Amateur satellite ready to go in to action

By Colin Holland, EE Times -- EDN, August 2, 2011

ARISSat-1, the satellite designed and built by amateur radio operators to specifically interest students in scientific and technological careers, is scheduled to be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) this Wednesday, August 3.

The extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is due to be broadcast on NASA TV, starting at 1430 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) when the hatch of the ISS will open.

ARISSat-1 will then leave the space station and be secured to an airlock ladder and its solar panel covers will be removed. At 1507 it will to deploy site, activate its PWR, TIMER1 and TIMER2 switches, verify LEDs on, and deploy.

If all goes well with tomorrow's deployment, it will perform the following primary functions:

-Two-way communication via UHF uplink and VHF downlink, for use by ham radio operators

-Visuals of space from four cameras

-Recharging of the satellite's battery using solar panels, enabling operation for months

-Transmission of audio greetings in many languages, for reception via simple radios or scanners

-Telemetry transmissions with updates on the health of the satellite

-House an experiment from Russia's Kursk University that measures atmospheric pressure

ARISSat-1 design-team leader Steve Bible launched the limited-series Chips in Space Blog on EE Times' Web site last week, to both educate and entertain readers by relating the story of how he and his colleagues came to build the satellite, and the challenges they ran into along the way. Bible will also provide analysis of the satellite's deployment and functionality.

Bible will provide an update on the mission later this week on the Chips in Space Blog.

The satellite is a cooperative effort between AMSAT, ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station,) RSC-Energia (The Russian Space Agency), and NASA. The design, development, and construction of the satellite was done by AMSAT volunteers. Through the use of ham radio equipment, students and teachers should be able to access and utilize the satellite from a classroom environment with minimal set up.

This story was originally posted by EE Times.