FUNcube-1 Satellite NVR CubeSat Cluster Launch mini-symposium Wouter Weggelaar 1 AMSAT-NL
Wouter Weggelaar Worked on Delfi-C3 The first dutch Nanosatellite Now RF engineer at Delfi-spinoff ISIS Radio Amateur PA3WEG AMSAT-UK member co-founder of AMSAT-NL FUNcube design team member
Contents History of amateur radio satellites Introduction to FUNcube FUNcube mission Building FUNcube Launch and early operations What is next?
AMSAT-UK 500 individual members not a commercial organisation most are active radio amateurs One of more than 20 such groups worldwide In Europe, AMSAT groups exist in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK Volunteer hobby!
AMSAT-NL Dutch amateur radio satellite organization Founded to enable FUNcube-1 launch Still in set-up phase Close cooperation with AMSAT-UK
OSCAR Satellites OSCAR: Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio Oldest: Oscar 1 launched 1961
OSCAR Satellites Largest Oscar 40 launched 2000 450kg to HEO on an Ariane 5
OSCAR Satellites Oldest still operational - Oscar 7 - launched 1974
AMSAT - CubeSats FUNcube-1 AMSAT-NL & UK, First AMSAT CubeSat project FUNcube-2 on UKube AMSAT-UK FOX 1 & 2 - AMSAT-NA KLETSkous Southern Africa AMSAT More to follow
The FUNcube Project the background Given that: CubeSats are cheap CubeSats can be built quickly CubeSats should be simple So in 2009 we asked ourselves: Could we create an educational outreach mission? Could it also have an amateur transponder? Could we create a team of volunteers with the skills/passion? Could we develop the actual educational outreach? Could we fund it? 10
The FUNcube Project primary objective Educational outreach STEM subjects Radio practical understanding of communication Electronics how radios work Physics Data from 50+ telemetry channels Orbital mechanics - Doppler Materials science payload - Demonstrate loss of heat energy by radiation from two materials with differing surface finishes Fitter Message - Short greetings messages 11
FUNcube-1 Hardware CCT board - Command, Control and Telemetry Xilinx CPLD command decoder Freescale CPU for telemetry generation 2 x I2C Bus 3.3V supply Average power consumption 15mW, Peak power 33mW
FUNcube-1 Hardware RF Board PA board
The FUNcube Project - status 22/06/10 UKSEDS Presentation Feb 2013 14
FUNcube-1 Hardware CCT board AMSAT-UK Transponder AMSAT-NL 2m Amplifier AMSAT-UK Interface board AMSAT/ISIS Power system GOMspace Structure ISIS Antenna system ISIS Solar panels ISIS
FUNcube-1 Telemetry 54 Telemetry channels Telemetry is sent in 24 x 5 second frames over 2 minute period Real time every 5 secs, Whole orbit data sampled every 60 secs stored for 104 minutes and High Res data sampled at 1 second intervals for 60 seconds Text messages- 9 x 250 character greetings messages & 27 additional messages stored in memory Very distinctive sound to enable easy identification 4.3 seconds of data + 0.7 seconds of BPSK mark tone
The FUNcube Project - status 17
Amateur radio operations During the local night (eclipse) the sub-system switches into amateur radio mode The amateur radio transponder can be used to demonstrate radio communications to schoolchildren and students of all ages Students are able to hear amateur voice signals when the satellite passes overhead 22/06/10 18
The Ground Segment - the FUNcube dongle USB receiver dongle Works with all freeware SDR software & any OS Works in combination with the FUNcube Dashboard
The Ground Segment - the FUNcube dongle
FUNcube telemetry reception UKSEDS Presentation Feb 2013
Data Warehouse Online Resource Allows schools to look at data trends from all around the globe Makes the schools independent of reception success http://warehouse.funcube.org. uk
Launch status FUNcube-1: FUNcube-2 on UKube-1: DNEPR launch from Yasny, Russia Soyuz launch from Baikonur, Khazakstan, Early 2014 November 2013
Assembly The assembly time lapse video was shown to the audience. It is available for viewing at: Http://youtu.be/sEMoLOcGOOw
Antenna deployment test The antenna deployment test video was shown to the audience. It is available for viewing at: http://youtu.be/ddr-ilzhnbw
FUNcube-1 in its POD (it s the one in the middle!) Insertion video at http://youtu.be/3xt3sdlfuog 22/06/10 27
FUNcube-1 Launch Day Monitoring station- Bletchley Park
FUNcube-1 LEOP -orbit Antenna deployment at L+27 minutes. First telemetry approx 1 min later Safe mode 30mW BPSK beacon
FUNcube-1 Launch Day Monitoring station- Bletchley Park
The FUNcube Project 22/06/10 31
First command video The first command video was shown to the audience. It is available for viewing at: http://youtu.be/ahcj1d2sg78
The FUNcube Project A Happy Project Manager 22/06/10 33
BBC 1 Breakfast News report The BBC 1 Breakfast news reported on the launch of FUNcube and its educational outreach. The video can be viewed at http://youtu.be/tndoq9srzpk 22/06/10 34
outreach Schools are just starting to include FUNcube We now have a product to sell We are getting response from all over the world
Lessons learnt It s not quite like a normal project There are almost no redundant systems on board Balance KISS with bleeding edge stuff Make comms simple -?use the amateur satellite service Take NOTHING for granted The team must meet often Document everything - but NOT to ESA standards The ICD is important/vital even on a 1U CubeSat Protoflights are not a good idea Line up a genuine launch opportunity ASAP Get dummies to do the testing Always use END to END testing Don t be surprised by rapid temp variations on board Managing volunteers is like herding cats You must have FUN 22/06/10 36
Thank you for your attention Any Questions? Wouter Weggelaar: pa3weg@amsat.org FUNcube websites: http://funcube.org.uk and http://funcubedongle.com AMSAT-UK website: http://amsat-uk.org AMSAT-NL website: http://amsat-nl.org 37