August 30, 2012

AO-51 PACSAT BBS .




AO-51 was a wonderful bird .Since the end of its mission ( 2011) so much said about the missed FM repeater . But I've missed its joy since the PACSAT BBS was shutdown.

AO-51 contains a digital subsystem that transmits TLM on 70cm and provides complete PACSAT BBS that can be configured on both V and S band up-links.

Below are some photos I received from my Friends Roy / W0SL and Siegfried / DD1JSN .

Dated - 2005 via VHF/UHF FM (9600 bps AX.25).








August 23, 2012

MSL Science Payload explained in detail .

With its rover named Curiosity, Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability."




Source JPL MISSION

Curiosity Drops in on Mars in high-resolution.


This movie from NASA's Curiosity rover shows most of the high-resolution frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown.




Timeline of Major Mission Events During Curiosity's Landing

Source JPL NASA

August 15, 2012

Bike on Mars !


Looks like bike tyre trace on Mars high resolution image :-)


NASA announces next opportunity for CubeSat space missions


NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI) provides opportunities for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets planned for upcoming launches.



Source NASA

ESA announces next opportunity for CubeSat space missions

ESA’s Education Office is inviting the CubeSat community to send their notifications of interest for a new initiative involving the development of educational picosatellites and the provision of deployers and launch services.


source esa

August 6, 2012

The first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover.

The first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT).



More Info @ MSL webpage

August 5, 2012

Follow your curiosity

Live coverage of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory arriving at the Red Planet
today 5/8 @ 10:31 PM PDT

Watch NASA Live-stream

Mars Science Laboratory

August 2, 2012

4 new CubeSats from NASA sponsored “ELaNa VI” .

On August 2, 2012 at 07:40 UT an Atlas V rocket is planned to
launch a combination of 11 satellites from Vandenberg Air Force
Base in California for the US Government and NASA ELaNa university CubeSats.

This launch carries 11 CubeSats, to be released into 470 x 770 km, 63°
orbit about 3 hours after launch and following maneuvers by the Centaur
upper stage.

3 P-Pods will carry 4 CubeSats as the NASA sponsored “ELaNa VI” cluster:
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(1) CINEMA (CubeSat for Ion, Neutral, Electron, Magnetic fields)
Downlinks for engineering telemetry and command are in the
2400-2450 MHz range; Science telemetry is in 2200-2300 MHz range.
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(2) CSSWE (Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment)
Downlink 437.345 MHz, 9k6 with AX25
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(3) CP5 (PolySat)
Downlink 437.405 MHz at 1 watt, AFSK on LSB AX.25 over NRZI at
1200 bps, every 2 minutes, begins 3.5 hours after first turn-on
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(4) CXBN (Cosmic X-Ray Background Nanosatellite)
Downlink 437.525 MHz, GFSK, AX.25
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US Government Payloads
5 P-PODs will carry 7 US Government payloads (list subject to confirmation):
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(1) Aeneas
First CubeSat to deploy 2.4 GHz Dish Antenna. WiFi transmitter will transmit on 2425.0 MHz with 1 watt of output power.

Downlink 437.600 MHz AX25 1200 bps beacon every 10 second and a spread spectrum two-way link elsewhere in the 70cm band.

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(2) ORSES (ORS Enabler Satellite)
Operationally Responsive Space office, 3U CubeSat for the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
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(3) Horus
One of a satellite pair (with Re) has optical sensors to detect orbiting payloads and debris for orbit measurement, 3U CubeSat from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
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(4) Re
Second satellite of a pair (with Horus) has optical sensors to detect orbiting payloads and debris for orbit measurement, 3U CubeSat from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
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(5, 6, 7) Aerocube 4A, 4B, 4C
Built and operated by the Aerospace Corporation for technical research.

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Sourse uk.amsat