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home | newest check | boards | help index | log | ps | userlogin | send sysop | slog | status forward | bcm news | users | version | remove cookieWG3K > ANS 02.02.25 11:53l 75 Lines 3720 Bytes #7 (0) @ AMSAT BID : ANS033.1 Read: GUEST Subj: MO-122 - Newest OSCAR Alive and Well Path: JH4XSY<IW0QNL<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<VK5RSV<K7EK<W0ARP<CX2SA< N3HYM<WG3K Sent: 250202/0247Z 13228@WG3K.#SMD.MD.USA.NOAM LinBPQ6.0.24 Mark Hammond, N8MH AMSAT Director presented a Commissioning Update at the October 2024 AMSAT Symposium. His presentation spoke about the launch of the UMaine MESAT-1 and provided operational details. MESAT1 is now designated MESAT1-OSCAR 122 (MO-122). He explained, “Maine’s first small satellite, a 3U CubeSat, was successfully launched on July 4, 2024 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. It was NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission 43 and included eight CubeSats flying on Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket.” Wikipedia provides an extensive list of ELaNa missions on its Educational Launch of Nanosatellites page. Hammond continued, “MO-122 was designed and built at the University of Maine to use low-cost and low-power CMOS cameras to analyze water turbidity, identify urban heat islands, and predict harmful algal blooms from low Earth orbit (LEO). An AMSAT LTM-1 Module provides command/control, telemetry, and a V/u linear transponder.” Dr. Ali Abedi, PhD, an extra class amateur KB1VJV and an active VEC, led the UMaine-Orono WiSe-Net Lab project. The UMaine student team included: Joseph Patton, Ph.D Candidate (Project Manager/Power System); Travis Russell, M.Sc Student, (Radio Engineer) and Steele Muchmore-Allen, 4+1 Graduate Student, (Flight Engineer). Scientific papers about the MESAT1 project were published including Travis Russell’s thesis. MESAT1 has a multi-spectral (four bands in the 550-1100nm range) remote sensing instrument based on low-cost consumer-grade cameras, a custom electrical power supply, an onboard computer based on the Raspberry Pi compute module, a custom, low-cost deployable spacecraft antenna system, and a ground station with automated tracking. Current MO-122 reception reports indicate the AMSAT / UMaine project is performing well on orbit. Here is information needed for monitoring or using MO-122: V/u inverting linear transponder 30 kHz wide Transponder uplink 145.910-145.940 MHz LSB Transponder downlink 435.810-435.840 MHz USB Telemetry downlink (Foxtelem) 435.800 MHz 1200 BPSK Total power out 1 W Two Line Elements (TLEs or Keplerian elements) bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. The latest data for tracking MO-122 and other satellites may be found here. Also see AMSAT Telemetry Data and SatNOGs Observations and Map. Hammond related information about his Command Station equipment. He said, “Telemetry can be routinely copied with a M2 LEO-Pack using a mast mounted low noise preamp and my Icom 9700,” suggesting that antenna orientation is very important. Teachers, Professors and Science students may experiment with telemetry data using a low-cost receiving system consisting of a homemade J-pole antenna, Fox-In-A-Box RPi and Funcube Dongle Pro other good quality software defined radio (SDR) or device. More details about the project are available via MaineSat.org and UMaine WiSe-Net Lab. A YouTube video by M0YKS demonstrates the Amateur Radio capabilities. Follow NASA’s Small Satellite blog for other launch updates. In his symposium presentation Hammond acknowledged the work of the commissioning team which included; Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA; Chris Thompson, VE2TCP/G0KLA; Burns Fisher, WB1FJ; and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM. He also thanked Eric Skoog, K1TVV for his work on the AMSAT Linear Transponder. In addition to operating the AMSAT MO-122 Command Station, N8MH has nearly a quarter century of experience which includes operating command stations for several other AMSAT projects. A complete list of his extensively equipped Command Station can be found on his QRZ.com page. *[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]*
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