THE PAST SPUTNIK l Sputnik Oct

THE PAST

SPUTNIK l Sputnik – Oct 4, 1957. 1 st satellite. 20 MHz beacon. 47 years ago. l Oscar 1 – Dec 12, 1961. 1 st amateur satellite l My satellite experience began in Nov 1988. 3

ACHIEVEMENTS l l l 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 1 st to make ground to satellite to ground communication. Validated concept for using satellites for search and rescue. 1 st microsats. Validated topside GPS. 4

MILESTONES l • • Oscar 1 – 1 st amateur satellite. Dec. 12 th. 1961. 2 m beacon, battery powered Oscar III – Mar. 1965. First transponder. 50 KHz BW 146 MHz up, 144 MHz down. 1 st 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 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 l l Oscar 7 – Nov 15, 1974. 1 st time two satellites in orbit. Two transponders mode A & B. Outstanding performance. Proved with simple stations communication 200 to 4500 miles. 2 m and 70 cm 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. 1 st 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 l l l AO-40. 3 rd 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 1 st orbit on both U/S and L/S. I and KB 8 VAO made the first L/L/S QSO on AO-40). 2 m, 70 cm, 2 x 23 cm and 13 cm uplinks OK 13 cm, 24 GHz down OK Ceased operating Nov 24 2003 8

THE PRESENT

AMATEUR SATELLITES Number and Status Constantly Changing 10

AMATEUR SATELLITES IN ORBIT l Amsat Weekly Satellite Report Currently Lists l 5 Operational Analog l 1 Semi Operational Analog l 1 Operational Digital l 3 Semi Operational Digital 11

AMATEUR SATELLITE TYPES l Analogue FM Single Channel (cross band repeater) l Analog Transponder -SSB/CW/SSTV/DIGITAL l Digital l ISS – CB repeater - astronaut 12

SATTELITE ORBITS l Low Earth Orbit - LEO l High Altitude Elliptical Orbit 13

LEO ORBIT – 1000 Kilometers Nominal 14

HIGH ELLIPTICAL ORBIT E <------60 k ------> s 15

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION l Operate Cross Band l Up on one band - Down on another l 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 l TRANSPONDER - 2 l FM REPEATER + ISS - 4 18

LEO ANALOG TRANSPONDER SATELLITES l FO-29 up 145. 900 – 146. 000 down 435. 800 – 435. 900 l 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 l AO-27 SO-50 l AO-51 l ISS l 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 l Receivers » Four miniature VHF FM receivers (<40 m. W and <50 gm each). » Each receiver has 2 -channel capability. » Sensitivity is -121 dbm for 12 db SINAD. l 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. l Wideband Receiver » All-mode, “DC to Light”. Performance limited by broadband antenna. 22

AO-51 RF SUBSYSTEMS l Antennas. » » l 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 56 K baud. Antenna gains average about 0 dbi. (-10 dbi to +2 dbi). VHF antenna feeds a BPF with 1. 5 db loss, then an LNA with 1 db NF. Thus, overall Rx performance is -121 dbm for 12 db SINAD. 23

AO-51 TX POWER 24

AO-51 FOOTPRINT 25

AO-51 VISIBILITY 26

THE FUTURE

NEW AMATEUR SATELLITES l Unisat-3 (University of Rome) l Saudisat-2 (Saudi Arabia) l VUSAT (India) l PHASE 3 -E (Germany) l AMSAT-NA EAGLE 28

UNISAT-3 & SAUDISAT-2 l Little info available – both scheduled to go up on same rocket as ECHO on June 29. l UNISAT-3 l SAUDISAT-2 copy of successful AO-50 ? microsat v/u fm transponder 29

VUSAT -India l l l l l LEO orbit 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 l l l l 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. (2 m, 13 cm & 5. 6 GHz) ? TX – 2 m, 13 cm. (70 cm, 10. 45 GHz) ? Linear transponder 100 KHz BW Power 50 w PEP LEILA 31

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AMSAT OSCAR-Eagle . l “Eagle” is a new HEO satellite being developed by AMSAT-N 33

AMSAT EAGLE 34

EAGLE – AMSAT NA l l l Launch 2006? Highly elliptical geostationary orbit Weight 100 Kg. Power consumption 100 w Communication: 2 m, 70 cm, 1. 2, 2. 4 and 5. 4 GHz Cost: $600 k + launch 35

MORE FUTURE SATELLITES l l l 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

VE 3 NPC ANTENNA ARRAY 37