Fitsat-1 live Led experiment

FITSAT-1 LedsFitsat-1 (Niwaka) Led Experiment over Europe

On December 13 at 22:10 UTC (23:10 CEST) The Fitsat-1 LED experiment will be active over Europe. Let’s hope it’s a clear night, so we all can see the 200W LED display sending Morse code in the sky.

Fitsat-1 Led Experiment Orbit over Europe

Maybe it is possible to make a picture or a little video from the experiment when it passes your locator. Maybe it is possible that you send me a copy. Everybody have fun observing the Fitsat-1 Led experiment.


FITSAT-1 Successfully Flashes Morse Code from Space

A test of the FITSAT-1 LED optical beacon that took place on December 11 GMT over Japan was successful.
Fitsat-1 LED Beacon
(C) Tsuyoshi Watanabe Ebina City, Kanagawa Japan 1:24:23-1:24:25JST, 12 Dec 2012 Takahashi e160, Diameter short focus telescope 16cm (F=530mm, F3.3) Nikon D800E, ISO12800, 2 seconds exposure.

[PE0SAT Thanks Amsat UK and Tsuyoshi Watanabe for the above information]

FITSAT-1 flash messages on Christmas Eve

FITSAT-1 led experiment on Christmas Eve.

FITSAT-1 Leds sending Morse CodeThe led experiment comprising a bank of high power LEDs that will be driven with 200W pulses to produce extremely bright flashes that may be visible to the unaided eye of observers on Earth.

The team aim to start testing the LEDs at the end of November and it is planned that a message will be flashed from space on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012. Further information will be posted at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

[PE0SAT Thanks Amsat-UK for the above information]

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSats TLE

Kepler (TLE) data for the ISS/JAXA cubesat launch

Cubesats leave ISSThe TLE of the five CubeSats recently launched from ISS are now available with the NORAD registration numbers 1998-067-CN, CP, CQ, CR, CS. 1998 ? Yes as NORAD considers they are parts of the ISS, the first module of which, Zarya, was launched on November 20th 1998 and got the NORAD registration number 1998-067-A.

(J-P/F5YG wrote on amsat-bb) Yesterday evening (Western Europe, around 2130 UTC), I noticed that FITSAT-1 was already about 4 mn before the ISS predictions as this one modified altitude (higher). With a max. elevation angle of 83 deg., we received the 437.250 MHz beacon loud and clear.

1998-067CN              
1 38852U 98067CN  12283.00925092  .00041863  00000-0  69687-3 0    14
2 38852  51.6477 275.8145 0018909 135.8738 224.3701 15.51407904   603
1998-067CP              
1 38853U 98067CO  12283.00919217  .00038394  00000-0  64119-3 0    17
2 38853  51.6480 275.8141 0014227 145.1302 215.0858 15.51445930   661
1998-067CQ              
1 38854U 98067CP  12283.07336473  .00054398  00000-0  89879-3 0    14
2 38854  51.6473 275.4897 0014651 145.1372 215.0744 15.51582271   671
1998-067CR              
1 38855U 98067CQ  12282.68697989  .00022010  00000-0  37095-3 0    12
2 38855  51.6485 277.4123 0014736 146.6828 213.5108 15.51493630   504
1998-067CS              
1 38856U 98067CR  12283.00883489  .00069724  00000-0  11405-2 0    11
2 38856  51.6479 275.8106 0018733 136.2088 224.0323 15.51677880   557

We-Wish, RAIKO, FITSat-1, F1 and TechEdSat.

Update: October 10, 2012 from PA0DLO via Amsat-BB
PA0DLO wrote on Amsat-BB: FITSAT-1 is object 38853, 1998-067CP
DK3WN wrote on Amsat-BB: TechEdSat is object 38854, 1998-067CQ and We-Wish is object 38856, 1998-067CS

TLE data on October 11th, 2012 gives:

FITSAT-1              
1 38853U 98067CP  12284.23299041  .00046535  00000-0  77118-3 0    41
2 38853  51.6484 269.7387 0014904 153.8209 206.3540 15.51562650   854
TechEdSat              
1 38854U 98067CQ  12284.23265201  .00051303  00000-0  84491-3 0    33
2 38854  51.6480 269.7331 0014412 150.5036 209.6797 15.51702475   857
We-Wish
1 38856U 98067CS  12284.23242654  .00070920  00000-0  11526-2 0    58
2 38856  51.6470 269.7301 0018337 140.3610 219.8733 15.51859653   742

[PE0SAT Thanks DK3WN, J-P/F5YG, PA0DLO and amsat-bb for the above information]

ISS KIBO Cubesats Launched

We-Wish, RAIKO launched.

We-Wish RAIKO

Satellite   Downlink           Beacon    Mode
---------   ----------------   -------   -----
WE WISH     437.505            437.505   SSTV, CW
RAIKO       2.2GHz, 13GHz      13GHz     38.4 - 500kbps
---------   ----------------   -------   ------------------

FITSat-1, F1 and TechEdSat launched.

FITSAT-1 F1 TechEdSat

Satellite   Downlink           Beacon    Mode
---------   ----------------   -------   -----
FITSAT-1    437.445, 5.84GHz   437.250   FM,CW
TechEdSat   437.465            437.465   CW
F-1         145.980            437.485   1200bps AFSK,FM,CW
---------   ----------------   -------   ------------------

F1, FITSAT-1 and TechEdSat leaving ISS

F1 FITSAT-1 TechEdSat Leave ISS

[PE0SAT Thanks DK3WN for the above information]

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSats to Deploy

New ISS Cubesat deployment date, October 4th, 2012

First 14:30-14:40 UTC: Order of WE-WISH, RAIKO by Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
Second 15:35-15:45 UTC: Order of TechEdSat, NanoRack/F-1, FITSAT-1 by JAXA GS.

ISS Cubesats deployment September 27, 2012

J-SSODJAXA have announced the deployment of five CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS) planned for  Thursday, September 27 at around 15:10 UTC and will be broadcast live on the web.

The CubeSats are mounted in a JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD). In one pod are FITSAT-1, TechEdSat and F-1 (NanoRacks) and in the second pod is WE-WISH and a scientific 2U CubeSat RAIKO.

FITSat 1 (Fukuoka Institute of Technology)
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
High-speed data test, high power LED visual tracking
CW Beacon 437.250 MHz,
FM Data   437.445 MHz,
High speed data 5840.00 MHz.

TechEdSat (NASA Ames)
http://ncasst.org/techedsat.htmlTelemetry downlink on 437.465 MHz.
It is also carrying SatPhone ground station hardware and had planned to transmit from space using frequencies allocated to ground stations to communicate via the Iridium and Orbcomm satellite phone networks. This would have been a first for a CubeSat, however, a statement from the team says: “We were forced to disable the Iridium modem as our FCC license did not come in time. As usual, building the satellite is the easy part.”

F-1 (FPT University) – Information for Radio Amateurs http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=27
http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=10
On-board camera for earth observation mission
Yaesu VX-3R 1, 437.485 MHz FM downlink:
o Solar cell power only, operates in sunlight only
o Output power: between 0.1W and 0.3W depending on illumination, half-wave dipole antenna
o Morse code beacon (10 chars) using FM CW every 30 seconds, listen here

Yaesu VX-3R 2, 145.980 MHz FM downlink:
o Rechargeable battery, operates in dark and sunlight
o Output power: max 1.0W, half-wave dipole antenna
o AFSK 1200bps, half duplex, one AX.25 packet every 60 seconds

WE-WISH (Meisei Electric Co., Ltd.)
http://www.meisei.co.jp/news/2011/0617_622.html
Infrared camera for environmental studies
Downlink on 437.505 MHz

ISS Kibo Launch

[PE0SAT Thanks amsat-bb and JE9PEL for this information]

ISS KIBO CubeSats

RAIKO, FITSAT-1, WE-WISH, TechEdSat, F-1

They will be loaded into the J-SSOD deployer on ISS KIBO with TechEdSat and F-1 by HTV-3 (Kounotori-3) on 21 July 2012.

These satellites will be deployed from KIBO by the robotic arm in September 2012.

RAIKO (Wakayama University)
100 x 100 x 200 mm 2U
http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/RAIKO/

FITSAT-1 LedsFITSAT-1 (Fukuoka Institute of Technology)
437.250MHz CW, 437.445MHz FM, 5840.00MHz High speed data
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

WE WISH (Meisei Electric Co., Ltd.)
437.505MHz SSTV, Telemetry, CW
https://sites.google.com/site/jq1ziijq1zij/

TechEdSat will be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS). It is a 1U CubeSat that will demonstrate Plug and Play power architecture and two way communication via the satellite phone/data networks Iridium and Orbcomm.

There will be a 437.465 MHz beacon transmitting 1 watt to 1/4 wave monopole. Commanding is via the commercial networks and there is a 2 week watchdog timer to stop the beacon in the event of no commands being received.

TechEdSat will be launched along with Raiko, FITSat-1, We-Wish and F-1 to the ISS aboard HTV-3, currently planned to launch July 21, 2012. From there, it will be deployed into Low Earth Orbit using the JAXA J-SSOD deployer, from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM also known as Kibo). They will be deployed with the Kibo robotic arm planned for September, 2012.

FSpace-F1 ModelWiki-TechEdSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TechEdSat

F-1, Vietnam Student CubeSat

Downlink: 145.980MHz, 437.485MHz
Mode:     AFSK 1200bps, GMSK 9600bps, AX.25 KISS
Size:     10x10x10cm (1U cubesat)
Mass:     1kg
Payload:  C328 camera with 640x480 resolution

Main website: FSpace Laboratory

[PE0SAT Thanks JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita via amsat-bb for this information]