%% Space - An Update on AMSAT Activities %% Copyright 2002 Bdale Garbee %% %% Presented to the Hackers Conference, 3 Nov 2002, Yosemite %% %% Define the fonts we will use %% %deffont "standard" tfont "Arial.ttf" %deffont "typewriter" tfont "Times_New_Roman.ttf" %deffont "fixed" xfont "terminal" %% %% Default settings for special lines %% %default 1 leftfill, fore "black", back "white", bimage "ao40wash.bmp" %default 2 size 7, vgap 10, prefix " ", font "standard" %default 3 size 2, bar "gray70", vgap 10 %default 4 size 5, vgap 30, font "standard" %% %% Default settings for indented lines %% %tab 1 size 5, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon box "green" 50 %tab 2 size 4, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon arc "red" 50 %tab 3 size 3, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon delta3 "blue" 40 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page %nodefault, font "standard", fore "black", back "white", bimage "ao40wash.bmp" %center Space? An AMSAT Update %size 6 Bdale Garbee, KB0G %size 5 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page My Objectives for Today This Year's "Wow Event" AO-40 Update Spacecraft Status What we've done with RUDAK "Real Science" New Projects Earth Orbit AMSAT-NA "Echo" and "Eagle" AMSAT-DL "Phase 3E" Mars Orbit (yes, I'm serious!) AMSAT-DL "Phase 5A" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Wow! AO-7 is Alive! Known as "Phase-2B" before launch Launched November 15, 1974, Delta, Vandenberg Orbit: 1444 x 1459 km, Inclination 101.7 degrees Launched with ITOS-G (NOAA 4) and the Spanish INTASAT Modes: A, B, and C Firsts: Satellite-to-satellite relay communication via AO-6 Low-budget medical data relay and Doppler location of ground transmitters for search-and-rescue operations were done using this satellite Mode-B transponder was the first using "HELAPS" First OSCAR to fly a Battery Charge Regulator (BCR) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page AO-40 Since Launch "The Incident" Communication Links Downlink - S2 (2400 Mhz) Uplinks - V (145 Mhz), U (435 Mhz), L (1270 Mhz) Experiments RUDAK Communications Processor GPS High-Altitude Navigation CEDEX Radiation Event and Total Dose SCOPE Color Cameras MONITOR Passive Ionospheric Sounder %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is RUDAK? %size 7 %center Regenerativer Umsetzer fur Digital Amateurfunk Kommunikation %size 5 Communications path to experimental payloads on AO-40. Store and forward message handling system. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is RUDAK? Two mostly independent units, each with: V53 CPU running SCOS 16 megabytes ECC RAM 10 SCC channels, 8 with DMA support Modems 2 9k6 hardwired G3RUH modems 1 153k6 hardwired BPSK modem 4 DSP modulators 4 DSP demodulators CAN bus interface FIFO between CPUs 4 double-sided, surface-mount PCBs in one box. 27,822 solder joints... 285 screws holding it together... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Original Objectives A flexible platform for the ten-year design life of AO-40. On-orbit demonstration of new technologies. Hardware 153k6 BPSK modem DSP modems Store and forward capability for users. Communications path to onboard experiments. CEDEX GPS MONITOR SCOPE SmartNodes %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Since Launch RUDAK hardware has worked perfectly... except... RUDAK 9k6 downlinks interfere with the analog passband. Signals in the analog passband and the IHU beacon interfere with the RUDAK 9k6 downlinks. RUDAK uplinks are less sensitive than expected. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Operational Difficulties RUDAK isn't on all the time. Power budget in this orbit and spin mode. Failure of V, U, S1 downlinks. Need to time-share available downlink capability. Uplink signal strength requirements. Software crashes on the B CPU - wash timing? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Current Experiment Status GPS yielded useful data.... CAN bus and SmartNode boards work perfectly. CEDEX confirms a hypothesis! SCOPE works well. Both cameras confirmed operational. Two really good set of pictures taken. MONITOR remains untested. Working on DSP Modems %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What our First "Good" SCOPE Picture Looked Like... %center, newimage "pic0100.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page ... After a Little Image Processing! %center, newimage "rgb0100.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page AMSAT-NA New Projects Echo LEO spacecraft commercial components (we've come full circle!) amateur mission payload to be selected launch with similar commercial satellites Eagle orbit AO-40 ended up in focus on V/U/L/S communications unlikely to carry the kitchen sink... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page AMSAT-DL New Projects Phase 5A - A Mars Orbiter Mission! AO-40 spaceframe and propulsion system single 2 meter dish antenna on spacecraft coherent transponder (200 / 5 bits/sec, coded) hitchhiker experiments launch on Ariane 5 Phase 3E - Technology Validation Mission orbit AO-40 was intended to inhabit same spaceframe as used by AO-10 and AO-13 launch on Ariane 5 using SBS + adapter P5A pic page 8 of ~/amsat/p5a/2002.10.02/p5a-to-mars.pdf %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page For More Information... %size 7 %center Join AMSAT! The AMSAT Journal http://www.amsat.org/