFSK, AX.25 30 sec interval (150s charging mode)
NPS-SCAT 437.525 1k2 AFSK, AX.25, 5 min interval

Elana4 Map

Upcoming Dnepr launch

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DNEPR-1 Lift OffHere some information regarding the upcoming Dnepr launch. At the moment the launch date is set to 21th November 2013. With this launch there will be flying at least two Cubesats with linear transponder functionality. The launch will be done at the Dombarovskiy Launch Site.

At the moment there are some nice blogs that give insides on the flight preparations, one of them is the ISILanch blog from ISIS in The Netherlands. It is nice to see how every thing is going in the cleanroom.

I am trying to keep this list complete and up to date but with this large group of satellites there is always a chance that I made a mistake or missed something. If so, would please inform me via the contact form so I can correct this information.

DNEPR Launch 21 November 2013 – 07:11:29 UTC

Satellite Type Frequency Owner Remarks
DubaiSat-2 Minisatellite Earth observation EIAST PP
STSat-3 SaTReC Korea PP
AprizeSat 7 and 8 Cubesat SpaceQuest Argentina SP
BPA-3 Hartron-Arkos Ukraine SP
BRITE-PL Cubesat Downlink: 437.365 / 2234.4 MHz Uplink: 437.365 Beacon: 145.890 SRC Poland (website) SP
CINEMA 2 and 3 Cubesat KHU Seoul SP
CubeBUG-2 Cubesat Telemetry and Beacons 437.445MHz 1200bps, AFSK / 9600bps FSK, GMSK Argentina (website) SP
Delfi-n3Xt Cubesat Uplink 435.530 – 435.570MHz Downlink 145.880 – 145.920MHz Telemetry and Beacons 145.870/145.930MHz, 2405.000MHz Delft TU Netherlands (website) SP
Dove-3 Cubesat Planet Labs SP
eSt@r-2 Cubesat 437.485MHz, 1200bps AFSK CW Politecnico di Torino Italy SP
First-MOVE Cubesat Uplink: 435.520 MHz Downlink: 145.970 MHz 1k2 BPSK AX25 (website) SP
FUNCube-1 Cubesat Uplink 435.150-435.130MHz (Inverting) Downlink 145.950-145.970MHz Beacon 145.935MHz 1k2 BPSK Amsat-NL (website) SP
GOMX-1 Cubesat 437.250MHz, 1k2/2k4/4k8/9k6 GMSK GomSpace ApS Denmark (website) SP
HinCube Cubesat 437.305MHz GMSK Narvik Norway (website) SP
KHUSAT 01 and 02 Cubesat SP
NEE-02 Cubesat EXA Ecuador (website) SP
OPTOS Cubesat SP
SkySat-1 Microsat Skybox Imaging USA SP
Triton-1 Cubesat Downlink: 145.815 / 145.860 ISIS The Netherlands SP
UniSat-5 Microsat 437.175/437.425MHz, UHF 9600bps GMSK AX.25 Gauss Italy (website) SP
Dove-4 Cubesat Payload from UniSat-5
HUMSAT-D Cubesat 437.325MHz Vigo Spain (website) Payload from UniSat-5
I-Cube-1 Cubesat 145.947MHz IST Pakistan Payload from UniSat-5
PocketPUCP Pocket Cubesat 437.200MHz, 1200bps AFSK Pontifical Peru (website) Payload from PUCPSAT-1
PUCPSAT-1 Cubesat 145.840MHz 1200bps AFSK Beacon 437.200MHz Pontifical Peru (website) Payload from UniSat-5
$50Sat (Eagle-2) Pocket Cubesat 437.505MHz Payload from UniSat-5
BeakerSat (Eagle-1) Pocket Cubesat 437.465MHz Payload from UniSat-5
QBScout Pocket Cubesat 437.525MHz, 9600bps GMSK UMBC USA (website) Payload from UniSat-5
WREN Pocket Cubesat 437.405MHz, 1200bps FSK CW SSTV StaDoKo Germany (website) Payload from UniSat-5
UWE-3 Cubesat Downlink: 437.385MHz, 1200bps FSK CW UW Germany website SP
Velox-P2 Cubesat Downlink: 145.980 1k2 BPSK Singapore SP
WNISat-1 10kg Micro Sat Axelspace Japan (website) SP
ZACube-1 Cubesat Uplink 145.860MHz Downlink 437.345MHz Beacon 14.099MHz F’SATI South Afric (website) SP

ISIpods dnepr launch

ISIPODs containing Triton-1 (left) and HiNcube, FUNcube-1 and ZACUBE-1 (right) Image credit: Gerard Aalbers – FUNcube team.

Update:

FUNcube-1 Launch: Date and time confirmed, The launch date of RS-20B rocket (Dnepr) with a group of satellites (DubaiSat-2 cluster mission) from Dombarovsky missile area (Yasny Launch Base) has been established for November 21, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT. The back-up launch date is November 22, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT.

Zarya information: Dnepr 21 November 2013 launch update

Thanks to some preliminary TLE data I could calculate the following first pass data over The Netherlands and parts of Europe. 21-11-2013 09:47 CEST (UTC+1).

DNepr 21-11-2013 NL