Due to work and family commitments and the currently inconvenient timing of the passes I really haven’t had a serious attempt at receiving any of the downlinks from the numerous Cubesats launched on the Vega rocket back on Monday February 13.
I have managed to get some faint transmissions from what I believe is Masat-1 which has now been officially designated MagyarSat-OSCAR-72 (MO-72) I have also seen a number of other traces on the waterfall display of the sdr (using the FUNCube dongle) They are in the correct frequency range and appear and disappear as the cluster of cubesats were predicted as passing overhead.
I have managed to make a video of a pass of the SSB VO52(HAMSAT) downlink being received by the FCD this morning using just the antenna in the loft.
Operating a camera in one hand and trying to track the signal isn’t that easy, but you get the idea!
I have got a chance this weekend to have a proper attempt at the Vega cubesats.
As part of the ESA Education programme, seven CubeSats will be flown on the first qualification flight of Europe’s new Vega launcher. This video shows the integration of the CubeSats in the P-POD deployment system and includes some interviews with ESA’s experts and European students involved in the programme.
Frequencies and URLs for the student amateur radio satellites on Vega can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180
The first qualification Vega flight from the space center at Kourou in the Caribbean is scheduled to take place on February 13.
Vega is a new launch vehicle from ESA/Arianespace to handle small to medium-sized satellite payloads. It is a four-stage launcher tailored to carry the growing number of small scientific spacecraft and other lighter-weight payloads.
The first flight is carrying eight student built amateur radio satellites comprising seven CubeSats and a microsatellite called ALMASat, Arianespace have just released a video showing the payloads.
A full list of the satellites and frequencies and other information about the launch is listed on the Amsat-UK website http://www.uk.amsat.org/4180
There is a lot there to have a go at receiving with the old FUNCube Dongle! I will have to get around to finally construct myself a homebrew 70cm antenna in the next few days.
