Transcript Document

THE PAST
SPUTNIK

Sputnik – Oct 4, 1957. 1st satellite. 20 MHz beacon.
47 years ago.

Oscar 1 – Dec 12, 1961. 1st amateur satellite

My satellite experience began in Nov 1988.
3
ACHIEVEMENTS



To date 51 amateur satellites have been launched.
Really amazing achievement. Overcome licensing,
frequency allocations (WARC 1979), technical
challenges, environmental testing, funding, launch
opportunities. International involvement.
Amateur satellites were 1st to make ground to satellite
to satellite to ground communication. Validated
concept for using satellites for search and rescue.
1st microsats. Validated topside GPS.
4
MILESTONES

•
•
Oscar 1 – 1st amateur satellite. Dec. 12th. 1961.
2m beacon, battery powered
Oscar III – Mar. 1965. First transponder. 50 KHz BW
146 MHz up, 144 MHz down. 1st use of solar cells.
Only lasted 2 weeks but 100 amateurs got on.
Oscar 5 – Jan. 23 1970. Australian. Magnetic attitude
stabilization. Controlled by uplink commands. 29 and
144 MHz beacons. Battery powered.
5
MORE MILESTONES
• Oscar 6 – Oct 15, 1972. Long lifetime. Sophisticated
command and telemetry. 29 MHz down, 146 MHz up.
100 KHz BW. Lifespan 4.5 years
Problem – Satellite control system subject internally
generated noise.
Solution – Automated commands from ground
stations around the world. Larry Kayser one of the
first to tackle the problem.
6
MORE MILESTONES




Oscar 7 – Nov 15, 1974. 1st time two satellites in orbit. Two
transponders mode A & B. Outstanding performance. Proved
with simple stations communication 200 to 4500 miles. 2m and
70cm beacons built in Canada? Died mid 1981 due shorted
cell? Reborn June 22, 2002.
Oscar 8 – Mar. 5, 1978. Mode A and Japanese mode J
transponders. Died 1983.
Oscar – 10. June 16, 1983. 1st Phase 3, high elliptical orbit. Very
large footprint and window of many hours. Mode B and L
transponders. IHU died end 1986. But worked intermittently into
late 90’s.
Oscar 13 – June 15, 1988. Similar to AO-10 but also had 70 cm
uplink and 2.4 GHz downlink. Burnt up in the atmosphere 23
Nov. 1996.
7
MORE MILESTONES






AO-40. 3rd High Orbit Transponder
Launched Nov. 16 2000. Problems occurred after
orbit transfer motor fired.
Operational May 5, 2001 (I made 14 QSO’s on that
1st orbit on both U/S and L/S. I and KB8VAO made
the first L/L/S QSO on AO-40).
2m, 70cm, 2x23cm and 13cm uplinks OK
13cm, 24GHz down OK
Ceased operating Nov 24 2003
8
THE PRESENT
AMATEUR SATELLITES
Number and Status Constantly
Changing
10
AMATEUR SATELLITES
IN ORBIT

Amsat Weekly Satellite Report Currently Lists

5 Operational Analog

1 Semi Operational Analog

1 Operational Digital

3 Semi Operational Digital
11
AMATEUR SATELLITE TYPES

Analogue FM Single Channel (cross band repeater)

Analog Transponder -SSB/CW/SSTV/DIGITAL

Digital

ISS – CB repeater - astronaut
12
SATTELITE ORBITS

Low Earth Orbit
-
LEO

High Altitude Elliptical Orbit
13
LEO ORBIT – 1000
Kilometers Nominal
14
HIGH ELLIPTICAL ORBIT
E
<-----------60 k ------------>
s
15
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

Operate Cross Band

Up on one band - Down on another

Analog operation FULL DUPLEX
16
TRANSPONDER
(Inverting)
Beacon
435.795
+10
Down
RX
435.800
435.850
435.900
- 10
Up
TX
146.000
145.950
Zero Doppler
145.900
17
ANALOG SATELLITES

TRANSPONDER - 2

FM REPEATER + ISS - 4
18
LEO ANALOG TRANSPONDER
SATELLITES

FO-29
up 145.900 – 146.000
down 435.800 – 435.900

AO-7
(semi operational)
up 145.850 – 145.950
down 29.400 – 29.500
or
up 432.125 – 432.175
down 145.975 – 145.925
19
LEO ANALOG FM SATELITES

AO-27
SO-50

AO-51

ISS

up 145.850
down 436.795
up 145.850
down 436.795
67.0 Hz & 74.4 Hz
up 145.920
down 435.300
67.0 Hz
up 437.800
down 145.800
20
AO-51
21
AO-51 RF SUBSYSTEMS

Receivers
» Four miniature VHF FM receivers (<40 mW and <50 gm each).
» Each receiver has 2-channel capability.
» Sensitivity is -121dbm for 12db SINAD.

Transmitters
» Two UHF FM transmitters that can be operated simultaneously.
» 7-12 watts output each.
» Frequency agile in 20 or 35 KHz steps, tunable over about 20 MHz.

Wideband Receiver
» All-mode, “DC to Light”. Performance limited by broadband antenna.
22
AO-51 RF SUBSYSTEMS

Antennas.
»
»
»
»

VHF 18” whip on top.
UHF Turnstile on bottom. Currently LHCP.
L + S band “open sleeve” antenna on the bottom.
Broadband HF/VHF/UHF 18” whip on bottom.
Link Budget
»
»
»
»
Tx’s adjustable from 1 to 12 Watts with max efficiency at 8 Watts.
Modulation is GMSK at any speed from 300 to 56K baud.
Antenna gains average about 0dbi. (-10dbi to +2dbi).
VHF antenna feeds a BPF with 1.5db loss, then an LNA with 1db
NF. Thus, overall Rx performance is -121 dbm for 12db SINAD.
23
AO-51 TX POWER
24
AO-51 FOOTPRINT
25
AO-51 VISIBILITY
26
THE FUTURE
NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES

Unisat-3 (University of Rome)

Saudisat-2 (Saudi Arabia)

VUSAT (India)

PHASE 3-E (Germany)

AMSAT-NA EAGLE
28
UNISAT-3 & SAUDISAT-2

Little info available – both scheduled to go up on
same rocket as ECHO on June 29.

UNISAT-3

SAUDISAT-2 copy of successful AO-50 ?
microsat v/u fm transponder
29
VUSAT -India










LEO orbit
63 cm x 63 cm x 55 cm
Solar panels on 4 sides
Control by single microprocessor
2 mode B transponders. Indian, Dutch
60 KHz BW
Uplink- 10 watts into 12-18 dbi ant.
Downlink - antenna gain 16 dbi.
Missed launch, Oct 2003 due deviations in performance under
thermo vacuum tests.
Last info: Launch this month.
30
PHASE 3-E -Germany








Launch end 2004 to mid 2005
Work in full progress
Highly elliptical orbit. Perigee 1000 km. Apogee
36000 km. Inclination 63 degrees
RX- 70 cm, 23 cm. (2m, 13cm & 5.6 GHz) ?
TX – 2m, 13cm. (70cm, 10.45GHz) ?
Linear transponder 100 KHz BW
Power 50 w PEP
LEILA
31
32
AMSAT OSCAR-Eagle
.

“Eagle” is a new HEO satellite
being developed by AMSATNA.
33
AMSAT EAGLE
34
EAGLE – AMSAT NA






Launch 2006?
Highly elliptical geostationary orbit
Weight 100 Kg.
Power consumption 100w
Communication: 2m,70cm,1.2, 2.4 and 5.4 GHz
Cost: $600k + launch
35
MORE FUTURE SATELLITES





IARU Satellite Frequency Coordinator lists over 20
microsats and cubsats for which frequencies have
been assigned.
Launch dates this year and next.
About half are US university projects. Rest are mostly
other country university projects.
About half have transponders. U/V or V/U.
FM, Digital and Linear. Rest telemetry only.
Lifetimes: Few weeks to 2 or 3 years.
36
VE3NPC ANTENNA
ARRAY
37